Soa Lee is a pretty 3D illustrator from South Korea who digitally draws amazingly beautiful artworks of women. Her works have been included in EXOTIQUE, EXOTIQUE 2 and EXPOSÉ 4.

From an unknown Korean traditional animator, to a highly-prized 3D artist, Soa Lee has been consistently creating breathtaking pieces of digital illustrations even since she won the first prize at the Korea Computer Art Association, only 6 months after she took a 3D course.

Ever since her university days, Soa Lee had been curious about the workings behind a good animation model. At first she wasn't interested in computer art at all, being more a traditional cell animator, and thoroughly ensconced in the 'ink and paint'; Later on, 3D animation in Korea became very popular, as did the uptake of online game play. Anyone working within the 3D realm in Seoul was deemed to be using the technology as an adjunct to bringing the model into an animation later on.  This was her ticket into this exciting field. Soa Lee decided she had to be a part of this industry wave.

Soa Lee feels that the computer is just a means to an end. At present, she spends time experimenting with 3D spacial techniques. "I am always reminding myself that 2D and 3D software are all just tools to create great images," she says. “I always strive to produce the best images using any techniques.  I’d only use 3D software as simply a tool to create better animations.”

Soa has always been attracted to the human characters as her favorite theme. Depending on the area of the job she is doing, Soa changes her creative methods. "Faces are usually drawn by referencing," she explains. "I combine different pictures that have the facial shapes I'm looking for. I then create images from these and refer to them continuously. I take similar steps by combining various pictures in Photoshop. The images from these processes become a great sketch and these become the foundation of the 3D production. I draw manually for the detailed elements and patterns."

Read more about Soa Lee from her interview with CGSociety and CG-Node. Also see more her works in her CGPortfolio.