Q: Originally from Los Angeles, what are some of your favorite things about living and working in Brooklyn?

A:  I like living in New York for the usual reasons: access to culture, things like exhibits, theater, lectures, classes. Though, I entertain the thought of moving to a quieter, gentler city all the time. 

Q: Do you keep a sketchbook? What is the balance between the art you create on paper versus in the computer?

A: Yes, I keep a sketchbook. There’s nothing very pretty in it. It’s a lot of writing, bits of ideas, scraps of paper, and post-its. I started journaling, too, I have a couple of little notebooks and also a google.doc I maintain. They each serve a different purpose. I don’t really differentiate between the work I do on paper vs. the computer, it’s so integrated at this point. When considering balance, I think more about preliminary vs. final work. I’m much more interested in the preliminary processes of a project than the final. 

Q: What is the most important item in your studio?

A: I started documenting my dreams and my right-before-I-sleep thoughts in this pocket-sized blank journal. I’ve uncovered some interesting patterns by doing this. I take it everywhere, it’s the most important aspect of my practice at the moment. 

Q: What do you like best about your workspace?

A: I work at home, and I like that I get to be alone. 

Q” Do you think it needs improvement, if so, what would you change?

A: Nah. 

Q: How do you know when the art is finished?

A: It just feels right. 

Q: What was your favorite book as a child?

A: I can’t remember if I had a single favorite single book as a child. I liked reading trashy series, like the Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley Twins, Goosebumps. 

Q: What is the best book you’ve recently read?

A: Man and His Symbols, by Carl Jung. I talk about this book to everyone I meet. His theories about dreams and how they relate to the unconscious made me want to start recording my dreams. He was once a student, and later a dissident, of Freud's, and had an artistic streak. I'd like to get my hands on The Red Book, a journal of his drawings based on his streams of consciousness, but it’s quite expensive. 

Q: If you had to choose one medium to work in for an entire year, eliminating all others, what medium would you choose?

A: Pencil—the medium is most efficient in getting ideas across. If it wasn’t apparent already, I value ideas more than I do execution and finish. 

Q: If you could time travel to any era, any place, where would you go?

A: Hm, I immediately thought of pre-modern Korea, but they’ve had it pretty rough until relatively recently....That said, I’d still want to go there. 

Q: What is preoccupying you at the moment?

A: Being my best self, understanding that the opinions of others are subjective and therefore irrelevant, whether I will see true gender equality and equal rights for all in my lifetime, whether I should get seamless for dinner again. 

Q: What are some of your favorite places/books/blogs/websites for inspiration?

A: I like to take walks across the Williamsburg Bridge, or I like looking at the Medieval art at the Met (it’s so gold, so bloody, so goth). As for books I am inspired by, I like reading indie comics, there’s a vulnerability and honesty to that medium that is special and unique. I just finished Jeremiah by Cathy G. Johnson, New Construction by Sam Alden, and I’m re-reading Michael DeForge’s Lose series. They are all so brilliant. 

Q: What was the [Thunderbolt] painting or drawing or film or otherwise that most affected your approach to art?

A: Again, I can’t remember if I had a single “thunderbolt” moment with a work, it’s been pretty cumulative. Yoko Ono’s recently concluded One Woman Show at the MoMA was pretty phenomenal, I still think about that exhibit often. I used to scoff at performance and interactive art—how narrow-minded I was! —until I saw how it could be done right. And accessibly, too. I liked that, in her work, the concept was exalted and all other aspects of the work were secondary. 

Q: What would be your last supper?

A: My mom’s noodle soup. It's t'die.

Hannah K. Lee was born from two Korean immigrants and was raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles. She graduated from Parsons School of Design in 2009 with a degree in Illustration, and is currently based in Brooklyn. She now teaches at Parsons, and as of Fall 2015, is Book Designer at Youth in Decline, a publisher of lovely and strange zines, comics, and books. Copies of her zines have been purchased by the libraries of the Museum of Modern Art (NY), the Brooklyn Museum (NY), the Milwaukee Art Museum (WI), and the SF MoMA (CA).

Hannah K. Lee will be debuting a new zine at CAB (Comic Arts Brooklyn) called Close Encounters, published by Issue Press. It’s on November 7th, at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, 12 Havemeyer St, Brooklyn, NY 11211, and always a great show to attend for those who are interested in the best and weirdest comics being made right now.   

tumblr: blog.hannahklee.com

twitter: @hannahkleeee (there are 4 E’s)