Lorraine McLees (mehve)

Lorraine Reyes McLees, a.k.a. "mehve," is a former Bungie employee known for creating the *Halo* logo and game covers, various Bungie-specific art, and promotional art pieces for *Oni*, the *Halo* series, and the *Destiny* series.

Throughout her Bungie career, she was credited as an art lead for consumer products, “pixelsmith” for the *Halo* series where she encompassed multifunctional roles creating marketing key art working as a senior graphic designer, visual design artist, and cinematic artist, and a 2D artist and illustrator for *Oni* where she was responsible for most of the promotional and in-game artwork.

Lorraine is the creator of numerous works of recognizable Bungie-related art, such as Bungie's 10-year anniversary poster, concept art and posters for *Oni*, the *Halo* series and *Destiny* series, Halo Babies, and several avatars used on Bungie.net (including custom avatars for Achronos, Duardo, and Foman123).

She is married to former Bungie employee Robt McLees and they have two children.

In October 2023, Mike was laid off from Bungie, where around 100 employees were affected by company-wide staff cutbacks. The decision was cited to be *Destiny 2's* perceived underperformance.

## Biography

Lorraine Reyes grew up in the Philippines thinking she wanted to be an archaeologist, but eventually realized that she was actually infatuated with the technical drawings found in archeological journals. She was also a fan of comic books, manga, and video games. In her teens, she contributed editorial drawings to her high school newspaper and soon became its graphics director, working full-time while attending American Academy of Art to further hone her skills.

After college, she joined anime distribution company, ADV Films, in Houston, Texas, where she established an art department. During her time here, she worked on artwork and as a voice actor for many anime series, specials, and movies, such as: *Neon Genesis Evangelion*, *Battle Angel*, *Blue Seed*, *Fire Emblem*, and more.

In 1998, she was contacted by a former college classmate, Robt McLees, about joining the art team at Bungie Software Products Corporation in Chicago, Illinois. She soon joined the team as a freelance illustrator and eventually graphic designer for *Oni*, with some of her first few projects working on *Myth: The Total Codex*, designing the *Halo* logo, and finalizing Konoko’s appearance. In 1999, she became art director for marketing. She is credited as a “2D artist” and created or helped create almost all the advertising and promotional artwork, in-game splashscreens, and some of the talking-head portraits.

Sometime between the year 2000 and the release of *Halo: Combat Evolved*, she married Robt and has been credited as "Lorraine McLees" ever since.

When Microsoft acquired Bungie in 2000, she was given a choice to leave with severance, stay with Bungie as a 3D artist, or take on a new role with user research. She decided to join the team as a 3D artist, where she learned to model, texture, and rig characters. She designed the *Pillar of Autumn*, the first ship you see in *Halo: Combat Evolved*, was a cinematic artist, and helped create the cover for the game. Her other art roles included marketing assets, posts, book covers, posters, and even some voice acting as a pilot during the flashback scene on the level "343 Guilty Spark."

For the launches of *Halo 2* and *Halo 3*, she evolved the *Halo* logos, helped design the look of Bungie’s website, created the iconic look of Master Chief for marketing materials (such as Master Chief wielding SMGs), created action figures and statues, and even supported the live-action Halo commercials by working with Microsoft’s marketing team, CG houses, and practical effect studios.

Before *Destiny’s* launch, Lorraine was the senior artist on the Visual ID and Design team, designing a top-secret *Destiny* pitch book that Bungie used to shop around for potential publishing partners, and worked with the franchise art director to establish a style guide to help inform future graphic design endeavors.

In addition to the visual language of *Destiny*, she also became the art lead for the Consumer Products team, helping design everything from T-shirts to Collector’s Editions.

## Gallery

Self portrait from Lorraine's site. "This one I drew sort of as a joke portrait, but ended up coloring it and using it as my 'portrait' for the Guest info for the ACen 99 program book."Lorraine standing in front of the Bungie 10-year anniversary poster she created.Lorraine unboxing the Halo Reach Collector's Edition with Marcus Lehto and Brian Jarrard.Lorraine at a convention.Lorraine in 2003.Lorraine's self portrait to enter her site.Mehve image from Lorraine's site
## Trivia

* Lorraine's long-used gamer name has been "mehve" (a reference to the glider used by the main character in the *Nausicaa* mange).
* Her website was Mehve's Aerie, however, it went down after she left Bungie in 2023.
* She met her husband, Robert McLees, while attending American Academy of Art in Chicago, IL.
* She voiced the Pelican dropship pilot carrying both Jenkins and Sgt. Johnson in the *Halo: Combat Evolved* level "343 Guilty Spark."

From Lorraine's Meet the Team page from 2006 to 2012:

## Credits

### Gaming

* *Oni* (2001)
* *Halo: Combat Evolved* (2001)
* *Halo 2* (2004)
* *Halo 3* (2007)
* *Halo 3: ODST* (2009)
* *Halo: Reach* (2010)
* *Destiny* (2014-2016 with Expansions)
* *Destiny 2* (2017-2024 with Expansions and Seasons)

### Anime Voice Work

**Anime - Dubbing**

* *Blue Seed* - Additional Voices
* *Neon Genesis Evangelion* - Additional Voices

**Anime Specials - Dubbing**

* *Samurai Shodown: The Motion Picture* - Child E

**Movies - Dubbing**

* *Kimagure Orange Road: Summer's Beginning* - Additional Voices

**OVA - Dubbing**

* *Battle Angel* - Additional Voices
* *Burn Up!* - Additional Voices
* *Devil Hunter Yohko* - Additional Voices
* *Dirty Pair: Flash* - Additional Voices
* *Ellcia* - Additional Voices
* *Fire Emblem* - Additional Voices
* *Golden Boy* - Girl B, Additional Voices
* *Gunsmith Cats* - Additional Voices
* *Mighty Space Miners* - Additional Voices
* *Power Dolls* - Additional Voices
* *Suikoden Demon Century* - Additional Voices
* *Sukeban Deka* - Additional Voices
* *Super Atragon* - Additional Voices

## External Links

* Lorraine McLees (Mehve)'s Bungie.net profile
* Interview on Bungie.net in 2003
* Interview on Xbox.com in 2006
* Lorraine's self-published "Who are you?" on her website in 2006

## Resources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wiki.Oni2.net - Lorraine McLees
2. ↑ Forbes - The Bungie and 'Destiny 2' Situation Get Worse, Per New Info
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 2018's Women in Gaming: 100 Professionals of Play (PDF) (Google Book)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Bungie.org - Interview with Lorraine Reyes, Bungie Studios (2000)
5. ↑ Twitter - VETOED: I can't believe I never knew who made the logo for Halo. It's become such an icon (June 18, 2020)
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Twitter - mehvechan: LZ looks clear! I'm bringing us down! (January 30, 2014)
7. ↑ Wikipedia - *Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind* (manga)
8. ↑ Mehve's Aerie (November 10, 2023)
9. ↑ Bungie.net (archived) - Meet the Team: Lorrain McLees (April 18, 2006)
10. ↑ Bungie.net (archived) - Meet the Team: Lorraine McLees (May 8, 2012)