Ian David Marsden

At 16, Ian David Marsden sold his first cartoons to the Swiss satirical magazine Nebelspalter and shortly afterward to Penthouse Germany—prompting his father to tell his friends, not without pride, that his son was drawing cartoons for a magazine he wasn’t old enough to buy. With a Swiss mother and a British father, Ian is extremely grateful that the humor and sarcasm gene landed firmly on his father’s side. His creative journey has taken him from Zurich to Paris, New York, Los Angeles, and even Barbados, before settling in a small town in the south of France.

Over more than three decades, his pen has wandered into just about every corner of illustration—cartoons for The New Yorker and Mad Magazine (the main expenditure of his pocket money in his youth and home to many of his cartoonist idols), character design for events like the Ski World Championship, mascots and illustrations for global brands, and drawings that have appeared in children’s TV, comic strips, books, and even on Coca-Cola cans.

One claim to fame seems to stick out: Ian was the first-ever Google Doodle artist, spending a year creating playful, iconic illustrations that appeared on millions of screens worldwide. In 2020, he expanded his repertoire further, publishing his first graphic novel, Marvin: Based on the Way I Was by Marvin Hamlisch. As only the second person in history to be awarded the PEGOT (Pulitzer, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony), Marvin Hamlisch had an incredible story. This graphic novel adaptation of his biography also includes his family’s flight from Nazi-occupied Austria and their immigration to the United States.

Ian’s approach to cartooning emphasizes visual appeal and subtlety, avoiding the temptation to overstate the point. His inspirations include the elegant works of Sempé, Loriot, Steinberg, Booth, Edward Gorey, Ronald Searle, and Tove Jansson. His love of humor is deeply shaped by the writing of James Thurber, S.J. Perelman, and the early, absurd short stories of Woody Allen. Fluent in English, French, and German, he brings a thoughtful, creative and hopefully multifaceted approach to every project.

For Ian, art, literature, friendship, and civilized cohabitation with our fellow humans aren’t just luxuries—they’re essential. He sees the world as drifting away from the light of the Enlightenment—the Lumières—and toward a seemingly voluntarily chosen darkness and narrow-mindedness. In a world that often feels more absurd than any cartoonist could invent, he holds onto optimism, believing that humanist values and creativity need to be protected and defended, especially in challenging times.

E-mail: contact@marsdenillustration.com
Website: https://marsdenillustration.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/idmarsden/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarsdenIllustration