Drawing is radical!
Anything we can draw can exist (and does exist) because we draw it into being. Radical Drawing is about what creativity feels like when we center agency, accessibility, reciprocity, and imagination.
Radical Drawing is a array of ideas that can support artists as they cultivate their creative intuition.
Radical drawing is based on a few key principles:
- Drawing is a verb! It is important to remember drawing is an action – it is something you can choose to do.
- Everyone can draw! Everyone is creative! We can expand our idea of what drawing is to create spaces of acceptance and creative care for every body.
- Your drawing is not ‘good’ or ‘bad’. And you are not ‘good’ at drawing, or ‘bad’ at it either. These types of value judgements only limit on our creative potential. We can move beyond these limiting labels by refusing them. Let’s prioritize supportive values and then draw ourselves toward them.
These central ideas can support us as we re-imagine our relationship to our creativity and learn to draw more radically.
Radical Drawing re-enchants our relationship with creativity.
I believe that creativity is crucial to our survivance. It fosters flexibility in our thinking and resilience in our communities. Drawing is one way to cultivate that creativity. Although all kinds of creativity are radical I focus on drawing because it is simple, accessible, and infinitely adaptable.
Radical Drawing is accessible and adaptable!
I want these ideas and practices to be available to as many people as possible. I write a free Radical Drawing Newsletter with seasonal ideas and exercises.
Radical Drawing Workbooks
I also print Radical Drawing workbooks. These are interactive sketchbooks that contain suggestions and exercises. Each book centers a different theme and explores ways we can embrace related ideas in our drawing practices. For example, Moon Drawing Magic has exercises for drawing with the phases of the moon.
Radical Drawing classes
I teach classes about drawing and creativity based on the Radical Drawing framework. In Spring 2023 I am teaching a course called BAD AT DRAWING with Dylan Cale Jones at the Oklahoma Contemporary Studio School. This class is specifically for people who believe they are bad at drawing. Students will find ways to draw that are unique by learning to embrace their drawing, whatever it may look like. We will learn to draw with joy and confidence! Registration opens February 20, 2023.
I know from my own experiences that it is difficult to feel creative and generative while living in a culture that emphasizes extraction and scarcity. I also know that I can re-imagine my relationship with creativity to be loving, sustaining, and magical.