YUKO SHIMIZU is a freelance illustrator based in New York City and an illustration instructor at School of Visual Arts. Newsweek Japan has chosen her as one of “100 Japanese People The World Respects” in 2009.

Drawing had been Yuko’s hobby ever since she could remember. However, growing up in a traditional Japanese family, pursuing a path in art was just not an option.
After receiving BA in advertising and marketing – the most creative of the practical field – from Waseda University she landed on a position in PR for a big corporation in Tokyo. It never made her quite happy, and she was in a mid-life crisis at age of 22.

It still took Yuko more than 10 years of office job before she figured out what she really wanted to do and to save just enough so she could go back to school full time for 4 more years. This is how Yuko came back to New York in 1999, where she briefly spent her childhood, and enrolled in School of Visual Arts (SVA). Yuko graduated with MFA from Illustration as Visual Essay Program in 2003 and has been illustrating since. She also teaches a BFA Illustration course and occasionally
advises MFA students at SVA.

She works in a studio in Manhattan, a space she shares with two artists whom she considers as her ‘New York family’. Yuko has not gotten into mid-life crisis since she became an artist.

Whenever she has time, Yuko loves to travel to different cities and countries to lectures at art schools and events, and to meet with other artists, professors and young aspiring illustrators to get inspired.

Sorry, wrong person. This Yuko Shimizu did NOT create Hello Kitty.

Pornsak Pichetshote started off as a short story writer before going on to directing film and theater.

He’s currently an editor at DC Comics’ critically acclaimed imprint, Vertigo, where he’s edited various Eisner-nominated comics as The Unwritten, Unknown Soldier, Sweet Tooth and The Losers and has worked with such high-profile names as Darren Aronofsky, Grant Morrison, Dave Gibbons and Neil Gaiman.

Nicola grew up in Sydney, Australia, on an unhealthy diet of 70′s American TV where her fetish for people in shiny outfits with amazing powers germinated. And, coming from an artistic family, there was rarely a time when she didn’t have a pencil or paint brush in her hand and was always encouraged to use them.

After a couple of mini careers modelling, acting and costume designing, she moved into the comic book industry, as a penciller, in 2002 with work for Australian publisher, Phosphorescent Comics. She then spent a couple of  years living in New York City chasing the dream.  
 
Nicola has worked for Dark Horse, Top Cow, Image and IDW. Since 2006 Nicola has been working for DC Comics on monthly titles “Birds Of Prey”, “Secret Six” and “Wonder Woman”. Recently she contributed to the “Blackest Night” event with art chores on “Blackest Night: Wonder Woman” with writer Greg Rucka. Nicola is currently under Exclusive Contract with DC Comics.

An accomplished classical composer and musician who just happens to be one of the most sought after comic book artists of the moment:  Yanick Paquette was originally most well known for drawing stunning heroines in books like Xena and Codename Knockout.

Inspired by artists such as Al Williamson and Adam Hughes, the sharp-dressed Canadian has quickly become a fan favourite and the “go to guy” for publishers who want beautifully drawn female characters and a fluid accomplished storytelling style.

After working on a successful Ultimate X Men run and having completed a superb Batman issue for DC, fanboys are relishing the prospect of seeing his pencils on “The Return of Bruce Wayne” scripted by Grant Morrison.

More info on Peter Gross will be available soon…

Peter Gross

Mahmud A Asrar is a rising star and a man in demand. His polished, spiky style originated on Digital Webbing after a big up from Invincible artist Ryan Ottley, which led to outstanding work on Dynamo 5 and a notable fill in for Ottley on Invincible. Marvel soon came calling and his tenure on various books for them marked him out as a “young gun” to watch.

Nova and She Hulk were just two titles that benefited from his rapidly growing talents. It’s a big year for the artist as he’s currently working on Power Man. As Luke Cage would say: “Sweet Christmas!”

Visit Mahmud’s website here: www.mahmudasrar.com

Bio kindly provided by Neil Patel.
www.dangerwrites.com

Charles was born in 1951 in Lynchburg, Virginia and has been drawing since he could hold a crayon. He drew his first full-length comic when he was 10 and called it “Atomic Man.” Minimalist in nature, it required no drawing of hands, feet or heads (“they just glowed”). Since then, he has painstakingly drawn thousands of hands, feet, and heads in great detail.

Charles graduated with a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, and worked in commercial animation for Candy Apple Productions in Richmond, Va., before moving to New York City in 1976. It was there that he became a freelance illustrator, working for many publications including Heavy Metal, Klutz Press, and National Lampoon.

His award-winning work has graced the pages of numerous comic book, publishers such as Marvel, DC, Darkhorse and Epic. He has been featured in several gallery and museum exhibitions across the nation, including the first major exhibition of Science Fiction and Fantasy Art (New Britain Museum of American Art, 1980) and “Dreamweavers” (William King Regional Arts Center, 1994-95).

In 1991, Charles shared the prestigious World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story with Neil Gaiman for their collaboration on Sandman #19 (DC Comics) — the first and only time a comic book has held this honor. In the summer of 1997, Charles won the Will Eisner Comic Industry Award for Best Penciler/Inker for his work on The Book of Ballads and Sagas (which he self-publishes through his own Green Man Press) as well as Sandman #75. Soon after Charles finished the last of 175 paintings for Stardust, a novel written by Neil Gaiman, for which he was given the 1999 World Fantasy Award as Best Artist.

In 2002 Charles won a second Will Eisner award, this time as Best Painter for his work on Rose, a 130-page epic fantasy saga written by Cartoon Books’ Jeff Smith. The year continued to be busy for Charles with the publication of Seven Wild Sisters (Subterranean Press) and The Green Man, Tales from the Mythic Forest (Viking), both utilizing cover art and interior b/w illustrations by the artist, and both making the 2003 American Library Association’s list for Best Books for Young Adults!

By the end of the year he had completed 28 paintings for his first children’s picture book, A Circle of Cats, done in collaboration with writer Charles de Lint (Viking). This cover art won the Gold Award for Best Book Art in the 10th annual “Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art” even before it was officially published. A new edition of Peter Pan (Tor/Starscape) featuringa cover as well as over 30 b/w interior illustrations by Vess was released this past Fall.

Another collaboration with de Lint, Medicine Road (Subterranean Press) and the YA anthology,The Faery Reel (Viking ) will be arriving this Spring and he is currently hard at work producing drawings for several new books, including, A Storm of Swords (MeishaMerlin), the 25th anniversary edition of Moonheart (Subterranean Press) and a graphic novel collection of his ballads material for Tor.