Suzy Spafford, also known as Suzy Spafford Lidstrom (born 1945), is an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

best known for drawing whimsical animal characters. Her "Suzy's Zoo" line of

greeting card A greeting card is a piece of card stock, usually with an illustration or photo, made of high quality paper featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthday ...

s, stickers, stationery, calendars, and similar products is sold in thousands of stores all over the world.San Diego Union Tribune, August 8, 1999
/ref> She has also written several dozen books for children, including the ''Tales from Duckport'' series.

Business

Her "Suzy's Zoo" greeting card company was launched in 1968, while she was still an undergraduate at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

working toward her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. In 1999 she added a line of products for babies and toddlers, called Little Suzy's Zoo. Her often humorous drawings feature more than 200 animal characters such as rabbits, turtles, snails and ostriches. The animals are drawn in bright colors, wearing clothes, shoes, and happy expressions. Her first fully developed animal character was a cross between a chicken and a duck, a cheerful extrovert known as Suzy Ducken. Each character has a personality and backstory; they all live in a fictional town called Duckport. At first she drew all of the characters herself, but she quickly needed to hire assistants to keep up with the growing business. As of 2002 the Suzy's Zoo retail business had 50 employees and generated $50 million in annual revenue.The Magazine of San Diego State University, Spring 2001, page 8

Personal life

Born 1945 in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

, Spafford grew up in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

and still lives there with her husband Ray Lidstrom, president of her company, Suzy's Zoo Studios. She graduated from

Point Loma High School Point Loma High School is a public high school in San Diego, California, United States. It is part of San Diego Unified School District. The school is located in the Loma Portal neighborhood of Point Loma. The school serves the neighborhood ...

and

. She is a member of

Kappa Delta Kappa Delta (, also known as KD or Kaydee) is an American collegiate social sorority. Established in 1897, it was the first sorority founded at the State Female Normal School (now Longwood University), in Farmville, Virginia. Kappa Delta is one ...

sorority. She has been drawing since she was 3 years old.San Diego Union Tribune, September 8, 1993
/ref> She was especially inspired by the fanciful drawing of Ted Geisel, "Dr. Seuss," whom she describes as "one of my heroes." Her parents supported her talent by enrolling her in painting classes and later private lessons in watercolor painting. By the time she was in college she was selling watercolor landscapes at art fairs. During slow times at the fairs she drew little cartoons of animals doing things like playing golf or fishing. Customers snapped up the animal drawings, so that her work became more and more focused on the style that became Suzy's Zoo. She is a founding member of the San Diego Watercolor Society. She sits on the boards of directors of several charities including the Rees-Stealy Research Foundation and the San Diego/Imperial Council of the

Girl Scouts of the USA Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), commonly referred to as Girl Scouts, is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. It was founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, a year after she ...

Recognition

Spafford won the

National Cartoonist Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

Greeting Card Award in 1996. She was presented with the Kappa Delta Woman of Achievement Award in 1997. In 2003 the local

Girl Scout A Scout, Boy Scout, Girl Scout or, in some countries, a Pathfinder is a participant in the Scout Movement, usually aged 10–18 years, who engage in learning scoutcraft and outdoor and other special interest activities. Some Scout organization ...

council honored her with their annual "Cool Women" award, given to local women who serve as outstanding role models for girls as they balance work, family, friends and service.

Animated series

An animated series of Suzy's Zoo entitled ''Suzy's Zoo: A Day with Witzy,'' co-produced by Suzy's Zoo Film Partners and the

Tokyo Broadcasting System (formerly ) is a Japanese media and licensed broadcasting holding company. It is the parent company of the television network TBS Television and radio network TBS Radio. It has a 28-affiliate television network called Japan News Network, as ...

(TBS) network, began broadcasting on BabyFirstTV on March 23, 2015, starring

Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld (born March 21, 1987) is an American voice actress, best known for voicing Bonnie, Nurse Joy, and Sophocles in the ''Pokémon'' anime and Rio on ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal''. Early life Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld was born to a J ...

as Witzy.

Bibliography

Source: * ''Alphabetical Soup'', Suzy's Zoo (San Diego, CA), 1995. * ''Witzy and Zoom Zoom'', Suzy's Zoo (San Diego, CA), 1998. * ''Witzy Wonders'', Scholastic Inc. (New York, NY), 2001. * ''Witzy's Opposites'', Lyric Pub. (Allen, TX), 2001. * ''Witzy's Colors'', Lyric Pub. (Allen, TX), 2001. * ''Witzy's Book of Words'', Scholastic (New York, NY), 2001. * ''Witzy's Block Party'', Scholastic (New York, NY), 2001. * ''Friends Forever'', Lyric Pub. (Allen, TX), 2001. * ''Witzy to the Rescue'', Lyric Pub. (Allen, TX), 2001. * ''Witzy Plays Hide-and-Seek'', Scholastic (New York, NY), 2001. * ''Back to School? Cool!'', Scholastic Inc. (New York, NY), 2002. * ''Trick or Treat? Neat!'', Scholastic Inc. (New York, NY), 2002. * ''Witzy's Winter Wonderland'', Scholastic (New York, NY), 2002. * ''Witzy's Backyard Easter Hunt'', Scholastic Inc. (New York, NY), 2002. * ''Witzy's Numbers'', Scholastic (New York, NY), 2002. * ''Witzy's Shapes'', Scholastic (New York, NY), 2002. * ''Stormy Weather? Stick Together!'', Scholastic (New York, NY), 2003. * ''Helping-out Day?: Hooray!'', Scholastic (New York, NY), 2003. * ''You're One Hot Diggety Dog'', Harvest House Publishers (Eugene, OR), 2004. * ''Witzy's Halloween Ghost'', Dalmatian Press (Franklin, TN), 2011.

References

External links

Official Website
* ; Japanese animation based on Spafford's characters {{DEFAULTSORT:Spafford, Suzy 1945 births American women cartoonists Artists from San Diego Businesspeople from San Diego Living people Artists from Toledo, Ohio Point Loma High School alumni San Diego State University alumni Writers from San Diego American cartoonists American children's writers American women children's writers American children's book illustrators American women children's book illustrators American animal artists 21st-century American women