
Kimiko Nishimoto is a master at photoshopping herself into cute and hilarious situations.
No matter how old you are, living in an age where technology is constantly evolving and changing can make it hard to keep up with all the new tools available on the market. When it comes to digital photo editing software, however, there’s one talented grandmother who’s leading the way and teaching us all how it should be done, with a collection of impressive images showing herself photoshopped into a number of unusual scenarios.
Born in Kumamoto, Kimiko Nishimoto has been taking photos of herself and digitally editing them into creative works of art for a number of years now. After receiving attention online for her skills, Adobe sat up and took notice, hiring her as their “2017 Nengajo New Year’s Card Format Art Director”, and featuring her works as part of a new campaign for Adobe Creative Cloud. Proving how easy it is for anyone to create their own personalised New Year’s Card, the Adobe team have released this video showing the 88 year-old grandmother taking photos and using the software to make her own designs.
While the custom of sending Christmas cards is yet to catch on in Japan, the tradition of sending nengajo (New Year’s cards) is one that everyone, except recently bereaved families, partakes in. Part of the fun of New Year’s festivities is receiving a big package of nengajo from friends and relatives in the mail on the first of January, and looking through all the beautifully cute and funny designs. Anyone receiving a New Year’s card from Nishimoto is in for a treat this year, as they might get to see her in a number of scenarios.
Given that 2017 will be the Year of the Rooster, birds will feature heavily in card designs. People with a sense of humour like Nishimoto’s might want to use the digital editing software to create a memorable card like this one below.
For a softer take on the bird theme, Nishimoto grows wings and makes a new feathered friend in the park.
With Nishimoto at the helm as art director for the 2017 Nengajo Format campaign, Adobe is sure to attract a lot of interest from new users looking to create their own hilarious cards before the end of the year.
For more inspirational nengajo ideas, there’s a personalised service on Japan Post’s One Piece website, and there’s also an option to turn yourself into a Sanrio character for New Year’s. As Nishimoto shows, though, when it comes to card designs, you’re not limited by age, you’re only limited by your creativity!




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