PAULA LUCAS
ART DIRECTOR & GAMES ARTIST
Thought Bubble Application 2026
HELLO!
Firstly, thank you for taking the time to read my application!
I'm Paula Lucas, a Kiwi living in Scotland. I am usually a Generalist games artist/ Art Director for my day job, but currently taking some time off to focus on my own artistic path including dedicated time for making comics!
I was fortunate enough to get a waitlist fill in spot last year for Thought Bubble, creating a couple of extra zines specifically for the convention. Since November, I have started to move beyond just zines and have begun creating a 'proper' (20-22 pages) short form comic which I intend to finish before November this year. I would love to debut it at Thought Bubble if my application is chosen!
Supplementary to my comics and zines, I also create risograph and digital illustrations as well as hand sculpted animals pins - an example of my table setup from last year is pictured below.
Table setup for Thought Bubble 2025.
PREVIOUS WORK
Les Mains Divines / A wordless 16 page comic exploring the invisible forces that guide, shape and drive us through life.
Fetch Quest / A puzzle zine combination! My intention was to combine story telling elements, world building and game creation as that is where my background hails from. The reader/player has to figure out which dogs wants which item, and by connecting them in the right order on the map, they can reveal the location of the 'King Bone'.
Animals Of... Series / Currently a 3 part series of funny facts to share about different animals across countries that I have some tie to. Starting with New Zealand (my home country), then on to Scotland, my current chosen home, then on to Aussie, where a lot of my family are, I wanted to share these awesome animals
Miniatures / Extra small zines exploring one topic each (Plants + Daily Routine when I was travelling around Europe a few years ago.
WORK IN PROGRESS
Dog Town / Following in the world of Fetch Quest, my Dog Town (working title) is my short comic in progress, exploring rebellion against parental expectations set in the world of Dog Town.
It follows one young Doberman dog who runs away from their old life as they think that all their problems will be fixed by running away, only to realise that you can't outrun yourself. Story beats have been roughed out and have started blocking out some pages! This is my longest and most ambitious comic project that I have done, but having worked up to it with various smaller projects and taking some time off to finish it is really exciting!
World building + early look dev for Dog Town
Thank you for taking the time to consider me to be included in Thought Bubble in 2026 and reading my application!
Cheers,
Paula