Tokyo-based illustrator Ryuto Miyake's work is full of warmth and wit

Tokyo-based illustrator and graphic designer Ryuto Miyake has a refined style and an eye for detail. Ryuto’s illustrations are painted with acrylic gouache and a very thin brush that allows a great degree of control over his work. His traditional techniques create vivacious images that are full of warmth and wit. He finds inspiration in the images of birds and plants in field guide books, particularly the “cheap ones with bad print quality – I like misregistration and damaged pages.”

Ryuto’s career to date has seen him work for Åbäke, after which he took a short internship at an art gallery designing flyers for shoes. “I used a lot of my illustrations for them,” says Ryuto. “Soon, I got illustration jobs from graphic designers, fashion brands, publishers who saw the flyers I made.”

Ryuto now works for clients ranging from record labels to architecture practices and a museum. This year has been particularly busy as the illustrator held his first exhibition, titled Moments as Objects, in Tokyo and was part of the team that delivered the Slice of Heartland campaign with Dentsu that won a D&AD pencil for art direction this year.