Editing Calvin and Hobbes (section)

==Style and influences==
The strip borrows several elements and themes from three major influences: [[Walt Kelly]]'s ''[[Pogo (comic strip)|Pogo]]'', [[George Herriman]]'s ''[[Krazy Kat]]'' and [[Charles M. Schulz]]'s ''[[Peanuts]]''.<ref name="Watterson 1995 p. 21">{{harvp|Watterson|1995|p=21}}</ref> Schulz and Kelly particularly influenced Watterson's outlook on comics during his formative years.<ref name="christie1987" />

Elements of Watterson's artistic style are his characters' diverse and often exaggerated expressions (particularly those of Calvin), elaborate and bizarre backgrounds for Calvin's flights of imagination, expressions of motion and frequent visual jokes and metaphors. In the later years of the strip, with more panel space available for his use, Watterson experimented more freely with different panel layouts, art styles, stories without dialogue and greater use of [[White space (visual arts)|white space]]. He also experimented with his tools, once inking a strip with a stick from his yard in order to achieve a particular look.<ref>Watterson's personal conversation with [[Bill Amend]] as reported in ''Camp [[FoxTrot]]'' ([[Andrews McMeel Publishing]], 1998, 978-0836267471).</ref> He also makes a point of not showing certain things explicitly: the "Noodle Incident" and the [[Children's literature|children's book]] ''Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooie'' are left to the reader's imagination, where Watterson was sure they would be "more outrageous" than he could portray.<ref>{{harvp|Watterson|1995|p=200}}</ref>