Brian Frey: 2-D/3-D Multimedia Artist -- Freelance (Print: Cartoonistry!)

Like most kids, I was cartooning in crayon and pencil long before Elementary School, influenced by Looney Tunes and comic strips like "Peanuts" and "B.C.". I turned 8 in April of 1977, and also like most kids, my mind was blown by Star Wars that very next month. Returning home from the theater, I opened one of my hardbound books of blank pages and tried to get down on paper some of the imagery that blazed in my head. My attempt at R2-D2 is... recognizable.

Not quite 10 years later [age 17 / 1986] I got my first paying gig as a cartoonist at a small local newspaper. They were contending with the long-established main paper and didn't last, but I got a couple drawings published! (I write my own jokes; a bold admission since many are puns.)
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While I'd been cartooning throughout school, there in my Junior year I had also already begun to experiment with video production. I easily redirected into that creative outlet. Cartooning is such an inexpensive pursuit, however, it's never gotten "put aside" completely.

Over the next few years, when I had spare time and inspiration, I'd submit samples to magazines like The New Yorker, Playboy, Penthouse and Omni. My gag format is almost always the single-panel joke, rarely a sequential strip, and not only did those magazines prefer that format but they also paid crazy money. So why not hit them first!

I found a content middle-ground at Dragon Magazine, a publication I, uh, actually looked at. From 1988 to 1993 I was published 3 times in Dragon. Issue #197 featured one of my earliest forays into digital art.
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I began doing more digital art by the mid-to-late '90s, venturing into Photoshop by my 2nd cover for DC Comics' Starman trade paperbacks. That's also the time I was planning my wedding, and my then-fiancée and I created some movie poster spoofs. Because we were getting married in an old movie theater, naturally.
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My most recent cartooning project is with members of the Southeast chapter of the National Cartoonists Society... a project called Southern Fried Comics. I submitted a two-page spread featuring more of my mixed-media style (2-D, 3-D and photographic elements).


Like most kids, I was cartooning in crayon and pencil long before Elementary School, influenced by Looney Tunes and comic strips like "Peanuts" and "B.C.". I turned 8 in April of 1977, and also like most kids, my mind was blown by Star Wars that very next month. Returning home from the theater, I opened one of my hardbound books of blank pages and tried to get down on paper some of the imagery that blazed in my head. My attempt at R2-D2 is... recognizable.
Not quite 10 years later [age 17 / 1986] I got my first paying gig as a cartoonist at a small local newspaper. They were contending with the long-established main paper and didn't last, but I got a couple drawings published! (I write my own jokes; a bold admission since many are puns.) \|
While I'd been cartooning throughout school, there in my Junior year I had also already begun to experiment with video production. I easily redirected into that creative outlet. Cartooning is such an inexpensive pursuit, however, it's never gotten "put aside" completely.
Over the next few years, when I had spare time and inspiration, I'd submit samples to magazines like The New Yorker, Playboy, Penthouse and Omni. My gag format is almost always the single-panel joke, rarely a sequential strip, and not only did those magazines prefer that format but they also paid crazy money. So why not hit them first!
I found a content middle-ground at Dragon Magazine, a publication I, uh, actually looked at. From 1988 to 1993 I was published 3 times in Dragon. Issue #197 featured one of my earliest forays into digital art. \| \|
I began doing more digital art by the mid-to-late '90s, venturing into Photoshop by my 2nd cover for DC Comics' Starman trade paperbacks. That's also the time I was planning my wedding, and my then-fiancée and I created some movie poster spoofs. Because we were getting married in an old movie theater, naturally. \| \|
My most recent cartooning project is with members of the Southeast chapter of the National Cartoonists Society... a project called Southern Fried Comics. I submitted a two-page spread featuring more of my mixed-media style (2-D, 3-D and photographic elements).