All About Me

Hello there I'm Gareth Lancaster, a 39 year old creative thingymabob from the United Kingdom. From my home studio, nestled on the cusp of the Peak District, I try to explore as many different mediums, methods and processes as possible to be creative. Whether that be through painting, drawing, markers, my Wacom tablet or vector goodness, my style veers between the abstract and cartoon and hopefully presents something unique and, above all, something that leaves the viewer with a smile, a warm fuzzy feeling or an emotion they might not have been expecting.

Mixed with my 20+ years of software development experience I also take my creative urges in other directions with the production of mobile and tablet apps.

Finally I also write children's poetry and have produced music for over a decade, originally under the moniker Pamplemousse.

My biggest fans, and my most honest critics, are my children. If they respond well to something I know I'm on the right track.


Children's Poetry

I started writing children's poetry in 2000. I setup a site called FizzyFunnyFuzzy in 2002 to see if anybody was interested in reading it. The answer was yes, and now the site contains 85 of my poems and gets about 2 million page views a year. It has led to some of the poetry being published in educational English language books around the world. My poetry has been used on examination papers in the United States, and I've read them to children over the web and visited real school to share my poetry in person. So far 10 of my poems have been licensed for educational use.

It's something I still love doing. I am now looking at merging my children's writing with my illustration in future projects.


Second Life

If you've ever used Second Life you may well have first heard of the name Moopf through that. I first joined back in 2001, using Moopf Murray as my name. This is where I basically made a name for myself by producing virtual roller skates, complete with ridiculous tricks and stunts, and virtual bubblegum. The bubblegum is probably the most distributed item in Second Life, with over 5 million pieces having been sold in the years it has been available. I was interviewed by the New York Times during the height of Second Life's popularity, and my skates were used in a brilliant animated film by Nylon Pinkney, which you can watch on YouTube.


Quite Interesting...

  • Age
    • Thirty-nine
  • Favourite Artist
    • Andy Goldsworthy
  • Favourite Film
    • It's a Wonderful Life
  • Favourite Music
    • Aphex Twin/Autechre/The Orb
  • Favourite Author
    • Jeff Noon
  • Favourite Children's TV (as a kid)
    • Chorlton and the Wheelies, Jamie and the Magic Torch
  • Favourite Children's TV (now)
    • Spongebob Squarepants, Chowder, Adventure Time
  • Food I Couldn't Live Without
    • Salt and Vinegar crisps
  • What I Collect
    • Paint brushes. It's an addiction, professional help is being sought