We were lucky to catch up with Joel Lee recently and have shared our conversation below.

Joel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I think with art and drawing we all just naturally did it as children, it was an innate desire to put something on page, to create. But I think as we get older, the inner and outer voices that say you can’t do it, or you’re not good enough, etc get louder and louder. And at that point a decision is made on whether to keep going or to stop.

Ultimately it all boils down to COURAGE.

Sure there’s schools and courses and tutorials to help with the knowledge and skills side of things, but courage is the first ingredient that is often not talked about as much. The courage to face criticism, to accept our own faults. The courage to want to improve, to ask for help. And of course the courage to make that first stroke of a pencil or brush, and to keep going.

In the end, as cliche as it may sound, the only obstacles that really stood in the way of learning was myself. This was something I definitely struggled with and still wish I had more of – on a daily basis. The courage to just…do.

Joel, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a Visual Development Artist and aspiring Paleoartist born and raised in Singapore, now based in Los Angeles, California. Since graduating from Art Center College of Design in 2020, I have worked for ShadowMachine and Netflix Animation on such projects as: Little Demon, Cat Burglar, and the upcoming Thelma the Unicorn film from The Bad Guys creator, Aaron Blabey.

What a Visual Development Artist does is basically to design everything that will be seen by the audience on screen for an animated film or series; and I do mean everything. If you take the example of a bedroom, a visual development artist would have to come in and populate the room, making design calls on everything like the nightstands, chairs, bed, all the way down to the texture of the fabric on the curtains. And on top of that, it would all have to match the visual style of the show.

Within the profession, I personally don’t consider my artistic skills to be the best out there, but the one thing I do think I have a good handle on is storytelling. More so the drive to be committed and devoted to the narrative/ story, in order to create compelling and iconic imagery. And because of that, for me, having a “personal style” isn’t so important- because every story is, or rather, should be different. What is important to me though, in the end, is not so much to be associated with a “style”, but rather a sensibility.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The problem solving, hands down. The mystery of pulling something from the amorphous unknown of a script page, into visual reality.

So taking the earlier example of the bedroom; there is waaay more that needs to done than just showing A room. Because it’s not just any room, its a room that belongs to a character, a person. Which then begs the question: “Who is this person?”. This then leads to even more questions that need visual answers: How old are they? What’s their personality? What hobbies do they have? Are they fastidious or carefree? What is their current mood? Where are they in life right now? … the rabbit-hole can go on forever.

Really it’s like being a detective, but in reverse. The story exists, we already know what happened. We just have to show the clues.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Savor things. Be it art, crafts, media, food, anything that a person took time to create on their own, or with others.

I don’t think that people need to consume more or go chasing experiences; sure it’s nice to get some variety, but the reality is that people are limited by money and time. It’s like having a good meal or hanging out with friends and family. The quality won’t matter if you don’t take the time to appreciate it.

So when it comes to art, as it is in life, be more mindful of what you allow in. Then be present, spend time with it and reflect on it. It’s simple… it’s just not easy.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://joelleeart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joelleezj/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-lee-b60507111/

Image Credits
Thelma the Unicorn and Cat Burglar and copyrights of Netflix Animation