We were lucky to catch up with Yui Tsutsumi recently and have shared our conversation below.

Yui, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I grew up in Japan, always wanting to be a veterinarian. I love animals and biology, and making sick animals feel better sounded the right calling. I was passionate enough to migrate to Australia to pursue the profession when I was 18. Once I became qualified, I devoted all my time to work and thought being a veterinarian was my ‘Ikigai’!

In 2016 I went to the U.K. for two years to work, trying to increase my veterinary knowledge and skills. There I had some ups and downs. I got burned out doing what I used to love, to the point I didn’t even want to see any animal on TV because it reminded me of work. Around the same time, I encountered veterinarians who also work as athletes, actresses or business owners, and they were enjoying their life so much. And that eye-opening encounter made me realise that it was ok to enjoy life outside my career and have more than one passion.

Since then, I started spending more time on my long-forgotten passion, illustration. While building my portfolio, I received much more response than I ever imagined, and people started offering to buy my art. That’s when I saw the potential to expand. What I didn’t quite expect was I began to enjoy my veterinary career again after my art journey started. When I’m creating illustrations, I cannot help myself but to draw animals. I realised how much I love animals and began to appreciate the challenging and rewarding aspects of the veterinary career. I am blessed to meet cute animal ‘models’ everyday and to learn all their mischief stories from their human parents(i.e. pet owners and wildlife careers).

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Yui. I am an illustrator and run a small art business called Fluffton’s art studio in Sydney, Australia. I love capturing animals’ personalities and quirkiness and creating and delivering their stories via my illustrations.
I hand-draw digitally in simple ink lines and make greeting cards, art prints and textile designs. They are available online, in local markets and bookshops.

When not creating, I work as a veterinarian, and often get inspiration from my patients and the human-animal bond that I get to observe. I aim to share my love and curiosity towards animals and nature through my art and increase the awareness of animals in need of help. I share fun facts about illustrated animal species and the backstories of each illustration on my social media and have also worked with wildlife hospitals and funds.
In the future, I would love to collaborate with other businesses and deliver my art on story books and homewares.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

One of my aims is to share my love and curiosity towards animals and nature and increase the awareness of animals needing help. There is a traditional Japanese belief that ‘everything has a soul’ – animals or objects. Everything has feelings and stories, and humans should respect them; thus, take good care of them. Growing up with animals, I can appreciate each animal has a different personality and is very special in its own way. I try to capture that and create stories for each illustration because I believe the first step to improved animal welfare and conservation is to be curious about the species.
On Fluffton’s social media, I share fun facts about featured animal species and the backstories of each illustration. I also had the pleasure of working with wildlife hospitals and funds to raise donations last Christmas.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

What I appreciate the most about art is there is no right or wrong. It’s hard to be creative when working in the medical field; you wouldn’t randomly try new techniques or mix medications to see what happens to your patients. You need to constantly assess the risks of what you are doing to achieve the best outcome. And the outcome is often straightforward – if the patient feels better, it’s a success.

Whereas when I’m creating art, I can be free and do whatever I feel at that moment.
I find it funny that the art I end up loving or other people adore is often one I made by mistake or didn’t go as planned.
Creating art has been a good reminder for me that it’s ok not to be perfect all the time and enjoy whatever comes.
It’s even better to learn that my art makes someone’s day a bit brighter and encourages people to know more about animals!

Contact Info:

• Website: flufftonsartstudio.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flufftons_art_studio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Flufftonsartstudio