Meet Luke Molver: The Artistic Renegade Behind cyberpunkdreams
Howdy, pilgrims. I’m Luke, artist for CYBERPUNKDREAMS and renegade Nexus 6 skinjob. Vat-grown on the southern tip of Africa, I freelance in various creative media from game illustration and comic books to music and screenwriting.
Rob’s Impact on My Art: Unleashing My Imagination
I first encountered the work of Rob (the ChantGPT), when he was writing for L0WL1F3 magazine, a down ‘n dirty cyberpunk anthology put out by these borged-up street samurai. I created the cover for the mag, as well as illustration for Rob’s story Nothing But Politics, a pre-CPD tale of 2090s Cincinnati. The image is the first piece of CYBERPUNKDREAMS art I ever illustrated, depicting an early incarnation of everyone’s favourite Jag…
2500+ illustrations later, working on CYBERPUNKDREAMS has proved one of the coolest gigs I’ve ever had, and still going strong. It is a great pleasure being able to clamber from my regeneration chamber every morning and help populate the layered, complex world of CYBERPUNKDREAMS
Rob leaves my fevered imagination dangerously untethered when illustrating the various elements and environs of the game, and I am exceedingly grateful for that freedom. I get to draw some of the coolest, strangest and most unique stuff any artist could hope to! Although for some of the reference images I’ve looked up online, my search history likely has me on a government watchlist somewhere.
Crafting Cyberpunk Narratives: My Passion for Sequential Art
One of my favourite aspects of the job is the short comic narratives I get to create for various stories and encounters in the game. While I love illustration, storytelling, particularly within sequential art, is an even deeper passion. With the in-game comic strips I aim to pull the player deeper into the city, often using a 1st or 3rd person perspective to unfold the narrative over a few panels.
Also, for eagle-eyed players, I pack quite a few visual easter eggs into the strips and images…
Funnily enough, as a player myself, I’ve barely scratched the surface of the game. The big city chewed up this borderland urchin pretty quick, and spat ‘em out a penniless cannibal junkie ex-con….
Beyond CYBERPUNKDREAMS: My Diverse Creative Ventures
In addition to my work on CYBERPUNKDREAMS, I’ve also written and illustrated several graphic novels across various genres. These include self-published work such as Sunday’s Slave, a horror western comic based on the legend of the mysterious Bluesman Robert Johnson, and Shaka Rising, an historical graphic novel detailing the rise and fall of the eponymous Zulu king. That one even got a few awards.
In addition to scribblin’ art ‘n stories, I also dabble in synthwave music, bluesy murder ballads and low-budget horror films…
You can check it all out on my website or follow me on Instagram @lukemolver
See y’all at Frank’s.