Gary Larson is a retired American cartoonist best known for the ‘The Far Side’ series of cartoons. He typically highlighted unexpected happenings, unusual disasters, and other societal issues via an anthropomorphic perspective of the world through his cartoons. His cartoons were heavily influenced by nature and animals. This comic strip has been syndicated and published in more than 1900 Daily and Sunday Weekly newspapers around the world for the past fifteen years, starting in 1980. Gary Larson withdrew from his career at a time when he believed that the topics being discussed were becoming monotonous, and that his cartoons would lose their significance as a result. Gary Larson has worked on publishing books based on his cartoons as well as producing films based on them, in addition to his cartooning business. He is quite protective of his art, and as a result, none of his comics are available online or for public viewing, as he considers his work to be very personal. He has indicated that he is a rigorous environmentalist and that wildlife protection is his primary focus on a personal level.
Childhood and Adolescence
Gary Larson was born in Washington on August 14, 1950. His father Verner worked as a salesperson, and his mother Doris worked as a secretary. Dan, his older brother, is his only sibling.
He was born and raised in the state of Washington. He learned to play instruments including the banjo and guitar as a child.
He finished high school at Curtis Senior High School and went on to Washington State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in communication in 1972.
A Career of Gary Larson
Gary Larson’s primary ambition was to work as a commercial writer on television. He and a friend, however, continued performing music for three years following graduation. He used to play the banjo and guitar in the duo, while his friend used to play the piano and trombone.
He eventually got a job at a music store in Washington, but quickly discovered that it wasn’t his cup of tea, so he switched to painting.
He produced and published a few cartoons to the journal Pacific Search in 1976. His work was well received, and he began his career as a cartoonist at that point. He started working for The Seattle Times in 1979, and his drawings were published weekly under the headline ‘Nature’s Way.’
To make ends meet, he had to work as an investigator for the Local Humane Society in addition to his artistic projects at first. However, he eventually opted to focus on drawing rather than pursue other careers, and he began selling his comic strips to other newspapers.
Gary Larson approached the newspaper ‘San Francisco Chronicle’ with his drawings from ‘Nature’s Way’ while on vacation in 1979. In January 1980, the newspaper signed a distribution arrangement with him and began running the cartoon strip under the new name ‘The Far Side.’ Around the same period, his cartoons were no longer printed in ‘The Seattle Times.’
‘The Far Side’ continued to be published in a variety of publications for another fourteen years, until Gary Larson retired from the business in 1995. The ‘Far Side’ cartoons largely focused on bizarre situations and aimed to compare human and animal behavior. Until 2009, his drawings were also often used on greeting cards.
His animations served as the inspiration for the CBS television animated films ‘Tales from the Far Side’ (1994) and ‘Tales from the Far Side II’ (1998). Both films were shown at international film festivals, with ‘Tales from the Far Side’ taking home the Grand Prix at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.
Gary Larson’s first illustrated book, ‘There’s a Hair in My Dirt!: A Worm’s Story,’ was published in 1998. The book used strange stories and pictures to explain science. In May 1998, HarperCollins published this book, which became a New York Times Best Seller.
He is known to take on magazine projects and advertising graphics for Far Side-related items after retiring as a cartoonist.
He produced 22 Far Side books between 1982 and 2003, after publishing his first Far Side comic book in 1982. The New York Times Best Seller list included all of his novels. His most recent book, ‘The Complete Far Side: 1980–1994,’ was published in 2003.
He worked on a cover for ‘The New Yorker’ in 2003 because he saw it as a prestigious opportunity.
Gary Larson also gave his voice to an episode of the animated sitcom ‘The Simpsons’ from the 21st season, which aired in 2010.
Major Projects of Gary Larson
Gary Larson is a well-known cartoonist who is most known for his contributions to the ‘Nature’s Way’ comic strip, which was later renamed ‘The Far Side.’ His work as a cartoonist has garnered him a lot of attention and praise.
Achievements & Awards
In 1985 and 1988, he was honored by the National Cartoonists Society with the Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award.
In 1990 and 1994, he received the Reuben Award from the National Cartoonists Society.
Personal History and Legacy
Gary Larson married Toni Carmichael, an anthropologist, in 1987. At the start of their relationship, she was his company manager.
Estimated Net Worth
Gary Larson is one of the wealthiest cartoonists and one of the most popular. Gary Larson’s net worth is estimated to be at $70 million, according to Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider.
Trivia
In 1989, he was given the name ‘Strigiphilus garylarsoni’ for a new bug species. Serratoterga larsoni, a rainforest butterfly, was later named after him. Garylarsonus is also the name of a beetle that bears his name.