Her parents supported her talent by enrolling her in painting classes and later private lessons in watercolor painting. By the time she was in college she was selling watercolor landscapes at art fairs. During slow times at the fairs she drew little cartoons of animals doing things like playing golf or fishing. Customers snapped up the animal drawings, so that her work became more and more focused on the style that became Suzy's Zoo.
She is a founding member of the San Diego Watercolor Society. She sits on the boards of directors of several charities including the Rees-Stealy Research Foundation and the San Diego/Imperial Council of the
Girl Scouts of the USA
Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), commonly referred to as simply Girl Scouts, is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. Founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, it was organized a ...
.
Recognition
Spafford won the
National Cartoonist Society
The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...
Greeting Card Award in 1996.
She was presented with the Kappa Delta Woman of Achievement Award in 1997.
In 2003 the local
Girl Scout
Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...
council honored her with their annual "Cool Women" award, given to local women who serve as outstanding role models for girls as they balance work, family, friends and service.
Animated series
An animated series of Suzy's Zoo entitled ''Suzy's Zoo: A Day with Witzy,'' co-produced by Suzy's Zoo Film Partners and the
Tokyo Broadcasting System
formerly is a Japanese media and licensed broadcasting holding company. It is the parent company of the television network and radio network . It has a 28-affiliate television network called JNN (Japan News Network), as well as a 34-affili ...
(TBS) network, began broadcasting on
BabyFirstTV
BabyFirst (stylized in all lowercase since 2019) is an American TV channel that produces and distributes content for babies from 0–3 years and their parents through television, the internet, and mobile applications. The channel is owned by Fi ...
on March 23, 2015, starring
Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld
Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld (born March 21, 1987) is an American stage and voice actress, best known for voicing List of Pokémon anime characters#Bonnie, Bonnie, List of Pokémon anime characters#Nurse Joy, Nurse Joy, and List of Pokémon anime chara ...
as Witzy.
Bibliography
Source:
* ''Alphabetical Soup'', Suzy's Zoo (San Diego, CA), 1995.
* ''Witzy and Zoom Zoom'', Suzy's Zoo (San Diego, CA), 1998.
* ''Witzy Wonders'', Scholastic Inc. (New York, NY), 2001.
* ''Witzy's Opposites'', Lyric Pub. (Allen, TX), 2001.
* ''Witzy's Colors'', Lyric Pub. (Allen, TX), 2001.
* ''Witzy's Book of Words'', Scholastic (New York, NY), 2001.
* ''Witzy's Block Party'', Scholastic (New York, NY), 2001.
* ''Friends Forever'', Lyric Pub. (Allen, TX), 2001.
* ''Witzy to the Rescue'', Lyric Pub. (Allen, TX), 2001.
* ''Witzy Plays Hide-and-Seek'', Scholastic (New York, NY), 2001.
* ''Back to School? Cool!'', Scholastic Inc. (New York, NY), 2002.
* ''Trick or Treat? Neat!'', Scholastic Inc. (New York, NY), 2002.
* ''Witzy's Winter Wonderland'', Scholastic (New York, NY), 2002.
* ''Witzy's Backyard Easter Hunt'', Scholastic Inc. (New York, NY), 2002.
* ''Witzy's Numbers'', Scholastic (New York, NY), 2002.
* ''Witzy's Shapes'', Scholastic (New York, NY), 2002.
* ''Stormy Weather? Stick Together!'', Scholastic (New York, NY), 2003.
* ''Helping-out Day?: Hooray!'', Scholastic (New York, NY), 2003.
* ''You're One Hot Diggety Dog'', Harvest House Publishers (Eugene, OR), 2004.
* ''Witzy's Halloween Ghost'', Dalmatian Press (Franklin, TN), 2011.
References
External links
Official Website* ; Japanese animation based on Spafford's characters
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spafford, Suzy
1945 births
American women cartoonists
Artists from San Diego
Businesspeople from San Diego
Living people
Artists from Toledo, Ohio
Point Loma High School alumni
San Diego State University alumni
Writers from San Diego
American cartoonists
21st-century American women