Spring 2017 Issue of Drawing Sneak Peek: Tell a Story With Your Art

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Art is inherently narrative, and drawing is no exception. Artists have been using drawing to tell stories since pencil was first put to paper. The Spring 2017 issue of Drawing magazine presents several examples of artists telling stories their way and offers insight into their processes to help inform your own. Subscribe to Drawing here.

Make Way for Picture Books

The exhibition “Make Way for Ducklings: The Art of Robert McCloskey,” celebrates the work of the author and illustrator of several classic children’s books, including Make Way for Ducklings and Blueberries for Sal.

Drawing recently spoke with Meghan Melvin, the Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf Curator of Design at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, who organized the museum’s presentation of the exhibition. We discussed McCloskey’s career, the lengths he went to research his subjects and the reasons for his books’ enduring appeal.

Truth, Narrative and Life Itself

Through drawing, Jerome Witkin engages with questions of history, faith and human experience. His works take on such subjects as religious belief, sexual politics, the Holocaust, the loss of children, sickness, torture and human rights.

Underlying the whole enterprise is a deeply held belief in the power of drawing as a means of engaging the world in a way that is immediate, charged and endlessly revealing.

Study for the Daughters of Peter Rounds (The Twins) ca. 2005, graphite, Conté crayon, Prismacolor crayon and collage, 45½ x 34. Spring 2017 issue of Drawing magazine, Tell a Story with Your Art | Artist's Network — **Study for the Daughters of** **Peter Rounds (The Twins)**
by Jerome Witkin, ca. 2005, graphite, Conté crayon, Prismacolor crayon and collage, 45½ x 34. Courtesy Jack Rutberg Fine Art, Los Angeles, California.

Drawing Fundamentals: Constructing the Forms of the Head

Drawings appear more unified and lifelike when the artist is familiar with the complex, changing surfaces of the head and face. Having a clear idea of these forms makes it easier for the artist to combine and relate the parts to the whole, and use the framework as a springboard to divert from the norm to create specific likenesses when desired or required.

Drawing of Bust of Costanza Bonarelli by Jon deMartin, graphite, 9 x 7. This drawing copies the Bust of Costanza Bonarelli, a marble sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680). Spring 2017 issue of Drawing magazine, Tell a Story with Your Art | Artist's Network — **Drawing of Bust of Costanza Bonarelli**
by Jon deMartin, graphite, 9 x 7.
This drawing copies the Bust of Costanza Bonarelli, a marble sculpture by Gian
Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680).

Back in Black (and White)

We spotlight the Grand Prize winner of our 5th annual Shades of Gray Competition, our annual competition featuring work created entirely in black, white and gray, and also present the additional prize winners and runners-up.

Ascend by Katherine Young, 2015, graphite, 48 x 48. Private collection. This drawing won first place in the 2016 Shades of Gray Competition. Spring 2017 issue of Drawing magazine, Tell a Story with Your Art | Artist's Network — **Ascend**
by Katherine Young, 2015, graphite, 48 x 48. Private collection.
This drawing was awarded first place in the 2016 Shades of Gray Competition.

Drawing With Depth

Recreating a three-dimensional figure on a flat surface offers many challenges. Scott Waddell describes his process for confronting and overcoming problems as they arise.

Drawning 2017, colored pencil and white charcoal on toned paper, 12 x 9. Collection the artist; Spring 2017 issue of Drawing magazine, Tell Your Story Through Art | Artist's Network — **Dawning**
by Scott Waddell, 2017, colored pencil and white charcoal on toned paper, 12 x 9. Collection the artist.

Drawing When the Story Comes First

Matt Phelan didn’t begin his career intending to write and illustrate graphic novels and children’s books, but he found in these a way to combine a lifelong love of storytelling with his background in drama.