DC Comics' Jim Lee Shares Gorgeous 'Princess Mononoke' Sketch

This week, Jim Lee offered his rendition of a Miyazaki classic when he sketched Princess Mononoke [...]

By Michael Hein

This week, Jim Lee offered his rendition of a Miyazaki classic when he sketched Princess Mononoke herself.

Lee, an acclaimed artist in western comics and co-publisher at DC, completely pencilled and inked San from Princess Mononoke, a 1997 movie from Studio Ghibli. He even colored in her red facepaint, and surrounded her with tree elves.

Lee did the drawing live during a Twitch stream, as he apparently does every Sunday morning. This week, he sketched Harley Quinn and The Joker taking a selfie together, as well as Master Chief from Halo. He tends to do drawings for fun on Twitch, rather than revealing his work on monthly comics for all the world to see. He tends to do a mixture of DC Comics characters and other intellectual properties.

He has already shown his affinity for anime and Japanese animation, of course. Back in July, Lee streamed a sketch of All Might from My Hero Academia, tweeting "had some fun trying something new." In June, he produced an 11x17 portrait of Asuka Langley Sohryu from Evangelion.

Lee has spoken about his love for manga and anime in many public forums. He reportedly cited manga styles as an influence in his iconic Punisher: War Journal series in the 1980s, and in recent years he has said that his kids have drawn his attention back to the genre.

During panels, con appearances and podcasts, Lee has often mused about how his daughters are more interested in manga and anime than western superheroes.

"My kids, they draw huge eyes on all their figures," he said, laughing at the Canadian National Comic Expo in 2006. "What's up with that? Why is everything backwards? You don't want to put color on it?"

He is not the only western comics icon to show some love for the genre, either. Last month, DC's superstar writer, Scott Snyder, showered praise on Kohei Horikoshi for the massive success of My Hero Academia. After watching the anime with his children, he said that it was "funny, heartfelt and fresh" in a series of tweets directed at Horikoshi himself.

"Em crazy into this," Snyder wrote over a picture of the My Hero Academia anime lined up on his TV. He was referring to one of his sons, who guide his creative work. "Thanks to recommendation by @JorgeJimenezArt."

"Know we're late to the party, but could not stop watching My Hero Academia with the boys today," he continued later that day. "Em fell in love w/it first, now his older brother, too. Can't get over how funny, heartfelt and fresh the storytelling is - huge kudos @horikoshiko."

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