SEIBERTRON.com interviews Pat Lee
Sit. Read. Learn. - You've got questions, Pat Lee's got your answers! Find over 40 questions answered in the "second part" of SEIBERTRON's DreamWave interview.
Seibertron: Of all the Transformers ever, who is your very favorite to draw?
Pat Lee: I would say probably Metroplex.
Seibertron: I've got a question, wheres Snarl?
Pat Lee: Can’t fit ALL the characters on 2 pages my friend, you will see Snarl. Promise.
Seibertron: I've noticed that very few of the Autobots have the Autobot symbol on them in the cover pic...is this because you don't think the symbol needs to be there or just the way you like it?
Pat Lee: That image was not the final image, on the final image for the covers, all the autobot symbols are in place. Who uploaded those image dammit!!!!
Seibertron: Jazz, Skyfire/Jetfire, Hound, & Snarl aren't on the Autobot cover, are they in the series?
Pat Lee: Yes they are, they are just not on the cover. I almost had a heart attack drawing that cover because I was putting crazy hours into it, so I hope all of you don’t mind that not ALL the characters are on it.
Seibertron: Who are your favorite Autobots and Decepticons? Will you be doing anything special with them eventually?
Pat Lee: My favorite Decepticon would have to be Rumble and my favorite Autobot would have to be Sideswipe.
Seibertron: I've heard that this is only the first G1 mini-series, are there going to be more and if so, will they have a "next episode" kind of feel to them?
Pat Lee: All TF books will have similar feel to them until we no longer have the license.
Seibertron: Are u doing the art for the ongoing series too?
Pat Lee: My focus is on G1. There will be other artists who will doing other TF books, G1 is mine.
Seibertron: I was curious about the structure of the Autobot and Decepticon covers. Did you draw all the characters together in one image, or did you draw them seperately and composite them together (which is what it looks like to me). If the second is the case, does that mean you've done a full Omega Supreme you could show us?
Pat Lee: The Omega Supreme was a glimpse, sorry dude, only drew the bottom half. He will appear later on. Also, I layed out all the characters together, not separately.
Seibertron: Anyway, Are there any inter-series crossovers planned, like Spider-man in issue #3 (1984) or the G.I.Joe/Transformers crossovers?
Pat Lee: Not yet.
Seibertron: Are there also any plans to use your work for box art?
Pat Lee: Possibly.
Seibertron: Will Q & A's from Chris Sarracini or Adam Fortier follow soon ?
Pat Lee: I will speak to them about that.
Seibertron: When will the first piece of Armada Preview art be availble Feb?
Pat Lee: That’s an Adam Fortier question.
Seibertron: About a week or so ago I made mention that I would love to see you do a pic of Sideswipe, Sunstreak, Jazz, and Prowl and you replyed saying that you actaully had just finsihed a pic with them in it. I was wondering if there was any chance that we could see that pic soon?
Pat Lee: You guys haven’t seen all my artwork. JUST the covers. I can’t show everything I do or it wouldn’t be exciting!
Seibertron: Any chance we'll be seeing a poster with all the G1 autobot gestalts battling the decepticon gestalts?
Pat Lee: Very soon my lad, very soon.
Seibertron: Will the new character designs in the comic be based off toys, prototypes and the like, as opposed to in-house design control art?
Pat Lee: It will be a mix combination of the cartoon series, toys and designs.
Seibertron: What approach, in general, does the DW staff generally take when modifying a character design from toy to comic?
Pat Lee: James and I try to make the artwork look as close as possible to the toys, although, we find some elements of the cartoon series that we find are better to use, for example: Iron hide’s head and chest, or Bumble Bee’s face.
Seibertron: Along those lines, might we at some point be treated to a glimpse at some sketchbook work? As if the above didn't let you know, I'm very interested in how other artists develop concepts, characters and ideas.
Pat Lee: Definitely, I scan in all my penciled artwork before it gets inked.
Seibertron: I was curious what your using for reference...is it just toys? cartoon? past comics? all of the above?
Pat Lee: All of the above.
Seibertron: Optimus eyes - are they going to stay yellow or are you going to convert them to the original light-blue it was previously?
Pat Lee: I will make a note of that to my colorist.
Seibertron: Will you guys produce an anthology series like Legends of the DC Universe, where you would have rotating rosters of characters with story arcs geared towards them?
Pat Lee: Adam Fortier Question.
Seibertron: What's the deal with distribution, can I get you're stuff through my local comic shop who order via Previews/Diamond?
Pat Lee: Yup!
Seibertron: Have you ever drawn any of the BW characters and if so, can we have a little peek?
Pat Lee: Haven’t drawn them yet. I will soon though.
Seibertron: I'm interested to see how you would draw them. How long is your license with Hasbro? Just curious, since I hear from you guys a lot that you will do stuff as long as the license lasts. Is it a long time or a short time?
Pat Lee: Adam Fortier Question.
Seibertron: Can you tell us ANYTHING About the "Ongoing" (aka Armada) series?
Pat Lee: Nope. Sorry guys, you are just going to have to wait.
Seibertron: Will it be just a comic-version of the cartoon, something going on at the same time as the cartoon, or same concept but completly different like the G1 comics were?
Pat Lee: Adam Fortier question.
Seibertron: Who will be in it? Where will they be? When is it set? Ect. Ect. Ect.
Pat Lee: Adam Fortier question.
Seibertron: How about doing a comic version of Transformers: the Movie? I'd love to see your take on Unicron - a poster perhaps?
Pat Lee: Poster of Unicron has been mentioned to us many times. It sounds like a lot of fun. I’ll talk to the others about it. I know Adam Fortier loves Unicron
Seibertron: You said these covers aren't the final versions, what will you be doing for the final cover pictures? Will it be just cosmetics or adding a couple more characters or changing characters? Please answer if you can.
Pat Lee: Cosmetic.
Seibertron: In the Decepticon Groupshot, behind Megatron, a leg is colored to look like Astrotrain's leg, but isn't it actually Devastator's leg (Mixmaster)? Because it looks much like Devs leg.
Pat Lee: It’s possible that it was an error of colors or colorist.
Seibertron: Since Rumble is your favorite Con, will he have any major bearings on/with Soundwave, more-so than the show or Marvel comic.
Pat Lee: I would like to give every character a fair share in the comic book since everyone has favorites. I love rumble, but he may get just as much attention as lets say… Ratchet.
Seibertron: Can you tell me what you do for planning out and completing a groupshot of characters? Also, how do set the overall compostion and deatails?
Pat Lee: Basically, I draw simple layouts first of all the characters, then go in with detail bit by bit. Like a puzzle.
Seibertron: Do you do "model sheets" of the characters to help you keep things consistant panel-to-panel, issue-to-issue?
Pat Lee: The model sheets I use are from the 2001 book catalogue that has designs and toy shots, which are great visuals when drawing. I sue all kinds of reference… You should see my desk! It’s a complete mess!! But I love it. I have Transformers strung all over the ceiling, and Transformers artwork all over my office.
Seibertron: When developing the trading card-art for the upcoming line, what do you wind up working from? Are there any approval/revision processes you have to go with?
Pat Lee: The artwork always needs to be approved. It is important to Dreamwave and Hasbro that we are on the same wave length in terms of scripting and visuals.
Seibertron: Is there much interaction between the artist and writer during the layout phase of things, or do you just take the issue scripts and run with them?
Pat Lee: Chris and I work very tightly. We are always passing the artwork back and forth, trying to figure out what’s best for the shot. Everyone in the office is very helpful. Some times, Ramil Sunga will pop his head in the room and give us some tips on how to leave more open space for colors etc. Tere is great synergy here.
Seibertron: Wen your Transformers drawings are "painted", where do you like to experiment?
Pat Lee: I always like to try different things with our titles. You will see acrylic style painted artwork, the anime look along with some American style artwork too. I already talked to Micheal Turner this week about doing a Transformers piece for us and he agreed to hook one up for Dreamwave.
Seibertron: Will your cover of Optimus Prime with Snake Eyes, He-Man and Lion-O be published with the first comics Transformers volume?
Pat Lee: That piece was done for a Wizard cover so the first real appearance of it will be coming from Wizard Entertainment.
Seibertron: What's do the Transformers represent to you?
Pat Lee: It’s a great deal for us here. More like a dream come true actually. We take a lot of pride in drawing such an enormous title.. Feeling a lot of pressure, but that’s the best part about it. We are just as excited as Transformers fans and we barely get any sleep! Because we want to do a realllly good job!
Seibertron: One day, do you come in France (the lost world) for a convention, "cartoonist", Festival de la BD d'Angoulem" or for the convention of Annecy?
Pat Lee: As long as someone can bring me up there, SURE! I would love to go!
Seibertron: I was just wondering about size and scale, i love seeing the big bots in your work actually look frighteningly huge, how big will they get, how did you decide on who would be bigger?
Pat Lee: I look at the designs from Takara and base it from the art I see from them. Sometimes I have to make it up, cause I’m not sure of the scale. But I judge sometimes from the toy. If it’s a medium toy, then I make him slightly larger than the smaller medium guys – haha! There is such a large scale. Also, I look at if the character transforms in to a car or city.
Seibertron: Is Metroplex or Fortress Maximus bigger than omega supreme?
Pat Lee: Well, there is no wrong or right, but the way I would draw it is… From smallest to largest: Metroplex, Omega Supreme, Fortress Maximus.
Seibertron: Will any female Autobots be used?
Pat Lee: I definitely hope so. We are definitely going to add Arcee in the comic book.
Seibertron: Will the series be strictly based on pre-existing characters, or do you have any room to create new characters for the series?
Pat Lee: That has not been fully discussed yet. There are some concerns that we are looking over at the moment with having new characters pop in. I will get back to you on that one…
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