Eric Lee

Biographical Info I’m a digital artist from Northbrook, IL. I am well-known for my digital artworks embodying contemporary abstract and surreal designs with vibrant colors. Although I was born with a speech and small motor skill disability, I have always aspired to pursue excellence to my best ability and have found my place in the world of digital art whereby I can utilize my computer skills to create artworks. I began my lifelong passion for vivid and abstract imagery as a youngster with a paintbrush in an art class, where the instructor encouraged me to learn Picasso’s artistic skills. I received my B.A. in Graphic Design from Lewis University, Romeoville, IL. In each of my artworks, I use various powerful Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator tools to deliver distinctive artistic effects of digital paint. My artworks are often inspired by my diverse passion for nature, animals, or lyrics from favorite singers. Most of my artworks begin as digital vector drawings from Illustrator, photos, or customized 3-D rendering figures made in Daz Studio. Then, imported them into Adobe Photoshop to create a complex art piece with 12 or more layers. Exhibition history: I have exhibited my artworks for six years at Chicagoland’s prestigious art festivals in Gold Coast, Southport, Printer’s Row, Lakeview East, Port Clinton (Highland Park), Northbrook, Lincolnshire, etc. I have won several awards at these art festivals. I was selected for solo exhibitions at local businesses by art leagues that I am a member of. In Spring 2022, I was invited to participate in a new way of an art gallery called Mixed Reality by using multiple huge wide screens to display artworks at the International M.A.D.S. Art Gallery in Milan, Italy/ Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain. They can also be viewed through online NFT gallery in two international exhibitions: NFT- New Freedom Think-March and Liquid Arsenal- May 2022.

Artist Type artist

Location Northbrook,IL

Short Description SHOP ART I use Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Daz to create original vibrant Contemporary surreal and abstract digital artworks ? of animals, human figures, space, and flowers using my Apple Macbook Pro or Ipad Pro. All my works are digital painting, photo manipulation, and drawing. All the artworks start as vector drawings, photos, hand drawings of kawaii animals, or custom 3D rendering figures. Then, imported an Illustrator vector drawing, photo(s), or 3D rendering into Adobe Photoshop or Procreate to create a complex artwork with 12 or more layers to build up an artpiece.

Website

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

Art01 elee_cowflamanco.jpg

Art01 Caption Size: 18x24in It started with a simple cow figure, then I digitally added a collage of dancing hands and skirt. The cow is dancing the flamenco in Spring watercolor painting created in Adobe Photoshop software.

Art02 ELee_ABSTRACT-MARILYN.jpg

Art02 Caption Size: 24×32 This artwork is based on a photo that I took of a large Marilyn Monroe sculpture exhibited at the NBC 5 Chicago Tower and Tribune Tower area on Michigan Ave in Chicago, IL in 2012. I turned the simple photo into a complex abstract artwork in vibrant colors symbolizing the highly vibrant life of the iconic Marilyn Monroe. This year, 2022, is the 60th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s tragic death in 1962. CNN produced a 4-part documentary series titled “Reframed: Marilyn Monroe”. It revealed “a new story, of a complex and powerful woman ahead of her time”. Marilyn was depicted as “a woman who refused to conform to societal pressures in her pursuit of a career. The series retraces Monroe’s story from budding starlet to Hollywood power-broker, as she navigates the treacherous waters of Hollywood’s casting couch culture and bravely speaks out about abuse at a time when silence was the norm.” After watching the CNN documentary, I was impressed by the exceptional strength and courage of Marilyn Monroe and decided to create an artwork to celebrate her iconic life. I first cut out the Marilyn Monroe sculpture photo by using the Adobe pen tool. Then, I used the adjustment layers of Bright+Contrast and Curves (RGB, Red, Green, & Blue) to create a waving curve and Hue+Stuation. Then, I copied and pasted the adjustment layer. I used Used Select Color Range to build up the abstract effect with a variety of abstract background textures in 8 different color range layers to fill up the abstract painting texture background by clipping the mask onto the figure. Use the image “posturized” and oil paint filter function to the figure. After applying all the colors and abstract textures onto the image, I created the eye catching background in abstract hot pink and dark cosmo blue/red/yellow/lime green colors. For the rest of the artwork, I blended layers of various contemporary graffiti abstract Photoshop brushes and textures. The whole artwork creation process took about two weeks.

Art03 ELee_TREEPARTYDURINGASUNSET.jpg

Art03 Caption Size: 32×24 in I created a 3D rendering of three panda cubs on a tree and bamboo in Daz Studio. Two panda cubs are resting or staring into space. While one of them is playing and hanging on to full leaves branches. In Photoshop, I use a sunset that I took from CA as a background. The sunset gradient background is made with Photoshop cloud brushes, bokeh brushes, and bamboo/Asian nature brushes.

Art04 elee_abstractdavid.jpg

Art04 Caption Size: 26x26in David is the most well-known sculpture in the world. I created a digital contemporary abstract portrait painting of the side. 1) Use the pen tool to cut out the figure from the photo. 2) Use the Adjustment Layers of Curves, Hue/Saturation, and Bright/Contrast to create the color range and insert textures 3) Use the image “posterize” and oil paint filter function. After making the basic color and pop art filter format, I used 8 different color ranges to fill up the abstract painting texture background by clipping the mask onto the figure. 4) For the rest of the artwork, I blended layers of various contemporary graffiti abstract Photoshop brushes and textures.