Yuko Shimazu Yuko Shimazu Yuko Shimizu

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

One-of-a-kind art Persian rug release

Now, something a bit different… I recently teamed up with Art in Rug a truly authentic handmade Persian rug company that is making one-of-a-kind art rugs.
Each rug is an edition or one. Made to order. They will take months to hand weave each rug with the highest quality by the best Persian rug artisans to deliver to just “one” collector. Once sold, rug design retires and never will be remade again.
I’m used to living in the illustration world where my job is to create artworks for an often large number of reproductions. So this is a whole new kind of cool experiment for me.
Size: 150 x 200cm with the price point around $4k USD (please inquire, as this is a ballpark).
(the photos are just mockups to show the general size and look. The actual handmade rug won’t exist till someone actually purchases it. It will be made to order. Thank you!)

GI Joe collaboration now taking pre-orders

A package art I made for Hasbro’s GI Joe Classified Series Storm Shadow action figure is now available for pre-order at online toy and game stores.
Scheduled to ship around July, 2022. Thank you Hasbro and AD Cecil Cates for a fun project. (I will post art on the work section soon.)

just announced: illustration workshop in Spain

UPDATE (Feb 9): The workshop is now sold out. Thank you. If you like to be wait-listed, please contact [email protected] Thank you. 

I will be coming to teach a four-day workshop in Spain in May.
The event is organized by La Galeria Roja and will be held from May 19-22, 2022 in Sevilla, South of Spain.
The workshop will be open to all levels of illustrators and limited to a small group of maximum 16 participants.
Come spend a long weekend with me in beautiful Seville. Hope to see you there!
More info and reservation information can be found on La Galeria Roja website.

Mondo x Fortnite print release

Last Mondo release of the Godzilla poster went so quickly I didn’t even have time to post about it.  The third release in just about a couple of months is a coincidence, but here it is: the new Fortnite loading screen for their RIFT Tour will be available as a limited edition poster.
Release date: August 12 at 11:00AM CDT (12 noon EDT, 9:00AM PDT).
Please read more information here.

wine collaboration with one of the oldest wineries in Japan

A special collaboration with Sakai Winery, one of the oldest wineries in Japan in the mountains of Yamagata, northern Japan.
Only 250 bottles were created from the best barrels of red wine using the Japanese breed of wine grapes.
Shipping to Japanese addresses only. ¥3,980 Japanese yen. Please purchase directly from Arcadia Kanko online store

山形県南陽市は、良質なぶどうの産地であり、市内に6つのワイナリーがある東北一のワインの里です。
その中でも、創業129年の酒井ワイナリーは東北最古のワイナリー。
無ろ過・無清澄・無殺菌の昔ながらの造りを大事に、赤湯ならではのワインを追求しています。
今回のワインは、日本特有のぶどう、マスカットベリーAとブラッククイーンを使った赤ワイン。
樽を選定し特に良いものを選び出して瓶詰めするバレルセレクションの特別な一本です。この商品は日本国内のみの発送となります。
ご購入は こちらから。

Justice League Snydercut T shirts release

I always wanted to draw Wonder Woman!

My Justice League  Snydercut (HBO Max) Wonder Woman T-shirt will be released from Footaction on March 15 at 10 AM EDT.
Total of 7 T-shirts of 7 main characters by 7 different artists will be dropped every day with limited quantities.
Other artists and shirts are: Jacob Rochester’s  Batman, Superman by Jen Bartel,  Aquaman by Matt Taylor,  3/14: The Flash by Robzilla III,  3/16: Cyborg by Tracie Chin (March 16),  Darkseid by Oliver Barrett (March 17)
While supplies last. Please go to Footaction for more.

Thank you, The Cat Man of Aleppo has won Caldecott Honor

This just happened!!!
The Cat Man of Aleppo has won this year’s Caldecott Honor. Thank you American Library Association and all the jury members.
And more importantly, AD: CeciliaYung, editor: Stacey Barney, designer: EileenSavage, authors: Irene Latham & Karim Shamsi-Basha, everyone at Penguin Putnam Books.
Also my coloring assistant Tatiana for huge emotional support during the deadline crunch
Last but not least…, thank you and congratulations to Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel the Cat Man himself. Hope more people will know you, and your inspiring story.
If you are interested, I’m still signing and drawing a cat in every single copy ordered through my local independent book store Book Culture. Please consider supporting a small business. Thank you.

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