Drawing From Within: Unleashing Your Creative Potential

14 fun and freeing drawing exercises release your inner artist!

Drawing for the sheer pleasure is what this book is all about. Nick Meglin, former art instructor at the School of Visual Arts NYC and former editor of MAD Magazine knows all about art...and how to have fun! He shows you how to stop trying so hard and how to find the joy and satisfaction in the simple act of drawing. There are no tricks, no secrets, no special materials to buy, only an unbridled enthusiasm for the creative possibilities within each one of us. Nick, along with daughter Diane, provides ideas and guidance to get you started on an amazing journey of self-discovery and artistic enjoyment.

In fourteen fun and freeing exercises, you'll see how easy it is to make drawing a part of your daily activity. With sketchbook in hand you'll discover how to be more focused on life around you, and how that life can feed your art. You'll learn how to:

• find great subjects, no matter where you are
• take risks in every drawing
• let your unconscious emerge and stop the inner critic
• draw "attitude not the anatomy, gesture not the detail"
• develop your unique style

Drawings by 50 contributors (old masters and contemporary artists) celebrate the diversity and beauty of expressions created with only pen or pencil on paper. It's all about what you bring from within. As you draw, you respond to what you see, and feel, and think about your subject. It's this inner conversation that gives voice to your drawings. And your artist within!

Nick Meglin has authored books and numerous articles on drawing and illustration and has taught at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. That experience, along with seminars conducted at the Norman Rockwell Museum and other art institutions, led to the development of his unique approach to drawing for personal satisfaction and sheer enjoyment of the creative process. An editor of MAD Magazine for most of his professional career, his text proves to be as fun to read as it is informative.

Diane E. Meglin, DCSW, MSW is a Clinical Social Worker on the faculty of Duke University Medical Center. She has published articles and held workshops on a variety of topics within the mental health field.