Daniel Clowes is an accomplished American author, screenwriter, and cartoonist, known for his distinctive style and biting satire. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Clowes attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and later earned his BFA from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York in 1984. His interest in cartooning began at an early age, when he had an emotional response to a comic book featuring a family dying of heat.
Clowes' professional career in cartooning started in 1985, when he began working for Cracked magazine, where he remained until 1989. That same year, he created his own comic book, Eightball, which became the platform for his unique storytelling and distinctive art style. Eightball consisted of self-contained narratives and serialized graphic novels, which explored themes of alienation, disaffection, and social criticism. The comic book was well-received, and several of its stories were later collected and published as graphic novels, including the critically acclaimed Ghost World.
In addition to his work on Eightball, Clowes has also worked on other comic book series, including Lloyd Llewellyn. While Lloyd Llewellyn had a lighter tone than his later work, it still contained elements of social criticism that would become more pronounced in Eightball. Clowes' work in comics has earned him numerous accolades, including several Eisner, Harvey, and Ignatz awards, as well as a PEN Award for literature.
Clowes is also an accomplished screenwriter and has been nominated for an Academy Award. He collaborated with filmmaker Terry Zwigoff to adapt Ghost World into a successful film, and later adapted another Eightball story into the film Art School Confidential. Clowes' work has also been recognized by The New Yorker, for which he has created numerous cover illustrations. Despite his success, Clowes remains a private individual, living in Oakland, California with his wife.