From Hulu to Chapel Hill: Keith Knight chronicles his storied life through cartoons

Keith Knight, who is currently based in Chapel Hill, is one of the lucky few to have worldwide success in the art of cartooning. 

“He's like a gem to have in this area,” Bob Goldstein, biology professor and adjunct faculty in art at UNC, said. Goldstein said that he has sent students to Knight’s workshops and they have appreciated what they learned from the sessions. 

Over the next weeks, Knight will be holding beginner and advanced cartooning classes in three two-hour-long sessions at the Carrboro Century Center.

Knight has been drawing cartoons since grade school. Early on, he discovered his interest in drawing autobiographical cartoons.

“I got more books where animals were the heroes than Black people,” Knight said. “So I would create these comics about me and my friends, where we were the center, you know, we were the heroes.” 

While in school, Knight drew for his junior high newsletter, high school newspaper and college paper. He also made “zines,” or self-published cartoon magazines, that people would purchase during his time in school.

After moving to San Francisco post-graduation, Knight discovered the legacy of underground cartooning and started his famous "K Chronicles,"which he packaged and sent to 50-60 alternative weekly newspapers.

“So I wrote about concerts I went to and crazy parties, but also, the strips that really resonated with people were the ones I did about race, mainly because no one else was doing them,” he said.

As the number of operational print publications began to dwindle in favor of digital media, Knight moved to Los Angeles to pursue a television show. While he was waiting for his show to be picked up, he worked on a daily comic strip called “The Knightlife,” which ran for 11 years. He also moved to North Carolina during this time. 

Knight’s dreams of creating a television show were finally realized years later with “Woke,” starring Emmy Award-winning actor Lamorne Morris as Knight. The show first aired in 2020 on Hulu and has two seasons available. 

Similar to the autobiographical cartoons he discovered his passion for in grade school, “Woke” is inspired by Knight’s life and work. It follows Keef, a Black cartoonist grappling with an unexpected incident that challenges his worldview. 

Knight has also published 18 books. He previously worked with a publishing company, but these sales did not make enough money to be sustainable, so he began self-publishing with help from the platform Kickstarter. 

“I’m not on any bestseller list, but I’m able to make a living from it. To me, that’s more important than anything,” Knight said. 

His most recently published book, “I Was a Teenage Michael Jackson Impersonator,” is another autobiographical work and was nominated for a prestigious Eisner Award. Currently, Knight is working on a new book, “Keefer Madness,” which is available for pre-order. 

Brittain Peck, a local illustrator, first saw Knight when he was speaking at Duke University in conversation with a local congressman.

Peck said he left the event feeling motivated as an aspiring illustrator. When he saw Knight at an event in Maryland several years later, Peck introduced himself to Knight who treated him like an old friend.

Peck also said that he looks up to Knight even though the two have different art styles. 

While Knight typically uses sharpies, Peck does mostly digital work, which he said can make his art feel less human than Knight’s at times.

“When you work with a sharpie, like he does, you get different kinds of line qualities,” Peck said. “But from the perspective of the person when [they’re] making stuff, it takes a lot of confidence and boldness to just sort of go for something like that, you know, and not kind of sketch it first or something.”

Knight said that in his work, he aims to take complex issues and use his art and storytelling to make it accessible to the masses. He recognizes that cartooning can be used toward positive and negative ends, and wants to use his platform to make a positive impact. 

“If there's a way, I can somehow get an idea across in a way that people might be able to go, ‘Oh, I never thought of it that way,’ that to me is cartooning at its best,” he said.

Knight can often be found working on his strips at Gray Squirrel Coffee Co. in Carrboro.

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