Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum (Patreon)

Today, I was lucky enough to visit one of my favorite museums in the world: the Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum at Ohio State University. They’re currently featuring original art by Bill Watterson, so I couldn’t miss the opportunity. When I look at Watterson’s work, the combination of writing, humor, and timing, along with the craftsmanship in his brushwork and lettering, I really think he’s among the greatest artists of all time, right up there with Van Gogh and Picasso.

One of my favorite parts of seeing original comic art is noticing all the white-out, tape, and other corrections, because the ultimate goal is to get the artwork ready for print. Even in this respect, Watterson stands head and shoulders above everyone else. There are so few corrections in his artwork! It’s just so humbling.

I don’t have much more commentary, but I thought you might enjoy some pictures from the exhibit.

Some other highlights included original artwork from Bone. Here, you can see how Jeff Smith extensively used non-photo blue pencils, which don’t show up in the final printed artwork.

You might not guess it, but Bloom County is another comic that’s been very influential to me. So I was excited to see this original art!

I never really understood Krazy Kat, but the craftsmanship of these comics was amazing.

Of course some of the classic newspaper strips.

Finally, I had to take a picture of this quote from Charles Schulz. This sums things up pretty well.

Hope you enjoyed this quick look! The museum honestly isn’t very big. You can probably go through it in an hour or two (especially if you’re not looking at everything as meticulously as I was). But if you’re ever in the Columbus area, I highly recommend checking it out!