Blog - Archive - Yuko Shimizu

August 2, 2009

Art, Fame And Money

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times (This photo is borrowed from New York Times site)I was in shock this morning reading the New York Times article about the current financial situation of Ms. Annie Leibovitz, one of the most established photographers of our time.

I don’t think a week would pass by without seeing Ms. Leibovitz’s works somewhere, on the Louis Vuitton advertisements or in Vanity Fair or in Vogue. (In fact, there is a giant LV ad on the same section of NY Times.)

We all logically know that grass is not greener on the otehr side. We are adults, right? But then, be real, when you hear that the artist is making the salary of 7 figures from Vanity Fair alone, don’t you kind of fantasize to be in her shoes?

Well, this article proves that you probably better off not to, and that other artists’ lives are probably not better than yours just because she/he has more fame and money.

However the article is full of teaching lessons for being a freelance artist, so I wanted to share with you here. No spoilers, I will let you read the story.

And, let’s all hope that the things will turn out well for Ms. Leibovitz.

July 7, 2009

Baby Tiger Is Here!

The cutest pictures just arrived from Malmö, Sweden!Graphic Designer Truls Bärg and photographer Charlotte Carlberg Bärg‘s son Valdemar in tiger diapers I designed. These cute pictures make me cry!!!!Valdemar just turned three on July 1st. Happy birthday!So, the back story is:
After I finished the job designing Diapers for Libero of Sweden, I wanted photos of a baby in the tiger diapers so much. I happened to have found Truls on facebook saying he had bought a pack the day it came onto the market. I shamelessly wrote this total stranger, in the country I have never visited, to beg him to send me some photos of his baby in the dipers. AND HE DID!!!

Thank you thank you thank you Truls for your kindness!! (I will be sending you the thank you present very soon!!)

[ all photos are taken and copyrighted to Truls Bärg ]

June 30, 2009

You Look Great In It!

Gap (PRODUCT) RED: Brookyln Boxer John Douglas

OK, so I have to be absolutely honest. I do NOT wear t-shirts. They look horrible on me. Over the years, many t-shirt design gigs came and went without fruitful results. It probably has something to do with my t-shirt illiteracy.But that does not mean I don’t like t-shirts on other people. In fact, they look great on almost everyone, well, other than me.

The Gap (PRODUCT) RED was patient enough to work with such a person like me to come out with my first (I hope it is not going to be the last!) four designs this season.

I cannot explain my excitement seeing people looking great in them, especially knowing that the proceeds will help women and children affected by AIDS in Africa.

Thank you, thank you and thank you, for those who bought, and those great design and technical team at The Gap who transformed my digital files into awesome shirts.

Brooklyn-based boxer John Douglas posing cool in The Gap shirt.

Gap (PRODUCT) RED: Different People Trying Shirts

Top row from left: Yausi Mora and Emilia Casana in Puebla, Mexico, Yuki Ikezi from Santa Clara, California. second row: Juan Carlos Vazquez Padilla in Acapulco, Mexico, John Douglas in Brooklyn, NY, Jack Tse in New York. third row: Michael Thorner from Toronto, Canada. Bottom row: Sam Gorrie in Las Vegas, Nevada, Aida Aguilera Rocha from Xalapa, Mexico.

There are four designs in total. All of them in women’s sizes and right two are also available in men’s sizes. Top left was original image created for this project, and the other three are pre-existing images adjusted for the shirts.

There is only one shirt that was created originally for the project (fortune cookie). Yes. But that does not mean I didn’t squeeze my t-shirt-dummy-brain to come up with various ideas. In fact, I think some of them are not at all bad although they were not made into the production.Anyone interested in realizing them into final products? Well, contact me and let me know. We can discuss!

I have to say, it is a different kind of excitement I feel when I see my work on wearable objects and displayed in stores like this!!

June 9, 2009

Swine Flu? Drug War? What’s That???? A Guide To A Sophisticated Travel To Mexico

21 years ago, I landed in Mexico for the first time, to a small town of Merida. I took long mini-bus rides, busses so old that you see the moving road beneath the holes on the floor, to various Mayan ruins around Yukatan Peninsula. It was a pure MAGIC. This is how I forever fell in love with Mexico. You cross the border to the north and not much changes (Canadians, no offence. I love you). You cross to the south, and it is a whole another world of its’ own like nowhere else. Buses in Mexico now are comfortable and super clean, but the magic I felt 21 years ago is still there, everywhere in Mexico.Drug wars? Swine flu? Mexico has not had good reputation recently.

But please remember, media often make things seem a lot serious than it actually is. Flights to Mexico now can be as cheap as flying out to California (from NY, that is), and top-notch hotels have huge discounts. Food is so good that you never want to go back to that fake American-Mexican restaurant around the corner where everything taste like melted processed cheese. People are ridiculously nice and warm, they make sure you will bring back the best of the memories.

I mistook last weekend as Memorial Day weekend (duh!) and took a five day trip to Puebla, Mexico.

I want to take you to a virtual tour of this magical town, one of UNESCO World Heritage sites, where you can see from 3000 year old Aztec pyramid to the history of Conquistadors to the latest coolest loft architectures where trendsetters gather. Vienvenidos!

Everywhere is so colorful.

Old (working) car in front of the Cathedral.

This is just a random building on a random street. Everything is just so beautiful like this.

Puebla, Mexico (June 2009): Sunday Dance Show

Sundays… people gather in a courtyard and have dance shows.

A toy store.

Puebla, Mexico (June 2009): Church On Pyramid

3000 year old pyramid. Conquistadors built a church on top of it to show their power. History and war.., always crazy like that.

Puebla, Mexico (June 2009): Pyramid Of Cholula

You can take a tour ‘inside’ the Pyramid of Cholula. It is a crazy maze in there.

Don’t miss walking inside a market!!

Puebla, Mexico (June 2009): Santa Maria Church 1

Puebla, Mexico (June 2009): Santa Maria Church 2

Never pass in front of a church and not go in. Santa Maria Tonanzintla is worth a cab ride. Mind-blowing.

Drive-through Mariachi, literary. You can buy a song for about $10 US.

Puebla, Mexico (June 2009): La Purificadora

La Purificadora. The hippest, coolest hotel in town. I saw an article in GQ about 2 years ago, and had been obsessed about this place since. It was way more than what I expected. My travel-mate and comic artist June Kim with friends at Amarillo Centro de Diseno in Xalapa who came to see us.

The best Posole (soup) in town. Sit at a plastic table and chair, and have the best meal of your life.

Puebla, Mexico (June 2009): Huevos Rancheros

Ladies and gentlemen, this is THE real huevos rancheros.

Puebla, Mexico (June 2009): Santa Maria Church 3

That’s right. You never pass in front of a church without entering…

Jesus in Mexico does not lie. Yes, it was painful..

Puebla, Mexico (June 2009): Sastreria Royal

Everywhere is this beautiful in Puebla! A perfect shabby-chic!

Just in case.. My friend Emilia from Xalapa (left) made me a hand-knit swine-flu mask!! Now I am not afraid of anything!

June 4, 2009

Drawing For Comic Books

I dreamed of becoming a comic artist when I was child. Just like any other Japanese kid growing up in economic growth of 1960s and 70s. It was the first golden age of manga and anime: Astro Boy, Cyborg 009, Galaxy Express 999…. When I was in college, I even drew my first (and the last) 40 page comic (note: I was a business major, not art) which made me realize I was not a story-teller and comics were probably not my calling. I stopped reading comics and dreaming of one day creating one.About 20 years since then, I am back to comics. But completely in a new way.I love challenge. I love working on different projects and push myself to a new direction. Working on covers for new DC Vertigo series The Unwritten is a perfect way to revisit my childhood dream.

Luckily I was able to team up with the best of the best, and the nicest of the nicest (writer: Mike Carey, artist: Peter Gross, editor: Pornsak Pichetshote). Story is extremely well written, intelligent, interesting, also a really good page turner. I just heard that the first issue completely sold out in just ten days after initial release. Wow!

PS: If anyone is interested, I will be at MoCCA Festival‘s DC Vertigo booth signing the covers this Saturday from 1-2PM.

One of the challenges of being comic cover artist is to recreate and re-interpret the story and the character without too far removed from the original. Bottom row is the main character Tommy drawn by Peter. Top row is variations of Tommy drawn by me. He has long sideburns and chooses bowling shirts as everyday fashion.

The Unwritten (June 2009): First Sketches Of Tommy

It took a while to warm up to the new series. It is always difficult on the first few issues when I am not used to the story and characters are not developed fully yet. First 4 sketches were OK, but not great…

The first first cover. Both the editors and I were not feeling it… So we decided to ditch it and start from scratch.

The Unwritten (June 2009): Unused Sketches

More sketches that didn’t fly… But looking back, I do like some of them a lot.

The Unwritten (June 2009): 2nd Sketches Of Tommy

Finally, everyone agreed on the bottom left one.

The Unwritten (June 2009): Dr. Ph. Martin's Black Star With India Ink

The first step of final illustration is to draw with india ink (Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star) with Japanese calligraphy brush.

The Unwritten (June 2009): Black & White Cover

In this case, drawings were in three separate sections: main drawing, letter layer and a book. They are scanned in and put together on Adobe Photoshop.

The Unwritten (June 2009): Colored Cover

PS (June 6, 2009):
Thank you for those who stopped by to MoCCA DC Vertigo Booth today. Here are some photos. Right is with my editor Pornsak Pichetshote and long-time friend and an amazing colorist Jose Villarrubia.

May 18, 2009

Don’t Call Me: Part 2

Sorry for the inconvenience for those who has started conversation on this. This post is temporary down. I will put it back up as soon as I can. But I have to sort some important stuff out before I do.

May 8, 2009

Mr. T Wishes You A Happy Mother’s Day

According to BLENDER Magazine, the first creator of the hip-hop “mama” song was Mr. T with Treat Your Mother Right. This image was commissioned for May issue just in time for Mother’s Day.It was my first collaboration with BLENDER. I have worked with CD: Dirk Barnett and his talented creative team in past (RIP Premier), and have always loved the smart editorial design they come up with, so I was psyched.

Well, you know the rest of the story. It became my last job with BLENDER, and their final issue was April. Mr. T never ended up seeing the light of the day. So, at least he gets to be posted here in Drawger.

Happy Mother’s Day everyone.

AD: Robert Vargas. Thank you for this gig. And, you guys paid me so quickly.

Two quick sketches and a dummy layout. I love when ADs send me layouts. It is nice to see how your work get applied to the page.

BLENDER, you were a cool magazine. Rest in peace…

April 30, 2009

What Are You Doing On Tuesday?

School of Visual Art’s MFA Illustration Thesis Project show will open tomorrow, and there will be a reception next Tuesday, May 5th.This is the program I graduated from in 2003, and now I personal-advise one student a year. As a lot of the peers know, it is one of the best illustration programs out there, and it is getting better and better every year. (I doubt I would even get accepted now that it has become so popular and competitive!)

Spring is here in New York, so come out, come out to Chelsea on Tuesday night. I will be there!

Visual Art’s MFA Illustration Thesis Project: Flyer

These are some of the works by You Byun, my dear hardworking, talented and super sweet student of this year. I am so proud of her. You can see more works by other students here.

Visual Art’s MFA Illustration Thesis Project: You Byun 1

Visual Art’s MFA Illustration Thesis Project: You Byun 2

April 24, 2009

Diapers, No Joke

“We want you to design diapers.” When the e-mail came in, I thought it was a joke. Or, at least a mistaken identity. Apparently, the original designer of Hello Kitty has the same name, and I often get e-mails from people who get us mixed up. After writing back politely to make this clear, they wrote back immediately and said “no”. The e-mail was intended to be sent to me. This is how I ended up designing diapers which is coming out in Sweden next week from Libero, one of the biggest baby product manufacturers in Europe.I am not a big fan for “cute and colorful things for kids” mentality. I did not grow up with lots of Sanrio characters, and children’s books I adored as a child were not what you see in bookstores now a days.

The client obviously has seen my site and know I do a lot of powerful women theme, funny sex illustrations and all the other not-so-kids-friendly stuff.

Final products. There are five designs, images on both front and back of the diapers.Libero, apparently, is known for its’ unconventional, edgy, and experimental concepts and designs. Like fashion houses, they have Spring-Summer and Fall-Winter collections where they put out limited edition products. Looking at their past designs were fun: drawing of big gold bling on the back, character designed poo and pee drawn in sweet way, things like that. OK, I can do this!

Their spring collection this year is “Save The Tigers”. Rather than having cute character of tigers, they decided to go traditional and Asian. Perfect for me.

You can see their funny commercial and other things on libero.se

Big thank you to the nicest people at ad agency Forsman & Bodenfors and filmmaker Anders Hallberg who kindly filmed “making of” video.

Some of the sketches. Quickly done with pencil on paper, and color was added on Photoshop.

Ha ha ha. These were killed versions. They are supposed to be Japanese maple leaves, and they do actually look that way, but of course, they didn’t want take that risk, and I understand. I changed them to more puffy red leaves.

April 15, 2009

How Unromantic!

A lot of the world famous classics won’t work if there were cell phones or characters knew how to text message. Casablanca or Romeo and Juliet would have had happy endings. If Joseph had a cell phone there was no Judaism. It sounds like a joke, but these technologies forever changed how the writers would create stories.This was the article I illustrated for the last Sunday’s The New York Times Week In Review. It was a little goofy illustration. Not an epic kind of work. But I had a lot of fun.All my illustrator peers know about this, but in case the readers here are aspiring illustrators or art students, I will explain a bit how it works with a job like this.

For a newspaper illustration, we usually have less than a day from start to finish. Yap. In this particular case AD Aviva Michaelov called me the evening before it was due on Thursday for Friday end of the day deadline, but I was working on another deadline for Friday so I asked if it is OK to send the sketches on Friday AM.

I try to give at least two ideas to pick from. I actually liked the right one, because you can do so much more with layout.

Week In Review (April 2009): Olivia Hussey

References I downloaded from internet. I used the top right for reference of the pose, and faces and costumes from that famous film (remember Olivia Hussey??), Romeo’s hair style from bottom two paintings, etc. Mix and match!After my other deadline wad done on Friday morning, I spent about 1 hour coming up with ideas. Sketches are rough, but everyone knows it has a tight deadline, so it is OK. I got an approval by early PM, worked on drawing and coloring for the rest of the afternoon. There was a minor revision, but everything was done by 7PM. There are two versions of finals: b/w to be printed in the actual paper, and color to be used on the web.

Week In Review (April 2009): Watercolor Sketch

This is the original b/w drawing with ink on watercolor paper, without any computer coloring or editing.

Week In Review (April 2009): Black & White Sketch

And this is the final b/w image for print. Bubbles were drawn separately and added. Also some harsh blacks were toned down so Romeo and Juliet are separated more into two figures.

Week In Review (April 2009): Color Sketch

Finally the color version used only for website. We found out that the print was in b/w before I started coloring, so I made two versions. It was not too much more work, and I don’t love the way color image prints as b/w. So, it worked out for both parties.By the way, if anyone is interested, you can actually visit (what is supposed to be) Juliet’s house in Verona, Italy. Balcony was later added to make it look more authentic, but still fun to see where Juliet lived. Besides, Verona is a stunningly beautiful walled city with lots of fabulous wine bars and real Roman coliseum!

Week In Review (April 2009): Verona, Italy

This is a view of Verona from the top of the coliseum. It is not the most common tourist destinations, but it definitely worth a trip. (No, I did not go there for a research of this job. I wish.)

Award winning Japanese illustrator based in New York City and instructor at School of Visual Arts.