Clout Online Exclusive
By CULT OF BEAUTY

Please tell our readers some background information on yourself.
My name is Junichi. I’m 32 years old and I currently live in Seattle. I grew up in Japan and came to the States at the end of 20th century. After working as a graphic designer for 5 years, I do freelance illustration/design now.

Tell us about your childhood. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you “grew up”?
I was about 8 years old, I wanted to be a children’s book author. I liked to read. I liked to draw so I thought I could do both that way.

Did you have any preconceived notions about the U.S. before coming here? Do you have any funny stories?
I had a lot of language difficulties (I still do sometimes) for example, I was asked “soup or salad?” at a restaurant and I was really excited to see “super salad” and so I said “Sure!”

What do you miss about Japan? What are some similarities between Japan and the U.S.?
I think Japanese people like technology a lot. When you go to public bathroom for example, you see a lot of buttons on toilet seat. A button for warming the stool, a button for washing your butt, etc. I guess in general, Japanese people pay a lot of attention to details. When you buy a box of cookies, the cookies are individually wrapped. Actually, you have to open 3 different packaging to actually get to the food sometimes. I miss those details. Sometimes it’s annoying though. I mean of course I miss my family and my friends but I thought the readers are not expecting that kind of answer. Oh, I miss the food a lot too. You can eat good expensive food here. But I miss cheap and good food there.

When did you realize that design and illustration was for you?
I wanted drawing for my job for a long time but I wasn’t exactly sure how. I had a one year exchange program when I was a Junior in college in Japan. I went to Southern Oregon University. I found graphic design class there. In Japan, normal 4 year colleges don’t offer any art classes (my major was English) so it was really refreshing. There I learned more than just to draw and I thought I had a hint of how to make career out of my artistic side of talent. Then while I was hired at Modern Dog Design, They encouraged me to use my own illustration into my design projects and they let me experiment a lot too.

Tell us about Modern Dog. What are some of the most important things you learned at Modern Dog? How did the name of your studio “Studio Stubborn Sideburn” come about? Who have you designed for?
Everybody there at Modern Dog Design was very talented and it was great experience to work with them side by side. I would say the most important thing is they taught me how to have fun when you work. They didn’t actually tell me anything about it, but just by looking at them, they are having so much fun. I mean they are serious while they work but they just love what they do. It was great work ethic and attitude. Stubborn Sideburn is definitely their influence. When I thought about my business name, I didn’t want to use my last name. It is very hard to pronounce for English speaking people so I wanted to come up with something funny and memorable, like “Modern Dog.” I have done a lot of band posters so that was part of the inspiration too. I have seen many funny band names, something like “The Third Nipples” for instance. So, the name has nothing to do with my sideburn. Besides from band posters, I did designs for Adobe, Uniqlo and many more back then.

Your style is described as “California Roll Stylie”. Can you please explain to our readers what it is exactly and how was this style developed?
I like California rolls. The idea was imported from Japan then developed in California (US) and now it is a new food. Since I am from Japan and all of my art education and experience took place here in US so people can associate my art style with California Roll. Some people got confused and said “What? Japanese Burrito Style?” but there is no such thing as Japanese burrito (although it might be cool to invent that).  Basically, I think my art has 2 biggest influences. One is Japanese pop culture such as Manga and character driven food package designs and US urban culture such as graffiti, hip hop, street fashion etc. California Roll Stylie is a visual and conceptual fusion of these 2 cultural influences.

Tools of the trade. What do you use to create your artwork?
I like post-it sticky notes. I draw on those with marker pen so it usually only 3” x 3”. I have a lot of stock of these tiny drawings. If I see something is interesting or suitable for the assignment, I photocopy them to enlarge. I put tracing paper over it and refine the drawing.
Then I use marker to finish the drawing and scan the image into computer to color it.

Where can someone view your artwork?
Some of my works are in a book called “Secrets of Digital Illustration” by Lawrence Zeegen (Rotovision) that is recently published.
3 more books will be published this year. 2 from China and 1 from Japan.

What do you think makes a good design?
Good idea and the amount of tear, sweat and blood that you shed.

What have you been up to lately? What should we be expecting from you in 2008?
I have been doing a lot of T-shirt designs lately. I want to start creating my own T-shirt clothing brand this year.

What is it like teaching an illustration class? What advice would you give to someone considering a career in your field?
Teaching illustration is great. I have been having really talented students and it is very inspirational and I am learning a lot by teaching.
For advice, if you love this creative career then, “Don’t worry about the future but plan for the future; Don’t regret your past but learn from the past.”

Who are some of your favorite artists and why.
Nate Williams, CATALINA ESTRADA, MWM, Julie West, Jon Burgerman, Jeremyville…I like the artists that are unique and very experimental in visual forms yet very marketable as business.

Since this is for a graffiti magazine, what do you think of graffiti? What kind of music do you listen to and is it an influence to your art?
I looked at a lot of graffiti art. I think one of the biggest influences on my art is actually graffiti as well as Japanese manga. To me Manga and graffiti are very close to each other in forms and concept. I think it’s very natural that I am attracted by these 2 very different mediums. I try listening to all kind of music from hip hop to classical music. I think Hip hop music influenced me in my art the most. I liked watching their music video and all the swimsuits, hot tabs, champagne and bling blings burnt into my brain.

What are five things you’d like to do before you die?
Travel, eating a lots of new food, becoming a living legend.

Can you tell us one thing about yourself that not many know?
I am actually a very serious person. Time is money and silence is golden to me.

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Favorites:
Letter: R
Font: Hot Dog
Food: Seattle Tempura Roll
Drink: Hefeweisen
Movie: Napoleon Dynamite
Song: Hotel California
Place: Dog park
Magazine: Complex magazine
Book: Taschen books
Designer: Ikko Tanaka
Quote: "A life lived in fear is a live half-lived." (Strictly Ballroom)

Visit www.Subbornsideburn.com.