Editing Bill Watterson (section)

==Early life==
Bill Watterson was born on July 5, 1958, in [[Washington, D.C.]], to Kathryn Watterson (1933–2022) and James Godfrey Watterson (1932–2016).<ref name=martell1>{{cite book|last=Martell |first=Nevin| date=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q6wHaqIDzDEC |title=Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip |page=15 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-8264-2984-1}}</ref> His father worked as a [[patent attorney]]. In 1965, six-year-old Watterson and his family moved to [[Chagrin Falls, Ohio]], a suburb of [[Cleveland]].<ref name="short biography">{{cite web | url= http://ignatz.brinkster.net/cbillbio.html | title= A Short Biography of Bill Watterson | year= 2002 | access-date= September 1, 2009 | first= Tim | last= Hulsizer | url-status=dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090416091717/http://ignatz.brinkster.net/cbillbio.html | archive-date= April 16, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Bill Watterson |url=https://www.biography.com/artist/bill-watterson |work=[[Biography (TV program)|Biography]] |date=March 29, 2021 |access-date=December 13, 2021 |archive-date=December 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211213064653/https://www.biography.com/artist/bill-watterson |url-status=live }}</ref> Watterson has a younger brother, Thomas Watterson, who lives in [[Austin, Texas]], and worked as a musician before becoming an educator.<ref name=martell1/>

Watterson drew his first cartoon at age eight and spent much time in his childhood alone drawing and cartooning. This continued through his school years, during which time he discovered comic strips such as [[Walt Kelly]]'s ''[[Pogo (comics)|Pogo]]'', [[George Herriman]]'s ''[[Krazy Kat]]'', and [[Charles M. Schulz]]'s ''[[Peanuts]]'' which subsequently inspired and influenced his desire to become a professional cartoonist.<ref name="short biography"/><ref>{{Cite book| last = Watterson| first = Bill| title = Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book| publisher = Andrews and McMeel| year = 1995| page = 17| isbn = 0-8362-0438-7| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xtiMQXCLdJEC&pg=PA17| access-date = January 3, 2020| archive-date = January 15, 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230115125230/https://books.google.com/books?id=xtiMQXCLdJEC&pg=PA17| url-status = live}}</ref> On one occasion when he was in fourth grade, he wrote a letter to Schulz, who responded, much to Watterson's surprise. This made a big impression on him at the time. His parents encouraged him in his artistic pursuits. Later, they recalled him as a "conservative child" — imaginative, but "not in a fantasy way", and certainly nothing like the character of Calvin that he later created.<ref>Gene Williams (August 30, 1987), [http://ignatz.brinkster.net/calterego.html "Calvin's Other Alter Ego"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522191711/http://ignatz.brinkster.net/calterego.html |date=May 22, 2013 }}, ''Cleveland Plain Dealer''.</ref> Watterson found avenues for his cartooning talents throughout primary and secondary school, creating high school-themed super hero comics with his friends and contributing cartoons and art to the school newspaper and yearbook.<ref name=martell>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q6wHaqIDzDEC |title=Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip |last=Martell |first=Nevin |date=October 5, 2009 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=9780826429841}}</ref>{{rp|20–3}}

After high school, Watterson attended [[Kenyon College]], where he majored in [[political science]]. He had already decided on a career in cartooning but he felt studying political science would help him move into editorial cartooning. He continued to develop his art skills and during his [[sophomore]] year he painted [[Michelangelo]]'s ''[[Creation of Adam]]'' on the ceiling of his dormitory room.<ref>Watterson, Bill (May 20, 1990). [http://ignatz.brinkster.net/cglimpsed.html "Some Thoughts on the Real World by One Who Glimpsed It and Fled"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708132258/http://ignatz.brinkster.net/cglimpsed.html |date=July 8, 2013 }}, ''Kenyon College Commencement Speech''</ref> He also contributed cartoons to the college newspaper, some of which included the original "Spaceman Spiff" cartoons.{{efn|Many of these early cartoons are archived online.<ref>{{cite web| title =Rare Bill Watterson Art| url =http://ignatz.brinkster.net/cbillart.html| publisher =Ignatz| access-date =June 12, 2014| archive-date =April 14, 2013| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20130414224330/http://ignatz.brinkster.net/cbillart.html| url-status =live}}</ref>}} Watterson graduated from Kenyon in 1980 with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree.

Later, when Watterson was creating names for the characters in his comic strip, he decided on Calvin (after the Protestant reformer [[John Calvin]]) and Hobbes (after the [[political philosopher]] [[Thomas Hobbes]]), allegedly as a "tip of the hat" to Kenyon's political science department. In ''The Complete Calvin and Hobbes'', Watterson stated that Calvin was named for "a 16th-century [[theologian]] who believed in [[predestination]]" and Hobbes for "a 17th-century [[philosopher]] with a dim view of [[human nature]]".<ref name="tenth p22"/>