National Cartoonists’ Day
Celebrate the humour brought into our lives on #NationalCartoonistsDay
5 May is annually observed as National Cartoonists’ Day and was created to honour and recognise all cartoonists – past and present.
On this day, everyone is encouraged to appreciate their talented works and the humour they brought into our lives with their keen eyes and sharp pencils.
Richard Outcault – 14 January 1863 to 25 September 1928 – was an American comic-strip writer and artist and is considered to be the inventor of the modern comic-strip. He started his studies at the McMicken University’s School of Design in Cincinnati when he was 15-years old and studied there for three years. He was the creator of The Yellow Kid and Buster Brown.
On 5 May 1895, readers of the New York World discovered an exciting new addition to their morning paper – Outcault’s full colour drawings featuring a big-eared, barefoot boy with a mischievous grin. This was the first colour installment of the cartoon called Hogan’s Alley, which would later become known as The
Yellow Kid. It was also the first commercially successful cartoon icon.
Outcault was a 2008 Judge’s Choice inductee into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.
The National Cartoonists Society proclaimed 5 May as National Cartoonists Day in 1990.
To celebrate today is easy, just gather all your favourite cartoons – movies or books – and indulge. You can also check out these websites and enjoy some of South Africa’s most famous cartoonists and laugh a bit:
Or you can watch a cartoon here:
Use #NationalCartoonistsDay to post on social media.
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