Yuko Shimazu Yuko Shimazu Yuko Shimizu

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

February 12, 2006

Just finished judging design category for The Art Directors Club‘s 85th Annual Awards, and I have to say it was one of the most inspiring and exciting experiences. Thank you so much for everyone at ADC for their hardwork, fellow judges for being so inspiring and kind, and Mr. Brian Collins of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide for choosing me to be there. It was also great to see wonderful designs from Japan, and I was happy I was able to help translate some of the works. The results will be announced in spring.

Some new illustrations… GQ, Outside, Domino (all March), Mother Jones (March/April), CIO Decisions (January) and Realms of Fantas.

January 13, 2006

Happy (well, belated,) new year! After more than a month and half of laziness (OK, I was not lazy, I was just busy!), I finally updated my recent illustration page. If you have time, please take a look. Seven new illos are up, and also re-worked on awards section (because I got so excited for my gold medal, he he.)A new book “it’s A Matter Of Illustration” (published by Victionary) (left) is out now and I have six pages in there. Let me tell you that it is a stunning looking book, and I am not saying this because I am in. Beautifully and carefully designed, with that silver ink really adds to it. My mentor and MFA professor Mister Mirko Ilic and my high school buddy Tatsuro Kiuchi are also featured. I will post some images from the book some other time.

Drew a small portrait for Joshua Gorchov, a good friend, great illustrator (left). PASTE magazine needed his portrait for the contributors’ page and he wanted me to draw him instead of using photo. Is it in the recent issue?, I think..Spring semester has just started at SVA this week. I am teaching two classes this semester (second year illustration and forth year promotion and marketing). Thank you Carol Fabricatore and all her students of MFA Illustration as Visual Essay program at SVA for inviting me as a guest lecturer today. I had FUN.Some new illustrations… SPIN (January), Premiere and Outside (both February)

December 29, 2005

Wow 2005 is ending already. Hope everyone had a wonderful year, and is having good holiday season. It was a year of “work, work and work” for me, but I cannot complain. I had a really good year.

Probably the biggest and the most exciting news came at the end of the year that I had won a gold medal in editorial category from the Society of Illustrators! It was a piece for PLAYBOY about natural disasters destroying earth (near right). I got total of six pieces in the show including two on the right, and the three that got into Society of Illustrators LA. (see Nov. 14)

Thank you Rob Wilson of PLAYBOY for giving me this opportunity and to push me to challenge myself. Also thank you all the jury members for choosing my piece.Another wonderful news is that SHY Studio member John Hendrix got the silver medal for book category, and another member Marcos Chin got seven illustrations in total to get into the show!

Some recent illustrations are; The New York Times Op-Ed Christmas special (12/24), MONEY (Dec), Domino (Jan/Feb), and SPIN (whoops, I have to check which issue that is… I think it is either out now, or very soon).

December 7, 2005

Art Directors Club‘s 85th Annual Awards registration is now open. Please go to ADC web site to enter. I am scheduled to be on the jury this year.

Also good luck to all the illustration majors in 4 year colleges and universities in the US for Society of Illustrators Annual Student Scholarship Competition open now as well. I am on the committee this year. We have really good jury members all looking forward to judge your work. Contact your college department for details.

Some new illustrations.. The New Yorker (12/5 issue), Domino and PLANSPONSOR (both December), Readers Digest (January)

November 22, 2005

First of all, Happy Turkey Day to everyone in the US.

3×3 magazine of illustration has just come out with their new issue, and my dear studio-mate Marcos Chin is a featured and cover artist of this issue. I am also proud to announce I had an honor to write his article. (left: cover by Marcos Chin)  just in case if you had wondered about my bio, yes, you are right, somehow it got written wrong. I wish I had 13 years of experience in illustration… and no, I had not worked as an illustrator in japan, I was in PR.

Once again, thank you so much for buddy and ex-roomy James Jean for giving a talk to my class at SVA today. Also big thank you to two other guest lecturers who kindly came to my class to speak this semester; Monika Aichele and Joshua Gorchov. You guys all rock!

November 14, 2005

Society of Illustrator LAjust gave me two awards for their Illustration West 44 competition! Near right; Joseph Morgan Henninger Best of the Show (Gold) Award, and middle right; Silver Award in the advertising category. Also far right accepted into editorial category. All three pieces are scheduled to be exhibited at Billy Shire Fine Arts in Culver City, California in April 2006.From Australia to the world “Lost at E Minor” is a weekly e-mail mini-magazine for creative people. It has strong emphasis on music, photography and illustration. I highly recommend you to subscribe to it too!Some new illustrations out are…: The New Yorker and New York Magazine, both this week (I think,,, I haven’t checked them yet…), Men’s Health and Cosmo Girl! (both December), Absolute Return (November), New York Walker #31, etc…

October 25, 2005

Spanish lifestyle magazine Monocläb issue 19 (October) has picked one of the pieces from my alphabet book project as their latest cover (left). Look for this magazine at stores in Barcelona and Madrid. Thank you Eva!”The best of illustration from 2004″ American Illustration 24 will be published in November. I will have a two pieces selected to be in the book. (I will post the winning images on the site soon.) There will be a publishing event in New York on November 4th.
Also “Illustration Now!” has its launching event and signing at Taschen Store in Beverly Hills, California on November 10 (6-8PM). I won’t be able to attend, but if you are in the area it should be a fun event to swing by.

Some new illustrations: The New Yorker (Oct 31), NYLON, Money, DOMINO, Men’s Health, This Old House, Business 2.0 (all November), and FORTUNE international edition India issue out now.

October 1, 2005

Wow, where did the time go? It is already October…Biggest news right now probably is that Taschen’s “Illustration Now!” finally comes out this month and three of us from SHY Studio (Marcos Chin, John Hendrix and me) are featured as “150 top illustrators of the world”! We are very very excited, needless to say.

Some new illustrations are in: The New Yorker (Oct 3), FORTUNE (international edition, Oct 17), Fast Company, DOMINO, PLANSPONSOR, Storage (all October), Illustration section of this site will be updated as soon as I find some extra time…

September 16, 2005

It is September. The New school year has just started. I am teaching a second year “Principles of Illustration” class this semester at SVA. Also, I just visited Pratt Instituteas a guest lecturer for the first time on September 15. Thank you Minh Uong (instructor, art director of Village Voice) for not just giving me the very first illustration job about three years ago but also inviting me to his Senior Portfolio class!Hello Taiwan! Design magazine X FUNS #19 has 8 page feature on my work, along with newly created cover. I also designed the page and created the logo. Thank you Tytee Tan, editor of X FUNS, for the wonderful opportunity. (more will be posted soon.)

Have you started Christmas shopping? I contributed a piece for NPR’s 2006 calendar along with 13 other artists including Whitney Sherman and John Ritter. purchase this lovely calendar, and contribute to National Public Radio.

Other recent illustrations are: The New Yorker (Sep 12 and Sep 26 issues), LA Times Book Review Cover (August 28 issue), Domino October issue, Fast Company (September and October issues), and New York Walker every two weeks as usual.

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