Laxman was engrossed by the illustrations in magazines such as The Strand Magazine, Punch, Bystander, Wide World and Tit-Bits, even before he could read. Soon he was drawing on his own, on the floors, walls and doors of his house and doodling caricatures of his teachers at school. Praised by a teacher for his drawing of a peepal leaf, he began to think of himself as an artist in the making.
Another early influence on Laxman were the cartoons of the world-renowned British cartoonist, Sir David Low (whose signature he misread as "cow" for a long time) that appeared now and then in The Hindu. Laxman notes in his autobiography, The Tunnel of Time, "I drew objects that caught my eye outside the window of my room - the dry twigs, leaves and lizard-like creatures crawling about, the servant chopping firewood and, of course, and number of crows in various postures on the rooftops of the buildings opposite."
After high school, Laxman applied to the JJ School of Art, Bombay hoping to concentrate on his lifelong interests of drawing and painting, but the dean of the school wrote to him that his drawings lacked, "the kind of talent to qualify for enrollment in our institution as a student", and refused admission. He finally graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Mysore. In the meantime he continued his freelance artistic activities and contributed cartoons to Swarajya and an animated film based on the mythological character, Narada.
Laxman's earliest work was for newspapers and magazines such as Swarajya and Blitz. While still at the Maharaja College of Mysore, he began to illustrate his elder brother RK Narayan's stories in The Hindu, and he drew political cartoons for the local newspapers and for the Swatantra. Laxman also drew cartoons, for the Kannada humour magazine, Koravanji.
Incidentally, Koravanji was founded in 1942 by Dr M Shivaram who was an allopath and had a clinic around Majestic area in Bangalore. He started this monthly magazine, dedicating it to hilarious/satirical articles and cartoons. Dr Shivaram himself was an eminent humourist in Kannada. He encouraged Laxman quite a lot. He held a summer job at the Gemini Studios, Madras. His first full-time job was as a political cartoonist for the The Free Press Journal in Mumbai, Bal Thackeray, was his colleague. Laxman later joined The Times of India, beginning a career that has spanned for over fifty years. His "common man" character, featured in his pocket cartoons,is portrayed as a witness to the making of democracy. Anthropologist Ritu G Khanduri notes, "R K Laxman structures his cartoon-news through a plot about corruption and a set of characters. This news is visualized and circulates through the recurring figures of the mantri (Minister), the Common Man and the trope of modernity symbolized by the airplane."
He also created a popular mascot for the Asian Paints group called Gattu in 1954. Laxman has also penned a few novels. His cartoons have appeared in Hindi films such as Mr & Mrs '55 and a Tamil film Kamaraj. His creations also include the sketches drawn for the television adaptation of Malgudi Days which was written by his elder brother RK Narayan and directed by Shankar Nag. Laxman also drew caricatures of friends for private purposes.
There is a chair named after RK Laxman at Symbiosis International University.
R K Laxman was first married to the Bharatanatyam dancer and film actress Kumari Kamala Laxman, who began her film career as a child actress named "Baby Kamala," and graduated into adult roles under the name "Kumari Kamala" ("Miss Kamala"). They were divorced, and Laxman later married a lady whose first name was again Kamala. This was the authoress and children's book writer Kamala Laxman. In a cartoon series named "The star I never met" in film magazine Filmfare he painted a cartoon of Kamala Laxman, with the title "The star I only met!". The couple had no children and divided their time between Mumbai and Pune.
In September 2003, Laxman was affected by a stroke which left him paralyzed on his left side. He has partly recovered from its effects. On the evening of June 20, 2010, Laxman was admitted to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai after being transported by an air ambulance from Pune. His condition was said to be stable.
In October 2012 Laxman celebrated his 91st birthday in Pune. During a private gathering at his residence, Laxman cut the cake and was presented a DVD of a documentary titled The Brainy Crow by his fan Rajvardhan Patil, depicting the life and survival of the favourite bird of the cartoonist. Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, who had a past association with Laxman as a cartoonist, sent birthday greetings to him, family sources said. Scientist Jayant Narlikar and Symbiosis University chancellor S B Mujumdar also came to greet him on the occasion.
He was conferred with Padma Vibhushan in the year 2005. Besides, he was also honoured with Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts in 1984. He was given Lifetime Achievement Award for Journalism by CNN IBN TV18 January 29, 2008.
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