Tokyo-based illustrator Hiroyuki Izutsu began his career as an animator before turning to illustration.  Motifs of his work include humans, landscapes and flowers.  Inspired by everyday life, Hiroyuki primarily works in opaque watercolor, combining hand-drawn and digital techniques to create his distinctive images.  His incredibly vibrant color palette can be seen on book covers in the Japanese publishing industry contributing to the sales of many bestselling books.  On Portfolio-ai he says this about why he became an illustrator:

“I’ve loved drawing since I was a kid, and I was a boy who wanted to be a manga artist. After graduating from animation school, I first started working as an animator. When I first learned about illustration, when I entered the company, the illustrations of Teruhiko Yumura and Yosuke Kawamura came out, and I thought it was cool and started to be aware of the work of “illustration” and wanted to become an illustrator. I thought.”

“When I wondered what I wanted to do, I wanted to do what I liked, and I remember drawing when I was a kid, forgetting time, and I like drawing after all. I thought.”

The artist can be found on his website, Behance, Facebook and Instagram.

Images:  Courtesy of Hiroyuki Izutsu.