Lee Allen was born in Muscatine, Iowa, then moved to Des Moines, where he graduated from East High School in 1928.
In 1938, Allen created a mural titled “Soil Erosion and Control” for the post office in Onawa, Iowa.
In 1937, while looking for full-time employment, Allen accepted an appointment at the College of Medicine at the University of Iowa as a medical illustrator.
He remained in that position for 39 years, during which he also published various scholarly papers about medical illustration as applied to ophthalmology.
Around 1988, while in retirement, Allen began to experience symptoms of macular degeneration, an incurable dysfunction that had resulted in functional blindness for millions of senior citizens.