Only What's Necessary: Charles M. Schulz and the Art of Peanuts is a 2015 art book by Chip Kidd, who previously designed Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz. The title comes from Schulz's approach to linework and only adding what was needed to convey the emotion of the scene. Kidd is a designer and graphic artist who looks at the minimalist approach that Schultz had to his art.
Contents[]
- Intro by Jeff Kinney
- Foreword by Jean Schulz
- “Behind the Door” by Karen Johnson (Director of the Schulz Museum in California)
- Preface by Chip Kidd
- Brief biography of Sparky Schulz, including pictures of his first published drawing in Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
- Photos & drawings of and from Schulz's WWII Sketchbook
- Early cartoons Schulz drew for the Saturday Evening Post
- Schulz's first printed comic strips (1947)
- Li’l Folks strips
- Peanuts strips
- Process of drawing Peanuts
- Rare, unfinished strips
- Subscriber promotions for newspaper editors
- Ads for Peanuts coloring books, Viewmaster collections, color by numbers kits, candy bars, etc.
- Pictures of the Peanuts board game
- Vinyl dolls
- Covers from the first collections
- Advertisements featuring Peanuts characters
- Braille editions
- Correspondence with Harriet Glickman resulting in the creation of Franklin
- Unpublished watercolors & other art
- Intros and backstories for other characters (Spike, Woodstock)
- “The Last Strip” by Paige Braddock (Creative Director at the Schulz Studio in California) on the creation of the February 13, 2000 strip