Robert Guillory (born June 2, 1982) is an American comic book artist known for his art on Chew, published by Image Comics. He currently writes and draws Farmhand published by Image Comics and writes Mosely published by Boom! Studios.

Rob Guillory
Born (1982-06-02) June 2, 1982 (age 42)
Lafayette, Louisiana
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Artist
Notable works
Chew, Farmhand
AwardsEisner Award,[1] Harvey Award[2][3]
http://www.robguillory.com

Early life and education

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Guillory was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana.[4][5] He made his first comics on construction paper at the age of four.[6]

He attended University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he studied computer animation and drew for the college newspaper.[6]

Career

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Rob Guillory first came to prominence as the illustrator of Chew, written by John Layman. Guillory handled pencils, inks, and colors, garnering him the 2010 Harvey Award for best new talent;[2] Guillory would illustrate the story arcs Taster's Choice, International Flavor, Just Desserts, Flambé, Major League Chew, Space Cakes, Bad Apples, Family Recipes, Chicken Tenders, Blood Puddin’, The Last Suppers, Sour Grapes, and Outer Darkness/Chew over the course of the series.

Chew also won the 2010 Harvey Award for best new series,[3] Eisner Award for Best New Series in 2010,[1] the Eisner Award for Best Ongoing Series in 2011,[7] and was nominated for, but did not win, two 2010 Eagle Awards (Favourite New Comicbook and Favourite American Colour Comicbook).[8]

Instead of pursuing more work-for-hire jobs after Chew ended in 2016, Guillory opted to launch a new creator-owned science fiction series Farmhand at Image Comics."[9] The series, written, penciled and inked by Guillory with colors by Taylor Wells, tells the story of a "body farmer" who grows human organs.

Guillory began working on Farmhand in December 2016, about a month after the conclusion of Chew.[5] At the time, Guillory was best known for his artwork on Chew, but prior to starting that series he had written his own material.[10] He asked many writer/artist professionals what their routines were like so he could refine his own process.[11] Guillory says he writes detailed full scripts "as if I was writing for a different artist."[9] While he fine-tuned the project, only a few close friends knew about it.[11] When he first mentioned the concept to Layman, Layman cautioned against doing it so soon to avoid being typecast as "the guy who does really weird stories".[10] He did not let anyone at Image Comics know about it until mid 2017.[11]

Farmhand debuted to mostly positive reviews. The first issue averaged 8.6 out of 10 according to review aggregator Comic Book Roundup, and the series overall averaged 8.5 after five issues.[12] Guillory said the initial response he received from readers was surprise; they had expected the story to be pure humor and were shocked to discover the characters had real depth.[13]

In April 2022, Guillory was reported among the more than three dozen comics creators who contributed to Operation USA's benefit anthology book, Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds, a project spearheaded by IDW Publishing Special Projects Editor Scott Dunbier, whose profits would be donated to relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees resulting from the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[14][15] Guillory and John Layman teamed up to contribute a new Chew story to the anthology.[16]

Guillory launched an additional creator-owned title, Mosley from Boom! Studios in January 2023.[17] The science fiction/fantasy series is illustrated by Sam Lotfi and was Guillory's debut as a writer but not artist on a title.[18]

Personal life

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Guillory lives in Lafayette, Louisiana, where he was born and raised.[4][5] He is married and has three children.[5][9]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Chew Wins Best New Series Eisner Award at Comic Book News, Reviews, and Previews – The Blog From Another World". Tfaw.com. 2010-07-24. Archived from the original on 2012-09-11. Retrieved 2013-10-29.
  2. ^ a b Arrant, Chris (2010-08-30). "Looking at the Harvey Awards' Best New Talent winners over the years". CBR. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
  3. ^ a b [1] Archived July 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b "Chew on this". The Independent Media Group. July 4, 2009. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  5. ^ a b c d Boudreaux, Dan (May 31, 2018). "Lafayette comic-book artist Rob Guillory 'leaps into the unknown' with new series 'Farmhand'". The Advocate. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  6. ^ a b Rowell, Kathie (2015-02-04). "'Chew' artist 'living the dream' drawing comic books". Shreveport Times. Retrieved 2023-05-21.
  7. ^ Hatfield, Don (2011-07-26). "SDCC 2011: Complete List Of Eisner Award Winners!". MTV. Archived from the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
  8. ^ [2] Archived May 30, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ a b c Dueben, Alex (2018-07-10). ""I JUST DIDN'T CARE ABOUT DOING ANYTHING ELSE": AN INTERVIEW WITH ROB GUILLORY". The Comics Journal. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
  10. ^ a b O'Keefe, Matt (May 15, 2018). "Matt Chats: Rob Guillory on the Growth of FARMHAND". Comics Beat. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  11. ^ a b c Midura, Tim (August 2, 2018). "Romanticizing Farming: A SDCC Interview with Rob Guillory". The Outhousers. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  12. ^ "Farmhand". Comic Book Roundup. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  13. ^ Brewer, Byron (2018). "DF Interview: Rob Guillory brings us a bumper crop of human organs in Farmhand". Dynamic Forces. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  14. ^ Kaplan, Rebecca O. (April 18, 2022). "ZOOP launches benefit anthology COMICS FOR UKRAINE: SUNFLOWER SEEDS". The Beat. Archived from the original on April 18, 2022. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  15. ^ Brooke, David (April 18, 2022). "'Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds' to benefit Ukrainian refugees". AIPT. Archived from the original on April 26, 2022. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  16. ^ Kit, Borys (April 20, 2022). "Comic Book Creators Team for Ukraine Relief Effort Anthology 'Sunflower Seed'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 20, 2022. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
  17. ^ Valentine, Evan (2023-01-03). "Mosley #1 Review: An Everyman's Technological Nightmare". comicbook.com. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
  18. ^ Snyder, Mikkel (2023-01-03). "How to Dismantle a Technocracy: Talking with Rob Guillory and Sam Lotfi about 'Mosely'". ComicBook.com. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
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