Keiko Nabila Yamazaki is a Japanese Indonesian illustrator based in New York City. She specializes in vibrant and whimsical illustration, reminiscent of the Western and Japanese cartoons she watched as a child.

For her Zócalo Sketchbook, Yamazaki gives us a series of flowers and the caterpillars and butterflies who love them. Her playful style combines the looseness of children’s doodles with sophisticated compositions and color choices. “I wanted to play with the idea of bringing the natural world indoors in an imaginative way,” she says. “I used the imagery of blooming, metamorphosis, along with smiley faces to share a hopeful message of growth and positivity.”