This is just a little 2-page Hildafolk comic I did to warm up and get in the mood for drawing my next release, Hilda and The Midnight Giant. It addresses the frequently unasked question, ‘how does The Wood Man’s head stay on his body?’
You can now play The End, a free web-based game which is illustrated by yours truly. It was commissioned by Channel 4 Education and produced by Preloaded.
Here’s what it’s all about, from the press release:
It is a game of self-discovery for 14-19 year olds which integrates strategy, puzzles and philosophical questions into a world which explores a range of commonly (or less commonly) held views about death, belief and science.
The game takes the player on a metaphysical journey, recording their interactions in the world to reveal their attitudes towards mortality. These views are presented alongside their friends and some of the most important thinkers of our time, such as Gandhi, Descartes and Einstein.
Set across three worlds – Mind, Body and Spirit – the player must use a unique shadow ‘n’ light mechanic to solve physics-based puzzles, answer questions and battle the world’s Guardians. The ultimate prizes are the Death Objects, ranging from a memorial diamond to a human heart, which deepen a player’s contextual knowledge of death and help them progress through the game.
I created nearly all the artwork you see in the game (with the exception of the graphic design and death cards elements). It was a lot of work, but it was the best kind of work and it’s so exciting to see it all brought together and to be able to play it now. Working with the Preloaded crew is one of the best experiences of my career so far, so much work went into making this and they’ve done an amazing job in my opinion. Here’s some screenshots and bits.
The character creator in which you can attempt to make yourself from bits that I drew. You’ll more likely just make some crazy looking mess of a guy.
Examples of some of my level elements.
These are some of the ‘famous thinkers’ I illustrated. Top row: Sigmund Freud, Amelia Earhart, William Wordsworth and Ayn Rand. Bottom row: Empress Dowager Cixi, George Orwell, Rosa Parks and Nostradamus.
A selection of the objects you collect in the game from defeating the guardians. Each one is linked to a particular thinker or philosophy.
I may post some more artwork from this later as I did so much of it, but for more stuff right now, check out the Preloaded flickr where there are loads more bits that I produced for game. Or just play the game and see it all there.
Illustration for Wired magazine. It accompanies a short ‘How-To’ piece concerning the biochemistry which goes into the cooking of the perfect poached egg, with tips from a molecular biologist.
My version of Kickass Annie, the logo/mascot for Koyama Press which is responsible for publishing work by some of the best cartoonists around right now, such as Steve Wolfhard, Dustin Harbin, Chris Eliopoulos and heir apparent to the indie comics throne, Michael DeForge.
This is my contribution to an ongoing project where various cartoonists are doing their own versions of said mascot.
I have a six page comic in the new Sing Statistics book, Reverence Library Vol. 1. Here is the official description of the book:
Reverence Library Volume One is the first in a new series of abridged pocket encyclopaedias ‘inspired by fact and reworked by fiction’. Essentially, reference books with lies in. Each volume sees a handful of writers and illustrators interpreting three fascinating subjects through art and short fiction. Volume One concerns Galleons, Nikola Tesla, and The Trans-Siberian Railway.
My comic is in the ‘Galleons’ section of the book and is titled My Life Well Sailed. It tells the life story of a 16th century fire ship from the point of view of the ship itself. It’s actually quite an old comic, done before most of the stuff that you’ll find on here, but I feel like it holds up as one of the more interesting things I’ve done.
It’s lovely to be in a book that features writers, illustrators and those in between as equals. It’s beautifully printed, has a stylish cover by Jez Burrows who is one half of Sing Statistics (the other half being Lizzy Stewart who is also featured in the book in equally stylish circumstances) and I recommend picking up a copy here.
I got to design a t shirt for my favourite band recently, which I was more than a little bit chuffed about. I think you can only buy them on tour at the moment but I imagine they’ll eventually appear online. If you’re thinking ‘what’s with the lion?’ then may I direct you here.
=w=
I did this self-portrait to accompany my Nobrow artist profile, which also includes a short interview with me and some process work/photos.
This is the first seven pages of ‘Everything We Miss’, which is available to order now.
It’s 34 pages, 155 x 220 mm, 3 spot colours and hardback.
First 500 pre-orders get this limited edition A2 poster.
I’m doing a short July/August signing tour to support it, so come and see me and let me draw in your copy!
This is what Martin Steenton has to say about it:
“Have you ever wondered what goes on in your life when you’re looking the other way? Perhaps you’re so drawn into what’s going on with you that you fail to notice the events taking place to your periphery—or even right under your nose? In Everything We Miss, Luke Pearson explores the dying days of a failing relationship through the infinitesimal unseen moments that surround it—and us.
Emotionally eroded and on the edge of separation, the central couple are going through the classic stages of growing apart. Absorbed by insecurity, indifference, and steadily-growing resentment, they fail to notice the strange happenings that surround their final moments together. Sometimes magical, sometimes mundane, these unnoticed fragments of existence weave together and hang disconcertingly over their lives, isolated yet all-encompassing.
As the couple move through the processes of breaking up, the line between reality and fiction is obscured. Their narrative unfolds as much through their dysfunction as through that of their environment itself: formless spectres rise through the floorboards, directly gripping their jaws and tongues in order to make their dissatisfaction audible; unbeknownst to them, their living room has become overrun by a colony of voyeuristic otherworldly creatures; outside, just for a moment, a dog whispers something under its breath; and somewhere, in someone, a cancer grows—silently and undetected.
Luke Pearson’s most ambitious project to date, Everything We Miss is a poignant and bitingly empathetic graphic novella from one of the most exciting young creators in British comics. As well as an essential showcase of Pearson’s astonishing visual talent and storytelling ability, this is a book for anyone who’s ever experienced the complex emotionality of loss, or agonised about what they have yet to find.”
Gosh Comics, one of the best comic shops in the world, is closing it’s doors and opening them elsewhere.
I was lucky enough to get to design this poster/flyer for them to advertise the move! It’s sad that it’s moving, I really liked its location between the British Museum and The Cartoon Museum and I will miss its spiral staircase. But it’s exciting that an actual good comic shop (one that isn’t a sci fi toy shop by another name) needs to move to bigger premises.
The new Gosh will open at No. 1 Berwick Street, Soho on Saturday 6th August.
I’m going on tour! Throughout July I’ll be at a number of comic shops signing (and drawing in) my new book ‘Everything We Miss’. The image above is a limited edition A2 litho print poster which you’ll get free if you buy the book on the day. You can also now order it separately from the Nobrow shop.
Here’s the info and links to facebook events:
15th July @ Daves Comics, Brighton
23rd July @ Travelling Man, Leeds
30th July @ Travelling Man, Newcastle
13th August @ Gosh! Comics, London
So yeah, if you can make it to any of these, please do come along! It’d be great to say hi (and you’ll be saving me the embarrassment of nobody showing up). The book’s run a little late, but will be available for normal pre-order very, very soon and I’ll make sure you know all about it when it is.
Nobrow asked me to do a picture of their shop front because in reality it’s obscured by two fugly lamp posts. It’s not 100% accurate, the real thing doesn’t actually say ‘Nobrow Ltd.’ on the top, but in my opinion it totally should. If you’re in London you should definitely stop by.
Not only can you buy my comics Hildafolk and (soon) Everything We Miss there along with stuff by other No-bro’s like Jack Teagle and Mikkel Sommer, but there are also comics from afar, such as those put out by Koyama Press, making it a good comics shop in its own right. Plus there’s prints, crazy toys and a regularly refreshed exhibition space which is exhibiting somebody pretty cool at any given time.
So get your butt down to 62 Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3QR, London.
These are a set of illustrations produced for the live touring of Radiolab’s ‘Desperately Seeking Symmetry’ show. I was kindly enlisted by the brilliant Jez Burrows, who art directed the project. Other artists involved included Damien Corell, Heads of State and a couple of my favourites, Meg Hunt and Jason Munn, so I thought I was pretty cool getting to join in. The images were apparently projected during the corresponding part of the show (it’d be cool if anyone has or knows of any photographic evidence of this!) These are slightly edited from the original versions, as the time I had to actually do them was crazily short, which is why they’re as boiled down as can be.
Jez did a little blog post about the project here and you can listen to the podcast of the show here.
My job was to illustrate the Aristophanes speech of Plato’s Symposium. The speech is a crazy, but charming explanation as to why people in love say they feel ‘whole’. There were originally three types of people, each with two heads, two sets of limbs and two sets of genitals (men-men, women-women and men-women.) Zeus, annoyed about something or other and presumably overreacting, decided to chop them all in half and since then we’ve spent our lives wandering around trying to find our original other half, thus explaining our longing for a partner and our inclinations towards homosexual or heterosexual love.
That’s the jist of it anyway. You can read a way better summary of it here or even better you can watch this great animated version of the story from the film Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
If you were to pick up issue 20 of Digital Artist Magazine, you’d find an interview with me inside it. It’s pretty long. It covers six pages! I’m not sure what’s covered as I can’t bring myself to re-read my answers, but I imagine it’s probably something about comics and illustration.
It’s also got an interview with Nobrow’s Sam Arthur and a bunch of useful tutorials
Speaking of interviews, since they’re not linked to anywhere else on here, I did an interview with brilliant comics blog Avoid the Future back in March, as well as an earlier one question interview about geometry and patterns in my work.
This is the cover for my new comic, ‘Everything We Miss’. There is an older version of the cover floating around which was actually a stand-in, drawn before I’d touched a panel of the final comic. Sorry if you liked that one better.
Everything We Miss is a breakup story set against a darkly fantastical backdrop. A couple’s final moments together are documented alongside the events and strange occurrences that go on unseen and unheard around them (and around us). It’s 34 pages long, it will be published by Nobrow Press and with any luck will be out on the 20th of June.
It’s a tricky one to really describe, but I can say that it’s rather different to Hildafolk. Also it’s aimed quite definitely at adults (it has swear words, boobs and willies), so please don’t pass this on to any little ones who may have been into that. They can wait for the Hildafolk follow up which may well be coming in the near future.
Watch out for more updates and whatnot in the run up!
I did this cover for the science fiction issue of Paper Science 4, a sixteen page full colour newspaper of comics published by We are Words + Pictures. I contributed the four page comic ‘Dr Poplowski’s Special Formula’ which I did in collaboration with My Cardboard Life’s Philippa Rice. See below for a preview! If you’re into scientists, sloths and body horror then you’re gonna be really into this.
Paper Science 4 also features comics by Timothy Winchester, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, Adam Cadwell, Joe List and Dan Berry as well as pinups by John Allison and Andrew Waugh.
You can check out a cool video of it’s debut at Sci Fi London here.
You can buy Paper Science 4 or subscribe to all four issues due out this year from the We Are Words + Pictures shop.
