Deb JJ Lee is a nonbinary Korean-American illustrator and author based in Brooklyn, NY. After pivoting from the tech industry in 2020, they have since freelanced for clients such as The New Yorker, Google, LEGO, BMW, and more.
“[Deb JJ Lee] is a masterful storyteller who reminds us everyone we meet is an entire world while we are plunged into [their] own,” offers Sara Alfageeh, co-creator of SQUIRE.
“Teenagers (and those of us who once were teenagers) are so lucky to have authors like Deb who reach back through the veil of time to offer understanding and compassion to our lowest lows, to the people who have hurt us and the people we’ve hurt in return,” says Rosemary Valero-O’Connell, co-creator of LAURA DEAN KEEPS BREAKING UP WITH ME.
IN LIMBO, published in 2023 by First Second, is their first graphic novel, and won an 2023 Ignatz Award for Promising New Talent over the past weekend. The book is also nominated for the 2023 Harvey Award for Best Children’s or Young Adult Book. In the following years, they are scheduled to publish with Harper Collins and Astra Books; a graphic novel titled THE OTHER SIDE OF TOMORROW by Tina Cho and MONSTER SEEK by Raina Oet. Lee shares their insights on writing, mental health and more.
Goldie Chan: Thank you for joining us at Forbes, Deb. What has been your favorite book or project to work on?
Deb JJ Lee: In books, it still has to be IN LIMBO—my five year meditation. It’s been the first published work that I had complete creative control over, where I could nix an entire arc if it didn’t sit right with me halfway through. The memoir grew alongside me since I started working on it in 2018–a symbiotic relationship where it was used to process my traumas and find closure in most of my relationships.
Any project where I too have free rein (as opposed to being given a prompt, which is more common with editorial illustration) is always a favorite—some that come to mind are with Procreate App (my primary drawing software) and with the band Japanese Breakfast. A typical prompt with Procreate App is to just draw whatever the artist wants, just as long as it’s colorful and fantastical, a style that comes very easily to me. And Japanese Breakfast is one of my favorite artists, so to draw posters for them has been nothing short of a dream come true. I know their music and aesthetic like the back of my hand, so coming up with concepts comes very naturally to me!
Chan: What has your career journey been?
Lee: Simultaneously a slow build and an avalanche. After I graduated and was working in Silicon Valley as a UX designer (my official job title, I was doing some illustration work for them), I basically tripped into the world of publishing—my literary agent found me by chance on Twitter during my senior year and my first book deal for IN LIMBO processed months later. Right after that I landed another book deal for THE OTHER SIDE OF TOMORROW (Harper Collins, 2024), which was already written by the author Tina Cho. I quit tech altogether a year later—it was obvious I was going to be more than busy very shortly.
As for illustration (outside publishing), I don’t think I began getting consistent work until last year, which is also when I finally honed in on what I wanted my artistic voice to be. I decided that editorial illustration wasn’t right for me, so I focused more on commercial illustration—drawing for campaigns, posters, etc. The pay was better and I was allocated more time to make a deliverable that I was proud of. As I drew for more brands, there came a point where I didn’t need to send self promos anymore; I didn’t have to cold email art directors for work.
Chan: How does your own journey with mental health inform your writing?
Lee: So far I can only speak for IN LIMBO, but I can say that it’s ever-evolving (since I’m still learning what good writing means!). The book kept changing as I processed through all my traumas—at first the book, to me, felt like a glorified callout post where I was blaming everyone for my own downfalls. Later I realized that that was far from the truth—it was not the fault of others, but more of how I personally cope with anxiety, loneliness, and depression. Once I understood that about myself, I had to give the book an entirely new skin, with a different arc, dialogue, and characters.
I’m pretty anxious to see how I write about any sort of other mental illness in fiction, since I’m graduating from the memoir world! But I know that a part of my personal experience will always play out in my work.
Chan: Describe your personal brand.
Lee: Honestly, maximalist in every sense of the word. Maximalist in the compositions of my drawings, and a chaotic internet presence. In terms of my illustration style, I like to use immense amounts of detail (while still being easy to look at) bold and unexpected color palettes, and a mix of line art and abstract painting.
Chan: What is a book or podcast that you’re reading or listening to now that you’d recommend?
Lee: My toxic trait is that I do enjoy true crime; I’m very aware of its exploitative tendencies towards the families of murder victims. That being said, the podcast “And That’s Why We Drink” has been a favorite since 2019–it’s half paranormal and half true crime, and one of the hosts is also nonbinary! I really appreciate how self-aware and careful they are, especially with their true crime stories, while having incredible banter. They even read my listeners’ story about my high school english teacher being a suspect in the Watcher House this New Years!
I recently finished Gabrielle Zevin’s “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow”. Although I’m not involved in game design, it also hit me as one in the creative field—why do we create, and how do we find joy in it again when it becomes a real job, let alone a success in the industry? And even better, Zevin, who is half Korean-American, wrote one of my favorite books growing up, “Elsewhere”, about a girl who wakes up in the afterlife.
Chan: How has your Korean American identity changed how you create or write?
Lee: Haha sometimes I feel like I’m being weirdly performative as a Korean-American, almost as cultural appropriation. While I wrote a book about trauma as a Korean-American, I think I’m ready to write stories about Koreans that’s not necessarily about their identity, but as characters who happen to be Korean (and queer! We don’t have a lot of stories with queer poc). Similarly to trans characters, there should be more stories that’s not necessarily about their trans-ness. We just exist.
Chan: What are you working on now?
Lee: Aside from some NDA illustration projects and being on a plane every other week for the book tour, I’m wrapping up my work on THE OTHER SIDE OF TOMORROW with Tina Cho for the Fall 2024 release! I’m also hoping to finish up a little comic that a friend will be publishing in the next few years.
Chan: Any career advice for this year?
Lee: Some advice that I will always be chasing myself is that no work is more important than your body. Comics especially is a brutal industry where people are expected to make what is essentially thousands of drawings for very little pay, (sometimes even lower than minimum wage), in an unrealistic timeline. To have an editor and agent who are willing to work with you on longer deadlines makes a world of a difference—they are not just hiring you for your work, they are hiring you for *you.*
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