I not only chose him because of his similar style but he also has a unique way of utilizing textures in his work to make it look less digital which is something I have wanted to try out considering the new methods I am implementing in my own work.
His style is very abstract and surreal. I am sensing a Mexican day of the dead theme coming through in his illustration style with decorative motives such as bones, stripes and flowers. It is extremely colourful and some images have elements of collage about them. A real good use of textures make it look far from digital although it is clear it originates there.
Lee has a select portfolio consisting mostly of posters and album covers for various artists and events all over the world. The hand rendered type along with the bright a decorative images allow themselves to the advertising genre well. He has also landed illustration jobs for Readers digest and his work fits into that context which gives him a good chance of being hired by different clients.
I'd say that his work, if toned down slightly, could reach out to a younger audience but mainly I would say that it is aimed at 18 - 25 year old's who enjoy music culture and abstract art. He DJ's at a club named Rambunctious which is a social club for the "creatively curious" so his posters also ensnare a slightly more refined art based audience.
Most of Lee's work seems to be for local and national music events such as a Movimentos gig in London but he has also landed jobs with RHS where he illustrated a range of posters to promote children's events happening in the RHS gardens all year round. ( See top left corner for example)
Lee also had the chance to illustrate for a section in readers digest which is another commendable client.
Lee also had the chance to illustrate for a section in readers digest which is another commendable client.
Lee got to do another piece for Readers Digest and this time he got to complete a cover for the magazine too. The brief was based on how YouTube changed the world and it would have been a cool brief to work on as there are so many different visuals you could use to demonstrate the theme, the internet is a large place after all.
Because Lee designs a lot of posters for clients he is getting some of the best publicity as posters get spread all over cities and are often blown up large at the actual event for all to see. He uses a few different websites to host his portfolio and he seems to have a recurring job designing posters for the Rambunctious Social Club which he also DJ's at thus giving him a bit of a social following too.
It has already been made clear that Lee gets a lot of commissioned commercial work but I could not see if he has an agent or anything like that, nor could I see if he was a part of any kind of collective or association. To get a better answer I actually contacted him through Facebook so that I could find out how he works as an image maker. Lee is a part of the Illustration Ltd agency who are a very well established group that do a very good job of promoting and showcasing each of their clients.
Lee does not really produce anything to sell individually and seems to work purely on commissions which is a fairly hard thing to start off with with but he seems to keep himself afloat just fine.
Whilst interviewing Lee he said that " I have many arms to my work as an artist, Illustration is the main one, I also run a nightclub called the Rambunctious social club, which makes a bit of cash, I DJ make the sets, create posters etc..."
This is quite interesting as Lee is practically living the dream at this point, he is able to sustain himself doing all of the things he enjoys, each task seems to bounce off of each other and the work circulates and links each of his interests together.
If I were to take something away from this study I'd say that I want everything to link together by the end of this project, I mean I want my interests to show throughout every project even if the themes are different.
In addition to this I even got the chance to meet up with Lee as he came to our college to give an artist talk. Above are some of the many images he brought with him to show everybody. After his talk I got the chance to show him some of my own work and he seemed very excited to see what I had to offer.
We talked for a while about different textures and ways of creating images and it was all very useful to me, in fact I would say that it offered me a new perspective towards my imagery and it made me want to explore with colours and abstract concepts. More on that a little later!
Lee does not really produce anything to sell individually and seems to work purely on commissions which is a fairly hard thing to start off with with but he seems to keep himself afloat just fine.
Whilst interviewing Lee he said that " I have many arms to my work as an artist, Illustration is the main one, I also run a nightclub called the Rambunctious social club, which makes a bit of cash, I DJ make the sets, create posters etc..."
This is quite interesting as Lee is practically living the dream at this point, he is able to sustain himself doing all of the things he enjoys, each task seems to bounce off of each other and the work circulates and links each of his interests together.
If I were to take something away from this study I'd say that I want everything to link together by the end of this project, I mean I want my interests to show throughout every project even if the themes are different.
In addition to this I even got the chance to meet up with Lee as he came to our college to give an artist talk. Above are some of the many images he brought with him to show everybody. After his talk I got the chance to show him some of my own work and he seemed very excited to see what I had to offer.
We talked for a while about different textures and ways of creating images and it was all very useful to me, in fact I would say that it offered me a new perspective towards my imagery and it made me want to explore with colours and abstract concepts. More on that a little later!
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