Mike Yamada

Los Angeles-based illustrator Mike Yamada balances work between children’s books and animation as a production designer and visual development artist. His digital artwork, inspired by a retro 1960s style, often features anthropomorphic animals and a variety of vehicles. Using Photoshop, he creates compositions of simple shapes with shading that evoke the texture of pastels or dry brush techniques.

Mike finds creative inspiration from close to home—including Lego spaceships and toy cars scattered throughout his studio. He's particularly excited by projects that feature vehicles or wild, imaginative stories, as he enjoys the challenge of illustrating vastly different scenes from page to page. Notable examples are Go, Go, Cars! by Jennifer Liberts and its companion beginning-reader titles, as well as the picture book Bedtime Blastoff! by Luke Reynolds. A dream project for Mike would be creating a Richard Scarry-esque book showcasing different vehicles and the places they can be found.

When not working, Mike enjoys going for runs and taking long walks.