Yuko Shimazu Yuko Shimazu Yuko Shimizu

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

next lecture destination: Bogotá, Colombia!

Thank you SO much for those who came to Apple Store 14th Street (NY) last night. It was with a nice low-key casual vibe, I enjoyed it so much. Some of the audience members and I had chats till the store closed at 9PM. Bruiser was also happy to get so much attention.

Announcing the next lecture, for those who are in South America: I am coming to Bogotá, Colombia in April during Congreso Internacional de Ilustracion (International Conference of Illustration) April 18-20. I will be doing a lecture, two day workshop, and panel discussion with friend and very talented Leo Espinosa.
I am ultra excited for my first visit to Colombia, and first ever event for me to participate in South America.

Please read more about the conference and register on the Congreso’s website.

free event: Apple Store NY Feb 27

Come hang with me at my talk at Apple Store on 14th Street, MeatPacking District, New York, on Wednesday February 27th (7-8PM).
The event is free and open to the public. (and, it is in the beautiful beautiful Apple Store Meatpacking District) I will do a bit of show and tell, and answer any of your questions. Read more details on the flyer below.
Hope to see you there!

PS: my studio assistant Mr. Bruiser da Chihuahua may join me weather permitting.

And here is my studio assistant Mr. Bruiser da Chihuahua hard at work.

 

now showing: original black&white drawings

Last week, I wrote about the annual competition show at the Society of Illustrators, where 7 of my images are shown right now.

Five of them are shown as high quality digital prints. This is because my final images only exist as digital files. (I work traditionally on drawing with ink and brush, then color is all done on Photoshop.)
In past occasions when I won medals, I had the large format prints made professionally and got them framed. Now a days when more and more images are not complete without some help of digital media, less and less originals are being shown at the Society of Illustrators gallery. So, this year I had decided to frame and show my original black and white drawings for the medal winning pieces. silver medal in book category: DC Comics Unwritten 43 and  gold medal in advertising category:  Tame Your Hail advertising campaign for JWT Hong Kong.

Exhbition will run till March 2nd, at the Society of Illustrators, 128 East 63rd Street, New York City. Come stop by.  You can see all my showcased works here.
(PS: by the way, that’s Jillian Tamaki in the photo below. )


And, here are the medals… Thank you so much!

This weekend on NY Times Book Review

No matter how many times you do it, being on the cover of New York Times Book Review is always a big deal. At least for me it is.
This comes out tomorrow, Sunday, February 3.

It is especially exciting because the review is for new translations of the recent Nobel Literary Prize winner Mo Yan. This is the second time I am illustration for Mo Yan’s book review, which I am very honored.

I want to thank AD Rex Bonomelli, editors at Book Review, and  my friend Chien Tsai who is a Chinese Literature scholar at University of Texas Austin who had helped me with this project.

February at the Society of Illustrators

Society of Illustrators‘ annual illustration competition exhibition ILLUSTRATORS 55 opens tonight.
I am excited to have seven pieces in this show, including one gold medal and one silver medal winning pieces.
Also, two of the images in the show (the fist two in this post) are new and I am showing here for the first time.
Thank you all my clients for giving me fantastic opportunities to have fun creating these pieces. Thank you all the judges and The Society of Illustrators for the honor.

Exhbition will run till March 2nd, at the Society of Illustrators, 128 East 63rd Street, New York City.
Tonights’ opening gale starts at 6PM (tickets: $30 for members, $40 non members, $20 students)
PS: Hey, if you are my students at SVA, we are going to see the show together on Tuesday!


Y for Yourself client: Bernstein & Andriulli (not yet published)

Ballad of Narayama  client: Criterion Collection, AD: Sarah Habibi (DVD coming out next week)

The Unwritten 43 client: DC Comics, editors: Shelly Bond, Gregory Lockard   SILVER MEDAL


The Unwritten 44 client: DC Comics, editors: Shelly Bond, Gregory Lockard


Tame Your Hair advertising campaign  client: JWT Hong Kong, CD: Jimmy Lee    GOLD MEDAL


Tame Your Hair advertising campaign  client: JWT Hong Kong, CD: Jimmy Lee

Dutch Pension System  client: PLANSPONSOR AD: SooJin Buzelli

Sketchtravel goes to Kyoto

In March, Sketchtravel exhibition is arriving to Kyoto International Manga Museum in Kyoto, Japan.
What started as a small fun project of passing around a sketchbook among artists around the world in 2006, turned out to be something a lot bigger scale by the time last page was filled in 2011, 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 to fund Room To Read to build libraries in five countries so far.

Contributing artists include: Hayao Miyazaki, James Jean, Tomer Hanuka, Mike Mignola, Katsuya Terada, Natalie Ascencios to name a few. The project was conceived and organized by Dice Tsutsumi and Gerald Guelais.
The exhibition opens on March 7 and runs up to June 2.

As a contributor to Sketchtravel, I was honored to be asked to create poster for Kyoto exhibit.

Concept behind this image was “contemporary Maiko” Maiko is a younger version of Geiko (what westerners know as geisha). Both Maikos and Geikos are close to extinct in this 21st century Japan, but in old capital of Kyoto, the culture still exist.  Dice and I discussed the ideas, and decided to go with a contemporary take on Maiko culture. Also, the traditional Japanese umbrella she is holding makes the shape of Japanese flag: red dot. Cherry flowers, of course, are the symbol of spring.

Sundance Film Festival A to Z published

Alphabet book Sundance Film Festival A to Z edited by Todd Oldham celebrates the history and legacy of the films, actors, and directors of the Sundance Film Festival through the years. The book is one of the items especially made for this year’s festival. 26 illustrators created images for this book. Book can be purchased on Sundance Festival Store, Amazon, or through other booksellers.
There will be an exhibit of the artworks scheduled during the festival.
Here is my piece for Letter K for: Catherine Keener, Kentucky Fried Movie, The Kid Stays in the Picture and Barbara Kopple.

some of my favorites from the book include this Letter H by Marcos Chin

And, this Letter Q by Chris Buzelli.  You can see some  other works included in this book here.

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