Kanako Ogawa became an artist relatively late in life. “Until I was 30, I was an office lady. I drew as a hobby but I didn’t think that I would be able to be an illustrator,” says the 38-year-old. “Then I saw a competition and told myself to try. And in 2008, I won the award.”
That award was the Grand Prix in the Tokyo Illustrators Society’s annual drawing competition. It led to Ogawa giving up her day job to draw full time; now she works creating book covers, writing and illustrating children’s books and working for magazines and commercial clients. She has also had three solo exhibitions of her work in Tokyo.