Adrian Powell (2026-02-11 interview)

Adrian Powell
Subject Lemmings Date 2026-02-11 Interviewed by CartridgeCulture

Alexander Rojas: Would you be able to tell us a bit about your background, particularly when it comes to your early experience in art?

Adrian Powell: Recalling my family home as a child, there was always a presence of art. This was influenced by my art teacher father, who was trained at the London Royal College of Art - the best in the UK. In addition to his teaching, he seemed always to be creating artwork at home, with his materials scattered around the house. At that early stage in my life, I was unaware that my home surroundings would influence my future.

You mentioned drawing and making your own comics as a kid. What comics or cartoons did you grow up with? And what cartoon and/or artist influenced you the most?

My elder brother and I would create our own art and even produce comics. I suppose we were influenced by professional national publications such as the Dandy, the Beano, and Eagle (my favourite).

Did you go to school for art or were you self-taught?

At school, my records show that I was generally at the top of the class in art, with favourable comments from the teachers. However, I have to admit to playing truant from school whenever it was a sports day (I did not like sports). But my time was not wasted. I would visit a local signwriter's studio and learned a lot about graphics and brushwork. I have to say though, there was little doubt that I was influenced by my father. I achieved my GCE in several subjects, including my most important qualification - art!

You mentioned you were a commercial artist, and that you have experience working in printing, publishing, and the like. Could you tell us more about your experience in the printing and typesetting industry?

At the end of my schooling, I began work in the Publicity Department of the local authority, which was responsible for promoting the seaside resort where I lived. The job involved producing holiday guides, posters, leaflets, etc. A wonderful time, and very hands-on for learning the ins and outs of arts and graphics. I also attended night school for art and design. The teacher was... my father.

There followed a number of jobs in and around London. For several years I was the production manager and print buyer for four monthly trade magazines - very hands-on and often stressful in making publication dates. During this time came marriage and a family, until I decided to go freelance in the North of England where my roots were. Quite a challenge, but I had a number of business contacts, one of which was a printing company. I had regularly produced various items of artwork for their customers.

You mentioned being introduced to Psygnosis some time in 1990. How did that connection first happen?

One of their customers was moving direction by investing in a new product in the exciting area of computer games. A small group of “techies” in Dundee had created a game but needed finance to go forward. Step in Psygnosis. My printer client phoned me one day to ask if I could draw cartoons and was I available the next day.

The following day I was taken to Psygnosis HQ and introduced to the team. Psygnosis was a conversion of a Liverpool dockland warehouse on the river Mersey, with large open spaces where lots of young people were sat at monitors. In particular was a young guy with a screen in front of him. I sat with him and he began the game with ping pong balls performing many antics amongst the now familiar backgrounds of underground scenarios. He explained that the "balls" were in fact creatures called Lemmings, and they wanted me to produce a Lemming. And so it began. Big challenge.

Were you given any guidelines on what the rest of the team wanted the Lemmings to look like? I'm curious how much freedom you had in your designs.

The brief to me was to create something unique, and that whatever the character looked like, they would have to convert it into pixels! I had never heard of pixels! And there would be a number of different characters and antics on the screen at the same time. The problem would be to not have pixel overload on the screen. These were early days of games, and I knew nothing of the tech side.

How many iterations did your designs go through? I'm also curious what the internal "feedback, changing things, feedback" process went.

I roughed several paper sketches in pencil initially, with a lot of Psygnosis visits. Pressure was on and the team were waiting anxiously as each day passed. At last, the Lemming was chosen after a few tweaks and colourization. Artwork commenced.

Your previous experience in typesetting really shows when it comes to the game's iconic logotype. Can you tell us about the process of designing that logo?

Because of my fascination with graphics, I decided to produce the logotype first. This was, after all, the major piece in the promotion. I had a particular admiration of a font called Cooper Black. Once again, I visited Psygnosis for agreement. I had made a shade of green for the Lemmings' hair, and for continuity, I used it in the title. I firmly believe the enthusiasm the team had for the logo set the way for me - more so than the Lemming itself. However, I realized at this point I was being given complete freedom in my first ever journey into computer games.

You mention being given about 4 months to meet a Christmas deadline, with Lemmings actually launching in February 1991. Does this mean your hiring date was around… August or September 1990? Is that right?

This was August 1990, I think. Launch date was a few months away!

Speaking of challenges, what's the biggest challenge in working remotely as a contract artist?

My small studio was away from home in order that I didn't have any family interruptions during urgent creativity. Lemmings, I envisaged, was about to become a major part of my life.

Now you drew the game's box art, but I believe you created the box design as well. As in, determining the design layout and where things would go, if I have that correct. Could you tell us about the process of designing the game's box?

The now iconic box cover artwork involved planning, airbrushing, and tracings. During the production of the cover, I was updated by Psygnosis of additional artwork requirements - more characters! Diggers, Floaters, Blockers, Builders, even a life-size Lemming.

You also mentioned working on a bunch of promotional artwork and the game’s manual. Could you tell us more about that?

I had to create [all] this for point-of-sale distribution. Badges and lots of other point-of-sale items. And then some very involved artwork for the back of the box cover. The instruction manual was a very last-minute addition to my workload. The piece of artwork for the cover of the box showing two Lemmings carrying a placard was added later and changed over the course of reprints. I understand 20 million copies were printed.

As an artist, what was the biggest difficulty in working under such a tight timeline?

Probably the biggest challenge in being self-employed is discipline. But when the piper is calling the shots and the cheques at the end of the month, you just get on with it.

Did you do any further work on the Lemmings franchise?

As for later games, I recall that Sony bought the Lemmings copyright. I was not involved in any more games. However, and I can't be sure of dates, several years later I was contacted by an American Lemmings fan who collected retro art. This communication started another voyage back to creating Lemmings images. He wanted to buy the original box cover artwork. I had no idea where it was or if it still existed. He asked me if I could recreate it, which I did. Then his brother wanted the same. Then it snowballed rather rapidly. I was back in the world of Lemmings artwork as commissions in the USA, France, Italy, the UK, the world, even Australia. And so it continues.

How does it feel to have impacted so many lives in such a positive way?

A couple of years ago I was asked to appear in a film about the history of Lemmings. Eventually I was invited to the premiere in Dundee. My wife and I were shown to the VIP area in a cinema filled with Lemmings fans and watched the film. Very moving. At the end there was a questions and answers session. Someone asked about the original artist and I was asked to stand and take a bow. The audience stood and applauded. Later I answered lots of questions, signed autographs, and generally enjoyed the fame.

You mentioned your work for an Alzheimer's care organization and painting murals based on nostalgic themes for the patients? Could you tell us more about this work?

AP: With regard to the mural work I have done, this was over a long period for a major company involved in Alzheimer's care. For my part it was most enjoyable. I travelled to several parts of the UK. My brief was to sit with the residents and ask if they could recall childhood. Obviously, much of the recollections involved comics and games. Then I would paint the memories outside their bedroom. It worked and gave me great pleasure in seeing some recognition. Often they would sit and watch me paint, sometimes even joining in.

A wonderful time in my life. In fact, most of it has been good. Maybe a book is next.