FiXT Labs: Graphic Designer Summer Garfield & Her Love of Godzilla (and All Things Kaiju)

Few forces in the FiXT universe radiate as much energy as Summer Garfield. As one of FiXT’s powerhouse graphic designers, Summer channels a blend of creativity, chaos, and cinematic flair into everything she touches: from explosive artwork to clever visual storytelling. A lifelong fan of Godzilla and all things Kaiju, Summer’s passion for giant monsters informs her artistic vision, from dynamic visuals to striking design concepts.

From wild concept art to monstrous creativity, Summer Garfield proves that imagination can hit harder than Godzilla himself. Keep an eye out for her work, you might just spot a Kaiju lurking somewhere unexpected!

We caught up with Summer to talk about how her lifelong love of giant monsters inspires her design work, her favourite Kaiju battles, and what happens when creativity meets the colossal.

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How did your love for Godzilla and Kaiju films begin? Was there a specific movie, moment, or design that pulled you into the world of giant monsters?

Summer Garfield: “I was lucky enough to grow up with a Godzilla-loving mom and grandparents, so kaiju-appreciation is built into my genetic code! As a toddler, I had access to a few VHS tapes that I watched roughly nine billion times (vs. Hedorah and vs. Megalon were extremely influential to my barely-developed baby brain), and the kaiju flicks shown on Mystery Science Theatre 3000 helped solidify my love for the genre, but everything changed in 2002.

“Once Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee was released on the GameCube, I was never the same person ever again. I was still in my single digits, and my little kid brain couldn’t handle this whole new world of kaiju that had just opened up to me, I was quaked. I played that game like my life depended on it (I still do!), and that was how my admittedly weird obsession with Gigan began, whom I would then build my entire personality around for the foreseeable future.

“Around this time, a nearby video store was going out of business, so I went in with about 20 dollars and a dream, and walked out with a stack of Godzilla and Gamera VHS tapes that ended up taller than I was! I acquired about half of the Godzilla filmography that day, as well as the masterpiece that is the entire Heisei Gamera trilogy, and that slew of movies opened my eyes to the enormous scope of the kaiju genre!

“I’m honestly so thankful to have had family and friends who have humoured, encouraged, and enabled my love of kaiju my entire life, ever since I was tiny. Huge shoutout to my mom, because she has been the one to bear the brunt of it all these years, and she still lets me yap her ear off about Godzilla daily (hi, mama!).”

As a designer, do you find that Kaiju aesthetics influence your creative style? Do you ever sneak a little Monster Energy into your FiXT visuals or personal art?

“Absolutely!! My very first doodles were Godzilla-related, so the visuals of kaiju movies, box art, games, posters, comic books, etc., have always been a huge inspiration for me! The Showa and Heisei era Godzilla posters are some of the most visually appealing pieces of art I’ve ever seen, with several of my favourites being by Noriyoshi Ohrai! The vibrant colours he used are gorgeous (I’m a sucker for high saturation!), and the way he wove so much of the movies’ plots into his compositions without it feeling clunky or forced was so genius! Yuji Kaida is another artist I was fascinated with since I was little. One of the first pieces of Godzilla merch I ever owned was a poster of his Gigan art, and I can’t imagine how many hours I stared at that poster!

“I grew up obsessing over Godzilla comic books as well, which heavily inspired me early on. I spent so much time trying to redraw these crazy, detailed covers and panels that were so far out of my little-kid league, but I tried my darnedest! Most importantly, I had fun!

“The art of Matt Frank, James Stokoe, Bob Eggleton, and Jeff Zornow has been a massive source of inspiration for me over the years! Godzilla: Rulers of Earth and Godzilla: The Half-Century War are like my dream-artstyle bibles. They’re packed with art that’s such a beautiful balance of detail and simplification, it’s the exact style I hope to achieve someday! It can be difficult to maintain a colourful and cartoony style while still making the art itself look ‘mature’ and detailed, but I feel that both of these comic series strike that balance so unbelievably well, I always find myself rereading them and trying to absorb their art styles via osmosis. I really can’t recommend these series enough, and I’m so thankful to have them as a visual guide for a style to work towards!”

FiXT Labs: March 2025 ft. James Rhodes

FiXT Labs: April 2025 ft. Kurtis Redden

Which version of Godzilla inspires you the most visually—and why?

“This is so tough because every Godzilla has a special place in my heart, but I do have a few that stand above the rest!

“MosuGoji from 1964 is one of the most iconic and beloved Godzilla designs, and for good reason! It’s a beautifully made suit with a stronger build and sharper features, but I think what really sets it apart for me are those angry eyebrows! The eyes are such a standout feature on this suit for me, and it does such an incredible job at showing his personality. To me, this is where Godzilla becomes an intelligent, thinking, emotive creature. It’s amazing how much character they could convey in this suit!

“BatoGoji from 1992 is another personal favourite! The Heisei era Godzilla is another undeniably iconic design, and it’s arguably his most recognizable look, but I’m such a sucker for specifically the BatoGoji suit! The way his dorsal plates flow, with the largest plate being shifted to the middle of his back, creates such a good shape, and his golden eyes add so much emotion to his angry expressions! Also, shoutout to those pronounced cat ears. It’s one of those designs that can look so dark, sharp, and threatening at some angles, and then you tilt his head another way and he’s just a kitty cat. He’s perfect.

“MireGoji from 1999 and KiryuGoji from 2002 are everything to me. Everything. They’re sharp. They’re angry. They’re sleek. There are so many jagged bits. I love sharp and jagged Kaiju! These two designs are the ones I always find myself turning to when I draw Godzilla. I don’t even think about it; they just happen. I am infatuated with everything about these suits. The crazy spiky dorsal plates, the thinner, reptilian head, the pronounced ridges along his neck, those eyes!

“The animatronics used for KiryuGoji’s expressions blew my mind the first time I saw them, and to see Godzilla look wide-eyed and shocked is such a treat! I think about KiryuGoji’s big, bird-like eyes every single second of every day. I love you, KiryuGoji.

“I’m legally required to give a shoutout to MinusGoji for being the masterpiece that he is. He’s so perfect I don’t even have words, and this response has already become an essay anyway, so I need to shut up, but please know I adore MinusGoji.”

If you could design the next official Godzilla movie poster, what would your concept look like?

“I’m such a sucker for the stylized, retro posters of the ’60s and ’70s, but Noriyoshi Ohrai’s posters from the ’80s through the early 2000s hit in a way that movie posters rarely do for me. I would love to design a poster that could evoke the same feelings as Ohrai’s! They feel so nostalgic while still looking so fresh, and I think it would be a fun callback to that era of Godzilla!

“Shin Godzilla and Godzilla Minus One are the only Japanese Godzilla movies that have been released in the past 21 years (not counting the anime trilogy), and most of their posters have been super minimal, though that’s not a bad thing at all; they’re some of my favourites!

“But I think it’d be such a blast to try and channel that Ohrai style for a new Godzilla movie. It would be a fun challenge to balance the heavier, sombre tones of the newer movies while using vibrant colours like Ohrai’s style! There’s just such a happy and nostalgic feeling I get when I see his posters, and I would love to see that style come back, even if it was just for an alternate ‘throwback’ poster!”

Favourite Kaiju of all time (besides Godzilla)?

“Gigan! (I scream so loud I blow out every window within a 50-mile radius).

“I have made Gigan my entire personality ever since I was just a wee nymph. I’m not sure what happened in my brain when I discovered Gigan, but I was never the same. He was the childhood obsession that just never faded. Gigan changed me down to the molecular level. I think literally everything in my life can be traced back to Gigan somehow.

“He’s just goofy and cool! Plus, he’s a bird and I love birds. His movies are fun, he’s got a crazy, wacky, sharp design, I love his red visor eye, his Showa colours are green and gold, which makes my Green Bay Packers-loving heart happy (go Packers by the way), he is dripping with personality and character, his Final Wars design is insane, I just love Gigan!

“If you’ve known me for longer than two seconds, you know how much I love Gigan. My full legal name is Summer ‘I Love Gigan’ Garfield. Whenever I’m feeling down, my mom tells me, ‘Think your Gigan thoughts!’ because he just makes me so happy. The amount of Gigan merch I own is unfathomable. Cringe is dead, and I love Gigan a very normal amount.”

FiXT Labs: May 2025 ft. Chantal Holmes

FiXT Labs: June 2025 ft. Travis Brockett

If you could bring one Kaiju to life to defend Earth in 2025, who would it be, and what would they be defending us from?

“Without making this sound like a cop-out response, it’s going to have to be either Godzilla or Mothra! Our mistreatment of the environment today unfortunately fits right in with the plots of several Godzilla movies that serve as environmental messages, and it’s heartbreaking to see how little we’ve improved. The effects of pollution, deforestation, and nuclear threats and accidents are still scoffed at by the majority of our leaders, and agencies for protecting the environment have either been eliminated or hindered. Godzilla and Mothra are the king and queen of environmentalism, and I think they’re our only hope against the inevitable Hedorah 2.0.”

Which Kaiju do you think would make the best roommate, and why? (Assuming you could afford the rent and repairs. LOL)

“(Don’t say Gigan don’t say Gigan don’t say Gigan don’t say Gigan don’t say Gi…) Ok, but can we all agree that Gigan would be a really chill roommate? I like to think he’d be fun to have around. You get home from work, and Gigan’s invited Megalon over, and they’re just playing Fortnite, Roblox, and GMod together. Making fun of preteens on GTA roleplay servers and ruining their GTA lives. And like, he’s funny! He’s got a good personality! And he’s basically like a hired alien hitman who likes his job too much, so you know he’d be paying his half of the rent! Ten out of 10 roommate.”

If you could design your own original Kaiju, what would it be called and what would its powers or symbolism be?

“I’ll be totally honest, this is something I’ve kind of worked on in the back of my brain for the past 15-ish years (laughs)! Meteorology is my other obsession, so just for fun, I’ve tried to design kaiju based on lightning, hurricanes, tornadoes, snowstorms, etc! The one I’ve had the most fun figuring out is called Catatumbo! He’s based on the Catatumbo lightning phenomenon that occurs over Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela! Unsurprisingly, I like to think he would have control over lightning! Who saw that coming!

“I haven’t had the chance to work on his design in forever, but the last time I drew him (about five million years ago, so he may need a rehaul), he kind of looked like a blend of an 1980s/2000s Godzilla-ish reptilian kaiju covered in a fur pelt (to look a bit like a cloud draped over his back!), with branching horns, lightning rod-shaped spines protruding from his tail, and anvil-shaped dorsal plates running down his back, as a reference to the anvil-shaped cumulonimbus incus cloud, which is associated with severe weather!

“It’s just kind of a vague concept all around, but it’s really fun to mash two of my favourite interests together!”

Which Godzilla or Kaiju film holds the biggest nostalgic place in your heart? Do you have a favourite scene that still gives you chills?

“Oh boy. I’m going to do my best to keep this brief because you know I can’t pick just one! These aren’t even all my favourites, but these are the ones that are the comfiest, coziest, most nostalgic for me!

“Mothra vs. Godzilla is a masterpiece and one of the greatest movies of all time. The characters, the soundtrack, Godzilla’s entrance as he rises from the dirt, the environmental and anti-capitalist messages, everything is perfect in this movie. This entire film holds such a special place in my heart. Please watch this movie.

“Ebirah, Horror of the Deep is incredible, and the fact that it gets overlooked makes me cry myself to sleep every night. I adore the cast in this movie, and the buildup to the characters reaching Letchi Island is one of the coziest bits of a movie for me to listen to. I put this movie on to sleep to way too often, which is a mistake because I get so invested every single time.

“Son of Godzilla is another all-time favourite, and I will fight to the death over this movie. This movie has one of my favourite soundtracks of all time. I have been bumpin’ those bangers since I was about twelve years old (I hadn’t even seen the movie yet, I just loved the soundtrack, little Summer knew what was up). Everything about this movie is just comfort in its purest form.

“I am All Monsters Attack (aka Godzilla’s Revenge)’s strongest soldier. I love this movie! I love Ichiro! I love his neighbour Shinpei! I love the stupid bank robbers! I love Minilla being a pathetic, goofy loser! I love it when Ichiro falls down the hole and experiences the softest, slowest landing ever! I love the soundtrack! Nobody can change me! All Monsters Attack, they could never make me hate you!

“I watched Godzilla vs. Mothra from 1992 so often when I was little, I’m surprised my VHS tape didn’t explode. I can understand people’s issues with this movie, but I just shamelessly love it. I’m shallow! It’s just a fun film! Whenever I watch this one, I feel like I’m ten years old again, curled up in bed and watching this instead of sleeping before school. It’s one of the most comforting movies for me!

“Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack is one of the earliest memories I have of being just like, completely obsessed with a movie. Everything about this movie is pure nostalgia for me. I actually got a Chinese bootleg from a monster convention before it was released in America, and I had this movie on loop like my life depended on it. My mom got the soundtrack imported for me, and it was the first Godzilla soundtrack I ever owned! It’s still one of my favourite soundtracks of all time!

“I have so many happy childhood memories tied to this movie, whether it was sitting with my Gigan plushy all bundled up in my leopard-print blankets watching it in bed, or staying up all night listening to the soundtrack in Windows Media Player on my very first laptop and sobbing my eyes out over how beautiful the music was, there’s a good chance there’s more childhood happiness tied to this movie than any other!”

FiXT Labs: July 2025 ft. James Rhodes

FiXT Labs: August 2025 ft. Alex Smolynaninov

FiXT artists often blend cinematic and monstrous energy in their music. If you could pair one FiXT song with a Kaiju battle scene, which track would you choose?

“Ok, this is actually funny, because when I was a preteen who had just discovered Celldweller, some of my earliest drawings were doodles of Gigan that were inspired by Celldweller songs. So I’m going to have to go with some Celldweller. Plus, I know Klayton’s a fellow kaiju-addict and Godzilla-appreciator, so it feels fitting!

“‘Narrow Escape’ from Celldweller’s Soundtrack For The Voices In My Head Vol. 01 was my go-to ‘Man, I Wish This Was In A Godzilla Movie’ choice when I was little, and I still completely agree with that train of thought, but I feel like ‘Descent’ from Soundtrack for the Voices in My Head Vol. 01 could work really well too, or ‘Earth Scraper’ or ‘ShutEmDown’ from Soundtrack for the Voices in My Head Vol. 02. Too many choices!

“I also really feel like ‘Solaris,’ ‘Subterra,’ and ‘Outland’ off SVH01 could work really well as BGM in a Godzilla movie. Can we get like, a do-over where half of the Godzilla: Final Wars soundtrack is replaced with Celldweller tracks? I think that would fix me.

“I have like five billion Celldweller songs on my Gigan playlist. And I can confirm I do have a Gigan playlist. Cringe is dead.”

Who would win in a battle: Godzilla vs. a FiXTbot? Be honest—no bias allowed!

“Why would they battle… when they could be friends…

“Ok, but in all honesty, the mecha-kaiju have a pretty solid track record when fighting against Godzilla, at least when they fight for good! They pull off some pretty impressive draws! But now that begs the question: Would the FiXTBot fight for humanity? Or would it rather cause chaos? So many variables…

“I like to think it’d end in vs. King Ghidorah or Tokyo S.O.S. fashion, where the giant mecha-FiXTBot’s able to incapacitate Godzilla for the sake of the world, but Godzilla’s not dead, and you know he’ll be back. Everybody wins! Unless the FiXTBot wants to fight against humanity. In that case, go ahead and destroy the financial district, FiXTBot. Make the people happy. Godzilla would allow it.”

If FiXT could release a Kaiju Tribute Album, which artists would you want to see on it?

“Ok, I’m going to include some legacy, non-exclusive, etc artists, because I’ve been a FiXT fan for a while and I’ve loved so many artists over the years!

“I know I mentioned it above, but Celldweller is 10,000 percent a given, along with Circle of Dust! I actually drew a ton of Godzilla-related stuff to The Anix when I was younger, too, so I’m putting The Anix on there. HIGHSOCIETY would go crazy for some mech or cyborg kaiju BGM! Same with Nutronic, The Qemists, Zardonic, Varien, and Void Chapter!

“I have Raizer’s ‘Sharp’ on one of my kaiju playlists, that is such a banger, holy smokes!

“A huge one for me is Soul Extract. I get massive space-kaiju vibes from Soul Extract’s music, and I’ve loaded my kaiju playlists with his tracks. I could see it working super well for King Ghidorah, SpaceGodzilla, or some other kind of huge, space-hailing threat (like Gigan, whoa, who said that, must have been the wind).

“Now I’m just sad that this Kaiju Tribute Album doesn’t actually exist.”

You’re trapped in a Kaiju movie. You can only bring one item from your desk to survive. What is it and how does it help?

“Honestly, I think I would just give up on survival and would instead be completely satisfied having experienced a kaiju attack at all. That’s the dream.

“Without sounding like a Zoomer millennial, I think I’d just grab my phone. I don’t think a pencil or a 15-year-old tablet pen is going to be of much use to me! But if I have my phone, I can record the event that I have dreamed of since I was a tiny girl. Use the phone to call for help? No, I’m going to call my mom and tell her to go outside and look because the coolest thing ever is happening right now. I am not going to miss getting a picture of Godzilla.”

Last question: If Godzilla could see the world today, what do you think he’d roar about first?

“Let’s be honest, what wouldn’t he be roaring about? Godzilla has always been a critique of society and its many, many flaws, as well as being a symbol of humanity’s hubris. He was spawned from the tragedy of war, and has survived as an icon, partly (or entirely?) because he has evolved to function as a constant warning. As I write this, we’re just about a week away from Godzilla’s 71st anniversary. Seventy-one years after Gojira’s creation and message, we still face nuclear threats, pollution, deforestation, and the struggle under capitalism. Godzilla has represented the outcome of man-made destruction, but also the desire and need to fight back and fix the world.

“Though these societal and environmental issues still run rampant, if Godzilla persists, so should we. He and his fellow kaiju have evolved to fight alongside humanity, so I’d like to think he would believe there are some of us worth fighting for! So do the right thing. Be kind, respect the environment, fight back against tyranny, help others, and make Godzilla proud! Help create a world Godzilla would enjoy! He’s 71 years old, and I think he deserves to finally see the planet he dreamed of back in 1954. Do it for Godzilla!”