Freelance Illustrator & Graphic Recorder — Cleveland, OH
Len Peralta is an award-winning creative with work appearing inThe New Yorker, CNN, Discovery Channel, Warner Bros., Steve Jackson Games, and Boom! Studios. Drawing monsters, geeks, heroes, and everything in between — by hand, with intention, for over three decades.
ABOUT LEN
Cleveland's Art Gun for Hire
Len Peralta is a Cleveland-area illustrator, cartoonist, graphic recorder, and all-around creative force with over 20 years of professional work spanning editorial illustration, game design, comic books, children's books, live graphic recording, and everything in between.
His quirky, offbeat style has appeared in The New Yorker, on CNN.com, in gallery shows across Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Hawaii, and San Diego Comic-Con, and on cards, posters, t-shirts, and comic books worldwide.
Beyond the drawing board, Len has taught digital illustration, graphic design and comics at the Cleveland Institute of Art, serves as Lead Graphic Recorder at The Sketch Effect, and is the Marketing Director at Padre Pio Academy — where his 20th Anniversary video earned a Gold ADDY Award at the 2025 Cleveland American Advertising Awards.
He has been podcasting for 20+ years — producing Jawbone Radio (one of the first podcasts in the United States), the Geek A Week podcast, and co-hosting Creature Geek. He is the resident artist on Tom Merritt's Daily Tech News Show, where he draws live while the show records.
Len lives in suburban Cleveland with his wife Nora and a healthy suspicion of AI-generated art.
Contact: E-mail
Support Human Art
Generative AI is producing millions of images a day. Some of it is clever. None of it has a story behind it. No late nights. No paper napkin sketches. No moment where something clicks and you draw the thing you didn't know you were trying to draw.
I've been drawing for over 30 years. I've drawn to pay hospital bills. I've drawn trading cards of geeks I admired. I've drawn live on stage at nerd festivals. I've drawn characters for games my kids play.
Every piece on this site was made by a person (me) with a stylus, a pen, and a brain full of references no algorithm has ever had.
When you commission art from me, you're not getting an output. You're getting a collaboration with someone who has spent two decades figuring out how to put something on a screen that stops you in your tracks.
That's worth something. And I'll fight for it.
WHAT I DO
How I Can Help
Commission An Illustration
Custom portraits, characters, book covers, editorial pieces, D&D characters, monsters, mascots. If you can imagine it, I can draw it. Every commission ships with a certificate of human-made origin.
Game & Character Design
Card games, board games, RPG illustration, character design, and world-building art. Track record with Steve Jackson Games, AdMagic/Breaking Games, and Boom! Studios.
Caricature & Portrait
Celebrities, clients, colleagues, grandparents, your weird uncle. Caricatures as gifts, for events, for corporate swag, or just because. Available digital and print-ready.
Editorial & Book Illustration
Children's books, graphic novels, cover design, interior illustration, and storyboarding. Published work with multiple authors, Kickstarter campaigns, and traditional publishers.
Graphic Recording
Real-time visual note-taking at your conferences, summits, workshops, meetings and corporate events.
Social Avatar / Flipface
The original human-made digital avatar. Hand drawn, delivered fast. Available in standard and hi-res (Flipface Max). Each comes with a Support Human Art badge for your profile.
1–2 DAY TURNAROUND
SELECTED WORK
What’s New
Take a look at some of my current work and projects. If you’d like to see more, click the links below.
LOOK FAMILIAR?
You May Have Seen My Work:
Let's Make Something
Whether you need a commission, a caricature, a graphic recorder for your next event, or you just want to say hello — I'd love to hear from you. Response time is fast. I promise not to be weird about it.