Get exclusive access to Sensei Simon Lee’s recent feature in ImagineFX. In this short version interview, the educator and creature art director reflects on how personal evolution, even more than art itself, has shaped his creative path.

 

Where did you grow up and how has this influenced your art?

I was born in Beijing China and lived there till I was 10. Then I lived in Hong Kong for another 10 years before settling in the United States. My art is closely related to my life so every cultural influence that I was exposed to has shaped my artistic language and expression.

Is there a painting that you saw in your formative years that changed everything? What was it?

I am a self taught artist. I started sculpting on my own at the age of 5, but growing up in a very traditional Chinese family, the notion of becoming a full-time artist never entered my mind. I went to business school in college and majored in marketing. When I was 38 years old I became a dad, and that was the wake-up moment of me deciding to truly value my passion and become a professional artist. And my first professional project was working as a concept designer for Guillermo del Toro, which started a chain reaction of a decade-long explosion of self reflective artistic growth and discoveries. In a way, the artwork that triggered all that was my child, the best creation that I can ever create.

Tell us about your first paid commission, and does it stand as a representation of your talent?

My first paid commission was a resin model that I created for the Shiflett Brothers. I did it when I was still working as a web designer and a hobbyist sculptor.  It was a representation of who I was at the time. I see all of my artwork that way - an almost photographic record of a moment in time of my artistic journey. 

What’s the last piece that you finished, and how do the two differ?

I used to take days, weeks, sometimes months to create a single piece of artwork, and now I can create something in minutes. I don't see my art as singular beings but rather parts of a flowing stream. So the older artworks show where I was, the current ones show where I am. I don't place too much attention on my work, but rather I focus on what my art is telling me about my life.

What advice would you give to your younger self to aid you on the way?

My advice would be to keep an open mind. To get better at art you'd need to look outside of art. Expand your horizon, for art is both a reflection and reaction to life.

 

Entire interview on Imagine FX.