Digger T. Mesch in his Art Asylum days.
Digger T. Mesch is an American artist, toy sculptor, director, make-up artist, producer and writer, and all around artistic jack-of-all trades and adamant supporter of onmi- & transmedia (multiplatform, evolving media ).
History[]
The award winning and controversial New York City artist founded the U.S.A. design house Art Asylum in 1996. Fighting for artistic credit in an industry where all talent operated in virtual anonymity. Forever changing the system as we know it, today artists across America now receive credit for their work thanks to his tenacity and passion. Digger is a noted alumnus of the famous but now absolved toy company Toy Biz, well known for his MARVEL Characters sculpted work.
In 2001 and 2002, Digger was ranked in Cinescape magazine’s “POWER 100” of the most influential personalities in science fiction and entertainment genre alongside the likes of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and Steven King.
After years of working creatively with the likes of Marvel Entertainment, Lucas Film, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Clive Barker, Kevin Eastman, Ozzy Osbourne, Kiss, Rob Zombie, Eminem and a slew of other world renowned entities Art Asylum was sold to Diamond Select Toys in 2007. Digger’s new brain child Dig Deep Entertainment was formed in the following months, however Digger and his former Art Asylum peers continue to work with Diamond Select to this day to varying degrees.
As known for his persona as his art, Digger has acted in a host of films including Ultraviolet, the Counting House, The Twins Effect, Heat Team as well as voice acting for X-men/Dark Tide, other animation and film. He sometimes has been referred to as a "Rockstar" among toy industry insiders.
Digger's friendship with Eastman would be formed after specific related licensed products would be commissioned by Kevin's Heavy Metal from Art Asylum in the late 1990s. Particularly in regards to Kevin's second installment into the Heavy Metal Film franchise; F.A.K.K. 2 or Heavy Metal 2000 as it was titled in North America. This was the animated adaptation of Eastman's, Simon Bisley's, and Mirage Studios alumnus Eric Talbot's 1990s graphic novel Melting Pot.
Future directorial projects included the co-creation of in 2012 & 2013 Agent 88; a multimedia web-series & film project with a companion book entitled the ART oF 88 published by Heavy Metal Magazine. This project includes noted works by 88 different artists including legendary comic and more independents like: David Mack, Liam Sharp, 4Kids TMNT alumnus Gustavo "Django" Vazquez, Will O'Neill, Mindy Lee, Santino Ramos, Tokka, and Kevin Eastman himself. Kevin also makes a humorous set of cameos in EPISODE X of the series with a couple of encounters with the aged assassin in a supermarket. The series is also noted for it's record breaking Kickstater campaign. Through all this he is the co-founder of 88 Transmedia
Digger is also of the creative team on the 2013 IDW release of the "zombie animal" comic mini-series; The Other Dead.
Always multitasking, Digger's latest directorial project is 35 Days of Kevin Eastman, a documentary focusing on Kevin's story specifically.
An interesting note to his lasting legacy aside from Art Asylum is the fan-favorite Minimates line of block toys. Still being produced by Diamond Select after well over a decade and covering pop-culture icons from film, classic animation properties, horror & comic characters, video game, music and cult icons among a slew of other franchises and famous faces.