Richard
Felton Outcault was born in Lancaster, Ohio on 14th January, 1863.
After studying art in Cincinnati and
Paris, Outcault began contributing drawings to humorous magazines
such as Judge.
Two years after Joseph Pulitzer purchased
New York World in 1883, he recruited
Outcault as one of his artists. Outcault's comic cartoons based on
life in the slums were extremely popular with the readers.
In 1896 the New York World
began producing a colour supplement. Outcault created a new young
character that wore a yellow nightshirt. Known as the Yellow Kid,
this cartoon became so popular that William
Randolph Hearst, owner of the New
York Journal, offered him a considerable amount of
money to join his newspaper.
In 1897 Outcault left the New
York Journal for the New
York Herald. Five years later he created another important
cartoon character, Buster Brown. Unlike Yellow Kid, who lived in the
New York slums, Buster Brown came from
a middle-class family and was later used in advertising a wide range
of products. Richard Felton Outcault died on 25th September, 1928.
Richard Outcault, Yellow Kid,
New York World (11th August,
1896)
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