DrawTogether with WendyMac

Why are people so hard to draw? Is it our wonky shoulders? She shape of our eyes? The funky curves of our ear? Or our weirdly formed hands and feet?! Answer: YES. Today on the pod, we try cartoonist's Lynda Barry and Ivan Brunetti's exercises from Lynda's book Making Comics and create some simple, squiggly wiggly human bodies, then transform them into characters. Grab some paper, pens, colors and young people, and let's DrawTogether. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit club.drawtogether.studio/subscribe

Yuyi Morales is on the DT podcast!!Hellloooo! This week on the DT pod we celebrate Día de los Muertos with special guest children’s book author and illustrator Yuyi Morales! Her might recognize her Caldecott-nominated Viva Frida, or her other award-winning books, including Niño Wrestles the World, Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez, and Dreamers. We spent some time talking about one of my favorite of Yuyi’s characters, Señor Calavera. He’s the trickster skeleton star of two of Yuyi’s books: Just a Minute and Just in Case. He even made an appearance during our interview!On this special DrawTogether Podcast, Yuyi joins us from her art studio in Veracruz, Mexico for some Day of the Dead drawing, including a fun sugar skull warm-up and alter-drawing to celebrate someone we love who has passed. Yuyi also plays us some original drawing music on her jarana. Grab some paper, pens, colors and press play above. Enjoying the DT Pod? Can you think of someone else who would love it, too? Please share with a friend!AND! Does your kid want to be featured on the DrawTogether podcast? Call the DT Hotline and ask your kid to tell us about their FAVORITE FAMILY FOOD. Call 1-866-4-DRAWTOGETHER with your young person, leave a message after the beep and they just might end up on a future episode. The GUT’s First Visiting Artist: Maira Kalman!Ask and ye shall receive! This Sunday, Maira Kalman joins us at the Grown-Ups Table where she answers some of my most pressing drawing/life questions, shares a little about her new book “Women Holding Things”, and gives us an inspiring drawing assignment. We’ll be taking questions from the table, so start thinking what you’d like to ask her, too! If you haven’t joined the Grown-Ups table, subscribe for weekly creative wanderings, explorations and lessons, visiting artists, and drawing assignments - and most of all, a joyful, creative, supportive community of fellow drawers. Thank you Yuyi for joining us on the pod this week, and producers Liz Scheltens and Arjuna Saeed, and editor Amy Standen for all your hard work to make this podcast so great. And thank YOU, DrawTogether Supporters and GUT members, for making this all possible. See you next week! xoxow This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit club.drawtogether.studio/subscribe

It's Halloween at DrawTogether! In this extra spooky episode we start with a calming circle-drawing warm-up while we listen to a poem, then learn to draw drop shadows and turn our flat circles into 3D spheres. After a quick lesson on light and shadow, we turn our 3D spheres into spooky shadow monster heads! Then we go get some candy.Warning: this episode is spooky. It contains spooky sounds and spooky voices and spooky drawings and… JUST KIDDING. It’s just silly. Appropriate for kids of ALL ages. Bwahahahaha! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit club.drawtogether.studio/subscribe

Wendy introduces us to one of her art she-roes: Sister Corita. Yes, she was a radical nun. Yes, she was a teacher and an artist. Yes, she was an absolute icon. Join Wendy for a Corita-inspired project that will help you look closely and see the world in a whole new way. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit club.drawtogether.studio/subscribe

Helloooooo DT fam. As the school year is wrapping up, so is Season One of the DrawTogether Podcast! (Can you believe it?? 26 episodes!) As our Season One finale, we do a big-hearted DrawTogether classic: the blind contour portrait. This is a partner exercise, so grab a family member, friend or stranger, hit play above, and get ready to learn to LOOK in under a few minutes. Because in addition to helping us imagine a world we want to see, drawing teaches us to LOOK at one another. To slow down and pay attention. I deeply believe drawing is one of the most accessible and immediate ways to create connection between people and open doors for deeper relationships. My TED talk features this drawing exercise, and goes deeper on how Drawing helps us slow down, look closely and connect with the world around us - and each other. That drawing is looking, and looking is loving. And that DrawTogether isn’t really about drawing. ;) I hope you enjoy this episode, and continue to do this exercise anytime, anywhere, with anyone. I’ve done it in classrooms, workplaces, in hospitals - I even got a bar full of strangers to draw each other all at once. It’s the ultimate humanity ice-breaker/connection maker. I can’t wait to hear what you think (and see what you see.) Do let me know how it goes. Looking back on the DT Pod for a minute: When we started this podcast 26 episodes ago, we never thought we would come so far. With the help of phenomenal editor Amy Standen, we learned about artists Alma Thomas, Agnes Martin and Ruth Asawa. We talked about the war in Ukraine and drew sunflowers to process our feelings and show our support. We drew the shape of sound with musician Colin Meloy, and visited with children’s book author/illustrator Carson Ellis. We moved our feelings through our bodies and onto the page with five finger drawings and silly emotional fruit, and made a bunch of fun imaginary animals - because why not. We drew SO. MUCH. All these DT podcasts and more are here on Substack and on Apple Podcasts. If you or your kids missed any, they are here for you over the summer. Speaking of Summer: next week I’ll share deets on what’s coming next, what subscribers will be receiving in their inboxes, all that fun stuff. Plus a recap on everything DrawTogether has done in our classrooms program (SO MUCH STUFF) and some pretty awesome partnerships we’ll finally be able to share. For now, a huge thank you so much for being part of DrawTogether. There is no DT without YOU. And as we say at the end of every class, show, podcast episode, and first podcast season (!): Drawing is Looking and Looking is Loving. Also, Everything is better when we DrawTogether. See you soon!xoxow This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit club.drawtogether.studio/subscribe

Hello! This week on the DT Pod we’re drawing EMOTIONAL FRUIT! Timid tomato. Angry apple. Silly Strawberry! If you can feel it and eat it, you can draw it! Grab your kids, your supplies, press play and DRAW. I’d LOVE to see your emo eggplants. Post your excellent food-feeling artwork on instagram, tag @Drawtogether.studio and we’ll share them out so others can see them, too. DrawTogether Podcast & Newsletter is made possible by folks like you. Subscribe to support!For subscribers this week: we’ll dive into the creative (and often beautiful) world of emotional charts and diagrams. We’ll look at some of the more visual, thoughtful and unique ones, and learn why they are so helpful. Spoiler alert: When we can identify our emotions, we can decide what we want to do (or not do) about them. And by kids, I mean all of us. Now go grab your drawing supplies and press play - can’t wait to see your EMOTIONAL FRUIT. Spread the word about the DrawTogether Podcast & Newsletter - share with a friend! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit club.drawtogether.studio/subscribe

This week on the DT Podcast: The World’s Best Drawing Game is back! Grab a pencil, paper, press play above and get ready to surprise yourself. It’s fun to play on your own, and way more fun with two people. If you want to share your favorite doodle drawing on instagram and tag @drawtogether.studio, we’d love to see and share.AND! A call for kid storytellers from our friends at Radiolab! Terrestrials, a new podcast for kids from Radiolab, is looking for a youth storyteller for their first season. Could it be YOU? They’re looking for stories about “trash mammals.” That’s right. Mammals that are not considered cute or cuddly, but deserve some recognition. Some examples are skunks, rats, porcupines, opossums, bats, stray dogs, street cats, raccoons, coyotes, hyena, ferrets… stuff like that. Tell them a TRUE STORY about an experience you’ve had with a trash mammal that surprised you or changed you or your understanding of the world in some way. Make it fit in 5-7 sentences or a 30-60 second audio or video clip. Send your stories BY MONDAY to Ana at agonzalez@nypublicradio.orgAlso! Our homebase is here in the DT newsletter, but if you’re listen to the DT Podcast on Apple Podcasts could you take a moment and give us a rating and review over there? It makes a real difference and is a great way to support DT. Thank you!Everything is better when we DrawTogether.xoxo,w This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit club.drawtogether.studio/subscribe

Hellllooo! Today on the DT Podcast we continue our sound theme with a visit from one of my all-time favorite musicians: Colin Meloy of The Decemberists. Using a variety of sophisticated sound-making tools (aka: instruments) Colin helps us explore the question “What does sound look like?” He plays six of his favorite sounds for us, and we use our sophisticated mark-making tools (aka: pencils) to DRAW our visual interpretation of the sound, and create an abstract musical score. No rules! Use different mediums and marks. Get messy. Colin is not only a literal rock star, but he’s also a phenomenal writer (hello Wildwood Chronicles made with fave human/illustrator/kids book author Carson Ellis. They also happen to be married.) Colin recently launched a substack to share the BTS of his songwriting process, old tracks, lessons - def worth a subscribe. (Carson just launched an amazing art one, too!)I’ve heard from a lot of you that you miss the DrawTogether shows. I know. I do, too. Friends, they are coming… It’s just takes so darn long. YOU will be the first to know what’s next, I promise. Meanwhile, if you like, maybe I’ll pull back the curtain a little on what’s going on with the show, with DT Classrooms, the art kits and more for subscribers… Yes? No? Let me know if you’d like to hear more about that (or anything else) in the comments. Also, with all this talk of sound on the podcast this week and last, I’m mortified I haven’t been creating transcripts for DT folks who are deaf or hard of hearing. My deep apologies. I’m learning. As of this week, paying subscribers will receive a transcript of the DT Podcast along with behind-the-scenes notes, exercises and reading suggestions. If you are deaf or hard of hearing and can’t afford a subscription right now, write me and of course we’ll give you free access. Can’t wait to see your Cabinet of Sound! Post them on Instagram, tag @DrawTogether.Studio and we’ll share some of them here. Maybe we can even convince a rock star to play some of the abstract scores you create. :) Pencils up, friends. Everything is better when we DrawTogether. xoxowEpisode 20 Credits: Drawer-in-Chief: WendyMacEditor Supreme: Amy Standen DT Drawing Music: Chris ColinDT Theme Song: Thao NguyenSpecial guest: Colin Meloy This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit club.drawtogether.studio/subscribe

A quick thank you to our paying subscribers. Without you, there is no DT Podcast (or anything really!) If you want to see DrawTogether continue to grow, please subscribe to this DT newsletter for just $6/month. It helps us keep the lights on as we work on more shows, DT Classrooms, partnerships and projects, and continue to grow hearts with art. Thank you! It’s Friday! That means a NEW DrawTogether Podcast episode! We take a special DT kid request (yes, we take requests!) and the result is a super fun family or classroom drawing adventure filled with animals, monsters, superheroes and SURREALISM. While it’s only a few minutes longer than than our typical 5-10 minutes - it will provide hours of fun for a kid, family or classroom. Supplies: For this drawing, kids will need 3 pieces of paper, a pencil, maybe some colors, and scissors. For the littler kids who aren’t using scissors on their own yet, they will also need a grown up.FLIP BOOK IT: If you/kids are working in sketchbooks, try not removing the paper. Instead, keep the paper INSIDE the notebook while drawing and cutting. You’ll end up with a super fun surreal FLIP BOOK of silly monster combinations. Group Sport: This is a twist on the surrealist game Exquisite Corpse, in which two or more people pass a folded piece of paper around and create a mish-mash drawing together. If you want to to try that, my pal Austin Kleon (who has an awesome new Substack) did a wonderful post on it not so long ago.Can’t wait to see your silly surreal monster drawing! If you’d like to share your kid’s drawings with the DT Community, take a photo of your Silly Monster and send it to submissions@DrawTogether.studio, or post a pic on instagram and tag us at @drawtogether.studio - we’ll share it out on our instagram account and maybe feature your kid’s drawing in a special newsletter (include first name and age, please!)Have fun!Everything is better when we DrawTogether. xoxow This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit club.drawtogether.studio/subscribe

Hi, DT friends. Today’s DrawTogether Podcast is special.Today we take a special request from 8-year-old DrawTogether Kid Keira and her mom, Dasha. Dasha is Ukrainian and lives in SF with her family. They asked if we could make a drawing to show the people of Ukraine our support. And that’s exactly what we do on today’s podcast. Hit play above, or listen on Apple Podcast. In the 10-minute episode, we talk a little about the war and feelings kids might be having, and what we can do with those feelings (acknowledge them, ask caregivers and teachers questions, look at a map, draw.) Then we draw a big bright sunflower to hang in our window. Maybe other kids in our neighborhood will see it and feel inspired to draw a sunflower for their window, too. Maybe we can take photos and post them on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter (tag us so we can share it, too!) and maybe kids in Ukraine will see them, too. We might be far away from each other, but we are all neighbors. For subscribers this week, i’ll be sharing some great resources for parents and educators about talking to kids about Ukraine and war in general (and some Ukrainian art you can share with your kids, too.) Honestly, the info is great for grown-ups, too. We all have feelings and questions, and doomscrolling on twitter probably isn’t the best way to maintain our mental health. There will be tips. :) If you are enjoying these podcasts, another way way to support is to leave us a review over on Apple Podcasts. It makes a big difference in getting the word out. Thank you. Pencils UP. Everything is better when we DrawTogether. xoxo,w This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit club.drawtogether.studio/subscribe

“Through color, I have sought to concentrate on beauty and happiness, rather than on man’s inhumanity to man.” - Alma Thomas (1891-1978) This weeks DrawTogether Podcast is a special one: we learn about the painter Alma Thomas and draw ourselves some ENERGY. Grab your paper and some colors and hit play above. Good news for subscribers: a special interview with the award-winning illustrator LoveIs Wise who illustrated the forthcoming children’s book “Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas” will land in your inbox early next week. And! One DT subscriber will win a copy of the book. Random selection, of course. I’ll include a little DT swag, too.I’m going share a little about Alma here, and there’s a lot more in the DrawTogether Podcast. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts. Please leave us a review. It really helps us out. Alma Thomas is just THE BEST. A constant creator, she taught art to kids in Washington DC for 35 years. Only after retiring at 60 did she start seriously painting. Her large, colorful, abstract paintings were inspired by nature, and she was obsessed with space. At 75, she became the first African American woman to have a solo show at the Whitney, and she was the first African American woman to have her work acquired by the White House. Alma’s creative influence is unparalleled, and her impact profound. While other American artists around her at the time were all hung up on tight lines, she explored the space and light created by nature and process. She let her pencil lines SHOW!Make no mistake, she was rigorous. She painstakingly planned her composition, and her vibrant color choices were all informed by color theory. But there was a human, experiential influence in her work. You can see and feel her hands. And unlike so many artists of her time - and artists today - she reveled in the experience of beauty, and, considered the creation of beauty a profound (and perhaps political?) act.Alma said, “I looked at the tree in the window, and that became my inspiration.” I hope today’s podcast and learning a little about Alma Thomas’ beautiful work - her technique and considerations and a little more about her life - encourages us all to look at nature, notice what we see, and create something full of energy. Don’t forget to subscribe if you want more Alma Thomas and an interview with illustrator LoveIs Wise on her forthcoming kids book about Alma: "Ablaze with Color.” Pencils Up! Everything is better when we DrawTogether. xoxowps - an extra big shout out to our DT Podcast editor Amy Standen. Thanks for making every episode shine. Three cheers for Amy!! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit club.drawtogether.studio/subscribe

Hellllloooo! Happy Friday. It’s been less than a week since DrawTogether was featured on PBS NewsHour, and boy did we get a great response. A big welcome to all the new folks joining us! And to our longtime DT peeps: thanks for continuing to draw, look and love with us as the DT family grows. Onwards! Our podcast drawing today is based the work of one of my favorite artists, Ruth Asawa. We explore her magnificent light-as-air wire sculptures using shape & line/pencil & paper. (Hit that play button above - or listen on iTunes or Spotify!) I discuss a bit of Ruth’s work and life in the podcast, but her are a few more fun facts: Ruth Asawa was the quintessential maker. She used her HANDS and whatever materials were available. She focused as much on the process of making art as the outcome. And through all the changes and chapters in her life, she kept making art. Ruth and her family were unjustly placed in a Japanese American internment camp during World War 2, and she kept on creating. She went on to study at the experimental Black Mountain College in North Carolina, and travelled to Mexico to see Diego Rivera’s murals and painting first hand. There, a local artisan taught her a basket weaving technique that became the basis for her wire sculptures. Here are some traditional weaving techniques that look similar to Ruth’s wire work, and the drawing we do on today’s podcast.And here’s a photo of Ruth weaving a wire sculpture based on technique she learned in Mexico. Or rather, here’s a photo of Ruth drawing in the air:Ruth worked constantly. She was always folding paper, drawing on scratch paper, or looping wire… so you can imagine what life was like given she had six kids (!) always hoping for her attention. BIG NEWS: I’m interviewing Ruth Asawa’s son, Paul Lanier (a teaching artist himself) about growing up in a creative home and cultivating creativity in young people. I’ll share conversation with subscribers in the days ahead. If you’d like access to features like this, please support/subscribe here:“An artist is not special. An artist is an ordinary person who can take ordinary things and make them special.” Ruth Asawa wove different techniques, cultures, identities and experiences into a tremendous life and body of work that continues to contribute so much to our creative humanity. She made, taught and tirelessly advocated for arts education. She drew in the air. Thank you Ruth Asawa.I’d love to see your Ruth Asawa inspired drawings. After you listen to the podcast, take a photo and post it on instagram and tag @drawtogether.studio, and we’ll share it with the community. Pencils up, friends. Everything is better when we DrawTogether. xo,wps - You can now listen to the DrawTogether Podcast on iTunes and Spotify! Please subscribe over there and share it out with your friends. We appreciate it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit club.drawtogether.studio/subscribe