Welcome to my sketchbook.

Within these pages you will find an assortment of my work, ranging from quick con sketches to watercolor studies to inked illustrations. Most of these were done over the past two years and represent my attempts to get back into "fighting form" s-lter a toolong absence from a regular pencillinggig. I hesitated to even show some of the pieces since they are so rough, but sometimes sketches can capture an energy that a final piece often lacks so I include them in here - warts and all. I hope you enjoy them as much as I had fun draWing them!

- Jim Lee

Before I launched into pencilling the regular title of BATMAN, I drew many studies of the character for fun and for later promotional use. I inked all of these - partly because it was as fast if not faster than doing tight pencils for my regular lnker, Scot-t Williams, and because I wanted to experiment with some new techniques. The storm douds in the background were in fact created using an inkdrenched tissue as was the fog effect at the bottom of Batman's cape. Most importantly. it helped me "see" how to spot blacks on Batman to create a darker moodier style t:han I am normally known for.

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T· he top tw<;, sketcb~s are ar~ example of some medium I quality sketches I do {-or fans for free at various signings and co entions. I say medium in that ey are neither simple face shots

nor do they have the backgrounds or the complexity of some of Illy longer sketches. These take about 5-10 minutes to do whereas the full-f1gure ones can take up to 20 minutes. If there is a crowd and I need to sccorncdate the line, I revert to dOingjust face sketches, which are like Signing your name but with a lot more parts! QUick face sketches take a minute or two at the mpst.

The Hawkman sketch is one I did just for fun in pencils. Normally I ink my sketchwork but this time I wanted to keep it rough so I could play with the shadows and tones more. I'm a huge fan of the Thanagarian hero and wanted to draw a costume which looked a bit updated while staying true to the original, classic deSign.

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The Batman piece is a ! very quick study I did to try different rain' techniques. I use whiteout sticks and rollerpens to draw in the lights on the black buildings and lay down the rain. The steam at the bottom is me playing I around with whrteout ustng my fingers. In a more finished piece, I would normally 'have played around with the t)ngerprint patterns more so they would look more like smoke or fog and less like actual fingerprints.

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The Chnstle Blaze watercolor ,was another very early watercolor piece :1 did again Just to see what would happen if II did X, Y and Z. As such, it is unflntshed but I still like some of the rubb dofF watercolor ef-fects I g t On her fatigues.

The bottom is a quick cover layout I did before I painted my very first color icover for DC. It's for an upcoming title called FIGHT fOR TOMORROW, written by Brian Wood and illustrated by Denys Cowan. J had a lot of fun getting inspired by reading the first two issues and trying to come up with an image that captured the approach they wel'egoing for while still adding my'styJe' into the mix.

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These seemingly-similar copies of a Stan lee Wonder Woman piece I contributed for a Secret Files title illustrate in my mind the difference between doing a sketch and a flnished, professional job. When I sketch, I mak corrections and adjustments but nowhere near to the same degree that I do on a piece for publication. Scrutinizing your work can be tough, expecially if you are on a tight deadline, but I 'find it hard to turn in work that has 'mistakes' - wh ich is not to say they are indeed mistake-free; it's usually just that I am blind to them at that moment. Which is a good thing - otherwise, I would never turn anything in.

Black Canary is on.e. of the more stnkmg characters in the DC Universe for good reason. This particular sketch was done for an art collector.

This watercolor of

Deathblow was an

experiment for a painted project 1 hope to get to some day. He is one of my favorite characters of the many .1 co-created with Brandon Choi.

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(Bottom left) Another very quick Batman study, Always looking for new ways of spotting blacks on faces and bodies to create more drama and mood.

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More quick Batman studi s, rejected cover layouts (try and guess what covers they were for!) and a sketch of one of my all-time favorite characters - the Silver '-'se Green Lantern. That Gil Kane costume is a classic!

More light/shadow studies and fun with tissue swipes and whiteout pens! The Grifter sket h is an example of a relatively quick can sketch (10-15 mins) I like to do when I have the time, Throwing a little spot color and white lines on black shapes can really spruce up what would otherwise be a fairly nondescript drawing, The Justice Society sketch was for a print that was cancelled, which was a shame since I had so much fun trying to squeeze all those characters in there and still retain some semblance of a composition, This was done pretty quickly using markers and a thicker Sharpie, They really smell bad but they throw down a great thick line which is useful for quick studies,

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mhe diptych seen on the inside covers was a studio project we did for grins. Basically, t laid out the I composition and different Wi!dStorm artists here in the studio pencilled and inked different characters as we passed around the board. Even with the stylistic differences, I think the pieces h?ld together remarkably well and moreover, we had a blast working together.

figure credrts.jlrn Lee=batman Batgirl. Carlos D'~nda--~zrael, Huntress. Ale Garza=Robin, Harley. Lee Bermejo--Nightwing. Catwoman and the background bUildings. We all inked our work but had to have some ringers (Scott Williams, Sandra Hope, Rich Friend - all inkers suprernel) come in and fix some of the haggard lines we threw down.

Jim Lee has been one of the true artistic phenomena of modern comics - a record-setting, award-winning, fanfavorite artist whose popularity has spanned more than a decade, carrying across multiple characters, titles and publishers. More than just an artist, Jim is a successful businessman, whose WiJdStorm Productions became the third largest comic-book publisher in the business before being acquired by industry giant DC Comics. But it's as an artist that Jim Lee first made his mark, and as an artist that he continues to attract attention and devoted fans today.

Inside this exclusive sketchbook, fans can see for themselves the creative mind at work. AI.I the pencil sketches, thumbnails, and color treatments that artists usually leave in their private sketchbooks or on the edges of their drawing table are revealed in their pure state, accompanied by convention sketches for fans and personal art created purely for Jim's own enjoyment. As su ch, it's a unique artifact, offered for only a brief period of time and certain to be prized by fans around the globe.

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