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Gary Frutkoff was born in Mineola, NY in 1951. Family moved to Franklin Square, Long Island in 1955. Gary attended Washington Street Elementary, Carey High School, and almost 2 years at Nassau Community College, earning an AA in Art. With a long appreciation for comic illustration and caricature art, Frutkoff visited artists like Neal Adams and Bruce Stark. He had hoped to work for DC or Marvel comics, but soon realized he couldn’t produce 7 pages a day and draw nearly as well as the established artists. Before a rock concert at Carnegie Hall in 1970, Frutkoff and some friends visited Ed Sanders Peace Eye bookstore. It was there he discovered “underground comix” and bought up a bunch that included artists like Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, Moscoso, Rick Griffin, and Dave Sheridan. The rough, scratchy pen work and stylistic freedom interested Frutkoff. He started selling comix out on Long Island, and corresponding with artists and publishers on the west coast – including Ron Turner and Dave Sheridan. Turner introduced Frutkoff to George DiCaprio – a NYC writer and publisher of comix (and father to Leo). DiCaprio introduced him to many other artists and writers. But Frutkoff had always thought he was born on the wrong coast, and when Sheridan offered an invite to visit Marin County, Frutkoff immediately packed up his VW van to head west. Sheridan was co-creator of a comix, Mother’s Oats, which had a dynamic style and was well drawn. The trip was well timed – one of the residing artists in Sheridan’s San Anselmo home/studio wanted to head back to Cleveland. Frutkoff was offered the room for $65 a month. Frutkoff would frequent the offices of Rip Off Press and Ron Turner’s Last Gasp publishing. At Rip Off, he became friends with Gilbert Shelton (Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers). Gilbert was looking for someone to share the drawing part of the work, and offered Frutkoff the opportunity. Frutkoff worked with Shelton a short time and then had some work of his own published in the magazine, The Rip Off Review of Western Culture. Gary moved back to Marin County and art directed for publishers who’s work included innovators like Buckminster Fuller and Ram Dass (Richard Alpert of early LSD days). From there, Frutkoff explored oil painting, construction and glass etching. These eclectic disciplines would lay the foundation for his eventual move to film and television design. Walter Murch was looking for an illustrator to design characters for his directorial debut, Return To Oz. Through members of Producer Gary Kurtz’s staff, Gary was able to meet Walter and eventually get the position. Frutkoff then relocated to Los Angeles and has worked with Directors Sam Raimi, Steven Soderbergh, Carl Franklin, Quentin Tarantino, Tom Hanks, Jerry Zucker, and Marty Brest. He’s designed series including Prison Break, Queen Sugar, and most recently, This Is Us.