Following a famous person AND it's also a media diary post!
My "famous" person for this task is Yuko Shimizu a 55 year old Japanese illustrator who lives in New York.
Shimizu is one of the top illustrators in the world (And shares the same name as the creator of Hello Kitty). She has won many awards including the prestigious Hamilton King Award. For every piece of art she uses a brush and black ink to draw and adds the colours digitally.
I have followed her for a few years now in Facebook and Instagram, but not with that much thought. My interest has been more for the professional side to see her drawing works in progress. I only read her posts occasionally, so maybe paying a bit more attention to her social media habits could be beneficial.
Shimizu hasn't posted anything on Facebook in almost a week, but the latest posts were:
1. A shared a post about Home Depot which is giving away sifters so people in California who were affected by the fires can sift for their valuables. Has a few comments, but hasn't replied to them.
2. An illustration she did for a music singles collection. She tags the record company and the shop in the post and tells about pre-orders and such. It has a lot of likes, just a few comments. It's very professional to promote the business and thank people.
3. Shared a political image with a emotional short message about refugees which is sympathetic towards them.
In her Instagram she hasn't posted in a while too, but usually does a lot of Stories content there, almost daily maybe? I don't pay that much attention to it.
1. The posts from a while ago is the same singles collection illustration but with WIP versions and thumbnails of the process.
2. Instagram story is full of pictures from a holiday trip to Brussels. People eating together (their accounts are tagged). Her dog. Sightseeing, book signing for a fan I think. Food. Shopping. Bookstore. Could be basically any of my friends based on these pictures.
In short, even from just these posts, she seems very down to earth. The overall style of her social media accounts seem very natural since even though she usually posts a lot at least on her Instagram account, it feels like it's just normal part of her life. Some posts are political and you can clearly see her views. I think because she is so well established as an artist it's easy to be just like you are. It's not her loss if someone disagrees with her opinions. Imo her social media accounts are a nice mix of personal & professional.
Even though she posts political content too, I don't think she replies to the possible comments under it. To not waste energy on that seems quite smart, especially if people disagree with her. Overall I remember that she does communicate a lot with her fans, even though it's not present in these newest posts I saw. Then again she seems to be traveling, so that must affect it too. Usually she gives tips,thanks people and answers their questions.
In general I like when artists are active in social media. It's not necessary that important thing for me, but considering the big picture it helps to demystify the whole artist image. Being open about creative processes and all the work that goes behind it will open many people's eyes to the actual everyday life of those professions. I feel like people like Yuko Shimizu are to thank when we get less of the comments like "Can you draw this for me? For free?" or when people see art that's a little "weird" to them and they say "The artist must've been on drugs when they painted that". <-- That's my (least) favourite pet peeve.
A while ago I happened to read an interview by this "Knotoryus" agency where Shimizu talks about creating illustrations and her life in general. This interview had so many great points but I wanted to mention a few of her answers. Those are about her history with illustrating and the research part of the creative process. In general she seems to give a lot of great advice, so I would recommend reading her tips if you're interested.
I was surprised to learn that she hasn't always been on the path for an artistic career. Shimizu says that her college degree was not in art and she had a corporate job for 11 years. Then she moved to New York and went to art school. She was already in her 30's. That's a very comforting thought and is probably a great thing for every artist to hear. It's never too late to start your art career or learn drawing and painting. One of the best parts of being an artist.
The other great answer is for a question about how she does research. I'm just going to quote the whole answer here.
"Oh, I think that’s a great question. Research is everything. If I have to illustrate musicians I have not heard of, or am not really into, I surround myself with everything I can find out about them, and I adopt a fake-fan-girl mentality for the duration of the project. I make myself believe I am the biggest fan of the subject or person. This is key for a successful project! It’s fascinating how much you can make yourself believe for a short amount of time. I am about to start a project, relatively long term, about a war in Syria. Now, I am piling up books to read on Syria. Most of the books do not have any direct relation to the project, but I need to understand the back story and the country itself in order to illustrate it, since I have obviously never been to Syria. People tend to think artists and designers just rely on our ‘inspirations’, but in reality it involves lots and lots of research. And the more research we do, the better the ideas we come up with."
I don't think that people always realize how much physical and mental work happen outside of the actual manual drawing or painting. Of course great pieces can be done with much less work too, but the best skill development happens when you really do that extra effort for something. You expand your knowledge and skill in so many ways. Also it's not enough to do just visually pretty pictures all the time, you have to have substance and reason behind your creative choices. She puts it into words very well.
Shimizu is one of the top illustrators in the world (And shares the same name as the creator of Hello Kitty). She has won many awards including the prestigious Hamilton King Award. For every piece of art she uses a brush and black ink to draw and adds the colours digitally.
I have followed her for a few years now in Facebook and Instagram, but not with that much thought. My interest has been more for the professional side to see her drawing works in progress. I only read her posts occasionally, so maybe paying a bit more attention to her social media habits could be beneficial.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bibliodyssey/6729150263/sizes/o/
Shimizu hasn't posted anything on Facebook in almost a week, but the latest posts were:
1. A shared a post about Home Depot which is giving away sifters so people in California who were affected by the fires can sift for their valuables. Has a few comments, but hasn't replied to them.
2. An illustration she did for a music singles collection. She tags the record company and the shop in the post and tells about pre-orders and such. It has a lot of likes, just a few comments. It's very professional to promote the business and thank people.
3. Shared a political image with a emotional short message about refugees which is sympathetic towards them.
In her Instagram she hasn't posted in a while too, but usually does a lot of Stories content there, almost daily maybe? I don't pay that much attention to it.
1. The posts from a while ago is the same singles collection illustration but with WIP versions and thumbnails of the process.
2. Instagram story is full of pictures from a holiday trip to Brussels. People eating together (their accounts are tagged). Her dog. Sightseeing, book signing for a fan I think. Food. Shopping. Bookstore. Could be basically any of my friends based on these pictures.
In short, even from just these posts, she seems very down to earth. The overall style of her social media accounts seem very natural since even though she usually posts a lot at least on her Instagram account, it feels like it's just normal part of her life. Some posts are political and you can clearly see her views. I think because she is so well established as an artist it's easy to be just like you are. It's not her loss if someone disagrees with her opinions. Imo her social media accounts are a nice mix of personal & professional.
Even though she posts political content too, I don't think she replies to the possible comments under it. To not waste energy on that seems quite smart, especially if people disagree with her. Overall I remember that she does communicate a lot with her fans, even though it's not present in these newest posts I saw. Then again she seems to be traveling, so that must affect it too. Usually she gives tips,thanks people and answers their questions.
In general I like when artists are active in social media. It's not necessary that important thing for me, but considering the big picture it helps to demystify the whole artist image. Being open about creative processes and all the work that goes behind it will open many people's eyes to the actual everyday life of those professions. I feel like people like Yuko Shimizu are to thank when we get less of the comments like "Can you draw this for me? For free?" or when people see art that's a little "weird" to them and they say "The artist must've been on drugs when they painted that". <-- That's my (least) favourite pet peeve.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bibliodyssey/6729148619/sizes/l/
A while ago I happened to read an interview by this "Knotoryus" agency where Shimizu talks about creating illustrations and her life in general. This interview had so many great points but I wanted to mention a few of her answers. Those are about her history with illustrating and the research part of the creative process. In general she seems to give a lot of great advice, so I would recommend reading her tips if you're interested.
I was surprised to learn that she hasn't always been on the path for an artistic career. Shimizu says that her college degree was not in art and she had a corporate job for 11 years. Then she moved to New York and went to art school. She was already in her 30's. That's a very comforting thought and is probably a great thing for every artist to hear. It's never too late to start your art career or learn drawing and painting. One of the best parts of being an artist.
The other great answer is for a question about how she does research. I'm just going to quote the whole answer here.
"Oh, I think that’s a great question. Research is everything. If I have to illustrate musicians I have not heard of, or am not really into, I surround myself with everything I can find out about them, and I adopt a fake-fan-girl mentality for the duration of the project. I make myself believe I am the biggest fan of the subject or person. This is key for a successful project! It’s fascinating how much you can make yourself believe for a short amount of time. I am about to start a project, relatively long term, about a war in Syria. Now, I am piling up books to read on Syria. Most of the books do not have any direct relation to the project, but I need to understand the back story and the country itself in order to illustrate it, since I have obviously never been to Syria. People tend to think artists and designers just rely on our ‘inspirations’, but in reality it involves lots and lots of research. And the more research we do, the better the ideas we come up with."
I don't think that people always realize how much physical and mental work happen outside of the actual manual drawing or painting. Of course great pieces can be done with much less work too, but the best skill development happens when you really do that extra effort for something. You expand your knowledge and skill in so many ways. Also it's not enough to do just visually pretty pictures all the time, you have to have substance and reason behind your creative choices. She puts it into words very well.
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