IN USE / Drawing Pad
Yoko Otomo @yoko.otomo
Each sheet of the Drawing Pad is micro-perforated, allowing it to be cleanly separated from the Drawing Pad.
We wondered how people who have been using the Drawing Pad for a long time actually use it.
So we asked Yoko Otomo, who regularly uses the Drawing Pad, to tell us how she uses hers.
Her first answer was a little unexpected.
“Basically, I don’t separate the sheets. I use the Drawing Pad for my daily drawing practice.”
Her daily drawings remain together in the Drawing Pad. Sometimes, she places the Drawing Pad itself at exhibitions for visitors to look through freely.
If someone particularly likes one of the drawings and asks to have it, she separates that sheet from the Drawing Pad and gives it to them.
For larger works, she separates a preliminary drawing from the Drawing Pad, scans and enlarges it, and uses it as the basis for a larger piece.
“The sheets can be separated very smoothly, and the edges are clean, which is really helpful.”
White、Gray、Kraft
We also asked Yoko what first led her to the Drawing Pad.
The paper she had previously used for drawing had a slightly uneven surface, which sometimes made it difficult to draw smaller works.
That was when she discovered the Drawing Pad.
“White is smooth and white, like Kent paper. The paper is thin, but slightly thicker than the paper in a croquis sketchbook. I also like that it isn’t spiral-bound. It’s my ideal Drawing Pad.”
As for Gray:
“I was so excited when I found out there was a Gray Drawing Pad.”
She also likes that the paper doesn’t warp even when she applies colored pencil, pastel, or opaque watercolor more heavily.
Using Gray as a mid-tone, she enjoys drawing with pencil, white pastel, and a white pen that can be used on black paper.
“During live drawing, when I add the final white highlight to the eyes, people often say, ‘That’s the finishing touch.’”
Yoko also has her own way of using Kraft.
When drawing on Kraft, she often uses a Lumograph pencil to make the black stand out more clearly.
“For everyday practice, I choose White. When I want to make something a little more stylish (?), I choose Kraft.”
Opaque watercolor and colored pencils also show their colors well on Kraft.
“Compared with drawing on white paper, colors have more depth when drawing on Gray or Kraft.”
Paper color, drawing materials, when to separate a sheet, and when not to. We learned about ways of using the Drawing Pad that we hadn’t known before.
The sheets can be separated. But they don’t have to be.
Through Yoko’s story, we discovered yet another side of the Drawing Pad that we couldn’t see from the maker’s perspective alone.