Robbin (Franklin) Armstrong, the creator of "JumpStart," was born on on March 4, 1962, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
At the age of 3, Robbin found his vocation by falling in love with the comic strip "Peanuts" by Charles Schulz. He was captivated by the stories told through simple but deft drawings, and spent the next three years perfecting his rendition of Charlie Brown. Little did Robbin know that before he turned 27, he would have not only syndicated his own strip but also meet his hero. Robbin become a protegé and a lifelong friend of Schulz, who immortalized Robbin in "Peanuts" as Franklin Armstrong: a character Schulz introduced shortly after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968.
Drawing did not come easily for Robbin, but with steady work and perseverance, he mastered drawing Charlie Brown and Snoopy, followed by characters from "The Flintstones" and a strip called "Wee Pals." The latter was created by Morrie Turner, who would be another mentor to Robbin, introducing him to Schulz and to the world of syndication.
After high school, Robbin pursued and earned a bachelor’s of fine arts degree from Syracuse University.
In addition to his studies, he created and penned a strip called "Hector" that ran in the Daily Orange newspaper. Through juggling his classes and the strip, he learned self-discipline, how to balance play with work and how to push himself mentally and creatively -- habits that come in handy in any career, but especially as a professional syndicated cartoonist.
Robbin stuck with "Hector" after graduating, but when he was unable to get it syndicated, he ultimately created "JumpStart." This strip hit all the right notes, and Robb achieved the Holy Grail of cartooning -- syndication -- in 1989.
Unlike many modern cartoonists, Robbin still draws his strip by hand in order to ensure that the art feels dynamic. He finds his humor and inspiration in everyday life, in his own family and from random conversations. "JumpStart" focuses on universal truths about life from people of all ages and races; Robbin believes that it is the shared commonality of life that makes readers truly stop, read and laugh.