The Rocket exhibit: The Rocket Staff: Artists & Illustrators

Matt Groening is an American cartoonist and writer famous for creating several animated TV shows including The Simpsons (1989-), Futurama (1999-2003, 2010-2013), and Disenchantment (2018-2023).

Born in Portland, Oregon, Groening attended Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington where he majored in journalism. Two of his fellow students and future Rocket colleagues, Lynda Barry and Charles Burns, also attended Evergreen State College. After graduating, he moved to Los Angeles where he was hired as the circulation director for the Los Angeles Reader. In 1980, Groening began drawing his Life in Hell comic strip, which ran in the Los Angeles Reader and, three years after its debut, in The Rocket.

The Rocket was one of the first places to publish Groening’s art. His Life in Hell comic strip was a long-standing feature of the paper. Groening also illustrated many covers for the paper, including this Simpsons-inspired holiday cover.

Groening is most famous for the creation of hit animated TV shows such as The Simpsons. Groening was originally asked to create a series of short, animated cartoons based on Life in Hell, then he went on to develop a whole new set of characters that became The Simpsons. The hit animated show would go on to win over 20 Emmy awards and is one of the longest- running animated series in America.

Check out the works of Matt Groening in the UW Libraries collections:

Lynda Barry is an American cartoonist, illustrator, painter, writer, playwright, editor, commentator, and teacher. So far, she has authored 21 books, commentated for NPR, and adapted her first novel, The Good Times Are Killing Me, into an off-Broadway play that won the Washington State Governor’s Award.

Barry is probably best known for her comic strip Ernie Pook’s Comeek, which was first published in 1977 in the Evergreen State College newspaper and also ran in newspapers such as UW’s The Daily, The Rocket, and the Seattle Sun. Barry briefly worked at the Seattle Sun before joining The Rocket staff as an illustrator and cartoonist.

Besides her work as a cartoonist and illustrator, Barry worked as an associate professor of art and Discovery Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Check out the works of Lynda Barry in the UW Libraries collections:

Art Chantry is a graphic designer known for his posters and album covers for famous artists and bands such as Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Mudhoney.

At The Rocket, Chantry heavily influenced the development of the paper’s iconic style. Without access to typesetting facilities, Chantry initially generated type by photocopying books, cutting out the letters, and pasting the letters into place. This “crude quality,” as described in an interview with Chantry by Paper Magazine, eventually became its own graphic style in the 1980s called “vernacular.” Chantry pioneered this design style in the local Seattle art scene, and it became the dominant style of The Rocket.

Read more about Chantry:

Check out the works of Art Chantry in the UW Libraries collections:

Charles Burns attended the University of Washington and Central Washington State University where he published his comic, “Crypto Wander Lust” in the student newspaper. Burns studied photography at Evergreen State College where he worked with future Rocket artists Lynda Barry and Matt Groening on the campus magazine.

In 1982, While working for The Rocket, Burns created his one-panel Mutantis cartoon series and illustrated cover art, including The Rocket’s first holiday cover. Burns was also an artist for the Sub Pop record label, illustrating the cover for Iggy Pop’s Brick by Brick album (1990). Burns went on to create art for RAW magazine, Rolling Stone, The East Village Other, The New Yorker, and Weirdo. Burns is well-known for his horror comics, including “Big Baby,” “El Borbah,” and “X’ed Out”. Burns’ graphic novel, Black Hole (1995) has won seven Harvey Awards.

Check out the works of Charles Burns in the UW Libraries collections:

Robert Newman was the editor (and periodic art director) of The Rocket. Newman has also worked as the creative director of Real Simple, This Old House, and Reader’s Digest, and the design director of Entertainment Weekly, New York, Details, The Village Voice, Guitar World, Vibe, and Inside. Today, Newman stays active on social media with his Newmanology Facebook and Tumblr groups.

Before The Rocket, Newman was the art director at another Seattle-based paper, the Seattle Sun, where he inherited the practice of using comics on the covers. This practice carried over to his work at The Rocket, which is known for its use of illustrations on the covers of many of their issues. Since The Rocket, Newman has consulted on art design and spoken to groups about a wide scope of artist facets, such as branding, art creation, and publication design.