Judge Dredd artist Lee Carter invites us into his cluttered studio and reveals why the mess keeps him focused

Lee Carter is an illustrator working mainly as a comic artist but also has worked on numerous video games, as well as movies, toy design and private painted commissions. Here he shows us his home studio setup, replete with meaningful objects and one furry friend.

"I worked for 13 years with games developer Bizarre Creations in a studio with over 200 people, but now I’m going into my 14th year of working from home as a freelancer. For 13 of those years, my dog has been a constant companion and is currently hogging my chair as I try to perch on the edge. She has a bed, but it’s cold and she doesn't know how comfortable I am.

"It’s a joy not to commute, and not having an alarm ring in the morning makes for a much easier start to my work day. After a dog walk I switch on my ancient 21-inch Wacom Cintiq and hope the Windows drivers still boot up.

"Working both traditionally and digitally doubles my workspace needs, partly due to the size of the Millennium Falcon I got for my 50th birthday, which meant I had to move my drafting table to another room. This was also due to my spending a long time working digitally on the Jupiter’s Legacy comic, so I didn’t have much time to get the paints out.

"For professional jobs that will be printed, I like to stick to digital art using Photoshop, Maya and a bit of ZBrush, so everything I need is available on my computer. The ageing Cintiq has served me well with over 15 years of daily use and has outlived many computers in that time.

"Now and again I take on private commissions, which I work on using watercolour and gouache. To make sure my paintings don’t warp, I have to go through the process of stretching the watercolour paper on a wooden board, so I tend to need a bit more space than my desk offers.

"I just need to get rid of the printer and scanner that hogs the majority of the desk space. Scans are rubbish and the ink costs a fortune. What space I do have, I like to fill up with a few bits of joy and inspiration. Figures from 2000 AD, Marvel, DC, Star Wars and more fill my shelves. I’ve also done a bit of toy design for Hasbro’s Marvel line, so it’s part of my work, honest!

"My favourite comics, artbooks and a lot of art materials are all close by. Plus, my 60GB original iPod is still going strong, although I should update my playlist. Under the desk is a place of darkness, I don’t go there. It’s a place for stuff that’s not needed but needs sorting, especially the seven large boxes of comics that I sorted out for selling, but are still down there a couple of years later.

"Obviously, the dog has a large bed to the right of me, but she often finds a way to jump up and hammock herself into my jumper, making work a bit harder, but more cosy. "

Artist in residence: Lee Carter

Lee's studio setup, clockwise from top left. ’’Growing up in the 80s was fantastic for figures, cartoons and lots of commercial tie-ins with TV and merchandise. I loved everything from The A-Team to He-Man, and while the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon was great the toy line wasn’t quite the same. As a kid I had no idea the toys were actually based on the RPG rather than the cartoon series!’

’’I’m lucky to have received handmade gifts from my son and daughter. The paintings are by my son, who’s currently studying illustration at university.

’’The hinged lamp has a daylight bulb that helps when I paint. Another use for the lamp is lighting reference, as it gives strong shadows.

"The dog is guarding my art supplies: inks, watercolour paints, gouache, acrylic paints, markers, coloured pencils, French curves, rulers and lots of paper. Her bed is there so she can do two things at once… or just sleep.

"Trying out some acrylics on a Judge Dredd painting, when I’d normally use watercolour and gouache. I’m not sold yet, but next time I’ll use a nice paper rather than a canvas.

"My first lightbox was about 8cm thick, but my new one is controllable and much brighter while only 1cm thick, which makes it so much more comfortable to use. Much better than having to use the sunlight with paper taped to the window.

"Around 2022 I did a Kickstarter to help create a 100-page artbook called 337, collecting random sketches and other bits. It was successfully backed, so I recently decided to do a second Kickstarter for 337-2, another book collecting more bits of my art.

"Working as an art droid was my lifelong goal as a kid, and I’ve been proudly appearing in the pages of 2000 AD and Judge Dredd Megazine for around 18 years. But I’ve only recently done my first 2000 AD cover. Each week’s cover is now available to buy as a print, so my other half kindly framed my complimentary print of the Rogue Trooper cover I did. What’s nice is that I may be able to entice her to see the film when it hopefully comes out this year.

"Now and again I like to use a rubber-skinned mannequin, which is great for lighting reference. It has a poseable metal-framed skeleton. I have a few different body shapes, but still haven’t bought heads for any of them yet."

"I found an old inked drawing of Judge Dredd from a while ago and decided to colour it up digitally for a pin-up or cover."

"My first 2000 AD cover. It features Rogue Trooper; Dave Gibbons’ classic blue-skinned, bio-engineered clone."

"At the desk with my old Wacom Cintiq. It’s starting to do odd things as it’s old, and I dread every Windows update as its no longer supported."

"A painting of Judge Death, which I did with a Judge Dredd piece. Guillermo del Toro messaged me about buying the pair, but I’d already sold them!"

"My son is currently at university studying illustration. While he was in his first year at art college, he got to try out different mediums. I particularly loved the ceramic tiles he made based on Mike Mignola’s drawings."

‘‘Keeping my work area full of clutter actually helps get my concentration back to the screen. When my mind wanders and my head turns it gets stuck in a visual overload, then quickly returns to the monitor.’’

"I got the honour of drawing the Judge Dredd strip in one of the 2000 AD Christmas specials and wanted to do a really good job, so I made a 3D model of Ben Willsher’s Lawmaster design for reference.’’

"The mug was an awesome gift from Bizarre Creations colleague Mike Waterworth after our work on video game The Club. Next to this is a porg that my daughter crocheted for my birthday.’’

"I’m a huge fan of Mark Millar’s comic work, and it was a real honour to draw the last issues of Jupiter’s Legacy: Finale."

"The dog guards a work-in-progress piece for Absolute Batman. I’ve used gum strip and stretched the paper so it stays flat as I chuck watercolour paint at it."

"I did have a nice drawing desk to the right of my computer setup. Unfortunately I needed somewhere for my Millennium Falcon to dock."

"I’ve always loved horror movies, but only ever the fantasy side. Werewolves, vampires and zombies are great, but slasher movies and serial killers are too real for my liking. I do like my improvised pen holder though!"

This content originally appeared in ImagineFX magazine, the world's leading digital art and fantasy art magazine. ImagineFX is on sale in the UK, Europe, United States, Canada, Australia and more. Limited numbers of ImagineFX print editions are available for delivery from our online store (the shipping costs are included in all prices)