Lankytown began in 1994 with a drawing of a strange little character inspired by a childhood fear.

His name was Willie.

From that single drawing grew an island, a town, five children and a story spanning generations.

“Willie • 1994”

As a child, Lankytown’s creator Kyle Carpenter was frightened by the old nursery rhyme Wee Willie Winkie — and particularly by the thought of Willie coming at eight o’clock to make sure the children were in bed.

Years later, that childhood memory inspired a drawing.

The character and story subsequently evolved far beyond their original inspiration. Willie became the Lamplighter, eight o’clock became part of Lankytown’s mythology, and the beginnings of a much larger world started to take shape.

Willie

The original character drawing plants the first seed of what will eventually become Lankytown.

Lankytown

Ideas surrounding Willie develop into a larger storyworld, with the first substantial outline for Tappin’ at the Windows taking shape.

Tappin’ at the Windows

The story develops through screenplay drafts, establishing the children, characters, locations and mythology at the heart of Lankytown.

The story grows beyond the original Tappin’ at the Windows and becomes The Tale of Lankytown.

The Curse of Lankytown explores the generations that came before.

The Fate of Lankytown looks towards what happens after.

Together they form a twelve-part saga spanning Lankytown’s past, present and future.

Lankytown Continues To Grow.

Writing, character development, maps, architectural design, visualisation and an evolving IP Bible continue to expand and define the world.

Lankytown has never existed solely on the page.

Over the years, the island has been explored through drawing, graphic design, architectural research, mapping and 3D visualisation — gradually establishing how its streets connect, where its landmarks stand and how a town with nowhere to expand might grow upwards instead.

Each stage has helped answer the same question:

What Would It Actually Feel Like To Live There?

Recent development has introduced new visualisation techniques, including generative AI, alongside the writing, drawing, design and 3D work used throughout Lankytown’s development.

These tools are being used to explore and visualise characters, locations and ideas from a storyworld whose foundations were established decades earlier.

The technology may change.

As Lankytown has grown, so too has the need to bring its many elements together.

The developing Lankytown IP Bible documents the island’s stories, characters, locations, history, mythology and visual identity within a single evolving reference work.

Lankytown is an independently created original storyworld continuing to develop through writing, visual development and short-form storytelling.

At its heart is the twelve-part Lankytown Saga — The Curse of Lankytown, The Tale of Lankytown and The Fate of Lankytown — alongside opportunities to explore the island’s wider mythology through The Lore of Lankytown.

Lankytown remains a world with much more to reveal.

Kyle Carpenter

Kyle Carpenter is a British artist, designer and writer who has been developing Lankytown since creating the original Willie character in 1994.

Drawing upon a background in art and graphic design, he has developed the project through writing, illustration, character and environment design, mapping and 3D visualisation.

More than three decades after its beginnings, Kyle continues to expand Lankytown while preserving the distinctive identity, atmosphere and mythology that have evolved with it.