Patrick McDonnell

Patrick Luigi McDonnell (born March 17, 1956) is the creator of the daily comic strip "Mutts".

In 1994 McDonnell created the comic strip MUTTS which now appears in over 700 newspapers and 20 countries. MUTTS has been described by Peanuts creator Charles Schulz as "one of the best comic strips of all time."

McDonnell has received numerous awards for this strip, including the National Cartoonists Society’s highest honor, The Reuben, for Cartoonist of the Year, five Harvey Awards for Best Comic Strip, Germany’s Max and Moritz Award for Best International Comic Strip, and the Swedish Academy of Comic Art’s Adamson Statuette. MUTTS has also won awards for its environmental and animal advocacy: two Genesis Awards from The Ark Trust, The HSUS Hollywood Genesis Award for Ongoing Commitment, the PETA Humanitarian Award, and a Sierra Club award.

The MUTTS cartoons have been published in eighteen compilation books in the U.S. and in numerous collections throughout the world. In 2003, fine art publisher Harry N. Abrams, Inc., published "MUTTS: The Comic Art of Patrick McDonnell", a monograph on McDonnell’s career. In 2007, The "Best of MUTTS", was released containing a decade of McDonnell’s favorite strips along with insightful commentary. Available in 2008, "Shelter Stories: Love. Guaranteed." will feature his popular animal shelter-themed strips accompanied by real-life pet adoption stories submitted by readers worldwide.

In 2005, McDonnell embarked on a children's book career. His first children’s book, which featured the MUTTS characters, "The Gift of Nothing", quickly became a "New York Times" bestseller. "Art" (2006), his second release, told the story of a boy named Art who makes art. His next release, "Just Like Heaven" (2006), heralding the joys of simple blessings, was hailed in a starred review by Kirkus as 'a meditation on the true nature of miracles'. In 2007. McDonnell again returned to the "New York Times" bestseller list with "Hug Time", featuring a kitten named Jules who goes around the world hugging endangered species. His fifth children’s book, "South", about the unlikely friendship between a cat and bird, was released in the Fall of 2008.

McDonnell is involved with many animal and environmental charities, and is a member of the Board of Directors for both The Humane Society of the United States and the Fund for Animals. His characters have been enlisted by the US Marines (2006 Toys for Tots holiday poster), the American Library Association (2007 ‘Read!’ poster), and by The HSUS (humane postage stamps). The MUTTS characters appear on the New Jersey Animal Friendly license plates which fund state pet population programs. The 2007-2008 MAZDASPEED Team featured MUTTS-themed vehicles promoting pet adoption and the work of The Humane Society of the United States.

Prior to creating MUTTS, McDonnell had a successful career as a freelance illustrator, drawing the Russell Baker Observer column for the New York Times Sunday Magazine from 1978-1993. He also created "Bad Baby", a monthly comic strip for "Parents Magazine", which ran for 10 years. During that time he also was a regular contributor to "Sports Illustrated", "Reader’s Digest", "Forbes", "Time" and many other national magazines. His work has been animated for television commercials, most notably a PSA for the NY Philharmonic. He is coauthor of "Krazy Kat: The Comic Art of George Herriman", published in 1986 by Abrams.

McDonnell’s website, muttscomics.com, promotes his animal and earth friendly philosophy. Consistent with McDonnell’s concern for the environment, all of the MUTTS books are printed on recycled paper. He and his wife Karen O’Connell are vegetarian and happily reside with their formerly feral cat MeeMow.

Awards & Recognition (for MUTTS)

*National Cartoonist Society’s Reuben for Cartoonist of the Year 1999
*National Cartoonist Society’s Award for Comic Strip of the Year 1996
*National Cartoonist Society's Reuben Award (nominee) 1997 and 1998
*Germany’s Max and Moritz Award for Best International Comic Strip 1998
*Swedish Academy of Comic Art’s Adamson Statuette 1997
*Harvey Award for Best Comic Strip 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003
*Ark Trust Genesis Award 1997, 1999
*PETA Humanitarian Award 2001

Awards & Recognition (other)

*National Cartoonist Society Award for Greeting Cards 1991
*National Cartoonist Society Award for Magazine and Book Illustration 1991

Books

MUTTS Strip collections

#"MUTTS" (1996)
#"Cats & Dogs" (1997)
#"More Shtuff" (1998)
#"Yesh!" (1999)
#"Our MUTTS" (2000)
#"A Little Look-See" (2001)
#"What Now" (2002)
#"I Want To Be The Kitty!" (2003)
#"Dog-Eared" (2004)
#"Who Let The Cat Out?" (2005)
#"Everyday MUTTS: A Comic Strip Treasury" (2006) (Sundays in color)
#"Animal Friendly: A MUTTS Treasury" (2007) (Sundays in color)
#"Call of The Wild: A MUTTS Treasury" (2008) (Sundays in color)

MUTTS Sunday Collections (large format, in color)

*"MUTTS Sundays" (1999)
*"Sunday Mornings" (2001)
*"Sunday Afternoons" (2004)
*"Sunday Evenings" (2005)

Other

*"Bad Baby" (1988) (collection of Bad Baby strips from Parent Magazine)
*"MUTTS Little Big Book" (1998)
*"MUTTS: The Comic Art of Patrick McDonnell" (2003) (retrospective)
*"The Best of MUTTS" (2007) (retrospective)
*"MUTTS: Shelter Stories: Love. Guaranteed. " ( [2008] ) Collection of over 100 Shelter Stories strips accompanied by photos and vignettes of adopted pets

Children's Books

*"The Gift of Nothing" (2005), "New York Times" Bestseller (original MUTTS book)
*"Art" (2006)(original book)
*"Just Like Heaven" (2006) (original MUTTS book)
*"Hug Time" (2007), "New York Times" Bestseller (original MUTTS book)
*"South" (2008)

External links

* [http://www.muttscomics.com The official MUTTS web-site]
* [http://muttscomics.com/cast/patrick.asp Patrick's page @ MUTTS website]
* [http://www.reuben.org/ncs/awards.asp NCS Awards]