happy christmas and a very cosy new year!

January 01, 2022

I hope you all have cosy holidays, and remember to be gentle to yourselves.

All my love,

Mariko x

*This is my very first animation! I used one of my snowflake etchings. Enjoy!

a little extra Christmas

December 24, 2015 in animation, charity, drawings, hong kong, illustration, lifestyle, special commissions, things I've made

Here's a cute little thing I drew for the Croucher Foundation in HK this year. Yes, that's the star ferry speeding along there, obviously in a hurry to get home for Christmas...

year of the goat

February 15, 2015 in advertising, animation, drawings, hong kong, horoscopes, illustration, lifestyle, photography, press, special commissions, travel

Here's a video of me drawing a happy new year goat. It was made as part of the social media campaign for Pacific Place mall in HK. It's a visual pun on a traditional Chinese blessing about the rabbit's breath and the goat's eyebrows, which somehow translates to good fortune! https://vimeo.com/119728675

I did pencil sketches first to work out the order in which to draw things, how the goat should look, and the positioning of drawing and text.This is how the final goat looks in ink and watercolour...And this is the filming. I drew at my normal speed, but tried to keep it generally consistent, and the final footage was speeded up, and a soundtrack added. I've never done this before, but it was fun!

ICON 8

July 21, 2014 in animation, design, drawings, editorial, illustration, photography, sketchbooks, travel, USA

I attended ICON 8 the illustration conference in Portland last week, and had a wonderful time. I met some amazing and inspirational illustrators, and learned alot about things every illustrator should know. I especially enjoyed meeting Carson Ellis, Jon Klassen (who did 'This is not my hat'), Leo Espinosa, and Vivienne Flesher (a true illustration icon!)all of whose work I totally adore. There were just so many great speakers...I visited the animation studios of Laika, and got to play with some of the characters and props used in the Boxtrolls movie. I especially liked Coraline... ... and of course Portland itself was super to explore.I especially enjoyed the doughnuts!

First Merit Bank adverts 2

April 05, 2013 in advertising, animation, drawings, special commissions

The hand-drawn animated TV adverts I did for First Merit Bank with Brokaw in the US last year were so popular, they asked for more! And here they are. Enjoy!

First Merit Bank advertisements

July 07, 2012 in animation, design, drawings, special commissions

I worked with the ad agency Brokaw in the States to create a series of animated/live action TV commercials for First Merit Bank. Each of the adverts features people who have achieved their dreams, and I created hand-drawn illustrated backgrounds that they could interact with. Hope you enjoy!

There was also a series of print ads that went with the TV commercials, featuring the same characters and backgrounds.

Middlebury college Christmas animation

December 18, 2011 in drawings, illustration, special commissions, websites

I did the drawings for a special Christmas Season animation by Middlebury College. My white line drawings were animated with a fun, wobbly movement, over the students talking about the winter at college in Vermont. You can see the animation here.