As it turned out, Lee is the only artist in the family doing artwork me the cool kid of the school”.
to earn a living but he’ll tell you that there are many talented Like many others that have traveled the path of artist rising,
people on both sides of his family. Frank Frazetta was the final factor, “somebody handed me a
The pencil was Lee’s first media; “I did pencil drawings all my life, Frank Fazetta art book and it was all over. I knew somehow,
since I could hold one. I would draw on anything that would stand someway, someday I wanted to be an artist. I would do drawings
still long enough. There were times when I would get in trouble for my friends and then their friends would come to me and
because most of the drawings were not on paper but on walls, have me draw something and so on.
tables and the toys that my parents paid good money for.” “Most of my years in school I didn’t do well because I was always
Lee’s material was greatly influenced by his love of horror mov- daydreaming and drawing every chance I would get. Needless
ies, “I would sneak downstairs late at night to watch all the scary to say, the wildlife, the flowers and mountains that my parents
horror movies and I guess that’s where I would get all the dark wanted me to draw did not stick to well. My parents weren’t up-
‘skully’ ideas for a lot of my artwork. As well as many of Classic set or disappointed, maybe a bit worried for my mental health.
Rock’s greatest, “Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Iron Maiden and Ultimately what they taught me morally and spiritually stuck
the almighty KISS, I was obsessed by these dark but cool bands as the years wore on and I’ll always remember them for that...
and would either draw their mascots or the band members
thank you!”
themselves, which also got me into a lot of trouble but it made
The Midwest brings little opportunity to a young artist looking kinds, craft artist, t-shirt artist, automotive artist; movie set art-
for an income so it wasn’t long before Lee found himself earning ist and the list goes on. Not to mention the most inspirational
his living in a factory. His love of drawing, however, continued, landscape and scenery that you could ever ask for.”
manifesting itself in doodled napkins, bathroom walls and even After five years of hard work and saving, 1995 saw Lee leaving
the washing machine parts that were manufactured by the the factory and small town Ohio for the big city life in Arizona.
company he worked for, “so if anybody got any strange draw- Family and friends, both in Ohio and Arizona were supportive of
ings on or inside their machines...I’m guilty as charged!” admits his move and through some tough times and less than optimal
the artist. self-esteem the artist diligently strove forward to capture his
With the nagging desire to do art work and the fact that Lee dreams.
considered himself quite the “metal-head and horror movie Selling his tattoo equipment and going to work for a friend that
freak” tattooing was the obvious next move and seemed to be had an interior decorating and painting business convinced Lee
the only outlet Lee could find to express his artistic talents in the that this direction was not what he intended. That’s when his
small Ohio town. “I apprenticed for almost a year and actually friend Kenny Howey of Relics Creative Works changed his direc-
tattooed for a small shop and on my own for about two years tion, “Kenny took me over to see a guy he had worked with in the
but it just didn’t really do it for me. I love tattoos and I love the automotive custom paint field, Hal Loo of Mural Lab. Hal needed
art that is involved in tattooing but I think I really didn’t dig all an extra guy on hand for prep, body and wet/dry sanding work
the behind the scene stuff plus some of the drunkards and the and I decided to give it a go.”
queasy people that would pass out before I even touched them Lee had never seen any one use an airbrush until he was able
with the needle(s).” to watch Hal, he was amazed! “I was thinking then that I may
A visit to Phoenix, Arizona with a friend from high school made have found my calling but he wasn’t going to let me touch the
Lee realize that there is an entire world out there just waiting airbrush until I learned everything else under and over the air-
to discover new artistic talents. “I fell in love with the desert. brush artwork. At first I was put off because I was an artist and
Plus, the opportunities for an artist were endless, whether you I wanted to express my self and I was being told I couldn’t; now I
are a tattoo artist, fine artist, comic book artist, sculptor, and understand why and I thank him dearly for that.”
yes even an airbrush artist. There were airbrush artists of all
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