The Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes
Yuko Michishita's kaleidoscopic drawings created for our Flower Power t-shirts --
Yuko Michishita's kaleidoscopic drawings created for our Flower Power t-shirts
Liberty Blog had a chat with new illustrator on the block Yuko Michishita about her incredible pencil drawings adorning our Flower Power t-shirts and bags this summer!
1. Tell us about your drawings for Liberty Yuko
It’s a pencil drawing piece created for the summer of ‘Flower Power’. The Liberty visual team and I worked closely together. We wanted to create something that has had a 60s feel to it but was still modern at the same time. I created this piece entirely with pencils because that’s my favourite medium to work with. Also I believe there’s something special about creating a piece of illustration without using any digital media. It’s not a put-together-with-Photoshop-work but a bespoke creation exclusive to Liberty!
2. What inspires you?
What inspires me for my work in general is, may I say, a lot of things! For example traditional textiles from around the world, folklore, minority races of the world such as the Andes and the Hmong (a minority group who live in South East Asia, I really can’t explain why I’m so attracted to them but I am.) I recently saw an amazing film called “Colour of Pomegranates” which inspired me so much that at one point I was seriously planning to do a big piece of drawing in homage to the director Sergei Parajanov.
3. What does Flower Power mean to you?
Strength of mind, unity as part of nature.
4. Why pencil?
I’m not sure why but I’m just so comfortable with pencils. I think it’s because I always had pencils to draw with when I was little. Pens were for grown ups and paints were for boring art classes, but pencils were my friends. (I do use pens sometimes for my illustration but still I’m not as comfortable with pens as I am with pencils. They are as different as cucumber and courgette.) I sometimes feel like what I’m doing now is merely an extension of what I was doing when I was 10. I became friends with pencils at very early age and never grew out of them.
5. How will you wear your ‘Flower Power’ t-shirt?
With the t-shirt tucked in to a white cotton tulip skirt, finished off with a thin brown leather belt and my favourite vintage loafers!