Off the Mark

The day Mark Parisi ran into Charles Schulz’ comic strip Peanuts, he immediately wanted to recreate it. Then he started to copy comic strips out of newspapers. That’s how he began drawing. At Salem State University, he changed his major several times before settling on Art, with a concentration in Graphic Art.

Born in 1961, Mark is the creator of Off the Mark, a comic panel which began in 1987 and now appears in 100 newspapers, as well as on greeting cards, T-shirts, and more. Off the Mark is distributed daily by Universal Press Syndicate. Besides Charles Schulz, Mark’s work is influenced by MAD Magazine and Gary Larson. He has also said he admires the work of cartoonists Jim Meddick, Sergio Aragonés, and Garry Trudeau. In addition, Mark is the author and illustrator of the Marty Pants middle-grade novel series for Harper Collins.

www.offthemark.com

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