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1976: Proto-Garfield, side-character to Jon

1978: Earliest properly-recognizable Garfield, visual overhaul accompanies syndication and retitle of comic to Garfield

1979: Transitional state between proto-Garfield and 80s Garfield, marketed by increased anthropomorphization and larger, cartoonish expressions, while retaining a realistic body shape

1980-1984: 80s Garfield, facial structure has largely stabilized save for dimensions, noticeable retention of quadrupedal motion in most situations

1985-1992: Emergence of modern Garfield, shift towards predominantly vertical locomotion, expansion of feet, facial structure begins to horizontally compress and vertically extend

1989: [REDACTED]

1993-1999: Continued anthropomorphic shift, separation of head from torso and reduction of belly fat, noticeable

2000-present: stabilization of modern Garfield, head size reduced in final proportion alteration. Jim Davis had divined the final, perfect version of his pop culture homonculus.

2008: beginning of post-Garfield, marked by the release of Lasagna Cat (Fatal Farm) and Garfield Minus Garfield (Dan Walsh), both depicting avant-garde alterations to the Garfield formula in ways that deconstruct the long-established formula, either by directly translating the jokes in their most banal form or by removing Garfield from the equation to portray Jon Arbuckle as deeply alone and psychologically tormented

2013: YouTube animator PilotRedSun releases the video "Garfielf", directing the trend of post-Garfield towards stylistic depravity while retaining the same mockery of modern Garfield.

2013 also marks the creation of "Hungry" by comic artist Dubblebaby, one of the earliest known iterations of the "Gorefield" genre of post-Garfield and the origin of its most popular namesake, "I'm sorry Jon". This piece in particular draws inspiration from the classic Creepypasta "Dogscape", itself based on 4chan horror edits of newspaper comic star Marmaduke.

2018: The beginning of the Gorefield genre proper, initiated by the release of SCP-3166, also titled "You Have No Idea How Alone You Are, Garfield" (taking its title from [REDACTED]). Multiple comics depicting Garfield (flashing lights warning for second link) become popular on r/surrealmemes. September 18th, 2018, however, marks the beginning of a series of posts by horror artist William Burke's depicting grotesque, monstrous versions of Garfield tormenting a hapless Jon, in what would be the proper establishment of Gorefield.

2018-2019: Primary era of Gorefield and r/imsorryjon, a subreddit dedicated to variations of horror-themed Garfield fanart. Standout posts to the community are typically standalone pieces seeking to explore new depths of inhumanity to twist classic Garfield concepts. Others, such as the Garfield Gameboy'd series by Lumpy Touch, explore short-term horror storytelling.

2019-2020: By this point, Gorefield had become route with the mainstream audience, and the internal community began to explore new interpretations of the genre. Drawing from its anti-commercialism roots, many artists began to explore similar body horror themes in other popular franchises while some instead deconstructed the Gorefield subject, returning to the comedic dynamic of classic Garfield while retaining his goofy appearance, or even injecting pathos of Jon and Garfield's owner-pet relation.

2020-2022: In sharp contrast to the prior dominance of horror-themed Garfield, artists began to seek to capture the warmth and charm of the late 70s to early 80s Garfield - an act standing in defiance of brand hegemony, as well as increased trends in pop culture towards franchise recycling. This wave grew to prominence in predominantly queer artist circles on Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram, correlating to a similar adoption of Snoopy and Hello Kitty as gay icons.

2022-present: In tandem with the height of nostalgic Garfield art were increasing depictions of Garfield as one of the internet's most popular archetypes: a cat-girl. Design elements vary wildly depending on the Intern ecosystem in which they emerge and the taste of the artist; recent artists have sought to use Garfield to increase the amount of fat catgirl content. As with nostalgic Garfield, there is plentiful popularity in the queer community, and depictions of lesbian, butch, and/or transfem Garfield are common.

Garfield's popularity remains a deep paradox, where his deep-seated hold on pop culture exists in parallel to a deep-seated regard for the series humor as trite and repetitive. With this affection devoid of any attachment to the original media, it comes as no surprise how many radically different directions fanart have taken to find a new meaning for the character. At the end of the road, of course, I think Garfield will be with us for a long time, no matter what form they make take.