Illustrator Spotlight: Shiho Pate

 

© Shiho Pate

Aug. 1, 2025

We are pleased to feature illustrator Shiho Pate and her website banner design for Kidlit411. Check out her wonderful work!

 

Tell us about yourself and how you came to illustrate for children.

Thank you Kidlit 411! Hi, I'm Shiho Pate. I moved to the USA from Japan during high school and moved around the USA (AL, GA, NY and now CA!). I was working as a game artist when I started making dummy books. I attended conferences, developed my portfolio and found my agent. When I moved to CA, I officially "expanded" my career to become a children's book illustrator.  

© Shiho Pate

Congrats on your website banner design. Tell us how you approached this project.

I love how Kidli 411 shares resources and builds community. I used the telephone to symbolize that. Birds on the telephone line are everyone benefiting from information. And overall a fun illustration to look at for a month! I also remember using the brown and blue color combo a lot in my portfolio so I stuck with those color palettes.

© Shiho Pate

What is your preferred medium and illustration style?

© Shiho Pate

I use sumi ink, pencil and Photoshop. My illustrations are usually described as whimsical, cheeky and fun. I pay attention to the story and emotion when I create. I want kids to escape and immerse themselves so I hope I'm creating a space like that for them. 

© Shiho Pate

What projects are you working on now?

I am about to wrap up my illustrations for Fried Rice Surprise which is a picture book that comes out in Spring 2027! I'm so excited to collaborate with Patricia Tanumihardja (we worked on Ramen for Everyone) again. It will be published by Red Comet Press. I am also working on my own book. It's a slow process and lots of rejections. But I know it's getting closer to submission again :)   

© Shiho Pate

What is something most people don't know about you?

People DO know that my studio is full of art toys. But most don't know that I want to make art toys too! I'm learning how to make art toys now and it's been fun learning new art techniques! 

© Shiho Pate

Where can people find you online?

shihopate.com and my monthly newsletter is the best. I am active on instagram and Bluesky as well which you can find me by searching @shihopate. I do almost daily updates on my instagram story too. I usually upload more personal things such as travels, BTS of book events and conferences etc on my instagram story.

© Shiho Pate

Shiho Pate was born in Hokkaido, Japan, and raised in Aichi. She worked for indie gaming studios before she started making children’s books.  Among many other books, she illustrated Ramen for Everyone by Patricia Tanumijardha, which was an Indie Next Pick and a Junior Library Guild selection. Shiho lives in Southern California with her husband, their daughter, and their dog, Olive.