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.

>More about the partnership between Wacom and FC KAZO.