Artists Magazine

Readers learn painting and drawing firsthand from other artists through written instruction and reproduction, guiding them step-by-step through the creative process. The magazine shows readers a wide variety of creative options, teaching the fundamentals of art making, presenting techniques in different painting and drawing media.

From The Editor

Artists Magazine

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Pathway Home • Colette Odya Smith recounts a recent sojourn via art-making through past and present creative influences.

Looking Up • Always there and never the same, capricious clouds are an excellent subject for painting.

ADVENTURE IN CLOUDS

WE ASKED... • What’s your favorite small, mid-sized or single-artist museum?

WE ASKED... YOU ANSWERED

Build

Into the Woods With Pastel and Graphite • Artists have employed a combination of chalk or pastel with graphite for line drawings on toned paper for centuries. DEBBY KASPARI uses the technique to deliver striking dimension and color to forest scenes.

DOS AND DON’TS

SELECTING BACKGROUND COLORS • HELEN OH demonstrates her process for choosing a color scheme for the background of a painting.

DEMONSTRATION: DETERMINE A BACKGROUND

The Perfect Blend • Use these top tips for naturalistic and ultra-smooth color transitions.

Compositions

THE LONG GAME • Anyone who has been painting for even a couple of years knows art-making is a mile-by-mile, lifelong journey—not a sprint. All of the talented artists who placed in this year’s Over 60 Art Competition are living proof. Whether they’ve been painting fulltime for decades or have kept their art going as a side hustle while juggling other professions or responsibilities, these artists have committed to the long haul. We hope the stories and advice that they share encourage you to keep a consistent cadence on your own artistic path—whether you’re over 60 or not

MYTHIC, MAGICAL AND IMAGINED • The exhibition “Enchanted: A History of Fantasy Illustration” gives context to a lively contemporary genre.

EXHIBITION VENUES

Believable Make-Believe • Two step-by-step demonstrations, sprinkled with tips and tricks, follow a proven process for painting imaginary subjects realistically.

DINOTOPIAN CEREMONY • In the 1990s and 2000s, I wrote and illustrated the four-novel series, Dinotopia, in which humans and sapient dinosaurs enjoy a peaceful, shared society. The illustration Garden of Hope (page 70) appears in the second book in the series, Dinotopia:

PRELIMINARY SKETCHING

SKELETON CREW • I was asked to create a cover for the spooky fantasy paperback novel, On Stranger Tides, by Tim Powers. Here’s how I went about it.

THE Story tellers • A group of up-and-coming artists discuss their experience of creative collaboration in the age of social media—and social distancing.

MEET THE STORYTELLERS

Keeping you in the know • An Ever-Changing Assembly of Humanlike Stone Structures Lines the Hudson River at Manhattan’s Fort Washington Park.

Outfit

DO NOW

Independent Study • Resources to inspire + build skills

WORKSHOPS 2022 • Your Complete Guide to Workshops Here and Abroad

Lasting impression