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Our Sparks.
“Focus: The Autistic Superhero Loves Comic Art!” by Yvonne Wan
The driving force behind Wacom's Social Initiatives are the sparks ignited by our team members, serving as the core reason why we work at Wacom. These sparks not only keep us motivated, they are what light us up to seek out and embrace new challenges.
In the “Our Sparks.” pages, we introduce the works created by creators in our community whose sparks are felt by those who work together with Wacom.
Today we are highlighting a piece of art entitled, “Focus: The Autistic Superhero Loves Comic Art!” by Yvonne Wan. Yvonne creates comics and is known for her comic book that features one of the world’s first autistic superheroes.
Yvonne also organizes a free art camp for autistic kids and children with special needs. She recognized that industry professionals were using Wacom products, and she wanted her students to get some experience working with the digital tools they would need if they ever became professional artists themselves. She initially reached out to Pamela Park, the Email Marketing and Influencer Programs Manager at Wacom, asking if the company could provide a few tablets to the students. This encounter between Wacom and Focus Comic sparked an inspiring creative collaboration.
Title: Focus: The Autistic Superhero Loves Comic Art! Artist: Yvonne Wan (MSc)
About the artwork: Take the risk and embark on a journey into the unknown.
‘Focus’, the main character of the story, is one of the world’s first autistic superheroes. Autistic individuals are underrepresented in the media, so creating an autistic superhero is an important part towards promoting neurodiversity and inclusion throughout society. Comics are a powerful medium that can change the way society perceives autism and even affect how autistic individuals perceive themselves. One of the golden threads throughout the comic is that autism can be a strength. In this picture, Focus is finding serenity through digital art by using his pen tablet from Wacom. At our Focus Comic free art camp, students love to learn digital art as it is an important aspect of learning how to tell powerful stories.
About the artist: Yvonne Wan is a certified Social Cultural Anthropologist, an award-winning comic creator, writer, and artist. She is the creator of “Focus Comic”. Focus Comic features one of the world’s first autistic superheroes and includes young autistic talent. The project's mission is to entertain and maintain dignity for autistic individuals by removing the stigma associated with autism. Based in Arizona, US, Yvonne runs a free art camp for autistic and special needs kids to help them focus on what they can do instead of what they can’t do. The project supports more than 100 kids a year. It also addresses systemic inequities that come with having autistic kids and children with special needs through the provision of free child development services and extra resources. Yvonne is passionate about enriching the lives of autistic individuals in the community.
Focus Comic：https://focuscomic.com/
About Wacom and Focus Comic: Focus Comic is an Arizona-based comic book company in the US created by Yvonne Wan, offering free workshops to individuals with autism or special needs. Wacom provided Wacom One and Wacom Intuos with a 2-year license from Clip Studio for the students to learn how to draw using digital tools.
The Focus Comic initiative aims to remove stigmas around autism while helping autistic individuals maintain their dignity in an oftentimes harsh society. It also provides a platform of possibilities, such as internships and publishing opportunities within the comic industry. Wacom supports Yvonne's dedication and endeavors to instill a sense of hope in autistic individuals by acknowledging and nurturing the passion and talent of autistic artists.
“I have worked at Wacom for 17 years, and the reason I have stayed here this long is that I respect Wacom’s integrity as a company in its efforts to support initiatives like those at Focus Comics," said Pamela Park, Email Marketing and Influencer Programs Manager. Together with the communities that dedicate their passion and efforts to such meaningful initiatives, Wacom will continue to do its part to contribute to – and ‘spark’ – humanity’s creativity.
Explore projects
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Our Sparks. “Focus: The Autistic Superhero Loves Comic Art!” by Yvonne Wan
Discover the inspiring works of community creators who collaborate with us. Today, we feature “Focus: The Autistic Superhero Loves Comic Art!” by Yvonne Wan.
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Our Sparks. “Join The Journey” by Arian Rahmatzai
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.
Supporting Children's Dreams of Becoming Creators - 1: Initiatives with Kinko Town
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: Making the world a safer place for creators
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Initiatives in China – Bringing Digital Ink Technology to More People
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Our Sparks. “At the beach in the early afternoon” by sammy
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.
Wacom Experience Center - A space for everyone to be creative
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: What happens here is everything
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Read More
Our Sparks. “Wind Carrying Light” by Syuro
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.
Read More
How can we support the “writing/drawing" initiative with Oiso Town?
The 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.
A side of the Connected Ink polyhedron - 2
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.
A side of the Connected Ink polyhedron - 1
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.
How can we overcome barriers that exist in society? / Call & Response
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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.
“The spark of love” by Jacky Yang
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.
Keep asking questions and moving forward / Connected Ink 2020
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”, a stage that connects stories
"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.
“Mam and Dad’s Child Interest” by Stella Wang
“Mam and Dad’s Child Interest” by Stella Wang
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.
Our Sparks.
"A moment on an autumn mountain" by Takahiro Yamamoto
"A moment on an autumn mountain" by Takahiro Yamamoto
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.
Online drawing class for elementary school students during stay-at-home period
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.
Wacom's new initiative through soccer
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.
Our Sparks.
"The spark is in you! Mirror portraits during times of isolation" by Oliver Madlener
"The spark is in you! Mirror portraits during times of isolation" by Oliver Madlener
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.
Online Sketchnoting workshop for children during school closures
Our team members in Germany organized an online workshop “Young Wacom” for the children while schools were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Support the "lives" of artists through customer support
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.
3. How KOPPA began /
The story of the Traveling KOPPA
The story of the Traveling KOPPA
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.
2. No need to destroy it anymore /
The story of the Traveling KOPPA
The story of the Traveling KOPPA
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.
1.Meeting KOPPA /
The story of the Traveling KOPPA
The story of the Traveling KOPPA
KOPPA started out as a challenge: Tamotsu Ito, an architect from Japan, wanted to utilize leftover building materials. Our meeting was pure happenstance.
Our Sparks.
“That Spark Inside” by Simone Wolters
“That Spark Inside” by Simone Wolters
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.
Marketing lecture for future engineers
We gave a marketing lecture for students who are learning to be engineers at the National Institute of Technology Tokyo College.
Efforts by our sales member, who are responsible for a pen tablet until the very end
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.
For the Future of Education
Lifelong Ink x AI
Lifelong Ink x AI
"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.
Wacom Intuos have been introduced in a school to make classes more fun and creative
Yoana Simeonova, a software designer working in Bulgaria, introduced Wacom Intuos in a school to make children's IT classes more fun.