Yumiko moved to San Francisco from Japan in 1990, where she received a master's degree in Fine Arts, winning a scholarship from the San Francisco Society of Illustrators. Her varied professional experience includes work as an illustrator, painter, makeup artist, photographer, graphic artist, web designer and computer animator. Currently, her focus is on painting where she works in watercolor, pastel, oil, and acrylic.

After college, Yumiko worked as an illustrator and then for several years as a computer artist/animator at ILM, Lucas Arts and other 3D studios. In 2003, Yumiko co-founded Monkeymen, a software company, as art director and interface designer. She designed the Monkeymen website as well as this website.

Yumiko enjoys spontaneously playing with harmony of colors on canvas. Her painting work can be divided between fine art and illustration. While paintings spring entirely from her mind, a subject or story drives the illustrations. In early 2006, Yumiko is working on a series of tropical inspired paintings which are selling at Artisans Gallery in Santa Cruz.

Most recently Yumiko completed a an illustration commission for Adobe Systems Incorporated consisting of the 12 animals from the Chinese Zodiac. The animals were created in pastel on watercolor paper, then scanned into photoshop to create a digital print.

Skills

3D CG Character Animation for movie, tv commercial,and game (Maya, Softimage)
Illustration (Acrylic, Pastel, Digital)
Website Designs (English and Japanese)
Visual Design
Art Director
Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver
Fluent in Japanese and English