Yoshiko Hada’s drawings continue the lines of her childhood doodles

Much like our dreams, Yoshiko Hada’s drawings seem to her to be “born through my hands out of nowhere”. Her wonderfully naive pastel people and animals are often created quite unconsciously, like lines you scribble down whilst you’re on the phone. The illustrator is perpetually fascinated by what can happen in the process of taking a line on a walk, “both surprised and moved by the coincidences that happen on paper”.

On the subject of colour, Yoshiko tells us that she often finds the array of bright pastel shades (sometimes acrylic and watercolour too) for her simple forms from Tokyo’s neon-coloured cityscapes. Although Yoshiko heartwarming illustrations have coloured the likes of international advertising gigs, book covers, products and textiles, she has managed to never lose her sense of awe with the simple act of drawing. “It may be similar to a child’s innocent joy when touching clay for the first time,” she says. “I hope that when people see my artwork they will feel like children again and open their hearts and minds.”