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Q&A with Lee Moyer

Illustrator, Game Creator from Portland, Oregon
house

Howdy, I'm Lee Moyer. I'm an Illustrator, Game Creator, Designer, Writer and Art Director from Portland, Oregon.

I've served as Art Director for EA, Concept Lead for Hasbro, and collaborated with many best-selling-authors for my trio of Literary Pin-Up Calendars.

My work ranges from book and DVD covers to theatrical posters; from portraiture to comics; from children's books to the works of HP Lovecraft.

I also make a series of daily Small Gods paintings for my own amusement (and that of my friends on the internet): https://www.leemoyer.com/smallgods

Tools

  • Analog Workspace: My hand-built desk topped with a large self-healing cutting pad and a kitchen-utensil-insert for tools. Also, an Art-o-graph lightbox.
  • Analog tools: All the usual suspects: Pencil, ink, markers, colored pencils, watercolor, acrylic, oil, scratchboard, and sometimes SuperSculpey.
  • Digital Workspace: Two joined IKEA tables for the computer and color-balanced lamps.
  • Digital Tools: Adobe Photoshop, Corel Painter, FontAgent Pro, Skype, Mail, Groboto and Bryce.

Dream setup

I use my Arts & Crafts Living Room, and I work facing the large window that overlooks the ridge line.

My latest computer is flat screen 3.6 Ghrz iMac. 3 with 16 GB of RAM that I've added a eSat port (and countless attached back-ups and ancilliary drives) to, with a large-format Mustek Scanner.

I use an 8" x 6"  WACOM pad with my left hand, and a cordless mouse with my right.

I have an iPhone and an iPad that syncs through the cloud and it seems to work well.

I use a small black and white Brother laser-printer.

It works well, thought the temptation of a Cintiq is ever-present.

Inspiration

  • Art! I love Art Nouveau, Art Deco, the Arts & Crafts Movement, the Pre-Raphaelites, Sculpture, and the great poster and pin-up artists.
  • Nature. I spent a decade as a Docent & Naturalist Illustrator at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., drawing from their astonishing collection.
  • Literature. I grew up reading voraciously and have never stopped.  The list is huge: Wilde, Wodehouse, Vonnegut, Pratchett, Bradbury, St. Exupery, Greek and Norse Mythologies….
  • Music. Thousands of songs in iTunes jukebox play constantly as I work. Nick Cave, Johnny Cash, The Decemberists, Ben Folds, Indelicates, the Kinks, Madness, Max Raabe, Queen….
  • Film. We live in the greatest age of film. Everything at our fingertips - Documentaries, Films Noir, Screwball Comedies, the Coen Brothers, Miyazaki, Luhrmann, Nolan, Jeunet, Ashby and Pixar.