It all started with a comic book. Lee Bender was 8 years old when his father gave him his first page-turner.

“I drew it several times,” Lee says. “That’s what I really want to do is draw comics.”

Looking at his intricate drawings from sea life to Hulk and Superman, one can’t argue with him.

Lee’s drawings start with his subject.

“I start taking photos,” he says. “I’ll find a nice picture and then take a few more and combine all of my photos to make it look the way I want it to.”

For one drawing, Lee took a photo of pelicans sitting on a boat and one photo of a pelican on a wood piling. He combined the photos to create the drawing he had in mind.

When it comes to his medium of choice, Lee likes to start with pencil. He then goes over it with a thin — 0.5 — ink pen or Sharpie. For color, Lee uses colored pencils instead of ink, but prefers black and white.

For several years, Lee stopped his hobby due to work and started drawing again once he and his wife Heather moved to Gulf Shores June of 2013. He is an engineer for Norfolk Southern Railway in Mobile.

“Life gets in the way,” he says, laughing. “I quit for years because I was working 12 hours a day, seven days a week. We moved down here about a year and a half ago and I’m trying to find what style I want to do.”

Right now, Lee’s creating pictures and selling the rights to them to OBA Canvas Co. and Reel Surprise Charters. Both companies have used his designs to make shirts, among other apparel and household and boat items, such as embroidered pillows and boat covers.

Lee welcomes commission work, which usually takes 4 to 6 hours, depending on the pictures and colors involved. He also plans to participate in the Shrimp Festival within the next few years.

Did you know?

Stan Lee intended for the Hulk to be grey — and he was in the first issues of The Incredible Hulk in 1962.

Did you know?

The first appearance of Superman simply described that he was incredibly strong, could withstand anything less than a bursting shell from a tank and was able to leap 1/8 of a mile. His first ability to fly was shown in radio series and original cartoons. Then in 1941, comic books added flight to his superpowers.

PEOPLE PROFILE

NAME: Lee Bender

OCCUPATION: Engineer, artist

HOBBIES: Drawing, pallet art

RESIDENCE: Gulf Shores

CONTACT: 334-412-1299; lee_bndr@yahoo.com