Fred Gallagher (cartoonist)

Fred Gallagher
Fred Gallagher sketching at an autograph booth at Anime Expo 2011.
Born	1968 (age 48–49) Long Island, New York
Nationality	American
Other names	Fredrin, Piro
Occupation	illustrator & web cartoonist
Known for	Megatokyo
Spouse(s)	Sarah
Children	Jack

Frederick Gallagher (born November 15, 1968) is an American illustrator and web cartoonist. He is best known as the artist, co-creator, and now full owner of Megatokyo. He also goes by the name of Piro, the main character of Megatokyo, whom he has stated is an idealized version of himself when he was in college. He took this name from the name of the cat in the visual novel Kanon.

Gallagher lives with his wife and her son in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The Fine Red Cat (1993) is a children's book by Jennifer Ann Gallagher, Fred Gallagher's sister. It is notable as the first published work Gallagher illustrated.

The webcomic Megatokyo started its run on August 14, 2000 in collaboration with Rodney Caston, who owned the domain and wrote many of the scripts for the first year and a half, while Gallagher was responsible for the artwork. Due to creative differences, Caston agreed to sell his share in the venture to Gallagher in May 2002.

Megatokyo's success has allowed Gallagher to pursue it as a full-time occupation since October 2002, after being laid off from his job as an architect. Megatokyo in its entirety is available free of charge at the Megatokyo website, with strips being paired with comments from Gallagher. Gallagher's income from the strip comes from advertising, sales of Megatokyo books and merchandise sold through the Megagear store website which he owns.

Since Gallagher attained full control over the strip, it has become more reflective his vision, with an increasingly complex cast of characters, and a far slower pace than the original strips. The influence of Japanese manga and computer dating sims can be seen in both the character design, plotline and storytelling. While this has earned praise from some critics, it has also alienated some fans of the earlier strips, which were more comical, relying more on humor, slapstick, gags, and simpler storylines.

Fredart is a collection of Gallagher's works dating back several years. It includes development sketches from other projects, such as Warmth. Since Megatokyo began, most of the content has been focused on characters from that project.

Fredart Studios LLC is the name of the company that officially owns the trademark to Megatokyo and Fred's other works. Megagear Inc. is the company owned and operated by Fred and his wife Sarah that runs the MegaGear store which sells Megatokyo related merchandise.