Scott Adams and the success of Dilbert

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Scott Adams is a famous American writer and comic book writer. During his life, he went from a bank manager to a cartoonist. His most famous work is the Dilbert series of satirical comics.

About the author

Adams graduated in economics, has a master's degree in administration, and studied at the College of Art.

From childhood, he was fond of comics. He worked in a bank in San Francisco, where he was robbed several times, and in the financial management department at Pacific Bell. While working in an office, he began drawing Dilbert comics. Since 1989, 9,000 satirical strips from this series have been published under his authorship. In the 1990s, he went full-time as an artist, doing Dilbert full-time. He originally wrote comics in English, but by 2000 they had been translated into 19 languages and released in 57 countries. They were published in newspapers and in separate books. The phenomenal success glorified the author all over the world. Adams had other projects, but the best comics and the most famousfrom the Dilbert series. In the late 2000s and early 10s, he published several books on success and self-development, such as The Theory of Luck, Shards of God, Beware of the Boss, and The Good Book. In addition, Adams actively blogs and is engaged in journalistic activities. He has many articles and posts on various topics: from business and politics to a vegetarian diet.

US Presidential Election - 2016

At first, Scott Adams supported Hillary Clinton, but quickly changed his position. Donald Trump has been a hugely unpopular candidate in creative circles. Therefore, when the famous comic book artist announced his sympathies for him, it caused surprise and indignation. He publicly expressed his thoughts about the elections and candidates on his blog and social networks. At some point, the artist began to receive letters with threats and insults. Scott Adams emphasized that the Republican nominee could do more for America than Clinton. Moreover, Trump sympathized with him as a businessman, he praised his approach to the campaign and predicted his victory long before the election results were announced.

About Dilbert

The idea for a comic book series about the average "white collar" came to Scott Adams when he himself was an office worker. He sarcastically showed the structure of modern office work, ridiculing its absurdity and inconsistency.

Dilbert himself is a collective image. Characterworks as an engineer in the IT field, but the situations that happen to him are close to many who have ever tried office work, albeit in other areas.

Adams chose a very successful style for his work. Simple colors and shapes are easily perceived and deposited in the viewer's head, the conditional elaboration of faces makes it easy for the reader to associate himself or his acquaintances with comic book characters. The background and setting aren't particularly detailed either, but the atmosphere of the office is well conveyed and felt through details like a tie, a coffee mug, or a water dispenser.

About crushing success and its causes

According to the author himself, the success of "Dilbert" is due to the fact that he came out at the right time, plus an element of chance and luck. In promoting and developing comics about office work, the author was helped by an education in business administration, which taught him the importance of feedback from the public. So Scott Adams, guided by the feedback, picked up an important topic for society. Helped, of course, and observations made in the workplace. Soon strips about Dilbert, ironic and truthful, became the most popular comics about office life. The success was also influenced by the fact that the comics were originally released in English - the international language, thanks to which the potential audience reach was huge.

About office work

Even in his student years, Adams planned to work in the economic field and in management. However, after working from 9 to 5, I discovered the blatant absurdity of the office structure and hierarchy. The rise of incompetent employees, voluminous tasks and the appearance of activity frustrated the artist and gave rise to the idea of comics about life in such a job. Soon, "Dilbert" became famous and popular and began to bring income to the creator, but Adams was in no hurry to leave his hated job. After studying economics and management in theory and practice, he decided to postpone his dismissal, as financial stability allowed him to work quietly on comics, without fear of hunger and poverty, while drawing inspiration for new issues along the way. At the same time, the author was not afraid that he would be fired from his job, since he had an alternative source of income, which over time became more profitable and more reliable.

In general, Adams believed that 70% of office work was meaningless, managers did nothing, and bosses diligently pretended to know something, which was ridiculed by his best comics.

Life after office

After leaving his position, Scott Adams promised himself to stay away from work from 9 to 5. Finally, the author was able to afford to work at his own pace and create a comfortable daily routine for himself. Now his lifestyle has nothing to do with what is described in "Dilbert". The artist gets up early in the morning - around 5 a.m. In the first half of the day, he actively writes to the blog and social networks and draws 2 comics each. After lunch - physical education, running, cardio or tennis. The rest of the day is devoted to other projects that are not related to comics and public activities. Many of his achievements in the past are notwere successful, but Adams does not give up. By learning from mistakes and working hard, he conquers new horizons, generating new ideas and bringing them to life.