Tell us a little bit about yourself: your background, why did you choose to do what you are doing now?
Hi, my name is Yuko Shimizu. I am a freelance illustrator in New York.
When I have time, I work on personal work that I show in galleries here and there. I also teach some illustration / cartooning classes at School of Visual Arts in New York. I was born in Tokyo, Japan, and grew up mainly in Tokyo and a some here in New York.

I have been drawing ever since I remember. I had been wanting to become an artist ever since I remember as well. But it takes a courage to choose a visual art field as your career, right? So, I got bachelors degree in advertising and marketing because it was the most creative of “safe and secure” business field, worked in the field of PR for a long time. I hated the work environment from the day one. I had a very early “mid-life crisis”, and was struggling to figure the way out. It was hard to quit my job, because it was secure and income wasn’t bad. I thought of a lot of different options over the years (including getting MBA, seriously!), until one day I finally told myself that
I knew exactly what I wanted to be, and all I needed was a little bit of courage to work on it.

How old are you? (don’t answer, if you don’t want to)
That doesn’t sound like I am 25, does it? Well, I am just starting out in the field of illustration, so I am new and “young” in the field in a way. As for the
answer, pick any number you like :-)

Are you ‘formally trained’ or self-educated, and what are the pros and cons of either education in your opinion?
When I finally decided that I wanted to be an artist, I quit my job, packed up everything and moved from Tokyo to New York. I studied illustration and fine art at School Of Visual Arts in New York for four years, two years of undergraduate (freshman and sophomore among 18 year olds!) and then switched into graduate program and did two more years there till I got my MFA.

I guess pros and cons are up to that person. When I was wanting to be an artist and not yet one, (before art school) my biggest weakness was that I was so insecure about the fact I gave up on going to art school when I first went to college to choose the safe life. Every time I met someone who went to an art school, I felt extremely insecure, infailure and ashamed. The only way to overcome was to actually go to art school, which I did. Now, I had overcome my long term insecurity.

I do have a lot of artist friends who never went to art school. If they don’t have the same insecurity I had, it is totally fine not to go to art school. However, it has helped me a lot. From my experience, art school is not so much about technical skills, but about learning how to see things your own way, and how to build up your own voice in your work, also about meeting mentors (instructors) who are going to help you guide to that direction, and meeting peers who will going to be your best peers for the rest of your career as an artist. I cannot think of any cons, at least to the school that I attended. I had a great four years of my life in SVA. I grew up as a person, and everyone helped me achieve that.

How did you start, what was your first job and how old were you then?
My VERY first illustration job was when I was in college in Japan. I worked for educational magazine for high school students who are preparing for college entrance exams. I was probably like 18 or 19. But it was just a tiny little spot illustration I don’t even want call it a job..

My first job as an illustrator in US was Village Voice and New York Times which happened to come out on the same day. It was about two years ago. I met
with the art directors with my portfolio, and they gave me jobs.

What is your creative process: how do you start, when do you stop?
If it is an illustration. It is very simple. I read an article, come up with a couple of different sketches, art director chooses one, I finish it, and then done.
When it comes to fine art, it is a bit different. I usually come up with basic basic composition, just a simple scribble on a xerox paper, and then start drawing on a large sheet of paper, and fixing composition as I draw.
So, I don’t know what it is going to look like finished except for the vague composition. When to stop is the hardest thing to decide for a fine art piece. You can keep working, but again you have to stop somewhere to avoid overworking. So, I usually stop right before I think it is completely done. Let it sit overnight, or maybe more, and add if I still feel like I need to work more.

Do you have a special creative or workflow trick/method
that you’d like to share?
I cannot think of any... If there is any, I have at least a few different drawing surfaces, and I choose according to the finished look I want. Rough, smooth, sanded, etc.

Also, I try to treat computer not as computer, but as a tool to do something else, like silkscreen machine, or woodblock print machine, or etc, etc. I try to avoid the 'obvious' look.

Do you work primarily as a freelancer or permanently in a studio,
what do you prefer and why?
I am a full time freelancer, but have a studio space I work at. I don’t work in my apartment. One thing I liked about working in the office environment was that I can detach my life with my work.

When I got out of grad school and lost the studio space at school, I got together with two other classmates and got a studio space in mid-town Manhattan, close to all the publishers and walking distance to Chelsea gallery district. Our studio even has a name, SHY Studio (first letters of our last names). It is not that we have a business called SHY Studio. It is just the nickname of the studio. We are all our own bosses, and we are not employed by, or employ anyone else. Although, I do teach at SVA. But that is just 1-2 times a week.

Do you work internationally, how do you do it
and what are benefits and pitfalls?
I work mainly in US, but I also have some clients whom I work regularly in London, couple of clients in Canada. Also published in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, and France, to name a few places.

How do I do it? It is the cyber century! You can even live in a tropical island in south pacific and work everywhere in the world if you want to. They look at my website, call me or e-mail me. I call them and e-mail them. It is that simple. Now in the commercial art field, it is almost completely borderless. There is no pitfall to it. At least I haven’t experienced any. I think it is really cool.

What is your favourite city and why?
Probably New York. That is why I live here, right? I lived here back in late 70s, and after I went back to Japan, I really had hard time adjusting to that old fashioned and super conservative society, and always wanted to come back. It just took me a LONG time, but hey, I did come back. And, I won’t be leaving here anytime soon.

What are you working on now?
I am preparing for a group show that opens in the beginning of September. So, in August, I had to take it slow on my illustration jobs. Which kind of sucks, but in a long run I think it will all going to be good. Sometimes, too many jobs just sucks my energy out and although I know I am putting 120% energy to it, I hate all the outcomes, because I am technically burned out.
So, it is good to have this down time.

I am also working on a project to re-design a New York based Japanese magazine with two very talented graphic designers. One of them was my classmate from SVA. SVA has such amazing graphic design program, all the friends who graduated a couple of years ago are now kick-ass designers with a lot of ideas! I am doing series of covers, they are re-designing the whole magazine.

How do you celebrate completion of a project?
Usually, it is one after the other, and a lot of them are short term, so unfortunately I don’t have time to celebrate it... If all my work is done before weekend (which is RARE), I go out with friends. That’s about it.

Who or what inspires you and does it influences your work?
A lot of things are constantly inspiring me and influencing me. Mixture of different things. Family and friends, everyday experiences and other people’s experiences. How I grew up, places I lived. Music by Momus (so clever), Hokusai prints (so gorgeous and graphic), books by Mishima (amazing aesthetics), movies by Wong Ka-wai...

What excites you in today’s design trends?
That it feels like there is no limit to what you can do, and a lot of them are even more conceptual and interesting than fine art. I loved the Design Triennial at Cooper Hewitt Design Museum. The show was a while back, but I just recently purchased the catalogue. This book design itself is a form of art. I flip through it almost every night before I go to bed. I get so inspired! I think it is healthy to get inspired from something other than the actual field you work in.

What you don’t like in today’s design trends?
Sometimes, a lot of the work look VERY similar. Once one trend starts, everything else starts to follow, and all of a sudden, you are surrounded by bad copies, or copies of copies, or copies of copies of copies, of the original trend.

Also, with computers, everyone feels like they can be a designer. I am sorry, you can’t. But they don’t know, because computer makes everything look clean, at least. Clean hides bad design, if you don’t know about design well. And, all of a sudden, you are surrounded by all those super computer generated bad design everywhere.

Have you ever fell asleep during a meeting with the client,
why, and what happened next?
No. I am an illustrator, so I don’t go to meetings often. When I was working in PR, I used to. I was experienced enough to hide it well, though.

Did you ever said ‘no’ to a client, why and do you still have that client?
I turn down jobs. How many jobs can a person work on in one month? If it is over capacity, I honestly tell them so and turn down. It is fine. I don’t think anyone takes it personally. It is way better than taking jobs you cannot put 120% in. And, they will end up with shitty work and they will never hire you again. You will end up with shitty work, and no one wants to hire you any more.

Do you play computer games? What are you playing now?
No.

What do you read in bed?
Sometime novel, sometime comic, sometime magazine, sometime newspaper, sometime art books. Right now, Design Triennial catalog is the biggest hit. Also, my friend comic artist Sam Hiti’s new book End Times. Just breathtakingly gorgeous.

What are your plans for the future?
I am still new in the field. I want to do as many good work as possible and establish myself as respected illustrator. I want to try as new things as possible. Also, it is my dream to establish myself as a fine artist, which I know will take a lot of time, effort and also luck. Right now, I kind of have to slow down on my personal work because of illustration. However, I want to try to adjust my work schedule more and put some time into doing more personal work.

How many hours a day do you spend on the computer?
8-10 hours. At least it is on from the time I walk into my studio till the time
I leave.

What is your favorite food?
Chocolate. Milka brand.

What music do you like to work to?
The Police, Rollins Stones, David Bowie..., those old rock. Also, Bjork. Momus. My friend illustrator Marcellus Hall’s band White Hassle. Modest Mouse. And, now I am into Morrissey. God You Are The Quarry is soo good.

Apart from Google, what is your favourite website at the moment?
In terms of usage, pro.corbis.com and google picture search may be my favorite research library. I was just downloading images of Spike Lee and Woody Allen today for possible jobs. I use website mainly for research, unfortunately not so much for fun...

If you had to choose a different profession,
what would you be right now and why?
If I quit being an artist today, I will be an artist agent from tomorrow. I have such long experience in PR, and I enjoyed my job as much as I hated the work environment. I love promoting talented people’s work, because you want to share it with everyone, right?

When I saw Jerry McGuire a long time ago, I thought that was sort of an occupation that is perfect for me if I were not becoming an artist. Of course,
I don’t know anything about sports, I cannot be an sports agent. So, I should be an artist agent. I even have a couple of names of whom I want to represent if I become one.

What image is on your desktop?
I have a folder full of Robert McGinnis paintings, and it changes everyday.
Old James Bond poster images is currently up on my desktop wall paper.