The Evolution of Jim Lee's Artwork

[@sketchstuffs]

Jim Lee's twitch stream is what drove me to start drawing again after 20 years. I highly recommend anyone to watch those.

[@sketchstuffs]

Giant Scorpion of the Apocalypse Google Jim lee twitch stream if this link doesn't work. m.twitch.tv/jimlee he usually streams every Sunday. Also look up VZA here on KZbin. They upload all of his and some others streams to rewatch.

[@awnzotheman]

Same..!!!

[@doublekix338]

Me too!

[@zachariashborkastrator5274]

Wow bro me as well!!! I was a great artist as a child with many projects in the local college gallery but quit at age 13 and started making music but about 6 months ago I came across Jim Lee's videos and he reawakened the artist in me and now I'm inking with nibs n brushes. Glad to hear that you're back at it as well.

[@hasanwallah7015]

Same here it's just something magical when he draws live he is like the art teacher we never had

[@brotherdosco5552]

Would personally love to see a video on Greg Capullo’s (the New 52 Batman Artist) art works and style.

[@originalscreenname44]

Remember when Capullo used to draw closer to Mike Wieringo and Humberto Ramos?

[@crazedzealots]

His X-force was awesome

[@old.tables1989]

I love his joker. He ripped his face off lol.

[@PION33R]

I agree

[@sethleoric2598]

Oh hey he mentione Tony De zuniga, yknow my dad got a star wars poster signed by him

[@futurestoryteller]

I've seen some of Lee's videos. It's nice that he is so generous with his knowledge as an artist. As I'm not _really_ a reader of comics, embarrassingly I've just kind of heard about and thought of Jim Lee as this guy who "draws pretty good" I didn't realize he's one of the greatest comic book artists of all time. It's like I walked into a museum, drifted to a Da Vinci and went "Nice."

[@ChrisFabulous]

Chris, I'm so happy that you gave Scott Williams the credit he deserves. I hope Williams has been well compensated for his work over the years, because I don't think Jim Lee would be where be is today without him.

[@AaronLitz]

Definitely not; I have seen some Jim Lee pencils inked by other than Scott Williams, and the result can end up... _pretty bad._ There is at least set of cards pencilled by Lee and inked by some rando and they look awful. Scott Williams really knows how to bring out the final shape that makes it beautiful.

[@wolfsmagic77]

I can fully appreciate your dissection of the inking process. You really have a great handle on what we fight with at times making endless decisions over "sketchy" pencils. My time on Spawn over Capullo was the best learning process I have ever had. He gives you just enough to know what he wants but the freedom to add your own style and touches. Great job man!!

[@adamlobbins2657]

Impressive exposition on inking in the comics media. You can teach comics to the world, dude. Continue the great work.

[@10000Winters]

Jim Lee, as well as Alex Ross, have helped elevate comic books into the realm of fine art.

[@TheWhmaxwell]

What I love about Jim Lee is that you can see definite improvement over time... not every artist does that and those are the artists that fall out of the business.

[@Xeno-et3hq]

This channel is better than a real TV show, immersive, engaging, amazing. Thank you for your work.

[@GoldGauntletComix]

The team of Williams and Lee is incredible. Thank you for bringing attention to this. I never put 2 and 2 together

[@ll7868]

Jim is one of my favourite artists, I really like watching his speed art and instructional videos.

[@metatronatra]

I like how Jim sort of assimilated Frank Miller’s sin city style use of positive and negative space, and he uses a whiteout pen to go back in and add white on top of black, sort of an easier method compared to using a scratch board and lifting the black off the page... so you don’t have to plan so far ahead and work counterintuitively. I like how he takes the best bits of everything and has a whole box of techniques he can rely on that always look cool, like using a tissue dipped in ink to create large swaths of black, of using a card to flip white ink onto a pice to make splatter. The way he renders rain is a combination of all three aforementioned techniques and it looks so good and creates a lot of energy and movement

[@danielthebutcherdanielmccr9037]

You should talk about Marc Silvestri next, because he's one of my favourite artists & a lot of my artwork is inspired by his art and I really liked his time on Uncanny X-Men in the late 80s & early 90s

[@davestier6247]

Loved his work in the early days of Image as well

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

I'd somehow never seen this before. Great job. Like many, I fell in love with Lee's work during his X-Men run in the 90s and then wild cats at image. Such a great look at Jim Lee, but also the impact and importance of the right inker paired with the right penciller. Thanks man!

[@Zero8880]

Jim Lee made Rogue the “IT” girl of Marvel Comics in the early 90s. Man I had a crush on her back then.

[@abusername1270]

Me too

[@randomreviewer4710]

Same man

[@robobop3721]

haha for me it was psylocke

[@allluckyseven]

What I like about Jim Lee's comics are the dynamic comic panels and all the action -- more than appropriate for comic book superheroes. What I dislike... most of all is that his characters all look the same; it's hard to tell them apart if not for their costumes or hairstyles.

[@allluckyseven]

It's not just his facial expressions, the whole shape of the head and body don't usually vary that much, so if he gives two male or two female characters a close up, leaving out the hair and costume, then it's easy to get lost at who's who. Well, his main characters anyway. Although his Superman has a more rounder face now for some reason.

[@allluckyseven]

Well, sure... Lots of artists do the same kind of thing. Kirby and Chaykin also come to mind. Guess all of them have their "hero" type. And there's nothing inherently wrong with that, it's just... boring to see the same faces over and over again. On Betty & Veronica, they did look exactly the same originally (almost always), just not if you take Adam Hughes' interpretations of those characters.

[@originalscreenname44]

He doesn't have as much of a problem with it as Michael Turner (R.I.P.) had. That guy made Lara Croft, Witchblade, and the characters from Fathom and Aspen look like the exact same person.

[@danielebowman]

Actually his early marvel faces were far more diverse IMO. You could tell his Psylock from Jean Grey, Storm or Jubilee, his Logan from Gambit, Banshee or Cyclops. IMO when he went to Image and started being late to most projects and taking long breaks to be an editor, that is where his facial art declines, though other aspects of his work does improve. Interesting the video notes his Wildcats work improved late on and forgets that was when he re-united with Chris Claremont.

[@LatinSith]

I like how Jim drew breasts in his stories. The only one besides Erik Larsen that can make the mammaries memorable.

[@pat.k4823]

Jim lee is a icon ...his drawing a amazing! !!!the Dramatic dinamic poses a incredebile! !!!

[@a.d.harris3623]

Your technical commentary and narrative are both interesting and well thought out. Just a lot of fun to listen to. Glad I stumble across this.

[@MarkLipka]

So glad to hear you give the inkers their due! 💜

[@Thierrothierro]

Always saddens me that Jim Lee did extraordinary art on DC stories that were either mediocre or downright bad. He needs to pick more quality scripts if he gets back to doing more freelance work.

[@patoren3gou653]

Batman hush?

[@giosbizarreart9048]

@@patoren3gou653 all-star batman?

[@danielholonk.p6074]

@@giosbizarreart9048 lol all star batman suck

[@josephkolar3443]

Agreed. The art is spectacular, but the stories they are paired with are fairly mediocre. The best story he illustrated was maybe Superman Unchained.

[@SpiderWireless]

For Tomorrow?

[@MrAdal206]

I love Jim Lee’s early 90’s work. Golden age of comics for sure with Jim at the top

[@timothyball419]

Jim Lee is amazing. A lot of what started me drawing comics and my ideal version was Thur his crosshatched style. He made me a fan as an artist.

[@AaronLitz]

Don't overlook John Byrne's very clear influence on Lee. A lot of Lee's work on _Uncanny X-Men_ looks almost like a tribute to Byrne, _especially_ his Wolverine and when the team goes to the Shi'Ar Imperium.

[@aurview6584]

Comic Tropes is one of my favourite watch's right now, fantastic for isolation! Great show dude!

[@jacobstaten2366]

The stuff around War Journal is where he peaked. Past few decades Jim Lee basically draws the same few figures for everyone with different hair and eye color. -Bruce Wayne, Thomas Elliot, Clark Kent, Harvey Dent, Lex Luther; all the same dude. -Lois Lane, Selina Kyle, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn; all the same chick. -Robin, Super Boy, Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd, and Thomas Elliot in flashbacks or Clayface in disguise; all the same child. -Scarecrow and Joker are twins. -Clunky monsters like Croc and Clayface are where he almost gets creative.

[@clarencekyao]

I am so glad you made this video and how in depth you were on chronologically detailing Jim Lee's art plus Scott Williams' inking. I wish you would take time to do more and explore other artists.

[@Bonzulac]

If the lines aren't crossing each other, it's not cross-hatching. It's just "hatching."

[@jackadoni]

Yeah. This guys not an artist. It kind of diminishes his opinion because it's purely from a fans perspective as opposed to a diagnostic from another artist.

[@rabbox4513]

@@edwarddavidson868 I'm gonna have to agree with mistah Jackson here. The more I improve my drawing skills, the more I understand when one is impressive and it's real quality. The movie critic example is kinda irrelevant since movie critics are supposed to have strong fundamentals on storytelling, structure, composition etc. Meaning a good understanding of what they review. And as soon as an opinion goes beyond ''i like'' or ''i dislike'', it can be wrong. The subjectivity of an opinion is valid as an excuse only as long it tackles only personal appreciation. Otherwise I could say the 97's Batman and Robin movie is better than TDK. Which isn't the same as saying I enjoyed it more.

[@bigghoww]

I believe that the opinion of a person who cant do or is a novice, holds entertainment value only. Example - It's a joke in sports how writers vote athletes into the hall of fame.

[@bigghoww]

@Ron Isley I disagree and here's why. I draw comics (superhero). If a critic with no ability had something to say about me, i would take it with a grain of salt. But if Jim Lee would have a critique for me, I would take it to heart because he has been where I am and he is where I want to be.

[@chrisledbetter9278]

Bigg Howw That’s just ridiculous, many golf instructors are awful players, but they have helped thousands of amateurs get better. Just because you can’t do something psychically doesn’t mean you don’t understand how it’s done. In fact, I would argue that it’s easier to teach someone if all you do is study the process and don’t actually do it yourself.

[@Tubes78]

My personal favourite is his Uncanny X-men run. Number 258 is the first comic I ever picked up. The cover was mesmerising. Still have those even after I stopped collecting like 20 years ago.

[@mechajay3358]

_Pretty awesome video, I wouldn't mind see more Evolution of other Comic Artists work._

[@cabmello2]

Great video! I loved the comparison of Jim Lee's art with and without the inking of Scott Williams... Thank you for the good work!

[@DT__CREATES]

Jim Lee is a legend..as an indie comic creator, he's my biggest inspiration. He's the reason that I want to learn how to draw comics since 2007.

[@MadCap2025]

The Filipino invasion took place in the 70's with Tony DeZuñiga, Alfredo Alcala, Alex Niño, Ernie Chan, Romeo Tanghal, Nestor Redondo, etc, Would to see an episode about this.

[@IlokanoWarrior]

what did they work on?

[@jamesgoebel4040]

How about a Michael Turner video in the same vein? I was sad to learn that he had died only a few months before I had discovered him. Would love to see anything on Michael Turner's body of work.

[@atheistbluesmetalhardrock824]

Enjoyed this a lot. Would love to watch one about Andy Kubert. His artwork was my childhood!

[@LiamJonesArtist]

Great video, this takes me back. I've followed Jim Lee since Alpha Flight, and it's great to see someone else talk about it (too!) Thank you!

[@nickbatt399]

This channel is invaluable to comic creators

[@gustavouchida1]

Jim Lee's my idol since the early 90's. I used to be the only nerd looking for details in his artwork, glad to see we all share admiration for him and Scott's amazing work and style

[@KiCreativeStudioJP]

Excellent analysis. A+.

[@DevaNeeramanii]

This was great. Will you consider doing the evolution of another of my absolute favourite artists...Jae Lee?

[@medaanhil4133]

I was a hug jim lee fan back in the day. I remember owning the xmen comics he inked I kept them in the bag with the white cardboard behind it hanging on my wall. I remember when him and Todd McFarland left marvel to form image and birthed wild cats and spawn. Both comics were so beautifully done. Jim and Scott were a great team, they made some of the greatest artwork ever. I even remember the competition jim Lee had with Todd McFarland and todd won that's why he got a toy line. Ahhhhhh the 90's

[@maverickslb80]

I think Jim Lee really shines with X-Men. More than anything he ever did with DC. Also loved his run with the Punisher but my dream is Jim to do a run on Spider-Man!

[@Spthomas47]

Loved Jim's work on Alpha a flight and still have those issues.

[@pathosis]

@ 20:00 My God. Look at all that detail in that panel. That's gotta be an inkers nightmare. Definitely a feat to behold after seeing the before and after shots you've shown. ...I can imagine the scenario for this panel went something like this: *Jim:* " Hey Scott, I got a great spread of Superman for you to Ink. You're gonna love it." *Scott:* " Sure thing. Let's have a look at...WHAT THE FUCK, JIM!"

[@TheSeanmf69]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@raspberry1011]

Awesome. Great video, and merry Christmas to all

[@chazer793]

Late to this video, but I would say you left out one inker that also did a super nice interpretation of his work while on Uncanny X-Men: Art Thibert. It is a shame Art has gone down the deep end with the CG crowd, but his talent as an inker cannot be understated. He was also the one who made Dan Jurgens' art look the best while penciling Adventures of Superman in the late 80s and early 90s.

[@jeetkuneluke]

There's also a "Director's Cut" version of the Batman "Hush" graphic novel, featuring only Lee's pencils. It's pretty cool to compare it side-by-side with the finished product, to show how much depth and dimension inking adds.

[@kyledamron]

Even though Lee's overhaul of the looks of each x-men, removing Chris Claremont from x-men wasn't smart. He had put so much into the character development and tone he has yet to be topped by any other x-men writer in my opinion

[@RH-jl8qr]

Amazing Chris! This kind of work ethic and excellent content is why your channel is going to blow up in popularity! Thank you for posting consistently! I am blown away by the Christmas tie in!!!! Fantastic!

[@saiberunato]

Jim Lee... I followed his career since I was a kid in the 80's. Starting from Alpha Flight, then Punisher, X-Men, then onto WilCATS. His art has greatly progressed over the decades and its a sight to behold. Reminds me of the gradual, decades long improvements to the art of another legend, George Perez.

[@SkyStarNova]

Great video! Lee also drew 2 Transformers covers for Marvel back in the day.

[@Chalor.]

X-Men + ThunderCats = WildCats Ha, I was writing this when you mentioned Transformers. I always thought of ThunderCats first and foremost.

[@johnprudent3216]

Great video about one of my artististic influences. The analysis was great. I loved that you included the analysis of the ink style as well. I loved Lee's art work growing up. I can still remember the day my brother and I first laid eyes on the XMen #1 back in '91. Seeing that panel with the close-up of Magneto takes me back and makes me remember why I loved those books and Lee's work. I remember trying to reproduce that drawing of Magneto (like all budding artists do, they imitate their heroes). The one thing I came to notice and feel once he was at image is that everyone was copying either him or Liefeld at that company. At least that's how it seemed to me, like an over-saturization. But those Deathblow panels you showed in your video... Wow, just wow! They looked experimental. And I loved the panels from Superman Unchained especially the splash page you analyzed, inked and no ink. Just beautiful line work. Now I wanna go find that series and read it. Totally your fault. But in a good way. Thanks again for this great video and the thoughtful analysis and criticism.

[@Changetheling]

"The one thing I came to notice and feel once he was at image is that everyone was copying either him or Liefeld at that company." Liefeld copied Lee (among other photoshopping techniques of the Hack Himself) and that's clear. The name you wanted to use was Marc Silvestri. See how Liefeld ruined everyone's brains?

[@nics3lbow]

Ian's FANART!!! THAT'S MY BOY!!! Hell yeah, Ian, Great work!

[@erickenneycreative]

Awesome job .. though I wish you would have touched on Jim's watercolor/ink wash experimentation starting in Hush .. his commissions these days using that technique are even more amazing

[@eliasscorsone3220]

Surprising Jim didn't like drawing Colossus more: the metal and his body's contour lines are just fun. Jim Lee and Scott Williams doing him is just fun.

[@chikish]

Great video as always! I hope you can make one about Darwyn Cooke one day. Merry Christmas to you and everyone going through the comments! 🎄🎅

[@mayam6196]

Scott William n Jim Lee are an beast in comics ... u just cant be them ... too unique

[@ginoames]

Have been a fan of Jim's since I first saw him on his X-Men work. From there I followed him to WildC.A.T.S.! Have dug all his stuff. Divine Right is great and his Batman is Batman!

[@vadergamer453]

Mr Jim Lee is my favorite comic book artist. New comic book artista can learn something from jim lee art.

[@akaiseigo]

Bishop is created by Whilce Portacio. In one of Whilce's interviews, Bishop's supposed to be Filipino(one of Bishop's XSE buddies Malcolm is Filipino.).

[@skitzofrenia_]

Next is Marc Silvestri please! Or Jorge Jimenez.

[@AscendantStoic]

Your intros keep getting more and more weird and creative, keep it up, excellent video ;)

[@foxb5974]

Its funny jim lee in the 90s said he'd never work for dc Look at him know

[@wtk6069]

Now DC works for HIM.

[@JoseRamos-mb1gj]

Great job, i enjoyed this very much especially the ending were u reward ur fans! Really cool of u

[@will_sketch]

Great video! Really inspiring, I'm ready to do a few pieces now in pencil and ink just to see what happens. Jim is forever on my top 5 artists but can you do a video on my favorite of Art Adams? He has been, IMO, vastly imitated and is one of the first to bring that manga / anime flare to his work. I think he has greatly improved in some areas but you still know it's his work.

[@SharpBrothersStudio]

Always entertaining hearing a non-pro artist talk about art. He seems quite intrigued by the work of what an inker does in this case the exceptional work of Scott Williams.

[@jphillips4620]

That artwork at 14:51 is gorgeous.

[@UniDeathRaven]

20:07 this right here is such an insane piece of art, just wow.

[@DennisCNolasco]

Thanks for posting this, Jim’s one of my favorite comic artists 👍

[@mickmc1705]

Never knew how important the inker was, great video. Please do some of other favorite artists like silvestri and the kubert Brothers

[@MuhammadAli-xw4yc]

watched in 2024 and absolutely loved it, Much appreciated chris

[@samuelraji8343]

I bought my first batch of superhero comics around 2012-2013 it was an old DC and Marvel comics of some kind. I don't remember anything from those comics except for that Cover as an ad for Superman at the back page with Jim Lee's art. I looked at the fucking background for like a good 30 mins and I still remember it.

[@gee355Art]

Love your show - this is great, interesting stuff. Punisher War Journal 5 was my first Jim Lee comic and I’ve been a fan ever since... 👍🏻

[@Andrew-fq7pu]

I always thought of early Jim as an amalgam of Byrne and Miller. When he started with his heavy line work it looked a lot like Ronin, but especially DD 191. You didn't mention the reason Jim dropped his Deathblow style because Miller asked him to. Although Jim stopped, he brought in Tim Sale as his replacement to keep a Sin City style and develop the look he'd bring to Long Halloween. What I like about Jim is he's still experimenting and changing, if he sees something he really likes in other work. One of the clearest examples for me was on Wildcats, when his style was very much developed and refined. Walt Simonson did a Wildcats story, where he brought a highly stylised impressionistic style to the reflections on Void, which Jim immediately adopted into his own work.

[@sethleoric2598]

Im filipino... and i wanna make comics when i grow up

[@SymphonicRainChannel]

I believe in you

[@dxppxlgxngxr]

Support kita, ako din hahaha

[@rottenman2410]

are you grown up now

[@topsdaily_productions]

Did you do it?

JIM LEE ONE OF THE BEST MODERN COMIC ARTIST EVER.

[@jinxie712]

WildCATs is Jim continuing what he was doing on X-men. The characters were pretty much translations of the X-men. Silvestri did the same with Cyber Force.

[@mugsgame_1526]

Your videos are just phenomenal.

[@doro626]

I enjoyed this technical breakdown.

[@FanDethklok]

I like seeing that My Hero Academia book behind you.

[@pandaman1331]

It's very interesting to me how the quality of the artwork can vary so strongly from comic book to comic book. I only recently started reading comic book and I'm more familar with Mangas. The difference with Mangas is that you only have one artist working on the entire project for a certain time. That's I think one of the major difference between Japanese Manga and American Comics. Mangas usually have a end date, while comics continue forever. Of course artists are going to change over decades. Though there is also improvement in Mangas (you can especially see that in very long running Mangas like One Piece), the difference in quality isn't that huge since it's still the same artist. But in American comics even within the same series the quality can hugly differ because artists change more frequently. When I started with Secret Wars and COIE of DC, I initially thought that DC had quite the advantage over Marvel in the 80s concerning art quality. But as I've continued to read, I've realized that COIE was quite the exception. Even many 90s DC comics have worse art than COIE. Which makes it all the more amazing that a comic book from the 80s could have such high quality. The same for Marvel. Most 80s comics in my opinion didn't have such great artwork. Especially not compared to COIE. The only exception was The Amazing Spiderman. I immedately started to look ot for works from Todd McFarlane as I really enjoyed his style. His works in my opinion had quite the edge over the rest of the 80s Marvel comics until the the late 80s and early 90s when John Bryne joined. Still, it's strange to think that older comics can have better artwork than newer ones. But that also makes it more interesting.

[@GUSYROSA-qj2pk]

Love ur channel man! Planning on doing some fanart for a while...

[@riteousrighthand6144]

Jim Lee's pencil work is flawless. i remember when i was starting to draw, i would search out Jim's books, because he was the biggest of badasses.

[@leonardoperna7252]

Hi! You cought me making a video about Scott Williams inking job! 😂

[@johnnyskinwalker4095]

His X-Men stuff will never be beat

[@BenKurth]

Great to see the commentary about Deathblow 😉

[@ericmack8021]

Awesome video. What a great idea for a video. Thank you

[@burntfishknuckles]

Me personal favorite of mine Jim's work that I own is HUSH. That's some of the best work I've seen ever..

[@RetroKid]

Jim Lee and Scott Williams go together like Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen

[@TheNickcone]

Wildcats are one of my favs. Also love his work on X-men.

[@thetreblerebel]

Jim Lee is one of my favorites. XMen in the 90s. Wonderful

[@simonbarnett8668]

Really enjoyed this one. Thanks!

[@pixelcharlie]

Do a video about Joe Madureira! He's my favorite comic book artist! His art evolution is also very impressive

[@horizonbrave1533]

You caught me making. A comment! Chris your intros are classic...

[@SkottiKimble]

As weird as I'll sound, I was never really a fan of Lee's X-Men, I was more a fan of Silvestri's. That said, I loved WildCATs and even more so his Divine Right comic.

[@DementedDistraction]

It's worth mentioning that Jim Lee has a Twitch account that he uses to livestream himself drawing and inking. www.twitch.tv/jimlee Watching him work and how he breaks down his process is always fascinating and educational; especially when you realize that he, just like me (or any other artist), makes mistakes and has to correct-course. I strongly recommend giving it a watch, and sometimes he auctions off (or even gives away) his doodles in real-time on the stream.

[@federico452]

Very goo job on my favorite penciler great.

[@doomedhuh]

Sandra Hope inked Jim on the Infinite Crisis covers.

[@KK-qq1cb]

I remember when in 90's in post- communist Poland , Jim Lee's x-man was released and how cool it was. Never seen something like this before, just blows my mind. Great video, waiting for the next episodes. Maybe something about Todd McFarlane?

[@31leoceara]

Just a correction: The inks on Punisher War Journal #1 were done by Scott Williams, not Jim Lee.