reimena@reimenayee.com
Represented by Jen Linnan of Linnan Literary Management LLC.
linnanliterary.com
About
Reimena Yee
she/they | Re-meh-na | Malaysia-Australia
Reimena is strange and fancy award-winning cartoonist*, illustrator, scholar, freelance editor, educator and festival organiser. Her graphic novels and webcomics are published and translated worldwide, with recognition from multiple international awards. She is also the co-founder of the international peak body, Cartoonists United; co-founder and organiser of Melbourne Alternative Comics Expo (MAKE); and the researcher behind the Comics Devices Library, an online library naming, defining and cataloguing the visual-narrative devices used in comics. Reimena is based in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia), and is active in both the Australian and South East Asian comics ecology.
*author-illustrator, graphic novelist, comics creator - take your pick!
A longer bio is available further down the page.
"Malaysian illustrator, writer and designer Reimena Yee has a touch of the Fae. No, there are no pixies or goblins in her family tree (not that she knows of) but her whimsical illustrations evoke fairy tales and distant lands we travel to only in our dreams."
—The Malay Mail
"Reimena Yee understands comics as a writer, artist, and thinker. I can't wait to see where she leads us next!"
—Scott McCloud
Reimena Yee is strange and fancy award-winning cartoonist, illustrator, scholar, freelance editor, educator and festival organiser. She is the author-illustrator of the gothic comics, The World in Deeper Inspection, the Eisner and Mcduffie-nominated The Carpet Merchant of Konstantiniyya, the bildungsroman Séance Tea Party, the whimsical adventure-comedy My Aunt is a Monster, and the latest retelling of the life and legends of Alexander the Great. She also writes The Makers Club series, co-created with Tintin Pantoja. Her graphic novels and webcomics are published and translated worldwide, with recognition from multiple international awards.
Reimena's illustrations, writings and/or comics have appeared in various outlets and projects including BOOM! Studios, Penguin Workshop, Netflix and Hasbro, among many others. Her work has been exhibited in the British Library and Shortbox Comics Fair.
Reimena is a known advocate for the engagement of comics as part of public life. She is passionate about comics as a visual-literary art form, being involved internationally through a diverse range of programs, initiatives and partnerships, even gaining a Masters in Arts Management at RMIT to support her pursuits. She is the co-founder of the international peak body, Cartoonists United; co-founder and organiser of Melbourne Alternative Comics Expo (MAKE); and the researcher behind the Comics Devices Library, an online library naming, defining and cataloguing the visual-narrative devices used in comics. She is the author of many free resources on her blog.
Reimena is based in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia), and is active in both the Australian and South East Asian comics ecology.
Author-illustrator of
The World in Deeper Inspection
The Carpet Merchant of Konstantiniyya
- 2018 Eisner Award Nominee
- 2019 McDuffie Award Finalist
- ALA List of Best Graphic Novels for Adults 2020
- Angoulême Sélection Jeunesse 2024
- The A.V Club Best Comics of 2020
- A Junior Library Guild Selection
- ALA List of Best Graphic Novels for Children 2021
- Comic Arts Awards Australia Silver Ledger 2023
- 2022 ALIA Notable Australian Graphic Novels
Alexander, The Servant & The Water of Life
- The A.V Club Best Comics of 2021
- 2022 Cartoonist Studio Prize Shortlist
- Outstanding Artist Ignatz Awards Winner 2022
- Comic Arts Awards Australia Nominee 2022
- 2023 Cartoonist Studio Prize shortlist
- 2023 Finalist Comic Arts Awards
- 2023 Ignatz Winner Outstanding Online Comic
Media Kit
General Media Kit (link)
Contains author photos, selected illustrations and pages and a list of preferred questions/topics.
I've also prepared media kit folders for each book, which contains selected pages, concept art, promotional material and a specialised question list. Please email me to obtain the media kit for the book you need.
Selected Interviews & Articles
To Read a Carpet, LA Review of Books, 2022
Creating her own world, The Sun Daily (Malaysia), 2021
Eisner-nominated Malaysian artist Reimena Yee blurs the line between history and fantasy, The Malay Mail, 2020
Malaysian comics creator Reimena Yee weaves her own path to the future, The Star (Malaysia), 2020
An Interview with Reimena Yee, Author of Séance Tea Party; On Making Comics, Ghosts, & Growing Up, The Quiet Pond book blog, 2020
REIMENA YEE on the ghosts, gutters, and graveyards of SÉANCE TEA PARTY, The Beat, 2020
Artists You Should Know: Reimena Yee blends culture and history into rich emotional tapestries, The Beat, March 2018
The ‘Other’ Vampire, Farrago Magazine, August 2016
Pronunciation Guide
Rĕ-men-na Yee
- The 're' is pronounced like in 'record' and 'relative'
- The i is silent
- Therefore, the 'Rei' is NOT pronounced like 'Ray'
- The 'me' has a soft 'm' sound and a soft h. It flows into the final syllable 'na'. Men-na. Pronounced like 'henna' but with an M.
- The a is a hard A sound
- There is no stress in any of the syllables. Say all of the syllables quickly and at equal speed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Licensing, Interviews and Such
How do I contact you?
I only respond to media and professional correspondence by email: reimena@reimenayee.com
Who is your agent?
Jen Linnan of Linnan Literary Management.
Are you available for...
An interview: Yes, over email and via podcast. Please peruse the media kits above to prepare.
A panel, workshop or author appearance: Depends on my schedule and the timing of the event (I am based outside of the US). Please ask over email. I may require compensation for travel, materials and time. I can appear as either or both an author-illustrator and independent scholar.
A portfolio review: Yes, but I require financial compensation.
An editorial consult: Yes. I can advise on idea, story and art, though my specialty is in visual storytelling i.e layouts and readability.
Industry advisory or consultation: Yes, with the caveat of "depends".
A freelance gig of any kind: Yes.
Being part of a selection or judging panel: Yes.
Exhibition: Always curious!
Mentorship: Depends. My strength is with teenagers and adults who have a strong vision but need direction or guidance.
Employment: I'm currently freelance until late 2027 - I am always keen to join an arts organisation or publisher with the same goals I share (supporting artists, mentorship, creating resources/infrastructure and opening the doors to more voices in visual storytelling).
Can you answer my questions for an assignment?
I am sorry but I really don't have time nowadays to help with assignments. Fortunately I've done a few interviews (under the Media Kit section above) and I'm very open about my process in this FAQ (scroll down further), my blog and my Resources page.
Questions about licensing...
An illustration: If you'd like to license a drawing or illustration (which is NOT commissioned work by a third party client), please email me for permission and rates by stating your intended usage.
This includes intending to use already-made artwork for tattoos, but by courtesy.
A graphic novel/comic for translation and foreign rights: If you're a publisher or editor from another country and would like to publish my work for your local market, please email me, my agent and/or my original publisher to negotiate a deal.
A graphic novel/comic for media adaptation: If you'd like to adapt my work into another medium, please email me and my agent to obtain permission and negotiate a deal.
NFTs & Blockchains & genAI
I will not in any way support usage or association of the above with my projects. I am simply not interested in speculative hype (to put it in the simplest terms).
Craft, Art and Process
What are your tools?
Photoshop CS6, Huion H610 Pro tablet, Huion Kamvas Pro 13, Macbook Pro 2012
iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Procreate, Astropad
Scrivener, Airtable, Notion.so, Goodnotes
Sketchbook, notebook, mechanical pencils (black and red leads)
What is your process?
The process changes slightly depending on the work I'm doing, but generally, once I have a concept/story for an illustration or a comic page, I sketch out the composition or page layout via thumbnails (on a piece of paper or an iPad Pro). For illustrations, I usually have several thumbnails from which I pick the best one, and for comics, I only have one thumbnail per page. The stages are more straightforward after that. I do a fully realised sketch in the actual dimensions of the work so I can correct any issues with placement and fine details, then immediately jump into the rendering.
With my own comics, there is a writing stage before all this drawing. Please read The Onion Method: How I Outline a Story, and The Onion Method: How I Art Direct a Graphic Novel.
My Resources page contains links to Twitter threads where I've documented every stage of my comics creation process for each book, alongside selected blog posts where I talk more generally and deeply about how I come up with ideas, bring an illustration to life, write stories, and exist as a creative.
Where can I find out more about your craft and your creative process?
Influences
What are your early influences?
Neil Gaiman, particularly The Graveyard Book; Dave Mckean's comic experiments; The illustrations of Chris Riddell; Hanna is Not a Boy's Name, by Tess Stone; Neopets; Frakenfran, by Katsuhisa Kigitsu; The Rabbi's Cat, by Joann Sfar
What are your influences now? How do they inspire you to make the art you do?
I'm inspired by the world and all that contains within. I love history and art history, and the things people have made with their hands across civilisations. I love science, because it teaches me how the world works, and that there is so much to pursue and be fascinated by, whether it's the small or big things. This scholarly interest in existence, of being a person interested in their surroundings, is what influences me to look deeper, to learn about how and why we live, to break and reshape the way we see our past, present and future. All the work that I make is an expression of this pursuit.
What authors/books/media are your inspiration?
Comics:
Through the Woods (and other webcomics), by Emily Carroll
Beauty, by Hubert and Kerascoet
Wandering Island, by Kenji Tsuruta
Books:
Captain Corelli's Mandolin, by Louis de Bernieres
The House at the Edge of Night, by Catherine Banner
Anything written by Alexander McCall Smith
The Epic of Gilgamesh, Andrew George translation
The Odyssey, Emily Wilson translation
The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy
Film:
Amelie, by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
The Fall, Tarsim Singh
The Illusionist, Sylvain Chomet
Prince of Egypt, Dreamworks
Most of the Studio Ghibli catalogue
Whisper of the Heart
The Tale of Princess Kaguya
Pushing Daisies
Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, by Satoshi Kon
Satyricon, Federico Fellini
The thoughts and craft of Ursula K. LeGuin
All of Josh Groban's music, 20 years and going!
reimenayee@gmail.com
Represented by Jen Linnan of Linnan Literary Management LLC.
linnanliterary.com
About
Short bio:
Reimena is a graphic novelist, illustrator, designer and arts manager. Originally from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, she currently lives in Melbourne, Australia. Reimena is an award-winning creator of multiple comics for adults and children, and a known advocate for the engagement of comics in public life. She is the curator behind the Comics Devices Library and the co-founder and co-organiser of Southeast Asian collective UNNAMED and the international peak arts body, Cartoonists United.
Long bio:
Reimena Yee is a strange and fancy graphic novelist, illustrator, designer and arts manager. Hailing from the dusty Malaysian metropolis of Kuala Lumpur, she is now based in Melbourne, Australia. She is greatly interested in the world, its histories and its cultures — a passion that once brought her down the road to a STEM career for half her life, before leaving to communicate her love of the world instead through art and story.
She is the author-illustrator of the gothic comics, The World in Deeper Inspection, the Eisner and Mcduffie-nominated The Carpet Merchant of Konstantiniyya, the bildungsroman Séance Tea Party, the whimsical adventure-comedy My Aunt is a Monster, and the latest retelling of the life and legends of Alexander the Great. She also writes The Makers Club series, co-created with Tintin Pantoja.
As illustrator and designer, she brings the whimsical and poppy for clients like Dropmix, Girls Make Games, Adventure Time, DFTBA’s Bizarre Beasts, and Penguin Workshop among many others.
Elsewhere, Reimena is dedicated to comics outreach, documenting her creative process, and creating resources for fellow comics creators. She is the co-founder of UNNAMED, a regional grassroots collective for the comics ecosystem in Southeast Asia, and the Cartoonist Coop, a society for cartoonists across the world. She is the curator and taxonomist behind The Creator’s Guide of Comics Devices, and author of many free resources on her blog.
