An Interview with Artist Jason Lee, June/July’s Featured Artist in the Mission: Comics Gallery!
Jason Lee is a superb San Francisco artist. This Friday (6/24/2016) is Jason’s gallery opening party at the Mission: Comics & Art Gallery, where his work will be featured through July. We had the pleasure of chatting with Jason to commemorate his new gallery show! Come on in to Mission Comics this Friday for free drinks, snacks, and KILLER art!
So Jason, tell us a little bit about your artistic background? When did you start drawing? Did you go to art school?
I started drawing when I was in elementary school. A friend had introduced me to comic books and the first book I had gotten my hands on was Haywire by DC Comics. It wasn't appropriate for my age, but I was fascinated by the robotic, mech suit the main character transformed into. I loved drawing him and soon started to venture out into the world of Marvel Comics where Spider-Man became my main interests. I stopped drawing during my middle school and high school years and didn't pick it up again until I went to college at San Jose State University where I received my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in illustration.
If you had to pick, say, 5 artists that were a profound influence on you and your art, who are they, and why?
Jim Lee's art really pulled me into comics. I admire his pencils and hatching skills which express so much life an energy in them.
Jock (Mark Simpson) - I just found out about Jock about 2 years ago and I was amazed with the black and white, high contrast work. He knows how to make specific types of marks with a variety of tools.
Olivier Coipel - Grace, finesse, organic...his work is beautiful.
Stuart Immonen - I'd say he has the best sense of anatomy and how body parts work. Great all-around artist with good foundation. I really like how he draws hands.
Sean Gordon Murphy - I love the way he uses the brush and hope to get on his level one day.
A lot of your work is superhero based. Have you ever done sequential pages?
I have not done sequential pages. I'm not opposed to doing them. I'm more interested in capturing a character at a certain moment and putting all my effort into that image.
Who is your favorite superhero to draw? Who is your favorite superhero to read?
Batman is my go to. I love using black and white and being able to push and pull shapes using only these two values really align well with the character.
I loved Jim Lee's X-Men and his run on WildC.A.T.S. back in the day. Today, I'm drawn towards Stuart Immonen's work like his run on All New X-Men and his most recent work on Empress. I've also started to read Tokyo Ghost and loving it so far!
What's next for you, Jason? Going to any conventions this summer? Any new projects you can tell us about?
I'll be exhibiting at a number of conventions this year. My schedule includes the following cons.
San Francisco Comic Con: Sept 2 - 4
As far as projects, I have a list of characters / team mash-ups I'm planning to tackle this year. Too many to list off, but I do welcome requests!