Yuko Shimazu Yuko Shimazu Yuko Shimizu

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

WooHoo! New York Times Best Seller List!!

How exciting!! the first volume of The Unwritten, the collection of the first five issues of the DC Comics vertigo series I have been illustrating the cover for, is so far, ahem, on the week 6 of New York Times Best Seller list!

On the right is the current best seller list in graphic novel category.I cannot stress enough! The Unwritten is a very well written, mysterious, intellectual and interesting story. Definitely not your kids’ comic book. And, I am not saying this because I do the covers. It is REALLY good.

Every issue, I research and learn about historical fiction I have read or not read in past.

I have just finished the cover for issue No. 14. No.11 coming out this month. And, we may be able to have a brand new cover for collected volume No.2, so stay tuned 🙂

Introducing: TutorMill –– the new way to study illustration ––

It is official!

A completely new way for aspiring artists to study illustration, online illustration mentoring course TutorMill has just launched.

It is run by the same people who makes Drawger and Illoz happen, and the idea was conceived by illustrators and good friends: Gary Taxali and Thomas Fuchs.

We love teaching, but it is limited to a few classes in the cities we live in, and occasional school visits and workshops outside. Now with TutorMill, students can be living anywhere in the world to study with us. You choose a class you are interested, two instructors you like, and whether you want 3 week quick course, or 6 week long-duration course.

My former studio-mate and best friend Marcos Chin is also on TutorMill. (and we are already picked to teach a student together.)

TutorMill soft-launched this week, and students already started enrolling. I had conversations with some of my students, and having a great feeling on starting the courses.

To learn more, read class descriptions, look through the bio of the instructors, please visit TutorMill.com.

Society Of Illustrators Book/Editorial Show Now Open

Society of Illustrators‘ Annual Book/Editorial showis now open. If you are in New York, don’t miss all the original paintings and drawings that got accepted into this competition. I am taking my SVA students up there for a class trip next week and they are very excited. The show is up till February 20th.Reception and award ceremony was held last Friday. I was excited to receive gold medal for this piece. Thank you judges and thank you ADs. I am really really honored.You can read my recent blog post about the creative process of this image.But actually, what excited me the most was that my high school classmate and talented Tatsuro Kiuchi flew in from Tokyo to this cold-cold New York to receive his Silver Medal! We kept in touch, but haven’t seen each other since our graduation. Wow.

On the photo, from left to right: Ai Tatebayashi, Hiromichiito, me, Tatsuro Kiuchi

And Some Site Update….

I had to take a while off from work to pack my whole apartment and move. My new place is great, but still a big mess with boxes everywhere and there are many things I cannot find. Did I loose them or they are still in the boxes?? I have no idea…

But anyway, as you can see, I am finally (close to) back to a regular schedule.

Bad habit! I had left alone SHOWS & EVENTS for a long long time. I finally updated with some new info.

MORIBITO 2 Receives Batchelder Honors!!

On January 18, American Library Association announced this year’s literary award winners, and Moribito 2: Guardian of the Darkness (written by Nahoko Uehashi, translated by Cathy Hirano, Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine) received Mildred L. Batchelder Honors. I have illustrated both of the Moribito books (both covers and interiors) and had so much fun on the project. I was amazed by how deep and meaningful the book was, so it is a fantastic news.If you have not read it yet, this book is not just for young readers. I highly recommend it. Below is a part of wrap around cover illustration.

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