Luke Edward McGarry (born 11 October 1987) is a British illustrator, cartoonist, animator and designer based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Early career

In 2005, while they were still students at the

Orange County High School of the Arts Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA, ), is a 7th–12th grade public charter school located in downtown Santa Ana, California. The school caters to middle and high school students with talents in the performing, visual, literary arts, culin ...

, Luke and his brother, Joe McGarry – twin sons of British cartoonist

Steve McGarry Steve McGarry (born 24 January 1953,
Lambiek's ''Comiclopedia''. Retrieved 21 December 2018. in

Pop Noir. Luke's design work for the band, including posters and record sleeves, led to him being invited to create cartoons and illustrations for a number of music-related publications, including

LA Record ''L.A. Record'' is an independent music magazine originally published weekly as a broadsheet poster. The poster usually depicts a local Los Angeles musicians and according to the magazine editors is meant to recreate an iconic album cover. In Mar ...

, LA City Beat and

OC Weekly ''OC Weekly'' was a free alternative weekly paper distributed in Orange County and Long Beach, California. OC Weekly was founded in September 1995 by Will Swaim, who acted as editor and publisher until 2007. The paper was distributed at coffee ...

. In 2007, in recognition of their design work for The

National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

, the 19-year-olds became the youngest-ever recipients of the NCS Silver T-Square, an award whose previous recipients include two U.S. Presidents and cartoonists Milton Caniff, Mort Walker and

Bil Keane William Aloysius "Bil" Keane (October 5, 1922 – November 8, 2011) was an American cartoonist most notable for his work on the newspaper comic ''The Family Circus''. It began in 1960 and continues in syndication, drawn by his son Jeff Kea ...

. Luke McGarry has subsequently been nominated eight times in the NCS Silver Reuben Division Awards, winning three times, for Advertising Illustrator of the Year in 2016, 2019 and 2020

Music Business Projects

In 2010, McGarry began his seven-year association with FYF Fest, creating the poster art each year, as well as designing printed programs, maps and wristbands for the Festival. During this period, he regularly collaborated with House of Vans and created poster art for a number of Los Angeles music venues and promoters, including Spaceland, The Echo, The Echoplex and The Regent. In 2013,

described Luke as "the poster child for success in the world of rock-n-roll cartoons". McGarry was the lead visual artist for

Festival Supreme Festival Supreme was a comedy music festival held in Los Angeles hosted by Jack Black and Kyle Gass as Tenacious D. The first event was held in 2013 at the Santa Monica Pier and 2014, 2015 and 2016 saw the festival take place at the Shrine Audit ...

, an annual Los Angeles comedy and music festival, created by

Jack Black Thomas Jacob Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for his acting roles in the films '' High Fidelity'' (2000), ''Shallow Hal'' (2001), ''Orange County'' (2002), '' School of Rock'' (2003), ''E ...

and

Kyle Gass Kyle Richard Gass (born July 14, 1960) is an American musician, comedian and actor best known for co-founding—and being a member of—Tenacious D, a Grammy-winning comedy band. He also co-founded the bands Trainwreck and the Kyle Gass Band, ...

Tenacious D Tenacious D is an American comedy rock duo formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. It was founded by actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass, who were members of The Actors' Gang theater company at the time. The duo's name is derived from "tenacio ...

, which was staged from 2013 to 2017. In addition to posters, stage design and backdrops, projections and merchandising art, in 2015 he also collaborated with his brother to create a series of five 30-second animated TV commercials, sponsored by Geico, which ran on the IFC network. Operating as The Fantastic Heat Brothers, they wrote, designed, and animated the series, with voiceovers provided by Black and Gass. Beginning in 2014, McGarry began creating posters and billboards for the annual series of

Coachella Coachella may refer to: * Coachella, California * Coachella Canal, in California * Coachella (festival), an annual music and arts festival in California * "Coachella – Woodstock in My Mind "Coachella – Woodstock In My Mind" is a song by Ame ...

-adjacent shows staged by the festival's promoter, Goldenvoice. He has designed a number of record sleeves for other artists, from

Kim Fowley Kim Vincent Fowley (July 21, 1939 – January 15, 2015) was the American record producer, songwriter and musician who was behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and managed The Runaways in the 1970s. He has been ...

to a Secret 7" project for

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

, and created animated music videos for a diverse range of music artists including: * The Macaroons – ''Billy's Bagel'', 2009 * Guster – ''This Is How It Feels To Have A Broken Heart'', 2010 * Desaparecidos – ''Golden Parachutes'', 2015 *

Hoodie Allen Steven Adam Markowitz (born August 19, 1988), better known by his stage name Hoodie Allen, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter from Plainview, New York. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, he began working at Google befo ...

– ''Sushi'', 2017 In 2020, he released his debut solo single, "Black Leather" b/w "Go Ghost" on the Fantastic Heat label, accompanied by two animated music videos.

Cartoons, animation and MAD Magazine

Inspired by the death of

Han Solo Han Solo is a fictional character in the '' Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. The character first appeared in the 1977 film '' Star Wars'' portrayed by Harrison Ford, who reprised his role in ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) an ...

in the 2015

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

movie

The Force Awakens ''Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens'') is a 2015 American epic space opera film produced, co-written, and directed by J. J. Abrams. The sequel to ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983) ...

, McGarry began creating a series of Sad Chewie cartoons depicting

Chewbacca Chewbacca ( ), nicknamed "Chewie", is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He is a Wookiee, a tall, hirsute, bipedal, intelligent species originating from the fictional planet of Kashyyyk. Chewbacca is the loyal friend and firs ...

in everyday situations mourning the loss of his friend. In 2016, he collaborated with

LA Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pl ...

on a poster series. He also made his debut in a number of publications, including

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

, Canadian Business and LeParisien. He provided a regular political cartoon, as well as a number of front covers, for OC Weekly In 2017, he launched the comic "Lukey McGarry's TLDR" on

GoComics GoComics is a website launched in 2005 by the digital entertainment provider Uclick. It was originally created as a distribution portal for comic strips on mobile phones, but in 2006, the site was redesigned and expanded to include online strips ...

. He also became a regular contributor to MAD in 2017, creating two regular features for the magazine –

The 27 Club ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

and The Chancers – as well as contributing numerous single cartoons and panels. The McGarrys have continued to produce animated videos for a variety of clients. In 2017, they created the "Melania's Great Escape" series for Super Deluxe. In 2019 they produced an animated segment for Vice's "Party Legends" series. Other animation clients have included Google Play,

Visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

and

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

. Much of Luke's cartoon output is published directly to social media and focuses on pop culture and politics. Boing Boing has described his work as "hilarious" and "deeply niche".

Cartoon Festival and Convention appearances and live shows

McGarry has been featured at San Diego Comic Con on a number of occasions, including 2013, when he and

staged a special signing session on the convention floor. The following year, the pair were reunited and joined by Kyle Gass for a special appearance, once more hosted by the National Cartoonists Society. In 2018, McGarry was featured in

MAD Magazine Mad, mad, or MAD may refer to: Geography * Mad (village), a village in the Dunajská Streda District of Slovakia * Mád, a village in Hungary * Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, by IATA airport code * Mad River (disambiguation), several r ...

panels at SDCC,

New York Comic Con The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. History The New York Comic Con is a f ...

and Wondercon in Anaheim. 2016 saw him featured as special guest, alongside his cartoonist father, Steve McGarry, at

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, often referred to as LICAF, is an annual comics art festival. Established in 2013, the not-for-profit festival takes place for a weekend in October each year. From 2013 until 2021 LICAF took place in Ke ...

in Kendal, U.K. The pair returned as guests for each of the three subsequent festivals and Luke McGarry and his brother, Joe, were featured when The Lakes was staged as a fully virtual online event in 2020. Among the events they conducted for LICAF 2020 were an animation masterclass and music sessions alongside their invited guests, The Walking Dead artist Charlie Adlard, David Silverman of

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

and

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

illustrator Michael Lark. The McGarry brothers also created "Sheep Trek," a virtual comic that combined the talents of Luke McGarry,

Duncan Fegredo Duncan Fegredo (; born 1964) is a People of the United Kingdom, British comic book artist. Career Born in Leicester, Fegredo first managed to get into comics after showing his portfolio around UKCAC in 1987 and meeting Dave Thorpe. Together th ...

Steven Appleby Steven Appleby (born 27 January 1956) is an absurdist cartoonist, illustrator and artist living in Britain. She is a dual citizen of the UK and Canada. Her humour has been described as “observational or absurd, with a keen sense of the turmoil ...

Rick Stromoski Rick Stromoski (born December 25, 1958)
Lambiek's ''Comiclopedia''. Accessed Dec. 22, 2018. is an American

Steve McGarry Steve McGarry (born 24 January 1953,
Lambiek's ''Comiclopedia''. Retrieved 21 December 2018. in

Tom Richmond, Lucie Lomová, Charlie Adlard, Bill Morrison,

Sean Phillips Sean Phillips (born 27 January 1965) is a British comic book artist, best known for his collaborations with Ed Brubaker on comics including '' Sleeper'', ''Incognito'', the '' Criminal'' series of comics, '' Fatale'', '' The Fade Out'', and ' ...

, Michael Lark, Francis Desharnais, Jibé and Alex A. Luke McGarry did a live show broadcast from Los Angeles and the brothers also created the festival's Virtual Clocktower website. In April 2017, McGarry moderated Drawing The Lines, a political cartoons panel discussion with

Tom Tomorrow Tom Tomorrow is the pen name of editorial cartoonist Dan Perkins (born April 5, 1961, in Wichita, Kansas). His weekly comic strip, ''This Modern World'', which comments on current events, appears regularly in more than 80 newspapers across t ...

and David Horsey at The

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books The ''Los Angeles Times'' Festival of Books is a free, public festival celebrating the written word. It is the largest book festival in the United States, annually drawing approximately 150,000 attendees. Started in 1996, the Festival is hel ...

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

. In May 2017, Luke, Joe and Steve McGarry, as well as

cartoonist Tom Richmond, were invited speakers at the China-U.S. Comics Summit Forum at the Jilin Animation Institute in Changchun, where they were honored as visiting professors. That same year, Luke McGarry appeared at Los Angeles Comic Con and was a special guest at three events in Tokyo – Tokyo Comic Con, Tokyo International Comic Festival (Kaigai Manga Festa) and Comic Art Tokyo. He returned to Tokyo Comic Con in 2018 as a featured guest. In 2018, he was a featured guest at the Helsinki Comics Festival in Kattilahalli, Finland. In 2019, after appearing at C2E2 in Chicago, and Wondercon in Anaheim, he appeared as a special guest at Québec BD in Canada before appearing once more at SDCC. Commissioned to create the look of the inaugural NCSFest in Huntington Beach, California, in the summer of 2019, his work was featured on posters, banners and the shuttle buses laid on by the city to transport attendees. He was featured in seven of the festival's premier events. He also created the signature artwork for France's Lyon festival in 2019 and was a featured guest at the festival, appearing in numerous events and panels. He has regularly appeared at "Picture This" improv comedy show's in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Denver. The shows feature comedians paired with cartoonists who live draw as the comedian perform their sets. In 2020, McGarry began to broadcast occasional one hour "Lukey Live in Lockdown" shows via Twitch.

Exhibitions

In 2014, Luke McGarry's work was displayed in a month-long solo exhibition at the Burbank, California, headquarters of

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

. He has subsequently been featured in a number of exhibitions at L.A.'s Gallery 1988, including shows inspired by

Veep ''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci as an adaptation of his sitcom ''The Thick of It''. The protagonist of ''Veep'' ...

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

and

Bob's Burgers ''Bob's Burgers'' is an American adult animated sitcom created by Loren Bouchard that premiered on Fox on January 9, 2011. The show centers on the Belcher family—parents Bob and Linda and their three children, Tina, Gene, and Louise—who r ...

. In 2016, his illustrations on the Euro2016 Soccer tournament were featured in the "Group Stage" exhibition hosted by Patterns of Play In Hoxton, London. In 2017, in tandem with a Pop Noir concert in the brothers' native Manchester, England, 20 of Luke McGarry's concert poster designs were exhibited at The Peer Hat venue in the city centre. In October 2018, McGarry was the focus of 31 at 31, a month-long exhibition at Carlisle's University of Cumbria that featured 31 of his concert posters to mark his 31st birthday. His work was heavily featured in the "Playing For A Draw' soccer art exhibition that debuted in the UK in the summer of 2018 at the National Football Museum in Manchester, before it moved to the Brewery Arts Center in Kendal later that year. Playing For A Draw was one of three exhibitions, along with "Hero(ine)s" – a French exhibition which reimagined classic comic characters as female icons – and "90 Years of Popeye," staged concurrently at the Huntington Beach Art Center under the umbrella of "The Wonderful World of Comics" as part of the inaugural NCSFest. McGarry's work was featured in all three exhibitions and he designed all the banners, posters and advertising art for the event. In June 2019, as part of Lyon BD, he had a one-man exhibition at the city's Kiblind Gallery. In September 2019, as part of

, McGarry created the timeline centerpiece of the Let's Go Camping With Tom of Finland exhibition, which charted the history of the Tom of Finland comic series.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGarry, Luke 1987 births Living people