Wacom and pixiv present Drawfest - An online, interactive drawing festival for the global art community

TOKYO and PORTLAND, Ore., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Wacom and pixiv, both headquartered in Japan, announce Drawfest, a hands-on, live event streamed on YouTube, May 21 to 23, that consists of eight livestream programs, each one to four hours long. In addition to online workshops and lectures held by an assortment of internationally recognized illustrators, animators and comic artists, there will also be programs for the audience to draw artworks all together. Everyone who draws is welcome. The event will offer simultaneous interpretation in both Japanese and English so that people from numerous regions will be able to participate in the festival.

"Anime, the hand-drawn and computer animation style originating in Japan, has seen its popularity grow and practitioners and fans can now be found in virtually every country around the globe," says Nobutaka Ide, CEO of Wacom Company Ltd. "By teaming with pixiv on Drawfest, we are creating a cross-boundary and cross-language platform for artists and designers to share their passion for drawing and learning from others."

Art is universal and has a special way of helping break down regional and language barriers. Drawfest was born from the idea of providing an online event to give creators the chance to get together with other like-minded artists from all over the world so that everyone could interact and draw together.

"The pixiv online community is for all who share a love for art and fan art, and we are dedicated to increasing the value and networking opportunities of game, anime, manga and other illustrators all over," says Shingo Kunieda, CEO of pixiv, Inc. "By collaborating with Wacom on Drawfest, we hope to revitalize artists, bring a smile to their faces and support them with an opportunity that is truly international in scope." 

Additional sponsorships from Adobe, hololive English, NetEase, Netflix, and WIT STUDIO, are helping provide sessions on specific anime themes, such as hololive English, Identity V, and GREAT PRETENDER.

To learn more about Drawfest and how to participate, please visit this link: https://pixiv.net/special/drawfest/

Event Information
Event Date: May 21 - 23, 2021 [PDT] 17:00 - 23:00 in each day
Language: English/Japanese live interpretation
Programs: 8 programs
Event Platform: YouTube Live (Private Livestream)
Price to View: Free to view (Pre-registration required)
Event website: https://pixiv.net/special/drawfest/

*The pre-registration for the event may be closed early once it reaches the maximum number of registrations.

Programs
Day 1, 17:00 - 18:00 PDT
[Lecture + Drawing All Together] How to draw realistic lighting
Speaker: Modare

Day 1, 19:00 - 21:00 PDT
[Drawing All Together] Let's draw "Identity V" using Adobe Fresco, a free drawing tool!
Speakers: Melo Kyuba & Takashi Iwamoto
Sponsors: Adobe & NetEase

Day 1, 22:00 - 23:00 PDT
[Lecture + Drawing All Together] Let's paint a magical moment together!
Speaker: Heikala

Day 2, 17:00 - 21:00 PDT
[Lecture + Drawing All Together] Let's learn the easiest way to create manga through yonkoma
Speaker: Toshiya Wakabayashi

Day 2, 21:30 - 23:30 PDT
[Drawing All Together] Happy Birthday, Ina! Let's draw "Ninomae Ina'nis"!
Speaker: Ninomae Ina'nis
Sponsor: hololive English

Day 3, 17:00 - 18:00 PDT
[Lecture + Drawing All Together] How to design a character with a strong thematic and iconic elements
Speaker: Zeronis

Day 3, 19:00 - 21:00 PDT
[Lecture + Drawing All Together] WIT Animator Academy Online! How to draw characters presented by a chief animation supervisor
Speaker: Hirotaka Kato
Sponsors: WIT Studio & Netflix

Day 3, 22:00 - 23:00 PDT
[Lecture + Drawing All Together] Going from sketch to color quickly and efficiently
Speaker: Loish

About Wacom

Founded in 1983, Wacom is a global company based in Japan (Tokyo Stock Exchange 6727) with subsidiaries and affiliate offices around the world to support marketing and distribution in over 150 countries. Wacom's vision to bring people and technology closer together through natural interface technologies has made it the world's leading manufacturer of interactive pen tablets and displays as well as of digital styli and solutions for saving and processing digital signatures. The advanced technology of Wacom's intuitive input devices has been used to create some of the most exciting digital art, films, special effects, fashion and designs around the world and provides business and home users with their leading interface technology to express their personality. For further information about the products of Wacom see also http://www.wacom.com.

About pixiv
pixiv is a social media service where users can post their works (e.g. illustrations, manga, novels) and receive much love and support. The service started in September, 2007 and currently has over 64,000,000 registered users. By providing a place where creators can post their works and fans can give feedback to the artists, we are managing an environment for anyone who enjoys creative activities.
Our community is formed by artists' artworks and fans' engagements.

pixiv hosts numerous artworks, user-generated events as well as commercial contests by official content holders. pixiv is also a co-creation platform for artists to make their new art projects. For more information, see https://www.pixiv.net.

For further information and review units please contact:

Douglas Little
Wacom Technology Corp.
[email protected]

SOURCE Wacom

Related Links

http://www.wacom.com