Making Fresh Pixel Art on the Phone (Issue #16)
A conversation with artist Element Lee
“Car” (Element Lee image)
1/1: Please introduce yourself.
Element Lee: I'm Element Lee, a digital artist from China who is now studying and living in Vienna, Austria. In the past, I’ve done oil painting, programming, games design, etc. In recent years, I’ve focused on Pixel art.
1/1: What art have you been working on lately?
Element Lee: Doing my daily drawings.
1/1: Can you describe your workspace and how it influences your art?
Element Lee: I work at home. It's a cozy apartment I rented with my wife in the suburbs of Vienna. Home space is most important to me. Instead of going out, I stay home a lot.
1/1: What tools do you use? Do you work with any special devices or tools unique to your creative process?
Element Lee: Mostly with my Android cellphone in recent years. It's very convenient to draw anywhere at any time.
Formerly, I would use high-performance computers to create complicated things. But now I prefer light, common, and simple ways to make art.
"Window" (Element Lee image)
1/1: Is it true that your work is made entirely with a cellphone?
Element Lee: Entirely, except the 3D part. I use Unreal Engine for 3D work. But the sprites and the final process are also done with the phone.
1/1: What software(s) are you using to make your pieces? Especially on the cellphone side – this is a unique approach to the work.
Element Lee: Pixel Studio on the phone. Unreal Engine and Aseprite on PC.
1/1: What Draws you to pixel art?
Element Lee: Being born in the late 1980s, I grew up with computer games and arcade games done in pixel art. So there's been a natural connection all along. At first, I started my digital art with 3D forms,because at that time, digital culture was dominated by 3D graphics.
Then, around 2017, lots of pixel-style indie games began to boom. It was also at that time I started using Twitter and saw many more creators making pixel art. My deep memories were awakened, and I was fascinated by the simplicity and infinite power of pixel art magic.
"Frustum Culling Garden" (Element Lee image)
1/1: How do you approach developing an idea into a finished piece? Can you walk us through your workflow?
Element Lee: The inspiration comes in several ways. Some are from real-life experiences. Some are from games, books, museums, etc. Some are thoughts and feelings. I also play with AI and programming as well as traditional painting to get inspired.
1/1: Can you describe a typical day in your artistic practice, including any rituals or habits?
Element Lee: I live a regular life, get up at 8:00 and go to sleep at 23:30. I always do some drawings after breakfast. My regular activities include buying food, walking, cooking, and watching videos on tech and games.
1/1: Are there any specific works of art (music, literature, film, etc.) that inspire or have significant meaning to you in your artistic practice?
Element Lee: I'm deeply influenced by Chinese classical arts and culture. Secondly, Western modern artists like Henry Matisse, Joan Miro, and many more. Thirdly, digital games.
1/1: How do you come up with titles for your work?
Element Lee: Titles are actually not that important to my works, so they are often very simple and minimalist. I hope my works speak for themselves.
“Passage” (Element Lee image)
1/1: What draws you to NFTs and how do you see them as different from traditional art markets?
Element Lee: It was December 2021. A friend in a traditional gallery came to me about an NFT cooperation on OpenSea.
Digital art first emerged around the 1970s. For decades, collecting it was tricky. At the same time, digital art is an art of our era. It’s very important. But traditional art markets can't solve this problem. So along came NFTs, which so far provide the best solution available to verify and collect digital works.
1/1: For someone just getting into NFTs, what advice would you offer?
Element Lee: Stay peaceful and pursue long-term values.
1/1: Who are some of your favorite artists in the NFT space?
Element Lee: @cap'n, @Spøgelsesmaskinen, @MEK.txt , @stipinpixel, @Poppel, @Francoise Gamma.
1/1: What are you working on next?
Element Lee: Continuous explorations of pixel art. After entering university for my studies, I may make more attempts with AI, VR, games, etc.
1/1: Could you show us some of your favorite work and tell us what it means to you?
Element Lee: I like works to be minimalist yet rich in diverse interpretations. In the piece “Dark Egg,” I drew a Chinese century egg, which actually looks like this. They always make me think a lot. It’s like a black hole, a universe, or a dark gem made of souls.
“Dark Egg” (Element Lee image)
Another feature of my work is the usage of lines and symbols. I think pixel art as well as digital line drawing both still have so much potential to be explored.
1/1: Tell us about “Garden Wall,” the piece 1/1 commissioned recently…
Element Lee: Gardens are one of my main topics. I love gardens in real life, too. They’re a place to rest and relax as well as a connection node to nature in the man-made world. In this work, a pixel creature is likely escaping from or trespassing into the garden. The wall is a metaphor for the limits or boundaries of an area.
1/1: It’s so cool that you’re elevating the phone to a primary art-making device. I really haven’t run across anyone else who is doing this. It makes so much sense, in that our phones are extensions of ourselves at this point. Do you use a stylus when working on the phone?
Element Lee: Yes, phones and phone apps are crazy these days. I found recently that the 3D game engine Godot is on the phone now. Using a phone to draw is very relaxing, like using a small sketchbook. I don't use a stylus in most cases. Pixel art is usually not that massive to draw and I don't need a pressure sensor.
“Garden Wall” (Element Lee image)