Ladies Drawing Night

Make Art, Get Inspired, Join the Party

Julia Rothman, Leah Goren, Rachael Cole

• Publisher: Chronicle Books LLC
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781452147253

Speaking directly to today's explosion of creativity, Ladies Drawing Night is for women looking to deepen their creative connections and expressions. Join rock star illustrators Julia Rothman, Leah Goren, and Rachael Cole for ten evenings of fun and art-making. Each night is led by a talented guest artist and themed around a particular topic, from large-scale ink painting to making art with kids. Samantha Hahn, Mary Kate McDevitt, Joana Avillez, and many more share their expertise. Each chapter includes loads of exciting artwork, insights about drawing, and instructions for that night's project. A rare peek into the minds and sketchbooks of some of the best female illustrators working today, this inspiring ebook is an irresistible invitation to host your own Ladies Drawing Night!

with Charlie, Max, Anaïs, Colette, and their mothers, Jaime Rugh and Yoon Chang

where Rachael’s apartment in Fort Greene, Brooklyn

Children are often uninhibited in their artistic expression. While we had experienced some of that feeling during ink night, we wondered if collaborating with children might build on our sense of creative freedom. As we reached for the crayons and school-grade paintbrushes, we wanted to be imaginative and judgement-free, and to just have fun.

Rachael is a mom of an adorable three-and-a half-year-old, Alex. She had been planning this special afternoon session for a while and was excited to share her experiences helping organize children’s art activities with Leah and Julia. “Seeing kids explore materials and mark-making is honestly a joy like no other,” Rachael says. “You guys are going to love it!” Rachael invited Jaime Rugh and Yoon Chang, two mothers from creative families, to join us with their children.

JAIME, the mother of CHARLIE, nine and a half, and MAX, seven, studied fiber arts at the Maryland Institute College of Art and eventually went into floral design. After living in New York City, her family settled in New Jersey and then decided to homeschool their children with a focus on the arts. “We live a pretty creative, fun life,” remarks Jaime.

YOON CHANG, the mother of five-year-old twins COLETTE AND ANAÏS, is a fashion designer who teaches fashion illustration to kids from second to fifth grade as well as a fashion thesis course at Parsons School of Design. She’s been living in New York for over twenty years and graduated from Parsons herself. Later she worked for fashion label Cynthia Steffe, and then co-owned a label called Whistle & Flute. Yoon has encouraged her daughters to draw and create from the moment they could hold a crayon and they spend a lot of time drawing together.

THE KIDS ARRIVE like a volcano of energy. While Alex plays with an old typewriter and sings, twins Colette and Anaïs are shrieking in delight and rolling around on the floor. Charlie is chattering with her brother, Max. Meanwhile, their mothers, Yoon and Jaime, help us lay down heavy butcher paper and put out tempera paint, colored construction paper, markers, crayons, and pencils. We had prepped the moms well ahead of time with our theme, a fantasy zoo, so that the kids had time to get excited in advance.

There’s a reason we invited these moms and their kids: They are from creative families. Charlie has been into art from a very young age. She has her own studio set up with plenty of high-quality art supplies. “We teach a lot about just doing it,...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Drawing on Style
• All Together Now
• Cut and Paste
• Pattern Play
• Cardboard City
• Going Big
• Spelling It Out
• Strike a Pose
• Night on the Town
• Kidding Around
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Chronicle Ebooks