Meet Rich Lee | Senior Marketing Artist & Creative Lead

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rich Lee and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rich, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I believe risk is necessary for growth.

In definition, risk to me means: Taking a chance on something where you really do not know whether the outcome will be favorable or not. That sense of ‘not knowing’ but yet, ‘hoping for the best’ and believing in myself that I am an accomplished artist and have a strong foundation has led my progression in my career.

Along the way, there were a handful of times where I came to the cliche’d ‘fork in the road’. The options have usually been to continue on the path where I was headed (which wasn’t necessarily a poor choice). Or take the path where I do not know the outcome. Up to this point, I’ve chosen paths where I applied for positions or accepted projects where I may not have been at my most comfortable, but I was curious enough to squeeze some success out of it.

The scene in the first Matrix, where Neo gets abducted by Trinity, Switch, and Apoc – there was line in that scene that has always resonated with me and how I approach ‘forks in the road’ – “Because you have been down there Neo, you know that road, you know exactly where it ends. And I know that’s not where you want to be.”

it’s not necessarily “…not where you want to be.” but my curiosity it what it could be has always led me to choose the less familiar/riskier path.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
The art that got some attention and ultimately led me to my current position as a creative lead at a game company was my motorcycle related drawings. I’ve been riding motorcycles for over 20 years now and I remember I used to read comics or see artwork that had motorcycles depicted in them. And just by how the motorcycles were used in those compositions, as a rider, I knew immediately that the artist did not ride and that bothered me. So I started to make drawings that other riders could relate to.

Eventually some of my work went viral and I picked up a few high profile projects and full-time work from it. The idea of ‘drawing what you know’ paid off in my case.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I wish (kinda but not really) I was more outgoing like that. Aside from going to the office a couple of times a week and picking up/dropping off the kids, my only outside activity is judo. After judo comes a couple of pitchers of beer (next to the dojo) and if my friend visiting isn’t down with that … then they can visit me some other time. hahaha.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Big shoutout to my parents, who being Asian immigrants, wanted me to pursue medicine or law but instead were (eventually) accepting of my art related path.

Big shoutout to my wife who supported me every step of the way.

Huge Shoutout to my kids who keep reminding me that there are truer priorities than just a career.

Website: https://richleedraws.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richleedraws/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richleedraws/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richleedraws/

Other: https://www.behance.net/richleedraws