Add a Comment

Geek A WeekWhen Len Peralta, a talented illustrator who has worked with web celebrities like Jonathan Coulton and Paul and Storm, was looking for a new artistic challenge, he asked a friend for advice. "Why don't you do a Geek a Week?" his friend asked. What's a Geek a Week, though? Len decided that it's a series of trading cards (and corresponding interviews) of notable geeks.

He started the project on March 1st and it will eventually feature a year's worth of weekly geeks. The art is all original work by Len and the stats and bios on the back are by Paul and Storm. The series already includes JoCo, nerd rapper MC Frontalot, Jay and Silent Bob director Kevin Smith and more. I chatted with Len about how the project is going and how he got to know some of the coolest geeks in the world.

We started with the big question: how did Len go about getting all these notable geeks on board with his project?

Everything comes back to Coulton. I drew visual responses to Coulton's "Thing A Week" music project (where Coulton recorded a new piece of music for 52 weeks straight). During that process, I was introduced to Paul and Storm and they hired me to develop the art for their CD News to Us. Since then, we have become very good friends. One of the reasons I thought I had a fighting chance is because I had a pretty good base from which to start. I knew Coulton and Veronica Belmont and the MST3K guys, but after that I was sort of relying on my contacts to help create the ripple effect.

jonathon coulton geek a week card


Okay, that makes sense, but 52 people?! That's a boatload of geeks! I had to ask Len how many he's already lined up.
Ha! I just did an assessment a few days ago. As it stands, I'm about midway through. I've got about 26 or so confirmed and I'm trying to keep slots open for some really big names. There are a lot of geeks to choose from and I expect there will be omissions, but that's the beauty of it. How can I collect those elusive George Lucases or Steve Jobses?


Steve's been answering his email lately, so I told Len I thought he might have a shot at getting Apple's head geek involved.
I wrote to Steve. No answer yet. Maybe I'm in the "to do" pile.



However, Len told me who we can expect to see in upcoming trading cards and podcasts in the meantime.
People who you can expect to see coming up in the deck are Wil Wheaton, Grant Imahara (Great freaking interview with him. He actually said it was the Geekiest conversation he's had in quite some time.) I'm also trying to grab geeks from all walks of geekdom, so you can expect some D&D geeks, some science geeks and hopefully more videogaming and music geeks.
veronica belmont geek a week card


The people involved in this project are all fantastic, but the challenge itself is interesting too. Does Len have to do both the card and the interview before he can consider a week completed?
Yes, in my crazy rules for this I had to interview them, which was my way of "collecting" them. The card is sort of the proof of that. It has to be more than just "yes, draw me!" That's too easy. There has to be some meat to the challenge. Anyone can draw the people I'm drawing, but connecting with them is a totally different thing.


So, Steve Jobs and George Lucas, if you're reading this: connect with Len and get behind this awesome project. I want to see you on Geek a Week! And everyone else, head on over and give Geek a Week and Len Peralta's other work a look.