Yuko Shimazu Yuko Shimazu Yuko Shimizu

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

ESPN Brazil

And, last but not least… but just for the fun of it. An illustration for ESPN the Magazine (US version) made it into ESPN Braziledition. As far as I can remember, I think this is the first time my work got published in Brazil, which is, for me, very cool and exciting. So, just sharing the photo. I have only been to Brazil for about 2 hours, when I went to see Iguazu Falls. I am hoping to go visit the cities, one day, some day…. (By the way, you have to see Iguazu Falls at least once. It is mind-blowing. Niagara is like a joke once you see Iguazu.)Esta revista tem um monte de artigos sobre futebol!

Visit To RISD And Teaching Stuff

I have just finished teaching for this school year. Congratulations to all my SVA students for graduating (seniors), and moving onto the third year of their studies (sophomores).

I also took a one day business trip up to RISD in Providence last week. Thank you for a warm welcome.

The Unwritten Vol.2 In Progress

The second collected graphic novel (issue No.6~12) is getting edited now for the summer release.The great news is that The Unwritten is doing so well, we are doing a brand new wrap around cover for this!

Hopefully it gets finalized soon (especially because I have been constantly sleep deprived for about a month or so already).

In the meantime, I have just started working on the ideas for No. 17 cover.

The Unwritten No.13 In Stores Now

The Unwrittenissue 13 is coming out today. And congratulations to the team for 3 Eisner Awards nominations!I am very excited, as a person taking a small part in this fantastic ongoing project.

Hello, Hello…

Did I just write that April was flying by? Well, it looks like so’s May! I don’t want anyone to think I stopped updating my website often. Well, I do, it is just April and May are TOTAL CHAOS. I promise I will be back with more soon. (and yes, ILLUSTRATION SECTION needs serious update…)

In the meantime, I update quick news flash often on FACEBOOK, so please check it out as well.

Audience Of 700 In Savannah

Did I not write any news for about a month? Ah, I am terrible. April is just flying by!I had to finish up deadlines so I can fly out to Savannah, GA to attend SCAD‘s Illustration symposium panel, back to New York and finishing up school year at SVA, while getting hit by massive pollen attack. Anyway, all the rest is good.

At SCAD’s symposium, organized by Professor Julie Lieberman, was consist of a dream team of panel members: Anita Kunz, Christoph Niemann, Red Nose Studio, and two art directors: Bridgid McCarren of HOW and Tyler Darden of Virginia Living.

Thank you for the warmest welcome by full house audience of 700 students across the different majors. Hope you had much fun as we did.

Writer Matt Porter documented the event on a blog.

Weather was just perfect; sky was blue and flowers were everywhere. Savannah was just so lovely and so were the people there. I hope I can go back there again soon.

Savannah recommendations:
Paris Market: Anita and I went crazy over this amazing store with mixture of antique and contemporary home decoration.
Gryphon Tea Room: Officially my favorite cafe. old pharmacy converted into a tea room. Just stunningly beautiful, and of course, great food and selection of teas.

Thank You For The Full House Audience!!

At FIT lecture last night. I had so much fun with marcos, Fernanda, Fred and Zina, and of course, with all of you who came and stayed in that packed room.
You can see the photos from the events on Heidi’s blog.

I am currently on the tight deadline finishing up The Unwritten #15 cover, but I will post more upcoming events and news next week.

Panel Discussion At FIT Next Week – Open To Public –

I am writing this onboard the flight out to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where I will be visiting University of Wisconsin Eau Claire for the next couple of days. (Then to spend a weekend in Minneapolis with a friend illustrator, talented Erik T. Johnson and his family.Next week, when I am back to New York, I will be taking part in a panel discussion/talk at Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) with fellow illustrators Marcos Chin, Fernanda Cohen, Fred Harper and Zina Saunders. The talk is titled: How I Got My First Job; basically we hope to encourage young illustrators/students by embarrassingly revealing our humble starts in the field. If you have extra time, please come stop by.

The Unwritten 14 Cover Preview

DC Vertigo series The Unwritten is at its’ 11th issue now (issue #11 comes out tomorrow), but Vertigo cover artists actually work a lot ahead, even more ahead than interior art, and sometimes on script that is not even finalized yet.So, even the day before #11 is out, I am actually currently working on #15 cover. Yes, that’s how ahead we work.

#14 cover just got the approval bit more than a week ago. Usually they don’t reveal the cover for another month or so, but this time, Vertigo editing team decided to go ahead and post it on their blog way early.

This is a special cover. Creators Mike and Peter, as well as editor Pornsak had been discussing for a while about how they wanted me to create “Where is Waldo” cover. I have been putting it off, off and off…. till I had no more reasons to put it off anymore! Ha. So, I decided to finally dive into it in the idea.

All the loyal Unwritten readers, you may not be able to spot all the characters because a few of them are future characters who will not appear until issue #12. Also, there is one character thrown in there who is not from this series but from another series by Mike and Peter. Mike and Peter took the quiz too, and of course, they were able to spot everyone. Now, can you?

School Visits!

I am finally settling down into my new home, and slowly starting to travel out again.

I was invited to New Jersey City University last week (Thank you for the warm welcome!), and heading out to University of Wisconsin Eau Claire next week, FIT lecture toward the end of the month and SCAD in Savannah, GA in April. Looking forward to seeing you all the students!

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