YUKO SHIMIZU  INTERVIEW - A Conversation With An Art Student interviewer: Ellen Germain, illustration major, Pratt Institute   Ellen: Where did you go to school and what was your major? Yuko: I have a BA degree in business (advertising, marketing) from Waseda University in Tokyo Japan. Worked in PR for ten years after. I came to New York in 1999 and started as a freshman(!) at School of Visual Arts' Illustration program. After I finished my second year, Thomas Woodruff, the chairman of the department, helped me switch into the graduate program (because he thought I didn't need two undergraduate degrees. I had Tom as my personal graduate thesis advisor as well.) I graduated in 2003 from MFA Illustration program at SVA.   Ellen: What made you want to be an illustrator, as opposed to fine art or any other aspect of art? Yuko: I do fine art as well. I do comics too. So at this moment, I am making my living doing illustration, but I am open to any other possibilities and opportunities as well. I wanted to become a comic artist growing up, until one day I realized I was more interested in single panel images rather than telling stories in multiple panels and pages. When I came back to art school I already had a degree and experience in PR and advertising and etc, so illustration (=commercial form of drawings) was the easiest for me to understand and feel related to. When I worked in office, I was in a position to hire illustrators, but I was always wanting to be on the other side (= being hired as an illustrator).   Ellen: What was your first Job? How did you get it? (Call, drop off, word of mouth)? Did you like it? Yuko: My very first paid illustration job was when I was in Japan and in college as a business major. I did small spot illustrations for this magazine called "Waseda Shingaku" that was targeted for high school students who wanted to get into my college. It was through knowing the editors of the magazine. It was not so much of an exciting assignment. It was still cool to get things published. My real first jobs after I started studying art was Village Voice and New York Times Letters section, both happened to have gotten published on the same day. That was about two and half years ago. I met Village Voice AD Minh Uong about half a year before he assigned me the first job. I kept sending promos because he said he liked my work. He finally called me for Michael Musto's gossip column. Tom cruise, Rosie and Niles in closet. It was really hard because I had never done likeness before. I spent three days and nights just making Tom look like Tom. Thank god it finally did! Minh is now probably the closest of all the ADs I know. I did a regular column with him for a while. We don't work together right now, but we still chat on phone and e-mail each other just to talk. As for NY Times, I made appointment with then AD Steven Guarnaccia and showed him my portfolio. At that point, my whole portfolio was alphabet book project, that was too sexy to do anything with NY Times. He told me he liked my work but couldn't use me because of content. What was cool was that he said I needed some portfolio help, and called Istvan Banyai right there so I can make an appointment to meet him. Istvan has been very helpful and supportive since. He became sort of a mentor, that is still going on now. I became close to his wife as well. We just had breakfast together last week. They are now like my NY family. Anyway, the funny thing is, Steven called me the day he rejected my work and hired me anyway. He said he saw my website and saw that I had way more things than just what were in the book. I started re-working on my portfolio right after.   Ellen: How many years did it take for you to become a "successful" illustrator, and how long did it take for you to find your "style"? Yuko: First of all, I don't think I am successful at all yet. I am very fortunate that I am able to make my living doing illustration, be able to work with such publications as the New Yorker, Village Voice, New York times, Financial Times, etc. I still feel that I am just starting out and no one knows me yet. Maybe after I finish my fifth year and successfully kept paying all my bills and saved up some, and got respected by viewers, ADs, and peers, then I can allow myself to call it successful. Also, I don't think I have found my style, and I don't think I ever will, and I think that is completely fine. What I learned toward the end of my education is that the myth of “you will eventually find your own style and you are set” is a lie, or at least, it is not the way I want it to be. Artists are artists, because we keep challenging to make ourselves grow, and our work to evolve. Some do find a set style, however for me, that is not "art" anymore. It is "craft". The difference between art and craft is that art is ever evolving, and craft is to re-create with the skill you already achieved. We will keep growing, as we are going to be artists forever.   Ellen: What type of self-promotion works best for you? (web site, art books, etc.)? Yuko: It is the combination of everything, with balance. In fact, it is hard to say everything in a short amount of time, because I teach an 8 week class at SVA just on self-promotion. To make long story short, yes, balance. Website, but not just a website, website that gets up-dated often. Post cards they've been sent on regular basis (I have to confess that I haven't done this in a while..). Putting ad in a book of your choice if you have enough budget.. Most of all, try putting in the best effort when you work with a client. A good relationship and respect is the best way for you to get hired again.   Ellen: How did you get the teaching job at SVA, and did you have to have your masters? Yuko: It sort of fell onto my lap. It was almost an accident. Kurt Vargo was my first illustration instructor at SVA in 1999. We kept in touch, and eventually Kurt started inviting me to his classes (self-promotion class for seniors) as guest lecturer. About a year ago, he decided to take a full time position at Savanna College of Art and Design, and decided to pass on the class to me to teach. Tom (chairman) knew me well too, and he knew that I had background in PR and I was over the certain age that he wanted the instructor of this class to be. At SVA, you don't need to have MFA to teach. However you need to have experience working in the field you are teaching.   Ellen: Who are/were your influences (past and present)? Yuko: Past: Just about everything I experienced in life so far. How I grew up, the comics I was crazy about when I was kid (Leiji Matsumoto especially), in high school I got blown away by Hokusai who is still the biggest influence, 1960's and 1970's was the period when I was born and spend my childhood, 70s and 80s America was when I first experienced living abroad, music I like (70s rock, Rolling Stones, David Bowie, The Police... to current Momus), books I love (Yukio Mishima, Haruki Murakami, Tatsuhiko Shibusawa and other mostly Japanese writers. Also I was crazy about Ray Bradbury and his books were what I first learnt to read in English when I moved to the US.), movies (Wong Ka-Wai and John Woo, early Luc Besson, among others), Instructors (Thomas Woodruff, Marilyn Minter, Mirko Ilic, Marshall Arisman, David Sandlin, etc.), mentors (Istvan Banyai, Ward Sutton, among others), peers(Marcos Chin, Marcellus Hall, among others), my awesome studio-mates John Hendrix and Katie Yamasaki, friends and family... The list is going to be endless. Present: probably the biggest influence on me right at this moment is this experiment I am having with comic artist Paul Pope. We didn't know each other till quite recently and we were so surprised to find eachother because our work looked VERY similar. We started talking, and no wonder, we have VERY similar influences. We are even obsessed over the exact same obscure book Tadanori Yokoo published in early 70s. (The difference is that he has two copies and I have none. I told him to watch out when I am in his studio!) He started in Western comics and got Japanese influences, I started in Japanese manga and got Western influences. We came from the completely opposite ends, and met at the middle. So we are now visiting each other's studios showing each other's work, process and techniques, showing each other's influences. We introduce each other to our peers. I got to get to know a lot of cool comic artists who are in mainstream and doing something experimental. Coming from manga background, it opens up new doors to learn about American comics. This new knowledge also helps me to teach my second year cartooning class at SVA . Istvan and Paul are now loving each other (both work and personality-wise), which is the coolest thing for me to see. Paul and I are hoping to do some projects together in future..   Ellen: What is a typical work day like? Yuko: It all depends.. I try to come into my studio around 9AM and work till.. whenever. I am not a night person, so I don't work through the night unless it is absolutely necessary. For the last couple of days, it was like coming in at 9AM staying till 12AM.... On weekends, I try to take it easy as much as I can, and only work 4 hours at max if that is possible and if there is no tight deadlines. Catch up on sleep, have brunch with friends...   Ellen: Do you still like being an illustrator and would you recommend it? Yuko: We pull like 15 hour days, not having weekends, and we complain about it... But you know what? I hated my 9-5 office job, and I am finally making my living doing what I wanted (=draw pictures), so yeah, I love it, and I recommend it.

my studio as of today...   musician Momus. I started out as his fan, now we are friends. He makes inspiring music   always helpful (and ruthless critic!), a wonderful mentor, Mirko Ilic   best friend Marcos Chin and me   studio-mate John Hendrix (front) giving guest-lecture to my students   studio-mate Katie Yamasaki (left) with friends, Marcos Chin and Marcellus Hall   probably the biggest artistic influence now, Paul Pope in his studio