In May 2020, when we were asked to refrain from going outdoors to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Yoshinori Mita, who manages the facilities at the office in Saitama, Japan, happened to receive a letter from the illustrator Suiiro. As he was looking for fun activities for children to do during stay-at-home period – based on Wacom's partnership with the FC KAZO soccer club – he came up with the idea of holding an online drawing class for children together with Suiiro.
On May 31, 2020, he invited Suiiro as a lecturer for an online drawing class. Eight elementary school students from FC KAZO Academy joined the class.
During the drawing class, the children learned how to draw FC KAZO's original character "Kazot-kun". Suiiro shared tips and the children were free to draw as they liked. The children were excited and happy to see their very own versions of Kazot-kun come to life. It seemed that they gained confidence and a deeper interest in drawing by learning from the professional illustrator.
The children also enjoyed the drawing battle in which they discussed what they would draw and tried to draw it as fast as possible. They especially liked drawing their favorite animation characters.
"I was actually worried about teaching these little children I was meeting for the first time, but everyone was very eager to learn and loved drawing. It was a great time,” says Suiiro.
Masashi Oyama, the representative of FC KAZO Academy added: “We would like to provide more opportunities for the children to interact with each other, not only during games. It was really moving to see these kids who are usually competing against each other on the field, smile together off the field.”
Yoshinori who organized the event mentioned: "I was happy to organize this event as I had been wanting to do something for society during these difficult times because of COVID-19. When the situation turns better, I would like to organize a live drawing class or art festival to contribute to the community in Kazo-city, Saitama.
![]() Illustrator Suiiro |
![]() |
Wacom Canada has been involved with the "CREATE Program" at Sisler High School as a partner to support students who want to embark on career paths in the creative industry.
The 'Our Sparks.' pages showcases community creators whose works inspire and collaborate with us. This time features Arian Rahmatzai's artwork, a German talent who interned at Wacom.
The aspiration of children who dream of becoming creators is what ignites our team members’ enthusiasm and drives many of our initiatives. One such initiative involved teaming up with an animation workshop in Kinko Town, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan.
Wacom Yuify is an innovative service being developed to authenticate creators' works by embedding invisible micro-marks into artworks and, therefore, addressing unique needs across various regions and cultures.
Lannie Zhang, the only product manager in the Ink Division in China, took the time to talk to us about the initiatives planned to increase awareness and promote the use of digital ink technology.
We would like to introduce the artworks by artists in Oiso Town, Kanagawa, Japan, where we have been working together to support the writing/drawing initiative.
The Wacom Experience Center Portland was created for people to interact with the creative community in the city. We took a look back at its growth with Megan Davis, who has been playing an energetic role there.
Connected Ink 2022 opened with two key questions. Let’s take a look back at some of the sessions in Tokyo that explored them.
Read MoreWe would like to introduce the artworks by artists in Oiso Town, Kanagawa, Japan, where we have been working together to support the writing/drawing initiative.
Read MoreThe partnership with Oiso Town has developed into a city-wide initiative. We spoke with Tadakuni Tsubota of the Creative BU Retail Partnership about this initiative.
How do team members see Connected Ink? The next team member is Yohei Himori who is involved in the planning and operation of Connected Ink together with Heidi.
How do team members see Connected Ink? The first team member is Heidi Wang who has played a key role in the planning and operations when it all began in 2016.
In collaboration with Heralbony Inc. and the General Incorporated Association, Connected Ink Village, Wacom launched a new initiative called "Call & Response” in September 2021.
Here’s a look back at the opening and finale of the nearly 70 sessions held that day and reflect upon what has happened since Connected Ink 2021.
Our sparks meet constantly changing situations, unexpected challenges, and new opportunities. We called on our team members again to show how they see their spark in the world of today and the future.
Connected Ink 2020 was the beginning of a new commitment and challenge for Wacom to continue asking those eternal questions that always play in our minds.
"Stage KOPPA" was created as a stage for Connected Ink 2020. It is a stage that changes its shape and role in response to different situations while connecting the various stories that occur there.
Our sparks meet constantly changing situations, unexpected challenges, and new opportunities. We called on our team members again to show how they see their spark in the world of today and the future.
We had an internal art contest for our Social Initiatives. Let us share the existence of the spark in our team members’ hearts with their artworks.
Yoshinori Mita, a team member of Japan held an online drawing class together with FC KAZO and illustrator Suiiro to provide something fun for elementary school children to do during the COVID-19 stay-at-home period.
As an official partner, Wacom supports FC KAZO, a soccer club in Kazo City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. We’re excited to introduce our new initiatives with this inspiring club.
We had an internal art contest for our Social Initiatives. Let us share the existence of the spark in our team members’ hearts with their artworks.
Our team members in Germany organized an online workshop “Young Wacom” for the children while schools were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alex Duffey from our Americas Support team established a new program to support artists. We asked him about a story with Ms. Devon Bragg, the artist who inspired him to establish this program.
KOPPA began in April 2019. Tamotsu wanted to make something that can be used again after an exhibition. We asked Team KOPPA about their thoughts.
We put it together ourselves, set it up, put it back, then travel together again. The Traveling KOPPA, our new display furniture came to be.
KOPPA started out as a challenge: Tamotsu Ito, an architect from Japan, wanted to utilize leftover building materials. Our meeting was pure happenstance.
We had an internal art contest for our Social Initiatives. Let us share the existence of the spark in our team members’ hearts with their artworks.
We gave a marketing lecture for students who are learning to be engineers at the National Institute of Technology Tokyo College.
Every year, we take pen tablets that have been sitting in our warehouse and gift them to high school clubs and winners of high school art competitions to help students create digital contents.
"AI Ink for Education" was developed to capture eye movement information and pen movements while learning, in order to ascertain the characteristics of learning by each student and to create an educational environment suited to each student.
Yoana Simeonova, a software designer working in Bulgaria, introduced Wacom Intuos in a school to make children's IT classes more fun.