Drawing Projects
an exploration of the language of drawing

From two of the leading figures in the field comes this comprehensive new study of the art of drawing: Drawing Projects. Mick Maslen and Jack Southern explore our relationship with drawing from our earliest encounters as children, offering expert advice on the physical and mental skills required to become a proficient drawer, and guiding the reader through 15 projects to work through at their own pace.

Over the course of one summer, the authors ran a series of workshops with students to test out the projects they had designed specifically for this book. The 15 'how-to's' experiment with drawing techniques which aim at mastering different styles and techniques of drawing. Illustrated with images documenting the projects in motion and their results, Drawing Projects is a definitive guide to drawing.

These illuminating tutorials are accompanied by sections profiling key artists who have brought drawing into a prominent position today, including Charles Avery, Dryden Goodwin, Cornelia Parker, Julie Mehretu and Jake and Dinos Chapman. Each artist reflects on the personal value of the medium in their own bodies of work, through interviews or articles specially commissioned for Drawing Projects.

Opening up discussions on how we view the world around us, and how drawing has come to be celebrated as a process of "seeing made visible". Drawing Projects moves from the conceptual, to the narrative, to the practical, celebrating the ways in which drawing can be used as a mode of expression.

Full of handy tips and useful details, with colour illustrations and photographs to engage the reader throughout, as well as a glossary of technical terms and precise information on drawing materials and techniques; Drawing Projects is a practical guide to drawing and an informative insight into the minds of artists and contemporary practitioners of drawing. As such, Drawing Projects will inspire enthusiasts and beginners alike by bringing this popular medium to life in a relevant, contemporary way.

Jack Southern has been a practising artist in London since graduating from the Slade School of Fine Art in 2003. He is currently undertaking a residency with Acme Studios, East London, and teaches fine art on the Foundation Course at the University of Gloucestershire.

Mick Maslen has taught painting and drawing to Foundation students for more than 30 years. He is a former course leader of the Foundation Course in Art and Design at the University of Gloucestershire.