Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lucia Lee. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Lucia, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I didn’t always think that I would become a professional artist. I actually studied STEM in college, got my degree and everything. I was never that excited about my studies, but in typical good asian daughter fashion, I resigned myself to live a life that was expected of me. I loved art, and did think about a career in it, but the adults around me convinced me that I just didn’t have “the talent” to succeed. Every year I was unhappy in school and I’d think about switching majors, but then repeat the same excuse that I’m too old to change paths at 18, 20, etc. Stupid I know. But after graduating with no ambitions or job prospects, it felt like I was just staring down a dark, dark void. It was terrifying. The only anchor I really had was art, but I was still too scared to actually pursue it. But the thing that snapped me out of it was surprisingly my dad. He told me that if I was ever going to make this career work, that I needed to start now. I don’t know, something just clicked. I realized that I didn’t want to one day wake up at 50 regretting not even trying to pursue what I wanted when I was 23. So I decided it was time to work on my portfolio and apply for art schools across the country in LA. That was about 7 years ago now, and things have worked out in more ways than I’ve expected since then.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m primarily a concept artist so that I means I get to imagine and design people’s ideas and visually bring them to life as best I can. It involves A LOT of research and communication, so I think my STEM background has helped me in that sense. I could spend weeks going down Wikipedia and Pinterest rabbit holes searching for interesting reference images and the stories behind them. I specialize in environments so I pay extra attention to storytelling in architecture, landscapes, etc. It’s how I eventually got into background design + paint for animation. There’s just something so fun about designing spaces with all these details hidden in plain sight, but when you find them they can say so much about a person or place.

I only graduated from art school 2 years ago, so I’m still pretty new to the industry. Thankfully I’ve gotten to work on a lot of different projects since then. I’ve worked in TV animation as a background artist, a concept artist for a VR film, an art director for themed entertainment, and freelanced for VFX, illustration, graphic novels, etc, I may seem a bit all over the place, but I actually find something to enjoy in all the jobs I’ve done whether it’s the work itself or the people I meet; it definitely helps to keep me engaged. I guess I do a bit of everything, and if I’ve never done it before I learn as I go. Some of the best parts of what I do are to always be learning something new and working with people who are so knowledgeable and passionate about their work. I guess if there’s anything I’d like people to know about me as a professional is that kind of just go with the flow and say yes to pretty much anything even if it is hard sometimes, and there have definitely been hard times. But, I think I’ve experienced enough of those to understand how to work through them pretty well.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

From a young age, I thought that success meant burying your head into your books and having the most knowledge/skill. Building solid, healthy relationships was never something that was apart of that rhetoric. Especially when I got to art school and I was older yet much less experienced; I was sooo serious and felt pretty insecure being super behind compared to my younger classmates. So I hyper focused on catching up, never socializing except maybe getting dinner for an hour on some Fridays. In that process though, I think I missed out on a lot of potential relationships and sidelined the ones I already had. It didn’t really hit me until my final year when some stuff happened and I felt completely isolated. All those years never really trying to develop or maintain any relationships had finally caught up with me. I can’t say I’m surprised things turned out the way that they did. But being at such a low point helped me to realize a lot of my personal experiences reinforced this intense self-sufficiency that hurt me more than helped. I still have some regrets of how some things happened, but I’m grateful that now I have wonderful friends on both coasts. I’m still learning how to be more open to others, but I’m lucky to have amazing people in my life who are willing to learn with me.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I can’t really talk about the most rewarding part of the process without acknowledging the struggle that comes with. It’s hard. Creating anything can honestly feel like a double edged sword, even more if your livelihood depends on it. I, like many others, put so much pressure on making the best work possible and being the best at what I do, but end up burning myself out in the process. On top of that, entertainment is notoriously unstable, especially now. Oftentimes it kind of feels like I’m just choosing to unnecessarily struggle. But I guess I keep doing so because at the end of the day, this really is the thing that makes me the happiest. I love a great, personal story, a thoughtful design, and seeing how things come together with some cool people. And it’s also the little daily reminders: a free cookie at work, a fun assignment/idea, or a funny conversation with a coworker/friend. Those small things eventually compound into bigger things that I find enough satisfaction in. I’m lucky to be where I am, thanks to some hard work and a TON of dumb luck. So despite the hard times, all these small, good things are enough for me to keep going.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lucialeeart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luseeya_lee

Image Credits

All artwork is my own

Photo of me taken by Eric Ng