Q.Did you enjoy drawing since you were a young child? What was the motivation for your drawing?

Well, I liked drawing a lot from my childhood.

Originally, I just drew graffiti same as everyone else did. I did it before I was even able to write my letters. And then, I drew the characters in animations many times the same as everyone else.

After I entered into elementary school, I started attending a drawing class, which made me want to become a painter, but I was strongly influenced by the animation “Dog of Flanders”.  I liked the animation pictures drawn by the main character, a young boy named Nero.  He was so good at drawing. There is a bridge on the road that Nero always goes through, and there is a picture of Van Gogh’s “The Langlois Bridge at Arles” that resembles that bridge. I remember copying it many times when I was in elementary school.   That is why I often draw windmills, and I wonder if that is why I choose a pencil shaped object as my preferred art material, because it had a strong influence at that time.

Q. Where do you find or how do you feel the charm and appeal for drawing your pictures? 

I think that the fun of drawing is partly instinctual, so I found it difficult. For me, I did not draw so much after learning painting in my high school art class. In my case, I started painting about 5 years ago, since I had that art course in my school.  But at that time, I wanted to have time to get away from my daily life and be different – –  Many students in my painting class say that the time they spend immersing themselves in drawing is an important time – – it is very important to have devoted time to draw.   In my case, drawing has become a daily routine.  But if I dare to say it as an “attraction of drawing” now, I have to pursue all kinds of scholarships and drawing alone is not enough. But, if I raise the attractiveness of drawing, I would say this, “When I start to draw something, let’s say the bridge, I research it a lot.  What is behind that bridge?  Then, I can draw the bridge not only on the surface, but also the content deep inside. That process is a very attractive point for me.”  

Q. Do you have a motif of anything that you really want to draw?

Well, for now… I really want to draw “light”. To portray the light in the drawing, I am always looking for what to draw to express that “light”. That is what I explore every day.

Q.Who is your favorite artist/ painter? Which point in his / her painting do you like most?

I like the Impressionists painters represented by Monet and Renoir, and when it comes to contemporary artists, I admire people like Abe Toshiyuki and Minaga Tanaka (water color painter).  As I mentioned earlier, I am very attracted to the work that beautifully depicts the dazzling light!  

Q. You use our Karisma color pencils and crayons. Would you give us some advice on how to draw well with these materials?

OK. Let’s start with the Karisma color pencils… The charismatic color is also the reason why I use it.  For example, every colored pencil has a great point in the performance….like it is easy to do something. But, Karisma color pencil has a great value of performance when compared to other colored pencils.  I think that it is by far the best.  Karisma is also easy to remove.  The Karisma is different from the first impression.  It is easy to use and interesting when I touch it.  Usually, people think that the Karisma has a good touch to draw and is easy to use when they use it the first time. In that sense, Karisma color has a higher limit than others. In that way, Karisma color pencils also have a high point of various scopes. (High expectation range in performance) when comparing to other pencils. 

-Could you give us one example?

First of all, the color saturation is high.  It has high chromatic value. The color is so intense and deep – – bright and rich. The lead is quite soft.The softness is very important to perform various things, such as it is easy to blend and mix colors.  It is less muddy and you can mix with less turbidity… which is very important.  It is easy to apply colors to create, and it is easy to blur even though it is stretched. The pencil is easy to blend and also easy to extend. In other words, Karisma colored pencils have all the features that I really want in the performance of a colored pencil.  What I can’t do with other colored pencils, I can with Karisma.  Because of that I use your Karisma charismatic colors.

On the contrary to Karisma color, those special features may be a weak point as colored pencils. Even when applying thinly, the color will come in vivid and is a challenge to desaturate.  It is not so easy to put the color a little bit. When I put the color on the paper with Karisma colored pencil, the color is very intense. However, with a colored pencil the drawing will be completed by drawing over a little by little. Most colored pencils are quite hard not soft. Since colored pencil drawings are painting materials that are drawn by painting them little by little. If you use a hard colored pencil, the color will not stick well, so it will come in little by little. But Karisma charismatic colors can’t do that. The deception doesn’t work with Karisma, but a slight blurring of force is transmitted to the paper as it is. Because, any slight movement of your hand will transfer color to the drawing. So this also leads to creating expressive drawing. 

Also, we can say that Karisma color pencils give you a very sensitive control of drawing and if you master it, you can draw with the authentic attractiveness of the Karisma color pencil. The Karisma color pencil can be thought of as “making you acquire a delicate touch control”, and if you can do that, I think that the true appeal of the Karisma color will come out!

– You mentioned earlier that you want to draw “light”. When you draw the light, what features of the Karisma color pencil would be of benefit or quite useful or necessary?  

 Yes, it is quite necessary. When we draw the “light”, we have to draw the shadow to create the light. So, what kind of shadow depends on your drawing touch. We can draw a hard shadow or a soft shadow. Depending upon the shadow, we can adjust the amount of light.  Like strong light or soft light.  You can’t draw light unless you can only paint it solidly. If you just paint all over, you are not able to express the light adjustments. If each drawing technique has various expressions, it is possible to express various ways of shining light.  If you can give various expressions on each stroke of your lines (drawing), then you can draw the variety of light expressions.

The next one is a crayon. As the name crayon implies, I would like everyone to play with colors. Children can play with colors without any intention.

But, many people are very serious about what color to put where!  Colors are not absolute, and the appearance changes depending on the adjacent colors.  There is such a thing as color science, such as where and what colors should be next to each other to look beautiful.  However, even if you don’t learn the color science, the colors and combinations that look beautiful are made in that crayon, so just use it as if you were playing, and it would be a little mysterious with all the colors.  I think you will learn what looks beautiful! You can learn which color would be matched best with this color. But, it is not necessary to learn deeply, but naturally you can understand with this crayon. Your special crayon has a good combination of the colors and you can learn that mysterious color theory by simply playing with the crayon! 

―I see! You can learn and sharpen your sense of color! We can learn and also heighten our sensitivity to color!

Yes, we can…

Q. Can you tell us about your future activities?

As I learned from my master “Mr. Hayashi”, I would like to inform many people of how fun it is to draw and it would be great to see and enjoy art more often.  I hope to make painting more familiar while expanding the joy of drawing more than ever. As I wrote in my book “The most gentle guide how to draw with color pencils”, I would like to convey that anyone can draw with a little effort, rather than a technique that no one can imitate or follow.  I would like to tell everyone how to draw!  The easiest way for people to follow. To do this, I would like to put my efforts more into my classes. For that reason, I would like to enhance the courses, and I think that online courses should be emphasized in the present age.  I would like to be able to create a course unique to online, while incorporating such things as Zoom classes instead of face-to-face courses.  Also I will use image software and explanation methods that can only be done digitally.For online teaching, I will put the Zoom class up of my drawing, utilizing more explanations with video. As for the exhibition schedule, we are planning to hold a solo ehibition in Enoshima, Kanagawa for one week from December 18^th to the 23^rd , 2020.

―What type of your works will be exhibited?

My book was issued right in the middle of Covid 19 so I could not do a publication commemorative exhibition – ceremonial exhibition. First of all, I plan to bring all the original drawings in the book!  Therefore, my works in the book shall be displayed in the December exposition.  Also, I will bring other works, which were completed in recent years.

Q There are many people who haven’t drawn a picture yet, but would like to start to draw… Maybe, they start with just coloring (coloring book). For them, could you give us some advice or tips on how color beautifully?

Hmmm…First of all, I think it’s better not to aim at, “I want to be good.” It would be better not to think about drawing (coloring) beautifully. It can be stressful, especially for Japanese people, but it’s a good thing because you’re trying to improve yourself.  Especially for the Japanese, they are aspiring and would like to improve their work / technique.   Which is good… but, the art cannot be defined in that this drawing is good or bad. 

So, even if you start with coloring books, the trick to painting well is – – Colored Pencils, which are the greatest merit that other painting materials do not have. They can be advanced little by little and stopped at a good place.  If there is no time limit, there is no such thing as how many times you have to finish it.  You can use the same color, divide it into 10 times, or apply it once.  This is the biggest merit for those who are starting to paint.  It’s an art material that won’t fail unless you overdo it little by little.  So I think that there will be no mistakes if you gradually proceed in 10 steps at first, and then in 3 steps when you get used to it, until you get used to it.  If you use the colored pencils, there is no limitation of working, no limitation of process. 

If you do little by little, you can make it as you like. It is my advice that, you will make a good drawing when you try to color (draw) little by little.