Gary Baseman is an American artist, cartoonist, and animator who investigates history, heritage, and the human condition. Through iconography and visual narratives that celebrate “the beauty of the bittersweetness of life,” his work brings together the worlds of popular culture and fine art.

Cranium is a party game created by Whit Alexander and Richard Tait in 1998. Initially, Cranium was sold through Amazon.com and the Starbucks coffee chain, then-novel methods of distribution. After selling 44 million copies of Cranium and its sister titles, the game's manufacturer Cranium, Inc. was bought by Hasbro, Inc. for $77.5 million in 2008. Billed as "The Game for Your Whole Brain", Cranium includes a wide variety of activities, unlike many other party games. Giorgio Davanzo handles packaging and branding for the game, and the artwork is by cartoonist Gary Baseman.