Yuko Shimizu's Blog, page 2
February 20, 2013
PBS The Art of Illustration
This may be a worthwhile 7 minutes for aspiring illustrators and comic artists, or those just who are curious about them.
I don't like to be video-ed, especially taht I don't have a good enough confidence on my terrible Japanese accent, and hard to face tha truth(!)
But, it is for PBS, and a great theme, and that Tomer was originally contacted but he couldn't so he forwarded my info to them. How can I say no, right?
Featuring: Steven Guarnaccia,Sean Murphy, Molly Crabapple.
February 13, 2013
Happy Valentine's Day
This is a full page editorial illustration that ended up not getting printed. These things happen. It was for a February issue in theme of Love/Lust.
I had a lot of fun making this image, so I thought I should share this with you here.
Happy Valentine's Day!
I had a lot of fun making this image, so I thought I should share this with you here.
Happy Valentine's Day!
January 29, 2013
Sketchtravel Goes to Kyoto
You may, or may not know about Sketchtravel. But, let me tell you that this is quite an amazing project that started relatively small, as something fun, and ended up becoming something of a monster-size charity project.
In 2006, project was conceived and organized by Dice Tsutsumi and Gerald Guelai as a fun small project, let’s pass a sketch book around from illustrators to illustratos, around the world and fill the book cover to cover. It took 4 and half years till the book was complete, contributing artists including: Hayao Miyazaki, James Jean, Peter DeSève, Taiyo Matsumoto, Tomer Hanuka, Mike Mignola, Katsuya Terada, Natalie Ascencios to name a few. Resulting in publishing of the book in multiple language editions and becoming a bestseller in France and Japan, traveling exhibitions, and most importantly, auctioning off the original book and raised 70,000Euros to fund Room To Read to build libraries in five countries so far.
Traveling exhibition is arriving to Kyoto International Manga Museum in Kyoto, Japan in March.
As a contributor to Sketchtravel, I was honored to be asked to create poster for Kyoto exhibit. I took detailed record of creative process, so I am sharing them with you today. I often get asked about drawing medium and surface. For details of medium, please visit FAQ section.
Once again, below is the final result, and there is a copy of the backside of the flyer on the bottom, for those of you who are in Japan who are interested in going to the exhibition.
I won’t be able to make it to the show, but I am sure it will be super, so enjoy!
In 2006, project was conceived and organized by Dice Tsutsumi and Gerald Guelai as a fun small project, let’s pass a sketch book around from illustrators to illustratos, around the world and fill the book cover to cover. It took 4 and half years till the book was complete, contributing artists including: Hayao Miyazaki, James Jean, Peter DeSève, Taiyo Matsumoto, Tomer Hanuka, Mike Mignola, Katsuya Terada, Natalie Ascencios to name a few. Resulting in publishing of the book in multiple language editions and becoming a bestseller in France and Japan, traveling exhibitions, and most importantly, auctioning off the original book and raised 70,000Euros to fund Room To Read to build libraries in five countries so far.
Traveling exhibition is arriving to Kyoto International Manga Museum in Kyoto, Japan in March.
As a contributor to Sketchtravel, I was honored to be asked to create poster for Kyoto exhibit. I took detailed record of creative process, so I am sharing them with you today. I often get asked about drawing medium and surface. For details of medium, please visit FAQ section.
Once again, below is the final result, and there is a copy of the backside of the flyer on the bottom, for those of you who are in Japan who are interested in going to the exhibition.
I won’t be able to make it to the show, but I am sure it will be super, so enjoy!
December 19, 2012
illustration and fear of water
I believe many of you who are reading my blog are aspiring illustrators. If you are, here is something you may want to remember, or to work on, if your art school instructors haven’t taught you already: we have to be remembered by something we are good at, so when a prospect client see a topic that need to be illustrated they know who to call.
Most obvious ones prospect clients think of my work are Japanese and/or Chinese themes. I am a Japanese, but I had also studied Cantonese for three years and I have strong interest toward Chinese culture. And people somehow see that in my work. There are other themes like sexy girls, action and sports, comic book look, snow….
And odd one is, which is today’s topic, water and underwater theme.
The illustration here is a project published recently in Scrubs, a magazine for nurses. The article was called Swimming in Fear, about a nurse’s fear of breathlessness in water compared to the pressure of being a nurse. When AD Maxine Davidowitz called me she said it was a perfect assignment for me. Indeed.
Why do I draw a lot of water in my work? The big secret (or not?) is: I have a severe hydrophobia. I can’t swim, and I know I will never learn how to swim.
Water theme that keeps coming back to my works are almost my secret fantasy. One of my favorite movies of all time is The Big Blue. It is my ultimate dream to swim like a fish. (I also have fear of fish, by the way!)
Some process pics here…
1) starting out with lots of idea thumbnails…
Most obvious ones prospect clients think of my work are Japanese and/or Chinese themes. I am a Japanese, but I had also studied Cantonese for three years and I have strong interest toward Chinese culture. And people somehow see that in my work. There are other themes like sexy girls, action and sports, comic book look, snow….
And odd one is, which is today’s topic, water and underwater theme.
The illustration here is a project published recently in Scrubs, a magazine for nurses. The article was called Swimming in Fear, about a nurse’s fear of breathlessness in water compared to the pressure of being a nurse. When AD Maxine Davidowitz called me she said it was a perfect assignment for me. Indeed.
Why do I draw a lot of water in my work? The big secret (or not?) is: I have a severe hydrophobia. I can’t swim, and I know I will never learn how to swim.
Water theme that keeps coming back to my works are almost my secret fantasy. One of my favorite movies of all time is The Big Blue. It is my ultimate dream to swim like a fish. (I also have fear of fish, by the way!)
Some process pics here…
1) starting out with lots of idea thumbnails…
illustration and fear of water
I believe many of you who are reading my blog are aspiring illustrators. If you are, here is something you may want to remember, or to work on, if your art school instructors haven’t taught you already: we have to be remembered by something we are good at, so when a prospect client see a topic that need to be illustrated they know who to call.
Most obvious ones prospect clients think of my work are Japanese and/or Chinese themes. I am a Japanese, but I had also studied Cantonese for three years and I have strong interest toward Chinese culture. And people somehow see that in my work. There are other themes like sexy girls, action and sports, comic book look, snow….
And odd one is, which is today’s topic, water and underwater theme.
The illustration here is a project published recently in Scrubs, a magazine for nurses. The article was called Swimming in Fear, about a nurse’s fear of breathlessness in water compared to the pressure of being a nurse. When AD Maxine Davidowitz called me she said it was a perfect assignment for me. Indeed.
Why do I draw a lot of water in my work? The big secret (or not?) is: I have a severe hydrophobia. I can’t swim, and I know I will never learn how to swim.
Water theme that keeps coming back to my works are almost my secret fantasy. One of my favorite movies of all time is The Big Blue. It is my ultimate dream to swim like a fish. (I also have fear of fish, by the way!)
Some process pics here…
1) starting out with lots of idea thumbnails…
And…. here are just some examples of how water has been dominating my work (and life!).
Most obvious ones prospect clients think of my work are Japanese and/or Chinese themes. I am a Japanese, but I had also studied Cantonese for three years and I have strong interest toward Chinese culture. And people somehow see that in my work. There are other themes like sexy girls, action and sports, comic book look, snow….
And odd one is, which is today’s topic, water and underwater theme.
The illustration here is a project published recently in Scrubs, a magazine for nurses. The article was called Swimming in Fear, about a nurse’s fear of breathlessness in water compared to the pressure of being a nurse. When AD Maxine Davidowitz called me she said it was a perfect assignment for me. Indeed.
Why do I draw a lot of water in my work? The big secret (or not?) is: I have a severe hydrophobia. I can’t swim, and I know I will never learn how to swim.
Water theme that keeps coming back to my works are almost my secret fantasy. One of my favorite movies of all time is The Big Blue. It is my ultimate dream to swim like a fish. (I also have fear of fish, by the way!)
Some process pics here…
1) starting out with lots of idea thumbnails…
And…. here are just some examples of how water has been dominating my work (and life!).
November 29, 2012
my (first) kids book is here!
It feels like Christmas already! This came to my door yesterday. The first bound sample copy of my kids book Barbed Wire Baseball (written by Marissa Moss, published by Abrams, scheduled to publish spring 2013).
I have heard from peers who have already done it that working on a kids book is a lot of blood, sweat and tears. OK, maybe not blood, but definitely the latter two were true. Actually to be precise, last fall when I was in midst of working on the interior pages, I lost hearing in one of my ears, probably from fatigue and stress. I had to run to an ER, then thoroughly get my hearing tested at a hospital. So, blood part was not that far off either. (Thank you my BFF Gary Taxali for giving me a call to ease me when I was in pain)
But, finally finally finally, I am holding the book in my hand. And it is beautiful! Thank you AD Chad Beckerman for paying such great care even down to very small details in design. Thank you Dadu Shin and Victo Ngai for helping me with coloring process. And thank you American Illustration for including four spreads into their recent annual.
Book is ready for pre-order now.
And, here are some process photos I took over the course of the project (photos sans blood, sweat or tears.)
I have heard from peers who have already done it that working on a kids book is a lot of blood, sweat and tears. OK, maybe not blood, but definitely the latter two were true. Actually to be precise, last fall when I was in midst of working on the interior pages, I lost hearing in one of my ears, probably from fatigue and stress. I had to run to an ER, then thoroughly get my hearing tested at a hospital. So, blood part was not that far off either. (Thank you my BFF Gary Taxali for giving me a call to ease me when I was in pain)
But, finally finally finally, I am holding the book in my hand. And it is beautiful! Thank you AD Chad Beckerman for paying such great care even down to very small details in design. Thank you Dadu Shin and Victo Ngai for helping me with coloring process. And thank you American Illustration for including four spreads into their recent annual.
Book is ready for pre-order now.
And, here are some process photos I took over the course of the project (photos sans blood, sweat or tears.)
November 9, 2012
kids book in progress, and American Illustration
In case you didn’t know, this week is a Mayor Bloomberg approved official Illustration Week in New York. One of the biggest event of the week is tonight's American Illustration and American Photography Annual publishing party (in a beautiful old synagog in Lower East Side!)
I have five images accepted into this year’s annual, among them four are from first children’s book I have illustrated, which is due out in spring 2013.
Barbed Wire Baseball was written by Marissa Moss (published by Abrams, AD: Chad Beckerman). As you may be able to guess, it is a story takes place in wartime Japanese internment camp. It is a story of endurance and hope.
It was a tremendous amount of work to get full book done. I am so happy that they got accepted into the Annual.
You can see all the images from this year’s American Illustration 31 Annual here.
And, another one is this DC Comics cover I illustrate monthly for The Unwritten. This issue's story was about an aging superhero and a talking stuffed rabbit, and the end of the world.
September 11, 2012
for you who are 22 and lost.
New school year has just begun. Students are back to school, half nervous, and half excited.
And then, there are those 20 somethings, who had gone back to school every September except this year. And many Septembers to come. They had just graduated.
It's been so long since I first got out of school, but I clearly remember how lost and confused I was. I remember it like it was yesterday.
Yesterday I got an e-mail from one of those 20somethings. She said she wants to pursue illustration, but is so lost. Fear is overtaking her passion to create.
I wrote her back, then thought there may be many others who are feeling the same. So, I posted the screen-grab of my answer to my Facebook page. I got a lot more positive replies than I ever thought.
I know a lot of students and aspiring illustrators are looking at Drawger. So I am posting here again, in hope it may help some of you out there.
And then, there are those 20 somethings, who had gone back to school every September except this year. And many Septembers to come. They had just graduated.
It's been so long since I first got out of school, but I clearly remember how lost and confused I was. I remember it like it was yesterday.
Yesterday I got an e-mail from one of those 20somethings. She said she wants to pursue illustration, but is so lost. Fear is overtaking her passion to create.
I wrote her back, then thought there may be many others who are feeling the same. So, I posted the screen-grab of my answer to my Facebook page. I got a lot more positive replies than I ever thought.
I know a lot of students and aspiring illustrators are looking at Drawger. So I am posting here again, in hope it may help some of you out there.
for you who are 22 and lost.
New school year has just begun. Students are back to school, half nervous, and half excited.
And then, there are those 20 somethings, who had gone back to school every September except this year. And many Septembers to come. They had just graduated.
It's been so long since I first got out of school, but I clearly remember how lost and confused I was. I remember it like it was yesterday.
Yesterday I got an e-mail from one of those 20somethings. She said she wants to pursue illustration, but is so lost. Fear is overtaking her passion to create.
I wrote her back, then thought there may be many others who are feeling the same. So, I posted the screen-grab of my answer to my Facebook page. I got a lot more positive replies than I ever thought.
I know a lot of students and aspiring illustrators are looking at Drawger. So I am posting here again, in hope it may help some of you out there.
And then, there are those 20 somethings, who had gone back to school every September except this year. And many Septembers to come. They had just graduated.
It's been so long since I first got out of school, but I clearly remember how lost and confused I was. I remember it like it was yesterday.
Yesterday I got an e-mail from one of those 20somethings. She said she wants to pursue illustration, but is so lost. Fear is overtaking her passion to create.
I wrote her back, then thought there may be many others who are feeling the same. So, I posted the screen-grab of my answer to my Facebook page. I got a lot more positive replies than I ever thought.
I know a lot of students and aspiring illustrators are looking at Drawger. So I am posting here again, in hope it may help some of you out there.
August 22, 2012
how the hell I finished the most complicated illustration ever.
FastCompany is one of my favorite magazines. Once I said that to an illustrator friend, he looked very surprised and asked me why I like reading a business magazine.
Maybe it has something to do with my corporate background (I was in corporate PR for 11 years before I went back to art school). Maybe it is something to do with that I constantly think of myself, a freelance illustrator, as a small business, not more so, but as well as being an 'artist'.
When FastCompany called me for a double page opener, I got really excited. Then I took subway down to their beautiful office in World Trade Center overlooking WTC Memorial for a meeting, and soon realized what I got myself into! It turned out to be, as far as I can remember every editorial job I have done in past ten years, the most complicated piece I would ever end up working on.
I will show you the result first.
The story was about Coursera, an innovative online higher learning which may change the way we think of college education. They wanted a space filled with different students from all over the world listening to a professor talk. Oh boy, what did I get myself into??? But for my favorite magazine, I should just try to do the impossible!
Initial sketch after the meeting. 'it's good, but we want more people fitting into the spread'. Oh boy.
So, here is the revised sketch. We decided to slightly distort the perspective, so students are smaller as they go farther away from the professor.
Sketch get approved! Now what? Non stop drawing for days and days.
Here is me drawing. Non stop for days. I have downloaded some college student photos, but I soon ran out of characters, and started filling this out thinking of some of my personality-filled friends and acquaintances.
I cannot thank my studio-neighbor Jungyeon Roh enough. I finished the drawing on Friday, then I had to take off to speak at Illustration Conference ICON7 in Rhode Island. While I was traveling, she helped me as coloring assistant. This was what I asked Jungyeon to do. fill in the basic colors, so I can tweak and fix when I came back on Monday morning.
Here are some details of finish. Every single student here is different. Because I ran out of ideas, I sneak in some people I know, like the red-head beard guy is my current studio-mate Jacob Thomas, and I am the one on the right hand corner with bangs with red polka-dot dress...
Here are some details of finish. Every single student here is different. Because I ran out of ideas, I sneak in some people I know, like the red-head beard guy is my current studio-mate Jacob Thomas, and I am the one on the right hand corner with bangs with red polka-dot dress...
And some Jewish men from neighborhood, as well as my friend Sara Varon's former Olympian boxer husband in du-rag, aged Harry Potter, single mom and maybe even Stefan Bucher makes the cameo.
I cannot believe I finished this! And this is how it looks in the magazine. (They flipped it the other way) What's cool is I subscribe to the iPad version.
To be honest, I am not sure where I had the energy and stamina to start and finish this on time. But, isn't it also what I love about my job?: accomplishing something unknown, scary, and not sure if you are able to do it. Then you just do it, and the satisfaction you get from getting it done!
Last but not least, big thank you to Creative Director Florian Bachleda (who has been extremely nice and supportive since I was just starting out) and Art Director Alice Alves. Thank you for challenging me with creativity.
And here is a little extra: the view of 9-11 Memorial from Fast Company office! Oh wow.
Maybe it has something to do with my corporate background (I was in corporate PR for 11 years before I went back to art school). Maybe it is something to do with that I constantly think of myself, a freelance illustrator, as a small business, not more so, but as well as being an 'artist'.
When FastCompany called me for a double page opener, I got really excited. Then I took subway down to their beautiful office in World Trade Center overlooking WTC Memorial for a meeting, and soon realized what I got myself into! It turned out to be, as far as I can remember every editorial job I have done in past ten years, the most complicated piece I would ever end up working on.
I will show you the result first.
The story was about Coursera, an innovative online higher learning which may change the way we think of college education. They wanted a space filled with different students from all over the world listening to a professor talk. Oh boy, what did I get myself into??? But for my favorite magazine, I should just try to do the impossible!
Initial sketch after the meeting. 'it's good, but we want more people fitting into the spread'. Oh boy.
So, here is the revised sketch. We decided to slightly distort the perspective, so students are smaller as they go farther away from the professor.
Sketch get approved! Now what? Non stop drawing for days and days.
Here is me drawing. Non stop for days. I have downloaded some college student photos, but I soon ran out of characters, and started filling this out thinking of some of my personality-filled friends and acquaintances.
I cannot thank my studio-neighbor Jungyeon Roh enough. I finished the drawing on Friday, then I had to take off to speak at Illustration Conference ICON7 in Rhode Island. While I was traveling, she helped me as coloring assistant. This was what I asked Jungyeon to do. fill in the basic colors, so I can tweak and fix when I came back on Monday morning.
Here are some details of finish. Every single student here is different. Because I ran out of ideas, I sneak in some people I know, like the red-head beard guy is my current studio-mate Jacob Thomas, and I am the one on the right hand corner with bangs with red polka-dot dress...
Here are some details of finish. Every single student here is different. Because I ran out of ideas, I sneak in some people I know, like the red-head beard guy is my current studio-mate Jacob Thomas, and I am the one on the right hand corner with bangs with red polka-dot dress...
And some Jewish men from neighborhood, as well as my friend Sara Varon's former Olympian boxer husband in du-rag, aged Harry Potter, single mom and maybe even Stefan Bucher makes the cameo.
I cannot believe I finished this! And this is how it looks in the magazine. (They flipped it the other way) What's cool is I subscribe to the iPad version.
To be honest, I am not sure where I had the energy and stamina to start and finish this on time. But, isn't it also what I love about my job?: accomplishing something unknown, scary, and not sure if you are able to do it. Then you just do it, and the satisfaction you get from getting it done!
Last but not least, big thank you to Creative Director Florian Bachleda (who has been extremely nice and supportive since I was just starting out) and Art Director Alice Alves. Thank you for challenging me with creativity.
And here is a little extra: the view of 9-11 Memorial from Fast Company office! Oh wow.
