Akiko Fukuda Illustration

Akiko Fukuda was born and raised in Japan. She always remembers that her most favorite thing was drawing pretty girl faces and figures daily ever since she was little. She was attracted by the world of Makoto Takahashi, the renowned artist for wistful and delicate girl drawings for children’s stationery supplies and magazines. Fukuda believes that is the greatest influence on her current illustration works. After college Fukuda started her career as an assistant fashion buyer in Japan, but four years later she moved to New York in order to breakthrough the barriers for Japanese women in this career path. Afterwards Fukuda studied both fashion business & design at FIT, leading to her career as a fashion designer. The trigger for her next great shift was Makoto Takahashi’s exhibition held in Japan, in 2015. The show reminded her that she was particularly attached and inspired by Makoto’s art, and the root of her fashion design career was based on illustrations and images that captured her imagination in her childhood rather than any garment designers of mention. In March 2017, Fukuda finally started afresh with Illustrations after her 13 years in fashion design. As she drew, she realized that her main theme is expressing imposingness, purity, and elegance that women eternally possess rather than following fashion trend. She brings hand sketches by pigment liners to digital files and adds dimensional effects and depth by using digital paint brush and layers. Through her illustration, Fukuda is seeking opportunities to share expressions of beauty, purity, and allure of female images that may remind many women what they used to be through their childhood experiences JCAT ( Japanese Contemporary Artists Team in New York ) Member Artist since January 2018. Participating in WE Exhibition 2018 at Pleiades Gallery in New York (September 4-8 2018, Opening reception September 6). https://www.jcatny.com/akiko-fukuda