Explore Jojo's work: joojstudio.com | IG: whereisjooj
[Watch the full interview below]
Some artists find their medium early and never leave it. Jojo Lee started from sketching as the artist in class, to years behind a screen as a UX designer, to finally picking up a saw from Home Depot and cutting his first piece of wood on an apartment balcony in the dead of a New York winter.
Today his work lives somewhere between folk art and pop culture: laser cut wood and acrylic panels, resin toys, and a signature series exploring what he calls Asian Americana, all built from a practice he taught himself piece by piece. We sat down with Jojo to talk about that journey: the pivot away from a design career, navigating brand collaborations, building a personal brand while staying authentic, shifting to in-person corporate events and art fairs, and what’s next for Jojo.
When did your creative journey begin?
I've been drawing since I was a little kid, and growing up I was always known as the artist in the class. So naturally, over time, I just started exploring other creative avenues, whether it was graphic design, illustration, creative writing, music, just anything that allowed me to create something of my own. I was definitely always interested in it.
I was introduced to manga at a young age, as a lot of Asian American kids are, and that just drew me into this whole other world of illustration in general. I think that's kind of the gateway that led me into all these other creative avenues.
You started your career in UX/UI design and transitioned to mixed media. Can you talk about that journey?
I was working as a graphic and UX designer for about four to five years after graduating college. During that time I was mostly working at smaller tech companies, where I was often one of the only, if not the only, designer at the company. Because of that, I had to juggle a lot of different roles, including product design, but also user research, marketing design, illustration. It was really cool because I got a little taste of everything I was interested in, but ultimately, at the end of the day, I felt like it was a lot of following company guidelines, a lot of established design patterns. I didn't feel like I was able to exercise my creative side to its fullest, and on top of that it was a lot of staring at a screen for twelve plus hours a day. So after you clock out, all you want to do is get off the computer.
That's kind of what led me to pivot to going back to traditional media. This is something I grew up doing, always drawing with physical mediums, whether it's pencil, charcoal, watercolor. After work I would start sketching again, and eventually I came across the work of a Chinese American artist named Stevie Shao. She does these insanely cool woodcut paintings, where she would essentially use a scroll saw to cut out these giant panels of wood into the shape of creature designs, and paint them in a very vibrant folk art sort of style. That just blew me away. I was like, "Oh my god, I want to do that." Literally the next day I went to Home Depot, picked up the cheapest saw I could find, grabbed some wood panels, and started working off my balcony in my apartment at the time.
What materials do you work with now?
These days I would say I work more with laser cutting. Pretty early on into my art career I was approached by a laser cutting company that said, "Hey, would you be interested in trying out our at home laser cutter in exchange for a couple videos?" That pretty much changed the entire process for me, because before I'd be cutting something by hand on the balcony in negative twenty degree weather, since it's New York City, and it wasn't giving me the precision I was looking for in my work. Switching over to a more digital approach really helped me open up the possibilities of the complexity of my work, but also the types of materials I could work with. Before I worked primarily with wood; these days I do a mix of acrylic, wood, and most recently I got into 3D printing.
What's one of the pieces you've created that surprised you?
One piece that comes to mind is one of my earlier pieces, called the Kirin Rider. It's a woodcut piece of a black and white cowboy riding a kirin, which is essentially a Chinese mythical creature that's a bit of a mix between a dragon and a horse.
I honestly don't remember exactly where this idea came from, but it definitely stemmed from my love of spaghetti westerns that I grew up watching with my dad. I thought it would be a fun spin: instead of a regular horse, I could insert this mythical creature instead, not thinking too much of it. What it ended up being was it spawned into this multi part series of woodcut pieces all centered around this theme of Asian Americana, which is how I describe this theme of mixing traditionally Eastern Asian motifs along with more traditionally American motifs. It was just a very fun project for me to work on because it blended everything I was interested in, from character design to pop art to mythology. And it actually ended up resonating a lot with my target audience, which I wasn't expecting.
I remember one time one of my followers reached out to me on Instagram and said she really enjoyed this piece, the Kirin Rider, because it holds a lot of significance between her and her father. They're both Vietnamese American, and they grew up surrounded by this sort of icon. It was really fun to see how the most random ideas could still resonate with people you wouldn't necessarily expect.
I know you've worked with some great companies. What does that collaboration process look like?
Full transparency, I pretty much never do outreach myself. Usually it's the company that approaches me, and how that happens is I'd be posting my work online on social media, and someone from a third party media agency would find my work and reach out to me directly through email, saying something like, "I have a client that we think could be a potentially good fit for you in terms of your work, would you be interested in learning more?" From there we would go back and forth on things like the scope of the project, the timeline, the budget, and then negotiations to follow. But pretty much all my communications with the brand are directly through this third party agent. I pretty much never talk directly to someone from the company.
Usually from there it's a lot of back and forth. They would approve things like my script, my video edits, the project idea. But for the most part, in terms of creative control, I've been lucky enough to work with clients who have given me essentially full creative control, as long as it falls within the parameters of showcasing whatever product or service they want to advertise.
Do these companies reach out because of a specific post, or more the general vibe of your feed?
I would say usually it's just the general vibe of your profile. And you know, it's important, if someone is interested in content creation, I think it is important to be able to curate your feed in a way where someone from these kinds of companies could pop onto your page and within maybe ten seconds be able to tell what your niche is, what your target audience is, what your specialties are. That's kind of something I unintentionally ended up having just by way of focusing on DIY projects. Because of that, I think a lot of design and even home renovation companies have been interested in working with me, because that just happens to fall under the niche they're looking for.
Do you have advice for staying authentic with your content while also creating things that resonate?
I'll be the first to admit that there have been times where I fall into the trap of doing something that's trending for the sake of being trending. But I would say people these days are so desensitized to that kind of catfish sort of content, where they would rather see someone tell the story of who they are and what their brand is meant to exemplify. I think storytelling is the crux of what all this is, in terms of sharing your work online and sharing your story online. It's what people want to see more of, because there's that emotional attachment they could potentially gain from learning more about you as a person.
With art specifically, you're literally creating something because it means something to you, right? So why not use that as the foundation of how you tell your story and how you write your script? This is definitely still something I'm working on these days. I've actually been taking a break from making content because I felt pretty burnt out at the start of this year, just from the constant grind of needing to pump new videos out every week. But I would say, if you're able to, weave your script in a way that gives the audience bits and pieces of your story without giving it all away at once. And also make sure that you aren't making art for the sake of making content, if that makes sense. That's also something I've been struggling with, as I realize content creation could be just as much of an avenue, a source of income for artists, as making art itself.
For artists who want to start working with brands, where should they begin?
I would definitely say, like I said before, have a niche narrowed down by the time you're ready to start reaching out to other companies, because that's probably the first thing they look for. If you don't fall under the niche that would be appropriate for their marketing campaigns, there's probably a very small chance they'll reach out to you.
Building up a portfolio of work that showcases not only the type of work you make, but also shows them you have the discipline to consistently make videos at a certain caliber, is a very good signal to these companies. I know another thing that a lot of artists starting out with social media are concerned about is thinking they don't have enough followers to warrant a brand reaching out to them. But honestly, you don't even have to start off with the large companies. You can go to more local small businesses near you. For example, if there's a shop that you get a lot of your supplies from, you could try reaching out to them directly and say, "I'm currently in the process of making more content for my art. I'd love to potentially work with you to create some more videos that could help the both of us."
You could definitely start small, and eventually work your way up to where you could even reach out to talent agencies. I have a few friends and peers who are artists and full time content creators who work with these agencies, where they essentially assign a manager to you, and what they'll do is all the outreach for you, all the negotiating for you, so you can more or less focus on your craft. I think that's a great balance to have, and definitely a good goal to work towards if you're interested in doing a bit of both.
Since you work with wood and acrylic, physical pieces, can you still do prints?
Yeah, that's something I struggle with a lot, because obviously I think prints are the most accessible types of merch you can make as an artist. I definitely wanted to open up that price tier for my audience who can't afford a piece that's worth a couple hundred dollars. But because most of my woodcut pieces are just simple character designs, I have to get a bit more creative with it.
For my thank you cards that I send out with every online order, I basically took all these character designs I've made throughout the years and molded them into this plastic model kind of format. Like when you buy a Gundam model, or vehicle models, they come in those flat sheets of plastic that you kind of punch out. I put all my characters on a grid, added some typography, and now there's a print. It's definitely not as simple as slapping my characters on a blank background, which I've tried in the past, but I try to be a bit more creative with that process.
Is there one marketing strategy or decision that's had a big impact on growing your audience?
I can't say I intentionally set out to do any marketing strategies with my online content. It was more spur of the moment, oh, I feel like this would be a cool project to showcase, so let me just record it and piece the story together afterward. I've never really had a solid marketing plan.
But I will say, ironically, a pivot I made recently that has been very successful is actually doing more in person events. Selling my art at art fairs, at company sponsored employee events, it's actually been a huge game changer for me because my pieces are physical. Naturally people want to be able to see it in person, be able to touch it, and better visualize how it would fit in their own personal spaces. Doing more in person events has been a great way to unlock a new customer base that might not necessarily be online, but it's also allowed me to connect more directly with my audience, and that has felt very rewarding compared to just seeing the numbers go up on my phone.
How do you prepare for these events?
It's definitely a process I'm still trying to nail down. Usually it's panicking and scrambling at the last minute to make sure I have enough stock to sell. But I think right now my product catalog is a good split between handmade products and mass produced products. The handmade stuff I have to prepare ahead of time, so usually the two weeks leading up to an event I'm constantly laser cutting, painting, assembling my mirrors or coasters, woodcut paintings, things like that. Because the price points for those are definitely higher than the mass produced merch, I'm able to make fewer of these handmade items now, versus before, where I would only be selling handmade products. Having a mix of both has definitely helped streamline the preparation process for in person markets.
What's the time difference between something handmade versus mass made?
For my Tiger mirrors, for example, I think those were one of the first handmade products to really blow up for me. On average each piece would take around fifteen to twenty hours, and most of that would go into painting, especially after I was able to work with the laser cutter. Whereas for mass produced stuff, I do tend to take more time up front for each design, because once you send it out, it's kind of set in stone. I want to make sure everything is pixel perfect and would make sense as part of my overall catalog. So even though I spend more time up front with each mass produced design, once I send it out, it's off my hands and I don't have to think about it anymore until it comes to packing. It's a bit of a trade off for both.
What do the next few years look like for you? Any new mediums or projects you're excited about?
I know I mentioned I've been using the 3D printer more, and that's actually because I'm in the process of creating my first set of resin toys. I actually have an example here, something I 3D printed last week and hand painted. It's part of a series of monster designs that kind of blend products you'd find in a convenience store with something a bit more surreal, whimsical. That's why there's a crocodile coming out of a soda can. This is definitely new for me in terms of creating 3D models of this detail, and it's something I'm slowly learning to do more of, working with 3D modeling software and how that translates over to 3D printing. Then 3D printing itself is this whole other world of what types of materials you can use, what the cleanup processes look like for those, how you can achieve a certain result based on what limited supplies you have. It's definitely a whole new realm that I'm really excited to work with, post woodcutting, post laser cutting.
What does "art is not a hobby" mean to you personally?
I take it as a very literal sense of the name. I think there's this misconception that people who aren't artists still have, where when they think of an artist, they think of someone standing in a gallery owned by some rich collector, and they're just waiting for someone to pass by and buy their work. But these days there are actually so many more ways for an artist to make money. Whether that's creating merch, working with brands, even just starting your own design or creative business, there are so many different ways to make money now. To the point where I don't think it's fair to only call art a hobby if it's something you're interested in turning into a full time job.
I've been lucky enough that my parents have always been supportive of me being a creative professional, but I know that isn't the case for a lot of other artists, especially other Asian American artists. So I think it's really important to drill into these non artists that it's not just creating art and hoping someone will buy it. It's you actively acting as a business owner and finding ways to market your work. That's just all part of the job. It's not as simple as sitting in your room all day and just drawing.
Any artists, designers, or creatives we should keep an eye on?
Definitely. I already mentioned Stevie Shao earlier, so I don't know if that counts, but she's really cool. She does murals, illustrations. She's had really cool collabs with companies like Uniqlo, and obviously I follow her for her woodcut paintings that are just insanely large and insanely beautiful.
Other than that, I really love the work of Boy Kong. I believe he's a Thai artist based out of Orlando, but he's also just this multidisciplinary artist that works with all sorts of mediums, including woodcuts. He also does giant murals, giant paintings, and he mixes different types of materials in his sculptures, which is really fascinating. I think I really admire him for the fact that he doesn't have a single defined art style. I really look up to him because he isn't afraid to just experiment with new looks and new processes, because it's all for the sake of pushing his own craft and his technical abilities. So keep an eye out for these two artists.
Key Takeaways
Your day job can be the thing that clarifies what you actually want to make
Jojo's years in UX design weren't wasted time, they were the pressure test that showed him exactly what he was missing. Twelve hours a day behind a screen, following someone else's design system, was the contrast he needed to recognize what creative freedom actually felt like when he finally found it with a saw in his hands.
You don't need permission or a large following to start collaborating
The instinct to wait until you feel "big enough" to approach brands keeps a lot of artists on the sidelines. Jojo's advice cuts against that: start with the local supply shop, the small business down the street, the people who already know your work. Every partnership scales from somewhere smaller.
Storytelling is the actual product, not a marketing add-on
The Kirin Rider resonated because it carried a story about identity, heritage, and family that Jojo didn't fully anticipate when he made it. The lesson isn't to manufacture a narrative for content's sake, but to trust that the meaning already built into your work is what audiences are actually responding to.
Being a professional artist means being a business owner
This is the through line of the whole conversation. From negotiating with third party agencies to prepping inventory for art fairs to figuring out margins on handmade versus mass produced pieces, none of that is separate from being an artist. It is the job. Treating it that way, deliberately and without apology, is what "art is not a hobby" actually means.
📢 Check Out the Full Interview
Watch the full interview with Jojo Lee below or youtube @ainahcommunity
Explore Jojo's work: joojstudio.com | IG: whereisjooj
