Charles Boyce facts for kids

Charles Boyce is an American cartoonist. He was born in 1949 in Olive Branch, Mississippi. He is famous for his comic panel called Compu-toon. Charles Boyce also created a cartoon character named KeyPad Kid. This character was used in training programs for the telecommunication industry.

About Charles Boyce

Charles Boyce went to the Memphis Academy of Arts in the 1960s. In 1969, he joined the United States Navy.

His comic strip, Compu-toon, was in about 150 newspapers. It ran from 1994 to 1997. Charles Boyce still creates Compu-toon today. It is shared by Andrews McMeel Syndication. He lives in the suburbs of Chicago.

His Work as a Cartoonist

The cARToon Exhibit

In January 2007, Charles Boyce was part of an art show. It was called the cARToon exhibit. This show took place at the Barrington Area Library. He showed a collection of his art called the Blues Arrangement Exhibit.

Boyce said his artwork showed scenes about the blues music in Memphis. These scenes were from the early 1900s until now. They showed events he had seen or heard about. The exhibit also had paintings of famous blues musicians. Some of his paintings included Lead Belly and Harmonica Player.

More Diverse Cartoons

For a long time, there were not many cartoonists of color in newspapers. But between 1988 and 1998, more diverse cartoonists started to appear. In 1988, only one cartoonist of color worked for a big company. That was Morrie Turner, who created Wee Pals.

Many things helped this change happen. Some newspapers held contests for cartoonists from different backgrounds. Also, more attention was given to the need for diversity. Even with this focus, some cartoonists of color found it hard to get their comics published. Sometimes, newspapers said they already had a comic by a minority artist.

Charles Boyce believes that "people are people." He thinks that a cartoonist's background does not change how much people enjoy a comic. He says that comics by minority artists are popular with many different readers. This is true because many cartoonists of color get fan mail from all kinds of readers. Also, most comics created by minority artists during that time continued to be successful.

Speaking Out Through Art

In February 2008, Charles Boyce joined a protest. This protest asked for more black cartoon artists to be in newspaper comics. The artists wanted to show the challenges black comic artists faced when trying to publish their work.

Charles Boyce and other artists took part in this protest. Some of the other artists were Jerry Craft, Charlos Gary, and Keith Knight. For one day, these cartoonists all drew a very similar comic strip. Their comics showed a white reader looking at a comic by a minority artist. The reader was complaining that it seemed too much like another comic called Boondocks. This was their way of highlighting the issue they were protesting.