Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Lee.
Hi Chris, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
My name is Chris Lee. I am Illustration Design Student at Artcenter College of Design. I wanted to show trivial things that people cannot do what they wanted to do, because of their busy life. I wanted to make people feel a little more comfortable about their life. So, I tried to put outfits more fashionable and active figure gestures with a solid background. Also, I wanted to demonstrate the mood of people from their faces, more interestingly through the illustration. The reason is that after I came to America, I met various people and experienced diverse human relations. Then, I got curious about their inner feelings. Therefore, I show expressions of senses that we cannot recognize. I explored and now I concentrated on the happiness coming from trivial things that intrigued people as they were busy living in reality. I have felt since last time that I should draw a picture that can be healing to see and laugh about, not a problem that occurs in the world or a subject that cannot be easily dealt with.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Just because I was painting with trivial things, in other words, too light a topic, I thought I should draw a drawing about social news like others. As I came to think about that, I began to think about not only the subject but also the medium. It also occurred to me that drawing digitally and painting on paper was cliche. I got to think more about the mediums. Using various mediums, I also got to do 3D. By thinking about these things, I think I was able to come to the art that I am doing now.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
While studying the diversity of mediums, I came to know a wood called MDF. And I made an illustration by laser cutting it. With the same method, I began to paint various paintings. In 3D, I made my characters and things that I drew into real life. I also drew a lot of paintings about Korea as opposed to Korean traditional artworks. I did a lot of redesigning Korean traditional colors and patterns of drawings. I think what makes the different from others is drawing Korean-style drawings in America. The medium may have freshness, but I think it is unique to redesigning traditional paintings.
What were you like growing up?
I wasn’t such an extrovert. Nor did I draw that much. I came to America when I was in 10th grade. I live apart from my parents with people who are not my family. It was not an easy decision to stay away from my parents for my dreams and passion, but I know I learned a lot from my Homestay: a system where the host parents support my needs such as providing a home and giving me rides but also cares for me as if I am their real child. I learned so much from homestay that there may be a reason why I worked harder on drawing. Because I was away from my parents and thought that I should work hard and show it to my parents a lot. Being alone in America, my personality changed to extrovert, and I think I found my style.
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Chris Lee
