Shout-out: Gary Fields

DIGESTATE CONTRIBUTOR:

GARY FIELDS!

Gary Fields was born with a pencil in his hand and weaned on Hanna-Barbera cartoons, Mad magazine and Rat Finks.  He's been drawing professionally for over 25 years and is really old.  He is a member of the National Cartoonists' Society, SCBWI, and hopes to create a childrens' book.  He lives in the exotic state of New Jersey with his wife, three children, and one boxer.

http://garyfieldsstudios.blogspot.com/

Editor's note: I recently met up with Gary, and I am happy to report that he looks EXACTLY like his self-portrait up there. Even down to the single drop of sweat flying from the back of his head. 

I love Gary's aesthetic. It mashes together a clean & classic Hanna-Barbera style with elements of old Jazz album covers from the '50s & '60s (a touch of Jim Flora, maybe?). There's vibrancy to all of his drawings that show how much he enjoys drawing. Really wonderful character design. 

Shout-out: Box Brown

DIGESTATE CONTRIBUTOR: 

BOX BROWN!

Box Brown is a cartoonist, illustrator and comic publisher from Philadelphia.  His comics have been featured in Mad Magazine and his illustrations have been on Wired.com.  His web and print comic "Everything Dies" was named a notable comic of 2011 in the Best American Comics Anthology and was honored with two Ignatz Awards.  His comics publishing outfit, Retrofit launched in 2011.  He's currently working on a comic biography of pro wrestler Andre the Giant.  

 boxbrown.com, retrofitcomics.com

Page from "Best Friends 4 Ever"

Editor's Note: I think Box won a Xeric grant in the same cycle as Sophia Wiedeman and me, because I remember meeting him around the same time as her. I always look forward to seeing what new minis he'll have at the various comic conventions at which we both have tables. The man is incredibly prolific. I consider it an accomplishment if I have a new comic at each convention, but Box seems to always have at least two or more new ones! 


I love his work for the same reasons I love James Kochalka's work: he is able to pare his drawings down to the essentials without losing any emotional impact. Clean, simple and easy to read. 


Oh, and I should mention how much I love his Retrofit Comics outfit. By subscribing you'll have a new "floppy" comic sent to you about once every month. It seems that most everyone has switched over to putting out graphic novels, so it's refreshing to have this neglected format embraced once again. 

Page from "Everything Dies" series

Page from "Ghosts & Aliens" ("Everything Dies" series)