Marcus Hamilton
About
Marcus was born in Lexington, N.C., and graduated from Atlantic Christian College with a degree in commercial art. In 1965, he and his wife, Kaye, moved to Charlotte, N.C., where he worked in the art department of a local TV station.
In 1972, Marcus began a career as a freelance illustrator doing artwork for such publications as Golf Digest and Saturday Evening Post. But in 1993, his career and life took an abrupt turn when he responded to a TV interview in which Hank Ketcham suggested that he would like to retire if he could find someone to draw Dennis the Menace. Marcus called Hank and asked for the opportunity. After seeing art samples, Hank agreed to train him to take over drawing the daily Dennis panels when he would retire in October 1995.
Responding to that TV interview opened a whole new world of opportunity for me. It has rekindled my love for drawing and provides me with the biggest challenge of my life…to keep Hank’s legacy alive by keeping Dennis the Menace creatively fresh every day.
In May 2005, Marcus was awarded the National Cartoonists Society’s Annual Award for Best Newspaper Panel of 2004 in Scottsdale, Ariz.