Yohey Horishita

Konnichiwa! Yohey Horishita is an award-winning Japanese illustrator, educator, and CEO – Cheif Encouragement Officer! His detailed and uniquely colored work has been recognized by many trade magazines and annual competitions such as the Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts, 3x3 Magazine, and American Illustration. Horishita was also named one of the top New Creatives 100 by CMYK Magazine in 2012.

His clients include – the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the New York Times, Politico, Sports Illustrated, Casio, Canon, Yomiuri Newspaper, Penguin Random House, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, and more.

Horishita was born and raised in Japan and moved to Alabama, then Georgia, where he earned his BFA and MFA in Illustration from Savannah College of Art and Design (Atlanta). Soon after relocating to New York City in 2014, he began his freelance illustrator and teaching career. Now he is a full-time professor in the Illustration department at Maryland Institute College of Art (located in Baltimore, MD).

"Tradigital" is the best to describe his illustration-making process. Horishita loves the intensity of traditional ink drawing and the unexpectedness of the digital coloring process. The intricacy he can achieve with this material and technique is simple and complex. He finds beauty in the balance of chaos and harmony.

After living in different places and experiencing peaks and valleys as an immigrant, minority, and queer individual, Horishita is a strong beliver of how important one's personal heritage and upbringing are in illustration making. Whether your illustration is commercial or not, in the end, it should be a gift to yourself today.