Yumi Sakugawa is a

comic artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

based in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Her work has been published online, in

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

magazines and in book form. Sakugawa also edits a blog about wellness. She was nominated for an

Ignatz Award The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping a ...

in 2014 for her mini comic, ''Never Forgets''.

Biography

Sakugawa was born in

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

, growing up in

Anaheim Hills Anaheim Hills is a planned community encompassing the eastern portions of the city of Anaheim, in Orange County, California. History Prior to the development, a few scattered low-density neighborhoods existed in the area, including Peralta Hills ...

. Sakugawa had always loved drawing and writing, but she wasn't sure how to use both until in college, she started creating

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

. She attended the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(UCLA), where she was a part of the largest & longest running Asian-American Theatre Company in the United States; LCC Theatre Company. She graduated in 2007. Sakugawa has stated that she prefers to write her ideas first, illustrating them after she has a clear sense of the narrative. Her influences include

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been bestsellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for his ...

Aimee Bender Aimee Bender (born June 28, 1969) is an American novelist and short story writer, known for her surreal stories and characters. She is a 2011 recipient of the Alex Awards. Biography Born to a Jewish family, Bender received her undergraduate deg ...

, Hellen Jo, and

Adrian Tomine Adrian Tomine (; born May 31, 1974) is an American cartoonist. He is best known for his ongoing comic book series ''Optic Nerve'' and his illustrations in ''The New Yorker''. Early life Adrian Tomine was born May 31, 1974, in Sacramento, Calif ...

, among others. She is a self-professed

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The seri ...

fan and has cited

Noriko's Dinner Table is a 2005 Japanese psychological horror film, and a sequel to the independent horror film '' Suicide Club'' (2002), written and directed by Sion Sono. ''Suicide Club'' concerns the mass suicide of 54 schoolgirls and how it leads the law to a sha ...

as one of her favorite films. Her short comic “Mundane Fortunes for the Next Ten Billion Years” was selected as a Notable Comic of 2012 by the Best American Comics series editors. Reviews of her 2014 book, ''I Think I Am In Friend Love With You'', have been favorable and her art and writing has been called "eerie and wondrous" by ''

Juxtapoz ''Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine'' (pronounced ''JUX-tah-pose'') is a magazine created in 1994 by a group of artists and art collectors including Robert Williams, Fausto Vitello, C.R. Stecyk III (a.k.a. Craig Stecyk), Greg Escalante, and Eric ...

''. Her book, ''Your Illustrated Guide to Becoming One With the Universe'', explores the ideas of

mindfulness Mindfulness is the practice of purposely bringing one's attention to the present-moment experience without evaluation, a skill one develops through meditation or other training. Mindfulness derives from ''sati'', a significant element of Hind ...

and

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally cal ...

, making the abstract into the concrete and also with drawings that are "curious, mischievous, ready to engage." She created the book in order to develop a kind of

self-help book A self-help book is one that is written with the intention to instruct its readers on solving personal problems. The books take their name from ''Self-Help'', an 1859 best-seller by Samuel Smiles, but are also known and classified under "self-im ...

she had been unable to find on her own: one which wasn't simply written out or full of lists. She decided to use her "love for creating visual stories" in order to make a new kind of self-help guide. ''Your Illustrated Guide'' was selected by NPR's Book Concierge as one of "2014's Great Reads". YumiSakugawa2013

She was a regular comic contributor to the website, WonderHowTo. She was one of the participating artists in the

Giant Robot In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines controlled by people, typically depicted as humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the mean ...

Biennale 4 which will be featured at the

Japanese American National Museum The is located in Los Angeles, California, and dedicated to preserving the history and culture of Japanese Americans. Founded in 1992, it is located in the Little Tokyo area near downtown. The museum is an affiliate within the Smithsonian Affil ...

between October 2015 and January 2016.

Bibliography

Books

* * * * ''The Little Book of Life Hacks: How to Make Your Life Happier, Healthier, and More Beautiful.'' St. Martin's Press. 2017.

Selected short stories and minicomics

* ''A Special Message For You Hand-Delivered To You From The Universe''. 2012. (Self-published; compilation of comics between 2010 and 2012) * ''Intergalactic Telepathic Pen Pal and Other Super-Short Stories''. 2012. (Self-published; compilation of comics between 2011 and 2012) * ''Claudia Kishi'''': My Asian-American Female Role Model of the 90's''. 2012. (Self-published; originally posted online on Sadie Magazine) * ''Moon Between the Mountains''. 2013. (Self-published; originally posted online on

The Rumpus ''The Rumpus'' is an online literary magazine launched on January 20, 2009. The site features interviews, book reviews, essays, comics, and critiques of creative culture as well as original fiction and poetry. The site runs two subscription-base ...

) * ''Never Forgets''. 2014. (Self-published) * ''Bird Girl and Fox Girl''. Sparkplug Books. 2014. * ''Transcendent Exercises for the Uninspired Artist''. 2014. (Self-published) * ''Ikebana''. Retrofit Comics. 2015. * ''Fashion Forecasts''. 2016. (Self-published; a limited run for Crosslines, a SmithsonianAPA event in Washington, D.C.)

Biography

Bibliography

Books

Selected short stories and minicomics

References

External links