Drawing From Within: Unleashing Your Creative Potential

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

Most drawing books show the reader how to put pencil to paper in order to create an image. Drawing from Within show the reader how to create using not only the tools in their hands, but also their greatest tools—their mind and spirit. With only pencil and paper, the authors encourage and inspire the reader to enjoy increased productivity with greater satisfaction in all of their endeavors. The exercises in this book will allow readers to enjoy the creative process plus understand why creative inhibitions occur and how to overcome them. The book offers a humorous, light-hearted approach to creating which can easily be adapted to all other fields of artistic expression.

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.