Meet the Artist: Rik Lee

I stumbled across Rik Lee's amazing artwork today and it just blew my mind! I love how stylized each one of his pieces are, and I find all of the colors to be so beautiful. Its quite breathtaking. He's based out of Australia and has worked for major companies, in addition to designing tattoo's for people. The good news is that if you're not in Australia he's also started a clothing line, so you can now wear his creations too! The brand is called Nightcall and I really like what's he's come up with. It's understated and yet bold at the same time. I just feel like the clothing is rather effortless, none of his designs come off as trying to hard. I just ordered something from the men's section today in fact! I plan on cutting it up and wearing it as a tank. Anyways! Back to the artist at hand. I found this interview on his design process and it's super inspiring!

What's your earliest drawing memory?
Drawing huge spaceship battles (complete with sound effects made by me) on massive rolls of paper my dad brought home from work for me. I’d spread them across the living room floor and cover them in cool aliens and rockets and explosions in minutes. In fact, my perfect client would pay me to do this.

How do you prefer to spend your mornings?
Just drawing really.

What mediums do you use to create your art works?
I use a range of media. All my line work and shading is hand drawn in pencil and occasionally marker pen / sharpie. From here my technique varies depending on the style of the piece.
Sometimes I’ll scan the illustration and manipulate it in photoshop, adding colour etc. Sometimes I’ll continue working by hand, colouring it with gauche or watercolours and sometimes I’ll just leave the piece as a simple pencil drawing on paper. I just go with whatever mediums I feel will work best (and i’m confident using) for each piece.

What brands / type of pencils and paper do you use?
I use Faber Castell “Polychromos” pencils and Archers smooth watercolor paper. Both products are widely available.

What’s with you drawing in red pencil all the time?
Originally I started using red pencil so I could get the basic lines of a drawing down. Then I could trace over the lines I wanted to keep in a darker tone. Lots of artists use this technique. Thing is, of the pencils i use (Faber Castell “Polychromos”) the red is my favourite. What i mean is, the lead of all coloured pencils differs slightly. I find that the red is soft and perfect to draw with. The blacks and greys are kinda scratchy and not so good. Therefore, I began to draw almost exclusively in red. It comes down to personal preference. Like all my techniques, i have discovered them through trail and error (often a lot of the latter). I suggest you do the same. Mess around, and find out what works for you. Every artist is different and every artist will prefer different mediums. While i may like the red pencil, another person may prefer blue or green. Try them out and decide for yourself :)

Train, bus or bike?
I just got a brand new BMX, so I’ll say bike.

What's the most important object in your studio?
My eraser.

Did you study art / design / illustration?
Yup, I studied graphic design. It bummed me out, so I focused on illustration as that’s what love doing. I stayed in design school and produced an illustration folio. I got a lot of grief from my lecturers who were annoyed at me for drawing everything (including all the typography). However, I graduated with a folio that I was proud of (and that no design company wanted anything to do with!) So I kept drawing, picked up some freelance gigs and continue to do what I love doing for a living and never had to type-set a shitty catalogue in my life.

Paper or Plastic?
Paper.

If you could resurrect one no longer living person to have lunch with, knowing you will have to return them to the grave right after coffee, who would it be?
Elvis. That way I get to meet The King, go to Graceland and drink a coffee. Sounds like a good lunch.

Preferred method of dealing with an encounter with an acquaintance whose name you can't remember.
Call them ‘man’ or ‘dude’ or ‘buddy’ or ‘pal’.

Favorite client so far?
Drawing tattoos for friends.

Do you mind if people get your art works tattooed?
Generally I’m pretty cool with it. I’m flattered that someone likes one of my drawings so much they’d consider getting it tattooed. I do, however, prefer if you ask first. In some cases, I’ll create a work for a specific commercial purpose (a t-shirt print for example) and if you don’t want to see some guy wearing a shirt with the same image that’s tattooed to your arm this can be avoided by asking because I’ll let you know.
My commission pieces are an exception. In this case a client has commissioned me to design a personalised tattoo for them. So it sucks when someone else rips it from online and gets it themselves.
I generally ask that if and when possible you purchase the piece you plan to get tattooed as an art print from my store, www.riklee.bigcartel.com.
That way you can take a hard copy in for your tattooer to trace the stencil from ensuring they capture all the detail and you get the best quality tattoo. Much better then having them trace from a low-res screen shot. Obviously you also get a signed, art print to keep and I get a little compensation for my work too.

Could you design a tattoo for me?
Check my Commission Inquiries page and then contact me with your idea. I’ll get back to you with my thoughts and hopefully get drawing for you!
Please note that I can only accept some commissions.

How Much Do You Charge For A Commission?
This varies with each design. Please Check my Commission Inquiries page and email me. I’ll get back to you with my thoughts and a quote.

Favorite imaginary client?
Anything that allows me to travel and work is good.

How does your mother describe your profession?
Idealistic. Temporary.

Coffee or tea?
Coffee. Definitely.

Can you draw me?
​No.

Is illustration your job?
Yes.

He's pretty chill! Just shoot him an email at riklee.illustration@gmail.com if you have any questions of your own! 

images via Rik Lee