Yuko Shimazu Yuko Shimazu Yuko Shimizu

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

FUN COVER AT NYT BOOK REVIEW

This is the cover of The New York Times Book Review from yesterday. 6 artists illustrated Lincoln with the same exact color scheme in 6 completely different ways.You know they are all Abe, yet, each image is completely different. This is why illustration is so fun.  On my blog, I have posted this process and every illustrator’s name and web links. (You can even read about how I gave Abe a Photoshop facelift.)You can also see the slide show of all the illustrations on NY Times site.

UPDATES ON LONG OVERDUE SITE UPDATES, AND WHERE YOU CAN SEE MY NEW WORK IF YOU WANTED…

So, as you can see, I am terrible at updating my site. Pretty much, nothing’s been updated other than this NEWS SECTION and SHOWS and EVENTS SECTION other than some minor things here and there for a long time..

You may think I have not illustrated since November (last time when ILLUSTRATION SECTION got updated), but I have been working, just not updating.

I also have about 5 new press and books sitting on top of my desk not scanned in.

So I am planning a major update sometime soon, with tons of new images on ILLUSTRATION SECTION, PRESS SECTION and all that.

Till then, I will at least try to update often on MY BLOG, PICTURE MECHANICS and ILLOZ pages, so check back with them too.

MORIBITO NAMED AS AN OUTSTANDING INTERNATIONAL BOOK

Earlier this month, School Library Journal announced 42 titles recommended by the fourth annual United States Board on Books for Young People’s (USBBY) Outstanding International Books committee. These were chosen as the best of children’s literature from faraway places—books that introduce young readers to outstanding authors and illustrators from other countries, help them see the world from other points of view, and provide another perspective or address a topic that may be missing from children’s books in the United States.First of the Moribito series by Nahoko Uehashi from Scholastic, which I contributed by illustrating cover and interior illustrations was chosen as one of them. Big thank you to Elizabeth Parisi and Phil Falco of Scholastic for giving me this opportunity.You can read the full article and browse through other 41 chosen titles on School Library Journal site.

BUY GUM AND SUPPORT NEXT GENERATION OF CREATIVE MINDS

Sticky, a creative agency in Chicago and Retail Advertising & Marketing Association came up with a very creative idea to raise scholarship fund for students at Columbus College of Art and Designin Ohio.Four artists, including myself was invited to design gum packages based on the stories Sticky has created. 12 packs of gum in a carton is sold for $25, which will fund Randy Curtis Memorial Award.My image is based on a trippy story about a third nipple escaping the body, travels across the continent and go surfing. (Yes, you read it right.)
Because the story was so out there, and the package features a surfer on the wave of thousand nipples, the gum got rejected from production at the last minutes.But of course, it is the bunch of creative minds who are working on this project, they ended up managing to produce this gum, as a “banned and limited edition”.So, you can buy this gum, chew on this, all for a good cause!

See more photos of the gum here.

Exhibit At Akademie Der Kunste And Posters In City of Berlin

I am back from the opening at Akedemie Der Kunste in Berlin, Germany.Embedded Artis a huge show that is getting a huge turn out and great reviews. Although, poster part of the show is a rather small side of the whole show, I am honored and excited to be a part of it.At the show opening point, not many of my posters are up yet, but they should start popping up in different areas of Berlin for the course of the exhibit, so if you happened to be in town, please keep your eyes open for random street postings. Fun!

I took some photos of the posters during my stay. Please check them out.

Hello Students At PS96 In The Bronx. Welcome To The New Library!

This afternoon I took #2 train up to Pelham Parkway in the Bronx (NY) to attend the opening reception of the new library at Public School #96. As you can see in the photo, my contribution to this project was creating a set of 11 murals. The library was donated to PS96 by non-profit organization Robin Hood Foundation, including the architecture, construction, design, furniture and computers, along with 7000 new books for the students and teachers to use for years and years to come.I am extremely excited to be a part of this project, thanks to designer Stefan Sagmeisterwho decided that elementary school murals should be illustrated and somehow picked me to collaborate with him. We worked on and off for 2 and half years.I love creating images for magazines, newspapers and on the covers of books and CDs. But I had never imagined a day would come when I could contribute to the little future hopes of New York and encourage them to learn. What a rewarding feeling.

And thank you everyone who was involved in the project to make this happen.

Please see more photos here.

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