William Steig (November 14, 1907 – October 3, 2003) was an American cartoonist and cover artist for The New Yorker for more than seven decades, and in later life a writer and illustrator of children's books.
Speaking of which, he's best known among the younger generations for Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and Shrek!, the latter of which eventually became a massive animated franchise. He was the U.S. nominee for both of the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Awards, as a children's book illustrator in 1982 and as a writer in 1988.
Works on this wiki:
- Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1946, illustrations only)
- Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1969)
- Abel's Island (1976)
- Doctor DeSoto (1982)
- Shrek! (1990)
Associated tropes:
- Animated Adaptation:
- Doctor DeSoto was made into a 1984 animated short.
- Abel's Island was made into a 1989 animated short.
- Sylvester and the Magic Pebble was made into a 1993 animated short.
- Shrek!, of course, became a hit franchise, with six (soon to be seven) feature films (including the two spin-off Puss in Boots films), nine short films, two television specials, and two television series.
- Anti-Hero: Shrek, due to his ugliness and coarser qualities.
- Animal Stereotypes: All of his animal-focused stories have these.
- Approval of God: Steig, in his 90s by that point, saw the first Shrek film in theatres with his family, and reportedly adored it."It’s vulgar, it’s disgusting — and I love it!"
- Fairy Tale: His stories are modern fairy tales.
- The Middle Ages: Shrek! takes place in a parody version of this, complete with magical creatures like ogres and fairies.
- No Plot? No Problem!: C D B! and its sequel, C D C?, are collections of unrelated cartoon drawings whose captions are broken down into letters and numbers, apparently meant to be read aloud by very young children.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Every character in Shrek! possesses this style of speech, and when they don't, they use alliteration.
- Shown Their Work: His stories demonstrate keen observation of the appearance and behavior of animals.
- World of Funny Animals: Nearly every work of his. Two examples are Doctor DeSoto, which is about a mouse who is a dentist, and The Zabajaba Jungle, which is about a dreamy rainforest with giant butterflies, writhing snakes, and an ungainly bird named Flora.