Yuko Shimizu is an award-winning Japanese illustrator based in New York City, currently teaching at the School of Visual Arts.
She is incredibly gracious in sharing processes and advice on her blog for emerging artists. Please read her post, and share your response in the chat below.
While you are at it… Read some of those other posts too! (TIP: Use the filter in the bottom right corner to sort for aspiring artists!)
Becoming a successful illustrator takes more than talent. Dedication, hard work, and passion are crucial for a thriving career. Even if your talent isn’t as impressive as others, you can still succeed by being determined to improve your skills. Devon Rodriguez, a South Bronx artist, is an excellent example of this, as he constantly worked to improve and gained recognition for his subway sketches.
In my opinion, creating a personal brand and maintaining an online presence is essential for illustrators. Effective marketing and branding strategies are also necessary to showcase their work and attract clients.
This Author discusses the question of who will succeed in their class and emphasizes that success is not solely determined by talent. They recount an encounter with a talented but unfocused student who lost their passion for becoming a concept artist because they felt others were better. In my opinion, working hard and improving will become success regardless of initial talent.
I agree with Shimizu’s post and can relate to the message behind it. The artists who make it big are the ones who are determined and hardworking. Although I am aware of this sometimes I lack the motivation to draw more and this causes me to not improve. I am trying to work through this by pushing past that feeling and trying to draw more.
Professor Shimizu has a point, Hard work is the difference between someone who will find success and those who end up going down different paths. As someone who is often more scared of the end result of a decision than the process it is such a jarring effect seeing classmates have success. What I mean by that is that I get intimated easily by the industry of the arts and since I almost always see the end product and not the process it’s never a complete image. Hard work is just that hard work and it sounds so easy yet when I get to the page I freeze. I believe that learning how to not only keep that discipline but also how to take blows is important to every aspect of being an illustrator as well as the hard work that goes into making a name for yourself.
I really liked the message of this reading. I sometime find myself on the position where I don’t know if should I continue or should I give up. I just feel I’m not good enough, and sometimes not worth it. As reading this, I saw how important is to work hard and be determined. Only in this way I can get better.
I like the encouragement that is in this article, specially when it comes to comparing your work to the work of others and staying in your lane. I think it is important to appreciate what it is that you’re good at and have it be your success in your career
Like Anthony I also have a tendency to freeze when I look at my page because I am too concerned with what I “should” be drawing rather than letting things flow and finding something within the doodles.
Yuko’s blog post is the perfect reminder no matter where you are in your art journey. Putting in the work and effort is what will help you succeed in the illustration world not only in making money but growing your skills. Something that stood out to me is to not compare yourself/compete with other artists who you deem to be better.
Professor Shimizu is correct, talent is an incredible advantage in this field. However, if this talent is not explode, there will be no success. Hard work will always be the key to doing big and important things. The constant limit breaker, motivation, and goals will make you a great artist.