Peter Michael Lyon is a UK-based
visual artist
The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...
who has worked in a wide range of 2D and 3D media spanning from traditional oil painting to computer graphics, for the science fiction and fantasy genres. According to his personal website, he has been involved in various works in the computer games industry such as graphic production, teaching and management, with 3D modelling and animation. He is known as a pioneer graphic designer for the
Atari
Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...
and the
Amiga
Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...
in the 1980s and 1990s.
Early life and education
Born in 1950 in north Liverpool, England, Lyon attended St Mary's Roman Catholic College in Crosby. From 1962, he and his family lived in Australia, in the outback town of Penola and in Adelaide where he attended the Croydon Boys Technical High School, returning to St Mary's in the mid-60's. Lyon attended Liverpool College of Art and Design, where his tutors included pop-artist
Sam Walsh,
Maurice Cockrill R.A. and Mersey poet
Adrian Henri
Adrian Henri (10 April 1932 – 20 December 2000) was a British poet and painter best remembered as the founder of poetry-rock group the Liverpool Scene and as one of three poets in the best-selling anthology '' The Mersey Sound'', along with ...
. He gained a 2.1 B.A. degree in 1973. A major element of his final portfolio was the fantasy black and white graphic work ''Calmabloc'' plus a set of representational paintings.
Career
Role in science fiction fandom
Lyon moved to Leeds in
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...
in 1973 and by the mid-1970s, after working in short-term posts, he set out to develop as an artist and began working on painting techniques (oils, acrylics, airbrushing). A growing involvement in the
science fiction (SF) fandom led to the production of a large quantity of cartoons and pictures for many science fiction fanzines of the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1982, he was voted UK fan artist of the year. He also helped organize a number of UK science fiction conventions and ran the art show at Seacon, the world science fiction convention, in 1989. He was also a guest of honour in Glasgow at
Albacon
Albacon is the Albany science fiction convention, held each year in the Albany, New York area, also called the Capital District.
Albacon is the largest "Con" in upstate New York, United States. It is hosted by LASTSFA, or Latham-Albany-Schene ...
III in 1986 alongside
Joe Haldeman
Joe William Haldeman (born June 9, 1943) is an American science fiction author. He is best known for his novel ''The Forever War'' (1974). That novel and other works, including ''The Hemingway Hoax'' (1991) and '' Forever Peace'' (1997), have wo ...
, John Jarold and
Clive Barker
Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English novelist, playwright, author, film director, and visual artist who came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories, the ''Books of Blood'', which established him as a leading h ...
. He was twice nominated for British SF Association Awards firstly in 1982 and again in 1987 for his cover work on the first ''
Interzone'' magazines.
Contribution to 1980s computer games
Lyon taught illustration and computer programming for the BBC Micro at
Swarthmore adult college in Leeds during the mid 1980s. He also became a professional freelance artist and worked as a cover illustrator for speculative fiction. In 1986 he joined the emerging computer games industry. Working with Steve Bak at
Microdeal
Microdeal was a British software company which operated during the 1980s and early 1990s from its base at Truro Road in the town of St Austell, Cornwall. The company, founded by John Symes was one of the major producers of games and other softwa ...
, he developed graphics for a string of early games such as ''The Karate Kid Part II'' (1986), ''
Goldrunner
''Goldrunner'' is a vertically scrolling shooter published developed by Steve Bak and Pete Lyon for the Atari ST and published by Microdeal in 1987. Rob Hubbard composed the music. An Amiga version followed, as well as a sequel, 1988's ''Goldr ...
'' (1987), ''Airball'' (1987), ''
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is a music venue in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the T ...
'' (1988), ''Leatherneck'' (1988), and ''
Fright Night
''Fright Night'' is a 1985 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Tom Holland (in his directorial debut) and produced by Herb Jaffe. It stars Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale, Roddy McDowall, Amanda Bearse, Jonathan Stark, D ...
'' (1988). His programming experience allowed him to adapt graphics to the needs of the programmer, maximizing the limited processing and graphics capabilities of 1980s technology. He also worked with such significant early games developers and musicians as
Archer Maclean
Archer Maclean (28 January 1962 – 17 December 2022) was a British video game programmer. He was the author of ''Dropzone'' which he developed for the Atari 8-bit family and was ported to other systems. Maclean also developed the Commodore 64 ve ...
, Rob Hubbard and Chris Sorrell.
Illustrations for ''Redwall'' books
In the mid-80's Lyon designed a series of cover illustrations for Brian Jacques’ ''
Redwall
''Redwall'' is a series of children's fantasy novels by British writer Brian Jacques, published from 1986 to 2011. It is also the title of the first book of the series, published in 1986, as well as the name of the abbey featured in the book, ...
'' children’s novel series, including the UK cover for the first novel, ''Redwall'' (1986), and then for ''Mossflower'' (1988), and ''Mattimeo'' in 1989. In 1985, Lyon produced the cover for the hardback version of the novel ''
The Skook ''The Skook'' is a novel by JP Miller published in 1984.
Plot summary
''The Skook'' is a novel in which Span Barrmann is trapped in a cave by biker cultists, and must escape with the aid of a fairytale creature called the Skook.
Reception
Dave La ...
'' by Emmy-nominated author
J P Miller
J, or j, is the tenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is ''jay'' (pronounced ), with a now-uncommon vari ...
. He also illustrated book covers for European SF and fantasy publications including ''Nach dem Ende'' by Friedrich Scholz.
Illustrations for ''Lone Wolf'' books
In the mid-80's Lyon designed a series of cover illustrations for
Joe Dever
Joseph Robert Dever, also known as Joe Dever (12 February 1956 – 29 November 2016) was an English fantasy author and game designer. Originally a musician, Dever became the first British winner of the ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' Championship ...
's '
Lone Wolf
A lone wolf is a wolf not belonging to a pack.
Lone wolf or Lone Wolf may also refer to:
Literature
*''Lone Wolf'', a book by Kathryn Lasky, part of the series called ''Wolves of the Beyond''
*''Lone Wolf and Cub'', a 1970 Japanese graphic nov ...
' books including '
Castle Death
''Castle Death'' is the seventh book in the Lone Wolf book series created by Joe Dever
Joseph Robert Dever, also known as Joe Dever (12 February 1956 – 29 November 2016) was an English fantasy author and game designer. Originally a musician, ...
', '
Magnamund
''Lone Wolf'' is a series currently consisting of 31 gamebooks, created by Joe Dever and initially illustrated (books 1–8) by Gary Chalk (illustrator), Gary Chalk. Dever wrote the first 29 books of the series before his son Ben, with help from ...
' and '
The Jungle of Horrors
''The Jungle of Horrors'' is the eighth book in the award-winning Lone Wolf book series created by Joe Dever.
Gameplay
Lone Wolf books rely on a combination of thought and luck. Certain statistics such as combat skill and endurance attributes ...
'.
Contribution to 1990s computer games
Lyon turned down offers of work in Hollywood, choosing to stay in England. There he built up a portfolio of high-level skills in
3D modelling
In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based representation of any surface (mathematics), surface of an object (inanimate or living) in Three-dimensional space, three dimensions via 3D comput ...
and
animation
Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...
, working for adventure games house
Revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
and publishers such as
Psygnosis
Psygnosis Limited (known as SCE Studio Liverpool or simply Studio Liverpool from 1999) was a British video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher headquartered at Wavertree Technology Park in Liverpool. Founded in 1984 by Ian Hether ...
and
Hewson Consultants
Hewson Consultants were one of the smaller software companies which produced video games for home computers in the mid-1980s. They had a reputation for high-quality games which continually pushed the boundaries of what the computers were capable ...
. He also helped to create several commercially successful games, including ''Astaroth'' (1989), ''Gravity'' (1990), ''Amnios'' (1991), ''The Godfather'' (1992), ''Daughter of Serpents'' (1992), ''
Powermonger
''Powermonger'' is a real-time strategy game developed by Bullfrog in 1990 for Amiga and Atari ST, derived from the '' Populous'' engine but presented using a 3-dimensional game map.
Gameplay
The game features a 3-dimensional game map, althoug ...
'' (1992), ''
Dropzone
''Dropzone'' is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed by Archer Maclean (under the name Arena Graphics) for the Atari 8-bit family and published in 1984 by U.S. Gold. It was ported to the Commodore 64, then later released for the Ninte ...
'', (1994) and ''Worms Reinforcements'' (1995). As the games industry expanded in the 1990s and early 2000s, Lyon’s role as a lead artist spanned graphic production, training and development, as well as management at a number of UK companies in Yorkshire and Manchester including Sprytes and
Team17
Team17 Group plc is a British video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Wakefield, England. The venture was created in December 1990 through the merger of British publisher 17-Bit Software and Swedish developer Team 7. A ...
where he was art director. In 1996, Lyon and games programmer Alaric Binnie set up their own company, Dot Products, and started to develop a number of game and graphic ideas together.
Commercial work
Lyon continued to work on some diverse commercial projects that included a 3D model of Stephenson’s ‘Rocket’ and a Christmas promotion for the Co-op. His most recognizable commercial image in the UK is still the 2000 update of the Silent Night beds Hippo and Duck.
His illustrations were used on lorry liveries, sales literature, and TV commercials. He also continued to work into the mid-2000s for a number of major northern games companies in Manchester such as Creations, and Z2 as an artist and visualizer, and later Traveller’s Tales on a Lego game projects.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyon, Pete
British speculative fiction artists
1950 births
Living people