All Charles Schulz ever wanted to do was “draw funny pictures.” He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1922. He and his dad read the funny papers every Sunday morning. Little Charles liked Mickey Mouse and Popeye cartoons.

A promising lead came in 1937. Ripley’s Believe It or Not! used to be a newspaper panel. In 1937, it featured Charles’ drawing of the family dog, Spike. 

The young artist felt hopeful. His mom urged him to take a correspondence cartoon course as a senior in high school. 

After two years in the army, Mr. Schulz got a job at the cartooning school that taught him. He created a weekly panel comic called Li’l Folks. It ran for three years in a local paper. 

Li’l Folks became Peanuts.

How did Mr. Schulz make a comic? He doodled on a blank sheet of paper. When an idea struck, he sketched it lightly in pencil. He drew the final in pen.  

Mr. Schulz said he learned to write cartoon stories by reading good books. He also realized that you don’t have to be in a silly mood to make something funny. “Sometimes when you’re feeling the lowest . . . you’ll come up with some of your best ideas,” he said.

Peanuts cartoons show characters never getting what they want. Charlie Brown never gets to kick Lucy’s football. Snoopy’s novels never get published. The kids almost never win a baseball game. But the characters keep trying. 

Mr. Schulz believed all people can be creative. “Even if your only cartooning ability is drawing a little funny face on an envelope on a letter to a friend, you’ve made use of your ability,” he encouraged.

For more about drawing, see Art for Kids: Cartooning by Art Roche in our Recommended Reading.