Yukiko's Sketch Blog

Hearts To Japan

2011-03-15T02:38:00.002-05:00

As mentioned in yesterday's post, my dear friend Shiho started a charity T-shirt store to raise money to donate to the earthquake/tsunami relief in East Japan.

Though the store is not complete yet, here is a preview of what we got so far:

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE STORE

Please take a look and help spread the word!!!!
Also, more designs are on their way so keep checking for new shirts.

T-Shirt Charity Project for Japan

2011-03-14T01:43:00.004-05:00

As you all know, last Friday tragedy struck my home country.

It took what seemed like forever to get in touch with them, but all my friends and family are confirmed to be safe and fine. Thanks to everybody who expressed their kind words and concerns. Your thoughts and prayers have really helped me in this difficult time.

Hearing stories from people and seeing the terrifying footage on the news have been breaking my heart. It's been extremely emotionally straining the past few days.

Anyway, yesterday I was contacted by my friend and fellow illustrator, Shiho Hoshino, about a charity T-shirt project. The idea is to get different artists to design T-shirts to raise money to donate to the Red Cross. I think it's a fantastic idea and I'd like to thank Shiho for letting me in on this.

We are working our butts off on designs right now.
I'll post the link as soon as the store is ready.

T-shirts from Wonky Banana Studios

2011-01-11T07:23:00.005-05:00

Last month I opened an online T-shirt store called Wonky Banana Studios.
I have 18 designs up there right now, but have been fairly consistent with adding designs so I'm sure the line will keep expanding. If you got any cool ideas for a shirt, don't hesitate to hit me up!

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Here's what I got thus far. Click on the image to jump to the store!

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The awesome thing about this store is that you can customize to whatever T-shirt style/color that you prefer! So click around and see what you like!

Beeteedubz, follow me on Twitter to get the latest T-shirt news!

DACO Magazine Illustrations

2010-12-19T06:56:00.005-05:00

Here are some illustrations that I have contributed for DACO, a Japanese magazine published twice a month in Bangkok, Thailand.

All done in Photoshop. (Except the elephants, the linework is pencil on paper)

Japanese Textbook Spot Illu's

2010-09-04T06:03:00.003-05:00

So earlier this year I got to contribute my illustrations to a Japanese textbook for a language school here in Thailand. It's about time I upload some (crappy) photos of them:

Working monochromatically was kind of a challenge, but I think I handled it okay. I had a lot of fun drawing these animals!

The Twilight Saga Stars

2010-07-16T10:12:00.003-05:00

Firstly, let me put this out there: I am not a Twilight fan, though my general taste in movies and music may suggest otherwise. I wanted to get back into drawing faces again and wanted to do recognizable figures, so here are my practice doodles of Bella, Edward and Jacob.

Alright, off to finish New Moon...

Jonas Brothers : The T-shirt

2010-01-04T09:03:00.004-05:00

Two summers ago, inspired by Camp Rock, I did a doodle of the Jonas Brothers on a napkin.

About a year later, two Texan girls, Allie and Katlyn, contacted me asking if they could use my design for a T-shirt for a JB concert in Houston on August 14th.

After a little negotiation of this and that, I gladly said yes and cleaned up my doodle into a cleaner design (with updated hairstyles lol):

Here's them with Tony Oller♥♥♥

I know this is a mega belated post--- but thank you girls for loving my design so much! Hopefully someday I can go to a Jonas Brothers concert too!

Happy 2010 by the way, and congrats Kevin on getting married!

Year of the Tiger

2009-12-27T03:55:00.006-05:00

New Year's cards are kind of a big deal in Japan. Sort of like Christmas cards in the States. Anyway, I made these a while back ---sometime in the beginning of this past summer--- for a bunch of New Year's card contests.

[ all: concentrated dyes & color pencils on watercolor paper, & Photoshop ]
The last one was selected as one of the winning works, and is now available on sale at Joyful-2 (an arts & crafts store) around Japan!

Hope everybody is enjoying what's left of 2009.

Computer Arts Thailand

2009-11-30T10:01:00.002-05:00

This is totally long overdue, but I was featured in the October issue of Computer Arts Thailand!
Check out this low quality pix:

Elephants

2009-10-16T06:25:00.004-05:00

...are by far one of my favorite animals, next to monkeys. They're the most gentle, nicest guys EVER. Anyway recently I had the opportunity to visit a few few elephant camps / centers in Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

^ The last guy is from the wildlife hospital... Some people's faces just MUST be drawn.

Hot Air Balloonin'.

2009-08-20T01:34:00.004-05:00

So, more than a month ago I started brewing some ideas for a new promo card piece:

I picked the last sketch and worked right up to the color comp stage, but didn't get around to starting on the final until two days ago:

I tried to keep everything fairly loose, as far as coloring went.

Almost always I scan in piece and tweak the raw piece in Photoshop:

Most times I do simple color adjustments and clean-up, but I wasn't too happy with how the blue in the balloon came out so I fixed that.

Anyway, here is the final:

Media: ink dyes and color pencils on CP watercolor paper, gin*** + Photoshop.
****I often use lighter fluid to smooth out the color pencil markings (it melts the wax). However, today I couldn't find any so I used gin as a replacement. :x It worked okay but definitely not up to par with lighter fluid, hence the Photoshopping.

About To Cry.

2009-06-26T21:46:00.002-05:00

Random facial expressions are fun. Any suggestions?

Some of My Published Works

2009-06-25T01:39:00.003-05:00

...that I should have posted a YEAR ago.

in this:

the above two in these (same issue, different covers):

I really need to take better pictures...

This Cat Always Cracks Me Up.

2009-06-23T03:41:00.003-05:00

Archivin' these two older pieces---stationary ideas:

My main site has been updated (every piece is bigger!) so check that out too! I need to make&add new pieces real bad. I'm also thinking about making my site Japanese-friendly some point in the near future. I wish web design wasn't so frustrating!

More Of These.

2009-06-21T01:12:00.002-05:00

These are so much fun!!! Hopefully I will post some real drawings sometime soon...

Paint Mark Guys.

2009-05-20T00:04:00.004-05:00

When I'm painting, I usually have a little scrap piece of whatever paper I'm using at the time as an area to test out the colors before I lay it down on the actual piece. Sometimes these paint marks turn out more interesting than the actual piece.

Also, have you guys ever drawn random lines or scribbles and given it to somebody else to draw something using those lines? And swapping it back and forth? I don't know if that has an official name or anything but I love doing that.

Anyway, last night I was feeling silly and started doodling on my paint marks from the swine flu piece. It was a lot of fun! Unintended (unintentional?) shapes and patterns are so interesting.

My favorites are the three guys on the right: the dog (?), the cat, and the guy with a turban-esque headgear.

Swine Fluzilla

2009-05-19T04:43:00.003-05:00

I'm not really the editorial / contemporary events type of illustrator, but this swine flu madness is getting ridiculous (in every way) that I just had to draw this.

Concentrated dyes & color pencils on watercolor block, some Photoshop.

GG Completed.

2009-05-06T21:25:00.004-05:00

Ed Westwick as Chuck Bass

&
Leighton Meester as Blair Waldorf

[ click to enlarge ]
...from the TV show Gossip Girl!

Both are gouache & color pencils on stretched Canson Mi-Tientes paper.

Gossip Girl Gifs.

2009-05-06T01:15:00.003-05:00

I'm 99% with both Blair & Chuck. Here are the progress photo gifs:

Please give the gifs a few seconds to load.

Blair Waldorf In Progress.

2009-05-05T02:06:00.003-05:00

Gouache on stretched Canson Mi-Tientes paper in Light Blue.

Mr. Chuck is 97% done, so I started Miss Blair so I can finish the two together. I kind of intended them to be a pair piece that also works independently.

More Charles Bartholomew Bass Progress...

2009-04-30T10:32:00.001-05:00

Chuck Bass In Progress.

2009-04-28T03:50:00.005-05:00

Gouache on stretched Canson Mi-Tientes paper in Buff. The suit needs to be pushed back a little bit as far as saturation goes. Anyway, onto my favorite part: color pencils!

I'm On A Roll! GG Color Comps.

2009-04-24T05:52:00.002-05:00

I guess it's just one of those days where I'm oddly inspired and productive!

Chuck Bass Color Comp:

[ click to enlarge ]

Blair Waldorf Color Comp:

[ click to enlarge ]

Let me know if you have any favorite(s) or any other color suggestions! The only things I want to stick to are: Chuck's purple suit, Blair's red lipstick & white dress. I might come up with other variations with her headband/bow thing.

Gossip Girl Strikes Back, and Vin D.

2009-04-24T03:57:00.009-05:00

So, I know I've drawn The boys of Gossip Girl before, but I'm way too intrigued by Chuck Bass's face to not draw him again.

Here is a start of a sketch (photographed, hence the quality):

...and a more finalized sketch (scanned):

I decided to draw Blair Waldorf while I was at it, too:

Leighton Meester is gorgeous... and I love her immature & manipulative character so much.

I'm pretty sure I will be taking these drawings to a final piece. I already have a color scheme in mind (purple for Chuck Bass and white&red for Blair).

Also I've started working on Vin Diesel. Since I'm not too sure about the drawing for this one, I've decided to experiment with this and just mess around. I like it so far:

It's gouache & a little bit of color pencils on stretched Canson Mi-Tientes paper in light blue. I might even take it into digital and play with collage-y elements to see what happens.

Vin D, Stop Being Difficult.

2009-04-23T02:25:00.002-05:00

So, I'm starting to do a stylized portrait of Vin Diesel. Here are some preliminary sketches:

It's my first time drawing someone with no hair. Also while he has distinct features (nose, chin, eyebrows) I'm having the hardest time capturing his likeness. The drawings I've done sort of all look like Vin Diesel's relatives, but not himself. Hopefully the final will turn out better.

^ My references. w00t I have Vin D staring at me all day. Also watching xXx on mute was da bomb.

Life's a Joke.

2009-03-10T17:31:00.003-05:00

So, like most everyone else I saw Watchmen this past weekend. Can't say I liked it (I haven't read the graphic novel fyi)... but last night I did a little silly doodle of the characters:

No reference, like My Marvel drawings. Amazing, I know.

More Skins...

2009-02-26T19:53:00.002-05:00

Nicholas Hoult as Tony Stonem in Skins.

From My New Favorite Show

2009-02-25T15:23:00.000-05:00

April Pearson as Michelle from the UK show Skins.

Cuz I Am Hugh Jackman...

2009-02-23T18:03:00.001-05:00

From the 81st Academy Awards last night. Hugh didn't get as much airtime as much as I had hoped... :( His opening number was excellent, however.

Allan at the Park

2009-02-21T21:26:00.001-05:00

Haven't drawn faces from life lately.

A Bit Early...

2009-02-12T18:28:00.000-05:00

...but Happy Valentine's Day.

25 Faces

2009-02-08T17:52:00.000-05:00

Just goofin' around.

(A Month-Late)

2009-02-01T17:27:00.005-05:00

New Year's Resolution: Update this blog more!!

I have been TERRIBLE with this blog lately, and didn't help that my scanner had been broken up til now. Anyway, I promise I will be better this year! Here are some recent doodles to get the ball rolling once again.

I have NO IDEA what this is supposed to be, but I guess those are the best kind of doodles.

I want to do more story-telling-ish drawings like this.

DC Completed.

2008-11-16T18:18:00.003-05:00

Daniel Craig

Quantum of Solace was excellent.

[ Gouache and color pencils on a gray Canson Mi-Tientes paper + Photoshop ]

Can't Wait for Quantum of Solace!

2008-11-05T15:34:00.003-05:00

Here is a personal piece I have been working on.. a stylized portrait of Daniel Craig.

I would say it's about 85% done right now, trying to establish a more defined focal point. The colors are meh because it's a photo not a scan.

He was super challenging to capture because 1) his head shape changes at every angle, 2) BLONDE (esp eyebrows), and 3) one of the oldest people I've drawn. I like how it's rendering out so far.

ANY input would be much much appreciated!

[ Gouache and color pencils on a gray Canson Mi-Tientes paper ]

I've Been Slacking!!!

2008-10-02T14:48:00.002-05:00

A sketch dump!

"Put the Teddy Bear Back in the Box."

2008-08-28T00:51:00.001-05:00

Nick Cage from Con Air.

Illu, Doodles, and A Link.

2008-08-26T08:37:00.005-05:00

Wow, I didn't realize it's been so long since I last posted!

Here is a little freelance thingy I did for Jorden Magazine.

Gouache and color pencils on Canson Mi-Tinte paper. It's a lot more vibrant in person and I love it.

A couple of doodles:

Also it's been a while since I posted artist links, so here we go. Kyle T. Webster has a blog, The Daily Figure, where he posts a figure drawing every day. The commitment is impressing, as well as the simple yet sophisticated line qualities of these figures. He gets the pose down with just a few strokes.

Yeah, totally awesome.

Animals!

2008-07-31T21:47:00.002-05:00

We went to the Jacksonville Zoo today, and I got to sketch animals from life!

I personally enjoyed drawing the monkeys the most. Unfortunately they didn't have all the monkeys on exhibit today (like chimps), but oh well. It was still a great time.

Amelie

2008-07-30T11:10:00.002-05:00

Audrey Tautou.
I like the one on the right WAY better.

Marvel According to Yukiko Adachi

2008-07-22T00:01:00.001-05:00

Drawn with absolutely no reference and awful memory.

Colored It.

2008-07-15T14:01:00.001-05:00

The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street

2008-07-13T17:29:00.003-05:00

Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd.
I love musicals but this one was a bit too much gore for me.

I Heart Drawing Faces.

2008-07-11T15:51:00.003-05:00

Delirious doodling at the Charlotte airport, done while sipping on coffee (I NEVER DRINK COFFEE).

Amanda Bynes in Sydney White.

Some quick faces at a Drink & Draw last night.

Jonas Brothers

2008-06-22T17:39:00.003-05:00

Nick, Joe and Kevin.

Drawn on a paper napkin at a pizza place, no reference.

It's been a while since I've done a full-finished caricature... I may do these guys to add to my Disney series (currently consisting of Zefron and Miley.)

Two Boys.

2008-06-16T17:15:00.004-05:00

Couple more new pieces:

Gouache on wood, with subtle scanned textures added in Photoshop.

Ink dyes on illustration board, scanned textures added in Photoshop.

I've always preferred working on traditional media over digital but I really enjoy utilizing digital tools to enhance non-digital things.
The forgivingness and the range of possible experimentations of Photoshop is just as good as the unpredictability of traditional media.

Wood Paintingz

2008-06-10T16:42:00.004-05:00

Some of the sketches from the previous entry done in color:

Gouache & color pencils on wood, enhanced in Photoshop.
I had been wanting to do more wood painting, and applying subtle textures digitally. Here are my results, I'm definitely more happy with the first one than the second. I like how bright the green came out (and that wasn't digital, the gouache was super bright).

Doodles From The Past Week Or So

2008-05-28T15:09:00.003-05:00

I drew this one in a dark theater, and while I enjoy the nervous linework it resulted in, I ended up getting myself a little booklight so I don't go blind in a few years.

I like this one a lot, I might take it to finish.

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Also, I got myself a Behance site. Check me out and give me some thumbs ups!

Archive Galore

2008-05-25T13:10:00.006-05:00

I have revamped the Home Base, and am moving some older pieces here for archiving:

A poster I did for Ska Weekend 2007. Spring 2007; Photoshop.

An editorial piece on women's pay equality, it won third place & honorable mention for a competition sponsored by American Association of University Women and SCAD Career Services Department. March 2007; Ink dyes, gouache, & color pencils.

A skateboard I painted in acrylics for a gallery show in Atlanta last summer.

Wine label design. Fall 2006; Gouache & color pencils.

Stamp design about childhood. Winter 2007; Photoshop.

Cover & pages from my children's book, which can be read HERE. Fall 2006; Gouache, color pencils, & Photoshop.

Painted from a life model, approx 2 hours. Spring 2007; oils.

Also painted from a life model, approx 2 hours. Spring 2007; oils.

Drawn from life, approx 30 min. Spring 2007; charcoal.

Assignment about this incident. Fall 2006; Gouache & ink.

Self-portrait. Early 2006; C.F. Payne technique.

An Apple A Day...

2008-05-17T15:03:00.003-05:00

Just doodlin' on the school Cintiq.

Also, here is a link to Lobaton, an amazing caricature artist. I really admire his illustrations because it is a prime example of "less is more." I love how simplified YET still very recognizable these faces are.
(MUTE your speakers first, the intro page has music...)

Bird

2008-05-15T17:57:00.003-05:00

Here is a preview of the piece I was working on in the previous post. I've actually made several versions of this piece so this particular one may not be the final. Regardless, it's gouache + color pencils, with ink dye textures combined in Photoshop.

I also have a ton of fun personal projects in progress/brainstormed up! More on that soon.

Gossip Girl Boys

2008-05-13T17:31:00.003-05:00

The Boys of Gossip Girl.

Here is a piece in progress that I am doing for fun. You can see my color comps on the laptop screen. It's gouache on green Canson Mi-Tinte paper, and am adding color pencils now to bump things up.

More Desperate Housewives

2008-05-11T21:13:00.003-05:00

James Denton as Mike Delfino, Nicollette Sheridan as Edie Britt, and Rachel Fox as Kayla Huntington.

Sketchies & T-shirt Design

2008-05-06T22:39:00.004-05:00

Teri Hatcher as Susan Mayer on Desperate Housewives:

Sometimes I get OCD and cover an entire page with random patterns:

A T-shirt design concept I did for this project a couple months back:

It's being processed right now for production, will update more when that's all set!

David Archuleta

2008-04-28T19:24:00.002-05:00

I don't watch American Idol, but I have been Youtube-ing him. I hope he wins!

Sidewalk Arts 2008

2008-04-27T19:13:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I participated in SCAD's annual Sidewalk Arts Festival for the second time (last year was my first, though I WISH I had done it the two previous years before that!).

Basically, SCAD students/alumni/etc can sign up for a square in Savannah's Forsyth Park, in which we can draw anything using just chalk. It's a great festival, and I just love getting live feedback from pedestrians and fellow artists!

Some people (incl. myself) use water & various tools to smoothen the colors.

Unfortunately for us yesterday, it rained various times throughout the day, washing the drawings right off of the sidewalk. My friend Nick and I stuck around and reworked on our squares til the end of the day, though.

The finished piece! Yay!

Business Card Ideas

2008-04-23T14:36:00.002-05:00

I made 3 samples for my business card. (They all have the same backs, seen on the right side.)

Right now I am split between the top one and the bottom one. Any input/comments would be much appreciated.

Logo!

2008-04-22T18:06:00.002-05:00

After 4 intense weeks of sketching... my very first logo as an Illustrator is finally complete:

Here are some of the preliminary sketches (small ones, like napkin doodles, excluded):

Desperate Housewives

2008-04-20T21:37:00.002-05:00

Bree Hodge and Carlos Solis.

I started on Susan but didn't get to finish...hopefully next week!

I'm Impressed.

2008-04-15T20:26:00.005-05:00

Sean Ryan Cooley's first time-based typography project to Streetlight Manifesto's "Would You Be Impressed."

Holler him some compliments, cuz I think it's really awesome!

I'm Leaving You Behind.

2008-04-12T20:03:00.003-05:00

I've been preoccupied with several projects in the works--which I will start putting up in the posts to come.

For the job fair that SCAD hosted last week, I decided to make little leave-behind booklets with a few printed samples of my work & CD etc. I had a ball designing/crafting them, so decided to share it here:

[ I've decided, pink & yellow are my new favorite colors ]

^ the back.

And now, I will leave you with a little doodle..

Inertia Is A Property Of Matter

2008-03-28T22:20:00.002-05:00

Bill Nye The Science Guy
Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill!

He is my scientific superstar.

Caricature Sketches

2008-03-24T12:53:00.003-05:00

A few preliminary sketches I did for the Lily Allen / Rihanna pieces:

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Though drawing faces have always been my thing, for the past year or so (since I took a portrait class), every time I watch a movie or a TV show I get tempted to draw their faces. It's like how film majors are constantly thinking about the lighting/camera/editing/blahblahs, I'm constantly studying the actor/actress's faces, itching to get their likeness on paper. Here is a fairly recent one I did when I watched No Country For Old Men:

[ it's pink cuz it was on pink paper! ]

Update & Archived Portraits PART DEUX

2008-03-11T13:47:00.007-05:00

I've added 2 new works in my main site under Portraits, please check them out and tell me what you think!
(If you're not sure who they are... it's L___ A____ and R______.)

I took down 5 works from the same section, simply because they're kind of old and

Drawn from life. Experimenting in oils with different colors.

Same model, different style. I used washes of oil for this. I like how it feels very Gauguin-esque.

Another experimental piece from life. I like the drippy-ness but the colors are kind of dull.

Pretty old, from fall 2006. I illustrated one of the seven deadly sins (vanity) using symbolic colors and images. I'm happy with the lighting but some details are pretty blah (i.e. hands).

Even older... early 2006. First time using ink dyes and color pencils. I still like it but wish the face had a bit more life to it.

Sketch Dump

2008-03-05T18:56:00.002-05:00

Just some randoms from the past couple weeks:

Me and my roommates...in a nutshell.

Playing around with different headshapes.

Messing around with different styles.

I like looking around a room full of people, finding a certain pose/angle that is visually interesting, and completely making up a doodle based on that.

I like this guy's hair.

A depressed Gorgon.

Scott Bakal came to the SCAD illustration department to have a presentation, because apparently he is one of the candidates for working at SCAD. I couldn't resist drawing him during his presentation, for he had a very animated & distinct face. As an illustrator, he has a very good sensitivity to color, shapes, and texture. -Do- check out his stuff!

Hands!

2008-02-29T17:10:00.003-05:00

At his workshop, James Jean talked about the importance of being able to draw hands. I know it's not one of my forte's, so I decided to do a bunch of studies on hands. I had so much fun, I ended up doing 12 pages in one day. Here are a few:

Hands are so strange. They stop looking like hands while you're drawing them, but once you leave, come back and look at them, they look like hands again.

Happy Leap Day everyone!

Circus & Caricature of Me!

2008-02-26T21:22:00.011-05:00

I thought it would be fun to make a little gif animation of how my final piece progresses--and figured I might as well post it up here:

(please give it a sec for the gif to load)
Here is the final product:

The following were used: concentrated dyes, bleach, color pencils, lighter fluid, & acrylic paint pens.

---

Today in the Art of Caricature class, we had two caricaturists come in to do demos: Jeremy Townsend and Justin Galloway. It was phenomenal to see them bust out great line drawings one after another without any sketch lines.
Jeremy drew me!

(the actual paper's not yellow, it's just a bad quality photo)
I definitely learned a lot from just watching them draw-- They're living proof that, like with anything else, the only way to get better is to draw, draw, and draw some more.

Fanboy & Fangirl Time Galore.

2008-02-23T11:38:00.002-05:00

Over the past two days, my friends and I went up to Atlanta to participate in the SCAD Illustration & Comic Arts Forum. It was amazing, definitely worth the 4+ hour ride.

On Thursday night there was a lecture by 2 comic artists (Eric Canete & Andrew Robinson) and 2 illustrators (Yuko Shimizu & James Jean). I was especially psyched about seeing the latter two because they're some of the most influential and successful contemporary illustrators that I know of. It was thrilling to see them talk about their work in person.

On Friday I attended a workshop by James, in which he colored a simple pencil line drawing using Photoshop. I was amazed to see that for someone who has such great color sensitivity and intricacy in little details, he didn't use any more than like 5 layers. (Granted, it was a quick exercise piece for a demo--but still.) He also used some Photoshop effects that someone could easily call "tacky" (i.e. gradient overlay), but he used them well-- I would never have guessed just by looking at his finished. It further emphasizes that "it's not about what tools the artist uses, but HOW he uses them."

Anyway, I was a little fangirl and I got my sketchbook signed by Yuko & James:

They were nice enough to top them off with a little doodle!

Modernized & Urbanized

2008-02-20T18:31:00.004-05:00

Little Red Riding Hood.

The wolf is going to be a creepy hobo.

The Attack of the Frombies!!!!

2008-02-19T23:50:00.004-05:00

Last fall I came up with a concept for a Halloween ornament line called the Frombies® (Okay, it's not really a registered trademark.... but it looks cool with that logo, no?).
Basically they are half eaten fruits that turned into zombies, and roam around the house at night seeking revenge on humans. Yeah, a little gory for my taste or style, so I knew I had to make it really goofy.

Here is the product sheet of all the fruits I designed:

I had so much fun with this piece, I actually made a sculpey model for the Apple Frombie:

Not the best lighting, but I like that position. Here is another:

Sculpting is not really my thing, but I enjoyed it regardless.

Now, if anybody wants to actually turn the Frombies into a line of characters.... send all checks to "Yukiko Adachi" please, I'm ready for my million dollars...*sigh*

Zoo Color Comps & Genevieve Kote

2008-02-18T17:40:00.004-05:00

Here are the color comps that I had whipped up in Photoshop for the zoo mural art.

I ended up picking the bottom left colors for the final piece, which was done in concentrated dyes, gouache & color pencils. I think color comps are a great way to lay out any value/hue issues before getting to the final. In this particular piece I only varied the background color because I decided to keep the animals colors naturalistic (so there were no confusion as to what was what).

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The illustrator link of the day is Genevieve Kote, who is from Quebec City. She does a lot of freelance stuff, mainly for publications. I just love the whimsical characters, well-planned composition, and bright color schemes that she executes in her illustrations. She also has a great ability to depict any situation in a light-hearted, yet not overly-comical way.

She also has a flickr which has more up-to-date sketches &pieces.

Update & Archived Portraits

2008-02-16T13:33:00.005-05:00

My Portfolio Site has been updated! 2 pieces each are added under Illustration and Portraits, so feel free to check them out! As always, any input/comments are much appreciated.

I retired 4 pieces from under Portraits, simply because they're pretty old (made around fall 05 - spring 06), plus I don't feel like they necessarily represent my current style. I'm dumping them here though for archival sake.

Mr. Bean; oil on CP illustration board.

The governator; oil on CP illustration board.

Danny Elfman; ink on HP illustration board.

George Lucas; gouache & color pencils on CP illustration board.
^ This was my VERY first time using gouache..ever! Now it's one of my favorite media.

Another Silver!

2008-02-15T23:37:00.006-05:00

My Robbie Williams piece won another Silver! This time at the Savannah ADDY's, for a student category Elements of Advertising: Illustration. Hooray!

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I'm dumping a bunch of random doodles I've been compiling over the past few days. The reason they're so yellow-ish is because I'm having troubles with my scanner, so I just photographed them instead:

^ I really like this last one. I'm working on a mural concept for a circus, so I'm going to try to integrate him somewhere!

New URL

2008-02-10T12:10:00.002-05:00

....YES.

My Sketch Blog is now @ http://yukikoadachi.blogspot.com! The old URL (http://yukikoadachi.com/blog.html) should still work, but it will be in the previous boring template (with the subdirectory link Blogger doesn't let me customize the layout of the page... which is random and lame).
*edit* I deleted the old URL.

Anyway, if everybody could re-link me I'd appreciate it!

P.S. I'm -hoping- to update my main site with new work + info by the end of the month... so stay tuned.

Contemplation

2008-02-09T16:07:00.001-05:00

A week-old doodles that I've been meaning to scan in. I have a ton more doodles AND finished pieces that I need to post. I will probably add stuff to my main site before the month ends.

Weee! Huh?

2008-02-03T15:47:00.000-05:00

I think it's really important for any artist to take a break from their current projects/assignments, and doodle things that have absolutely nothing to do with anything.

By the way, my boyfriend Sean Cooley has revamped his portfolio site at Ardour Designs. He's a graphic designer and has a completely different style than mine, but is super talented so I thought I'd show him off. So yeah, check it out!

Zoo Mural Art Concept

2008-01-31T23:23:00.000-05:00

A value comp I did for a zoo mural. It's kind of hard to see in a sketch so small, but it shows a bunch of animals partying, dressed as another animal. I'll probably keep the colors naturalistic so there's no confusion as to what animal's what (it's already so busy!).

By the way, here's another illustrator link: Matt Phelan. He's a children's book illustrator, and I'm actually doing a report on him. He works mainly in watercolors + ink to produce simple yet unique imagery. I mean, how adorable is this??

I love his sketchy look! I tend to overwork in my final pieces, so I admire how he's able to keep the loose quality of his sketches whilst defining a certain environment/atmosphere.

Silver & Celebrities.

2008-01-27T14:04:00.002-05:00

Like I mentioned last December, one of my illustrations had been nominated as a finalist for the 2nd annual SCADDY Awards. Well, yesterday was the ceremony, and I got a Silver Award for it! Yay! Also I was informed that I became the finalist for the local Savannah ADDY Awards as well. So double yay!

Here is the with-type version of the piece I won for:

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For my caricature class, we have to come up with 2 celebrity images, one horizontal and one vertical. Being a shameless avid Hannah Montana & High School Musical fan, I decided to do Miley Cyrus & Zac Efron. Here are the sketches:

^ Yeah, half Hannah Montana/half Miley... sort of creepy.

And a sneak peek of the color comp sketches in progress:

Yes, I have a TON of references.

Upload Overload.

2008-01-24T20:06:00.001-05:00

Alright, I've got a lot to post today:

First off, here are initial sketches (from life) of my fellow classmates in my caricature class:

And here are the final finished pieces:

One had to be graphic/geometrical (top, dyes) and the other one more naturalistic (bottom, graphite).

We also did a fun little in-class exercise today, where we had to draw the Statue of Liberty in various facial expressions:

They were definitely fun to do! Why can't Lady Liberty actually look like one of those in real life? :D

Up next are a few random doodles in my sketchbook:

My personal (=not for class) sketchbook is a small 6"x6" square format, so I tend to just put it on my lap and draw things from all sorts of angles... hence the sideways bears... Sorry, I guess you'll just have to tilt your head sideways!

Another one, drawn during a long winded critique...*yawn*:

Finally, my friend Shiho Hoshino put up pictures of her worktable on her blog the other day, so I thought I'd be a little copycat and put my own up:

You can sort of see the finished version of the piece I had been working on...the sketch is in the previous post. I'll be sure to post a good res scan of that soon!

Springin' Into Action!

2008-01-22T23:22:00.000-05:00

Here is a comp sketch of theme park mural art concept I've been working on for Portfolio class:

Just started the final piece. It's going to have a very bright spring-y feel, and I'm using mostly concentrated dyes to get that kind of vibrance!

As for the concept, I just wanted to draw something fun and appealing to children (and not tying myself down to THEME PARK subjects). So what's more fun than a girl and her dog (in a space suit..) skipping through a plain on a rainbow-y path?? And random mushroom-y creatures sprouting?

Girls & Yusuke Nakamura

2008-01-13T22:13:00.000-05:00

Been drawing a lot of girls lately. It's a weird trend/cycle (?) that comes and goes: sometimes I draw animals for weeks, sometimes I draw boys non-stop, and right now I'm drawing mostly girls.

Speaking of drawing girls, 中村祐介(Yusuke Nakamura) is an amazing illustrator, mostly famous for doing artwork for the band Asian Kung-Fu Generation. He also does bookcovers, shirt designs, and various other freelance work. His graphic style of drawing girls within a design is truly phenomenal. More of his stuff can be viewed here.

I emailed him several years ago to tell him how much I love his work, and he was so nice and humble in his response. It's nice when really talented artists don't let their success get to their head, and stay grounded. I'd like to be like that one day (well first I need to get famous...).

Posh & First Illustrator Link!

2007-12-27T09:48:00.000-05:00

Here are some recent doodles. There are actually more (and of better quality), but I'm going to hold on posting those til I turn them into actual illustrations.

I drew these while I was accidentally locked out of my friend's apartment. Sitting in that hallway somehow helped me get my creative juices flowing, but not enough for anything superb. I was hungry.

I then decided to take a walk to a nearby park, and drew this while sitting on a bench:

The middle face is supposed to be Posh Spice, but I had no reference.... so I don't know.

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ALSO I decided that this sketchblog is a good place for me to post up links of illustrators/other art-related things. Here is a link for my favorite children's book illustrator, いもとようこ(Yoko Imoto). Her site may be kind of hard to navigate for those that don't understand Japanese, so the link goes straight to her illustrations.

While I can't say I'm super familiar with every book she's ever illustrated, I love her distinct style-- the way she's able to make everything seem warm and fluffy through her color schemes and textures. I'm totally going to buy her 2008 calendar. I mean, how can you not love this??

Here is one of a book I actually own:

I guess my parents bought this for my sister and I when we were little. It's been hidden in our bookshelf for quite some time (20 years?) til I found it recently and realized how amazing the illustrations are. Anyway, enough talkin', check out her stuff.

SCADDY finalist!

2007-12-23T05:16:00.001-05:00

Yay!

I entered a bunch of my artwork into the SCADDY Awards again this year, and my Robbie Williams portrait was nominated as a finalist for Advertising Illustration! w00t w00t.

My Screaming Jack wine label was also nominated as a finalist for the same category last year. I didn't win anything last year and am not going to have my hopes too high for this year either---- but it's still quite a rush to get approval for my work. :)

Old(er) Pieces

2007-12-05T02:53:00.001-05:00

When my Portfolio Site was updated, I originally had it planned to put some old/irrelevant work under "archives." However I didn't want to overload the site with too many images, so that ended up not happening. I figured this blog is a good place to put them up, so here they are:

I might have posted this somewhere else, but this is an anti-smoking poster made for a class. The smoke is made up of little tiny text that reads "Smoking Is Not Glamorous." Spring 2007.

Spring 2006. A piece about life and death. I personally really like the concept I came up with, I think it was pretty clever :)

Also Spring 2006. A cover for an article about toxic everything.

"I Had A Nightmare."

2007-11-14T18:11:00.000-05:00

Brrrrrr!

2007-11-11T22:00:00.000-05:00

When the weather gets chilly, I naturally draw people in autumn/winter clothes.

These were drawn on two separate days/occasions-----now I realize that I have a thing for knitted caps with fluffy balls at the end.

Super Blob!

2007-11-03T00:02:00.001-05:00

Here is a 16"x12" collage-painting I made recently, based on the sketch from the previous post:

I've been wanting to paint on collages for about a year now. I improvised the entire thing, with hardly a clear vision of the final product... a total no-no for most Illustration, but I like how spontaneous and fun it turned out. Here are my impromptu steps:

- ripped magazine pages glued on canvas with watered down gesso
- yellow dye for tint
- peeling off some glued parts off to create ripped texture
- graphite to transfer the sketch
- putting down gouache with a paintbrush
- putting down gouache with a toothbrush (splattering)
- industrial duct tape to rip the surface + create further texture
- black and purple Sharpies for outlines (oh, how un-artsy)

I entered this into the SCAD Small Works exhibition call for entries, alongside random pieces from the past. We'll see how that goes.

I will definitely continue doing more fun personal projects like this!!

Blobs and Faces

2007-10-24T17:39:00.000-05:00

The best doodles come out when you're not even trying. I drew this while waiting in line at Office Max:

I really like the blob-y guys at the top. I'm definitely going to do more with them (i.e. vectorizing, painting).

Also I wanted to develop a new way to draw faces, and this is what I came up with:

I drew the girl on the left first, and drew a younger version of her on the right. Which later turned into:

I liked this sketch so much that I'm using a variation of it for my Electronic Illustration class project.

Take Me To The Zoo

2007-10-16T15:36:00.000-05:00

Random characters that have been compiling in my sketchbook over the past week.

I think this is a sign that I need to go to the zoo. Like, right now.

Sad Pumpkin

2007-10-12T22:15:00.001-05:00

Halloween is right around the corner, kids.

Into The Deep Sketches

2007-10-03T10:31:00.000-05:00

SCAD's Society of Illustrators is hosting a juried show, and the theme is "Into the Deep"-- so basically anything that has to do with the ocean. The format is 10"x14".

Here is how my sketch progressed:

I'm thinking about using concentrated dyes for the colors-- not only will it be super vibrant, but it's also a very versatile media to work with. The piece is due in about 2 weeks so I've still got a lot of time.

Penguin On A Vespa

2007-09-27T18:25:00.000-05:00

I designed three T-shirts for Ska Weekend, and here is one of the designs:

Well, in my Electronic Illustration class I colored it:

Fairly straight up Photoshop.

Here is a closeup:

I will post images of the shirts later!

Wet (Festive) Seal

2007-09-22T18:19:00.000-05:00

Concept #2/3 for the Christmas Item assignment. Seals are my new favorite thing to draw. I LOVE the sketch I did for this, the coloring not so much... I was trying to go for the colorful-yet-faded-retro-look, but I think it just looks kind of dull. I'm not too concerned about it, however, since it's just at the concept stage.
I'm thinking about naming him Hubert.

Christmas!

2007-09-20T22:52:00.000-05:00

Wow, I have been terrible at updating this blog. Classes for fall quarter just started last week, and hopefully that will help me produce artwork more consistently.

Here's something from Illustration for the Retail Market, which is a new class in the department. Basically I get to come up with ideas for random holiday merchandise, home decor... anything that makes the consumers go crazy with their money. The first assignment is a Christmas item, and this is one of the concepts that I've come up with:

Just some of the random doodles and sketches.

I really liked this one so I decided to color it:

Nothing spectacular, just straight up character design. I like coming up with little back stories for my characters though (which is what we're SUPPOSED to be doing for this kind of stuff): The girl (no names yet) likes to make her lil brother help her find Christmas presents around the house... yes, little mischievous guys they are. The lil bro is very clumsy and always ends up getting them in trouble.

Yeah, this is the kind of stuff I daydream about during lecture classes! Oh well, I may or may not end up using these little guys for my final presentation.. we'll see.

Skate Deck Art

2007-06-17T20:15:00.001-05:00

I've been meaning to make more posts here but life got in the way... and by life, I mean summer vacation! Yay! I've actually been doing work---an internship with Marcus Kenney, and doing a lot of paintings.

Here is one that I worked on for the first week of June. It's for the Go Skate Deck Art Show at Doo Gallery in Atlanta. Unfortunately the show opening is on June 23, two days after I leave to go back to Japan-- which means I'm not gonna be able to make it. However, my good pal/fellow artist Thom Foolery will be there (he's the one that told me about this show), and knowing him I know he'll take lots of pictures!

Here's a detail of the back (well, I guess "top"):

It's based on a random doodle that I did during art history class some time last month:

Usually I dig the sketch more than the actual piece, but in this case I'm actually really satisfied with the final. I think I picked a good muted color scheme for it. I can't wait for it to be all hung up at the show!

Oh yeah, this is done in acrylics.

National Bowling Week

2007-05-28T19:00:00.001-05:00

Finals for spring quarter are starting to wrap up at last. Here's one of them, for my poster design class:

I'm really glad with how it turned out, especially the background and the colors since I didn't have enough time to do color comps for this one. It was a lot of fun to draw, I'd like to do more personifications (?) of random objects.

Ska Weekend Poster

2007-05-27T19:21:00.001-05:00

Hooray, my art blog is finally up and running!

I'll start it off with a poster that I made for Ska Weekend 2007 for my poster class. Ben Altom, the founder of the festival, found it on my Livejournal and asked me if they could use it as their official flyer. Needless to say, I happily agreed.

I've also been given the opportunity to come up with possible designs for a T-shirt for this event. But more on that later...