Yuko Michishita
Where do you live?
Brighton, UK
Where/ What did you study, if you studied?
University of Brighton (graduated in summer 2009)
Give us some Brighton recommendations?
Castor and Pollux, art bookshop on the seafront is great for getting some inspiration. Sunday market at the Marina is a good place to find some old arty magazines etc, which are very inspiring too.
Would you encourage people to move there? Do you think it is better for recent graduates to live in a smaller city or a larger city?
No I don't necessarily recommend people to move to Brighton. I think the most important thing is that you're happy wherever you live, isn't it? I happen to have been to university here and I like the convenience of being able to pop by my friends' places anytime and get around by foot or bike in Brighton. I sometimes do go to meetings in London but it only takes an hour to get there. Considering most people who live in London have to commute all the time, the only difference is either you're on the tube, or on the train I think. Also as a freelancer, I normally work in my studio except for meetings etc (which is a corner of my living room but I call it "my studio" to make me sound like a proper artist haha) so I don't feel necessity of living in London. I love visiting London a lot but I like the chill-out feel of Brighton too much. And it's got a beach too!
How would you describe your work?
Meticulous on a ridiculous level
What are your tools/ what medium do you work in?
Mostly pencils
Thinking back to your time at university do you think you were able to develop your style through the projects you were set or do you think that only once university is over can you really concentrate on honing your illustration style?
I'm not trying to be a sales person for my university, but really, my university was really, really good. The tutors were always encouraging and helpful in making my work stronger and even though I never considered of establishing my own style (I believe "style" is something that leaks out from your work non-stoppably), I learnt what the strongest line of work I can create is.
Do you feel you have reached the place you want to be as an illustrator?
No. I like the fact that I kind of can live on what I earn as an illustrator (with the help of a bit of savings from the past too I must add) but I really want "being an illustrator" to be my prime and proper occupation. At the moment, I feel I'm somewhere on the way.
Also I think I would never "develop my work" enough to reach the point of saying, "yeah THIS IS THE VERY BEST OF WHAT I CAN DO." My work is always on development and yes sometimes I do feel like I created something really brilliant but quite often, a couple of days after completing the piece and I'd think, "It's still ok and I like what I created, but to be fair it's not as good as I thought". So to my eyes there's always a space for improvement for my work and as long as it's that way, I probably wouldn't feel that I've reached the place I want to be as an illustrator. But then again it might be a good thing because if I reached the highest point, then I wouldn't know what the motivation for work would be. There's no need to worry about that though because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't reach the point forever haha.
What do you think about the competition we ran and why did you submit?
Good competition with very open brief. I submitted because I really want to go into surface design/card design etc.
What are you working on at the moment?
Personal pencil drawing, also designing some cards too.
Where can we see more of your work?
Also I did a piece for Liberty. The illustration has been printed on mugs, plates, Tshirts and canvas tote bags. They are sold at Liberty store, London and on their website: www.liberty.co.uk.
I sell my Giclee prints at www.designsupremo.com too. http://blog.liberty.co.uk/page/10/
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