Cliff Roberts

Cliff Roberts, ca. 1950s

Cliff Roberts (1929-1999) was a cartoonist and animator who worked on inserts for Sesame Street as well as the spin-off comic strip and Sesame Street Magazine. Roberts spent much of his early career in New York City as a freelance commercial artist and director. He also worked as a photographer, with work displayed at the 1964 World's Fair, and contributed cartoons to Playboy and The New Yorker. He soon became a popular designer for animation, creating character model sheets for Terrytoons and UPA projects. Roberts' style, reflecting his commercial illustration background, involved flat but appealing forms and a minimal color palette; most of his characters were white blobs with occasional splashes of color.

For Sesame Street, Roberts created Jasper and Julius, two characters who would engage in debates over body parts, as well as Christopher Clumsy. These characters were brought over to Roberts' Sesame Street strip, alongside Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster.

Roberts later worked on the Saturday morning cartoons The Smurfs, Scooby-Doo and The Pink Panther, and illustrated the Langston Hughes book The First Book of Jazz. He retired in 1993.

Sketches

Jasper and Julius

Christopher Clumsy

An N-terview (EKA: Episode 0131)

What if a dog looked like a bird? (EKA: Episode 0262)

Two ears, two eyes, two arms, and two legs. (EKA: Episode 0406)

What if a frog and a fly switched bodies? (EKA: Episode 0406)

Dry and Wet (By the Pool) (EKA: Episode 0597)

Dry and Wet (In the Rain) (EKA: Episode 0597)

Dry and Wet (Shark Fishing) (EKA: Episode 0597)

What if a mouse and an elephant switched bodies? (EKA: Episode 1044)

I Thought a Big Thought (EKA: Episode 2313)

Full, fuller and fullest chickens (EKA: Episode 3863)

Robertsmen.jpg

External links

• Bio with Sesame Street comic images
• Sample illustrations from The First Book of Jazz
• Early work for FORD TIMES magazine