Fil Barlow (born 8 April 1963) is an Australian artist, cartoonist, writer, production designer currently based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. Barlow is the creator of the ''Zooniverse''

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

published in 1986-87.

Biography

Barlow was born on 8 April 1963 in Adelaide, South Australia. In 1965, his family moved to

Balwyn North, Victoria Balwyn North, also known as North Balwyn, is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 10 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Boroondara and Whitehorse local government areas. Balwyn North reco ...

. He pursued drawing at an early age, self publishing his first

, ''Fudsey'', at age of 10, and the next year had his comic ''Zeroy'' serialized over four weeks in a Sunday paper called ''The Observer''. Barlow began his professional cartooning career with ''Australian Scout Magazine'' at the age of sixteen, two years later he became a regular contributor to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

based ''Inkspots Magazine''.

Minotaur Books St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...

proprietor, Colin Paraskevas, published Barlow's ''Zooniverse'' comic internationally in a joint venture with

Eclipse Comics Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market. It was ...

between 1986 and 1987. Richard Raynis, then producer at DIC offered Barlow the character design supervisor position on '' ALF'', which he worked on from 1987 to 1989. Barlow returned to Australia, moving to the Gold Coast, Queensland in 1992 creating the comic ''Rex Vectar'', which was serialized in ''Megazone Magazine'' in 1992 and ran until 1994, he also established his own publishing and animation production house, ''Zoonimedia''. In mid-1994, he moved to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

, with Helen Maier one of the artists associated with Kinetic Comics. In 1996, Barlow returned to

with Maier, establishing an animation production house, Artopia. Through his company Barlow has worked as a character design supervisor and lead character designer at Columbia Tristar, working on ''

Extreme Ghostbusters ''Extreme Ghostbusters'' is an American animated television series based on the ''Ghostbusters'' franchise. It is a spin-off to the animated series '' The Real Ghostbusters''. The series originally aired on the syndicated Bohbot Kids Network's ...

'', '' Godzilla: The Series'', the 3D series '' Starship Troopers: Roughneck Chronicles'', ''

Max Steel Max Steel is a line of action figures produced and owned by the toy company Mattel since 1999. The original figures based on the first TV series were similar to the original 12-inch G.I. Joe toys, consisting almost entirely of different versi ...

'', ''Heavy Gear'' and Adam Sandler's feature ''

Eight Crazy Nights ''Eight Crazy Nights'' (also known as ''Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights'') is a 2002 American adult animated musical black comedy film directed by Seth Kearsley and produced, co-written by and starring Adam Sandler in his first voice-acting role ...

''. From 2001 onwards, Barlow has worked independently as character and production designer on '' Tutenstein'', ''

Igor Igor may refer to: People * Igor (given name), an East Slavic given name and a list of people with the name * Mighty Igor (1931–2002), former American professional wrestler * Igor Volkoff, a professional wrestler from NWA All-Star Wrestling * ...

'' and the co-creation with Helen Maier of the game '' Spectrobes'' for

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

. In 2010, Barlow returned to

Australia to focus solely on ''Zooniverse''. Barlow began submitting ''Zoon'' related animations each month to the web site ''Loop De Loop'', and established a new company Zoonitoons with Maier and in 2012, they began republishing his ''Zooniverse'' and ''Rex Vectar'' comics. In 2014, the couple began collaborating on 8House: Yorris for Image Comics.

Credits

* '' Spectrobes'' (2007) (creator with Helen Maier) * ''

'' (2008) (character/production designer) * '' Tutenstein'' (2003–08) (character/production designer) * ''

'' (2002) (character designer) * ''

'' (2000–02) (creature & character designer) * '' Starship Troopers: Roughneck Chronicles'' (1999-2000) (creature & character designer) * '' Godzilla: The Series'' (1998-2000) (creature & character designer) * ''

'' (1997) (creature & character designer) * '' COPS'' (1988) (character designer) * '' ALF: The Animated Series'' (1987–89) (production designer) * ''Zooniverse'' (1986–87) (artist, writer, creator)

External links

Zoonitoons
Fil Barlow's publishing house *

Lambiek's database
Fil's Deviant Art page
Samples of his Animation Design work from his career
The official Zooniverse Comic blog
The official Zooniverse Comic blog
8House: Yorris
at Image Comics {{DEFAULTSORT:Barlow, Fil 1963 births Australian comics artists Australian cartoonists Living people Australian production designers People from Balwyn, Victoria Artists from Melbourne Australian expatriates in the United States