Drawing to the dark side
Illustrator Pat Lee digs deep into the recesses of his imagination when seeking inspiration for comic book heroes, and prefers to work at night
The world is full of dark and mysterious places, and Canadian illustrator Pat Lee is happy to admit that his mind is one of them. "Imagination is the most crucial asset for an illustrator. I'm creating every minute of the day, but it's after midnight that I'm most active. I'm a bit like a vampire," he says, laughing. "I have a filing cabinet full of drawings that nobody's seen. Some are just crazy. I probably won't show them to anyone - they wouldn't understand," he says.
While those drawings might forever languish in the "too disturbing" tray, there are millions of comic book fans around the world who have seen Lee's handiwork. He's worked on Transformers , Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men, Wolverine, Daredevil, Spider-man, Sandscape and Iron Man - "pretty much every comic I've wanted to work on".
But the best view of his dark side can be seen in Extraterrestrial Compendium - more than 180 pages of creepy alien illustrations. "That book was the most daring thing I've done," he says.
Lee, 37, now calls Hong Kong home, and he's keen to tap into Asia's love affair with comics, which is at a fever pitch thanks to the hype surrounding the release later this month of Iron Man 3. The frenzy was also fed last month when the Hong Kong government announced that Disneyland would open an area dedicated to Marvel comics. It's due to be completed by 2017.
Lee's also here to collaborate with the Savannah College of Art and Design's (SCAD) Hong Kong campus. "[Comics are] a huge industry in South Korea and Japan, and one that's growing," he says. It's great to see the city embracing art and see a college like SCAD encouraging artists."