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“James Yang always comes to mind when I need an illustration for a particularly complex idea. He distills abstraction into clarity with minimal line, bold color and unique images. James says so much with so little. James is amazing.”
~ Orlie Kraus, Art Director, The Wall Street Journal
James Yang grew up in Ponca City, but was always destined to go wherever his art took him. Although he’s certainly well-traveled, home for James and his wife, Abby Chancandanz, a choreographer and modern dancer, is a three-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn with neighbors who are mostly creatives of one type or another. One of the rooms in his apartment serves as his studio, providing him both space and freedom to create when he feels moved (or the need due to deadlines) to do so.
Yang loves the variety of work in being a freelance illustrator and says it’s really the opposite of having a regular job. He says, “It’s a little like being a surfer except the pay is better and you can live life as you want—whether that’s a bohemian lifestyle or one that’s 9 to 5.”
Although he works with numerous Art Directors with the multitude of clients he serves, Yang has had the same agent since the beginning. He feels fortunate to have found an agent he describes as old-fashioned whose agency has grown with him into all his differing interests. David Goldman began with Yang in 1987 and has been his agent in all avenues of his career ever since. Goldman loves to talk and manages to find space for all people, so they love to work with him.
While Yang has illustrated for numerous well-known magazines and organizations, one of his favorite projects is doing “Word on the Street” for the Wall Street Journal. He’s given a word or phrase, and there are often double meanings. Sometimes he also has a brief synopsis of the article to go on as he illustrates. He describes this as “Electric Company for adults,” which makes it great fun for him as he works on his illustrations.
Yang has won over 250 awards for design and illustration and has taught and lectured at various institutions, including SCAD and Parsons and was an executive board member for ICON, a biennial illustration conference.
One of his other favorite projects was for the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which fell into his lap when he was introduced to the director at a Society of Illustrators’ talk and then contacted four years later to be part of the project. Only three artists designed posters, which were then made into wallpaper for the subway. Originally, these were only going to be on the subway for three years, but when COVID-19 hit the country, they were left on. You can still find Yang’s designs when you travel in New York City today!
The New York subway is a long way from Ponca City where James grew up. He remembers grade school as great, junior high as the toughest years of school, because things were hard, and he wasn’t allowed to fight. However, he sees that those times helped him develop his sense of (sarcastic) humor. He remembers riding his bike to the pond at the Marland Mansion. He wouldn’t give up the times of ups and downs that helped build the person he is today. Then, high school was when people spread out more, and he had friends who would drag Grand on weekends and just go to Ponca Lake and talk. Mostly, he enjoyed art and journalism in school, which is no big surprise.
“What’s fascinating is I was the only Korean in Ponca City in the 1960s,” Yang says laughing, “and the most disillusioning thing I’ve learned is, I’m not the only Asian to grow up in a small town in the middle of the U.S., and 85% of us made really banger books that are best sellers now.”
Books have become a special interest for Yang. He began illustrating children’s books for others while his editor found a publisher for his books. He is currently with Viking Books, and they’ve been a great fit with each of his books seeming to be more successful than the last. His book Bus! Stop! was selected as an outstanding picture book by The New York Times. Stop! Bot! is a Geisel award winner for the most distinguished American book for beginning readers.
His newest book A Boy Named Isamu, which he based somewhat off his own childhood, received rave reviews and is the 2022 APALA-American Library Association Honor picture book for Asian American Literature. It is a beautiful book about Isamu’s experiences, and Yang had the idea early on but waited to write it until his name was better known in children’s literature circles because he felt it was a more important story for him to tell. You can see a variety of influences of his time growing up in Ponca City, such as when Isamu spends time reflecting at the ocean like Yang did at Marland Mansion’s pond.
Waiting seems to have been a good plan since he now has another book due out this May about Charles and Ray Eames called Charles and Ray: Designers at Play. The Junior Library Guild has already named it a Gold Standard Selection, meaning it’s a book to watch for this year. His plans are to follow it up later with one about Carl Sagan. Seriously, I cannot wait for these. A Boy Called Isamu is a favorite of mine, and I’ve given it as a gift on several occasions.
It is no surprise that Yang’s life as an illustrator took him to children’s literature. When I asked about his work projects, he described them as “homework. You get done and bolt outside to go play or something.” He says his 40 years in the illustration field has been a great ride: “I’m very lucky to have made a living creatively. I’m like the mentor in the Kensington-Brooklyn neighborhood now.”
You can find more information about the creative work of Yang on his website at jamesyang.com, on Instagram at Yangblog or on his Facebook page. If you have children you need to buy for, or if you’d enjoy the books yourself, like I do, check out the several he has available now and watch for those that are coming soon.
Yang considers himself a planner and feels he basically got where he’d intended even if his path was different than originally planned. He went in the direction of illustration because he felt he had something unique to offer, and it appears others agree. He graduated with his B.F.A. in Communication Arts and Design from Virginia Commonwealth University, and he still remembers a time his roommate’s dad was giving him a ride and offered a bit of advice that Yang considers a gift. The advice was to take the risks. He has remembered this advice many times when he might not have done so, and he feels grateful that he can look back and consider he did better than expected.
“We always worry about what life’s going to bring, but when a door does open, make sure to go through it,” Yang says. “Sometimes you don’t even know what you’re good at or what you’ll enjoy.”
James Yang has made sure not to miss out on life by going through door after door, taking the risks life has put before him with great gusto. His life choices are every bit as bold as the color found in his vibrant illustrations and brilliant children’s books
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