Dana Claire Simpson (born David Craig Simpson, April 23, 1977 in Pullman, Washington) is an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of Ozy and Millie.
A graduate of Evergreen State College, Simpson was once a reporter for a weekly newspaper, and did a stint as a graduate student in communication at Washington State University. As an undergraduate, Simpson was a finalist for the 1998 Scripps-Howard Foundation Charles M. Schulz College Cartoonist Award, and won the 1999 College Media Advisers award for Best Strip Cartoon. [1] Simpson lives in Auburn, Washington with husband David Brodbeck.[2]
Simpson's other comics include I Drew This, Raine Dog and Girl.
A comic artist from an early age,[3] Simpson's first published comic strip – early web comic Ozy and Millie – began running regularly in 1998. The strip centered on Ozy (an arctic fox) and Millie (a red fox) as they and their friends dealt with everyday elementary school issues and more surreal situations. Ozy and Millie won the 1999 College Media Advisers award for Best Strip Cartoon, the 2002 Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards for Best Anthropomorphic Comic and the Ursa Major Award for both "Best Anthropomorphic Other Work" for 2002 and for "Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip" for 2006 and 2007.[4] The final regular strip was published on December 23, 2008.
Simpson's second published comic strip, I Drew This was primarily about politics and proudly admits to its liberal orientation. The May 16, 2005 edition, "Teaching Gravity", featured the first reference to the theory of intelligent falling.[5]
After appearing at local open mike nights, Simpson went on to become a musician and songwriter, performing at local cafes and bars and selling works online – including the album Shiver, released in May 2005. Simpson cites as influences R.E.M. and Elliott Smith.
On January 16, 2009, Simpson posted the first page of Raine Dog, a graphic novel which follows an anthropomorphic dog living among humans with other recently-liberated house dogs. The most recent update was in January 2010.[6]
Simpson's third comic strip, Girl, was the winner of Amazon.com's "Comic Strip Superstar" contest.[7] The winner was to receive a publishing contract from Andrews McMeel Universal.[8] Despite this, as of February 2011, the Andrews McMeel Universal website displays no evidence of having published Girl or any other work by Simpson. According to Simpson, the delay has been imposed by the syndicate, GoComics, due to its reluctance to launch two "talking animal" strips at the same time, as well as its request for further edits.[9]
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||