Summary

• Garfield's appearance has changed drastically over the years, from being a fat cat with small eyes to a more expressive and anthropomorphic design.
• The redesign in 1984 made Garfield more cartoon-like and relatable to those who own orange cats, enhancing the humor in the comics.
• Despite various adaptations and films, Garfield's overall design has remained relatively consistent, solidifying him as the beloved character we know today.

Who doesn't love a good comic strip? It was a nice little relaxer in the newspaper to get a few chuckles while flipping through the pages. Now, you can find comic strips all over the internet. Or in the newspaper still, if you prefer physical paper in your hands and not on a tablet. Comic strips have changed and adapted over time to keep up with the modern era. This includes redesigns of certain characters in certain comic strips. Like, maybe a certain fat, orange cat that's been a fan favorite since the early '80s?

Garfield didn't always start out as this cartoony, ginger cat. He was actually fatter when he was first introduced as well! But since his first appearance in the '80s, his, well, appearance has changed drastically. As his design changed, so did our perception of him. Why did Garfield's appearance change so much over the years? To understand that, we'll have to dive into a little bit of his history.

The First Jon Comic Strip

Before Garfield was ever invented, the cartoonist Jim Davis created a comic strip called Gnorm Gnat in 1973, unsurprisingly about a gnat named Gnorm. This strip was solely published in The Pendleton Times in Pendleton, Indiana. Davis tried to take the character mainstream but was unsuccessful, as people didn't really find bugs as funny as he did. Not too long after that, Davis tried again to create his own comic strip and went through what animals could be popular mainstream.

Ultimately, he decided on cats, since he grew up on a farm with 25 cats. From there, Garfield was born, but he wasn't the Garfield that we know just yet. Davis created the Jon comic strips, which first appeared in The Pendleton Times in January 1976, just two weeks after Gnorm Gnat ended. In March 1978, Jon was then published nationally and renamed Garfield.

When Garfield was first introduced as a character in the Jon comic strips, he looked like a really fat cat. His body and cheeks were almost perfect circles, he had small, squinty eyes, and rather large front and back paws. Jon also looks a lot different compared to his current design. Jon looks a little more life-like but with the same small and squinty eyes as Garfield. Given that this is a comic strip, it's clear that Garfield doesn't look very cartoon-like. His comic design fit well with the times that he was first created. This design lasted from 1979-1983 before he (and the other characters) were restylized in 1984.

Related: Chris Pratt's Garfield Role Reveals a Larger Problem in Hollywood

Stylistic Cartoon Changes

From 1984 onward, Garfield the comic and character were changed to a more cartoon-like design. He now stands on his hind legs, he's a bit slimmed down compared to his first design, his eyes are large and no longer squinty, and he's far more expressive. He basically became more anthropomorphic in this design than in the past one, in which he looked more like a real (but still overweight) cat.

Plus, since he was no longer drawn in black and white, Garfield was revealed to be an orange cat. According to Jim Davis, the reason for this redesign was to make it easier for Garfield to "push Odie off the table" or "reach for a piece of pie" (via The New York Times). Honestly, the redesign perfectly aligns with so-called "orange cat behavior" and makes the comics funnier in general and relatable to those who own orange cats.

The Fat Cat We Know Today

Since 1984, Garfield's design hasn't changed that much. His fur may have gotten brighter or his personality may have changed (he doesn't really kick Odie off the table or tease Jon much like he did in the past), but his overall design remained the same. The comics would eventually get adapted into animated TV shows like Garfield and Friends in 1988, a CGI series in 2007 called The Garfield Show, and various animated specials.

One of the more significant changes was in the 2004 live-action film Garfield: The Movie and its 2006 sequel Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties. Because both films were live-action, Garfield's (voiced by Bill Murray) iconic cartoon look was adapted to look like a real, fat, bright-orange cat. He still had an expressive face like that of his comic predecessor, but he walked on his four feet like a normal cat instead of his hind legs like the comics. He acts like a cat instead of an anthropomorphic character. But he does break the fourth wall like the comic Garfield.

Related: Do We Even Need a Garfield Reboot?

We'll be seeing a new rendition of Garfield in May 2024. Chris Pratt (The Guardians of the Galaxy; The Lego Movie) will be voicing everyone's favorite orange cat in the upcoming animated film The Garfield Movie. Joined by Samuel L. Jackson, Garfield will reunite with his long-lost father Vic (Jackson), an even fatter street cat who plans on bringing Garfield along for a heist. This will shed light on some of Garfield's past as a street cat before he adopted Jon (his exact words). From what the trailer showed us, Garfield and Odie's cartoonish character design remains the same as that of the current comic strips. Like the film itself, it is being pulled from Davis's comics, albeit more CGI and furry.

Garfield's initial appearance change was simply a design choice by Jim Davis. He wanted his character to have an easier time doing the things he loves, whether that's reaching for that last slice of lasagna, pranking Jon, or drop-kicking Odie. Quickly becoming an icon, Garfield even got his own theme park ride in Pennsylvania's Kennywood before it was restored to The Old Mill. Despite the numerous times our food-loving cat had his appearance changed and adapted over time, he is still the beloved character we know today.