Raul Colon’s latest masterpiece “Draw!” has been receiving some pretty awesome praise from various industry heavy hitters. And just in case you missed it over the weekend, we wanted to gloat a bit: the latest mention comes from none other than the New York Times Sunday Book Review! Here is what they had to say:
“Draw!” tells of a journey as well: the inward journey of an artist’s creativity. A young boy, alone in his room except for his book about Africa and some art supplies (and medicine on the side table, hinting at a stuck-in-bed illness), begins to draw. He is soon transported into his imagination, and as he becomes engrossed in his fantasy African world, Colón’s loose pen-and-ink sketches transform into fully rendered pictures. These images are rich and glowing; one can almost feel the warmth of the sun and the nubby fur of the giraffes. Yet the delicately scratched lines and texture of the colored pencil on paper never let the viewer forget the artist’s hand, creating a lyrical balance of fantasy and reality that is ideal for a book celebrating artistic expression.
The book’s theme of the power of art to befriend, pacify and inspire, while not unique, is still a poignant one. In an author’s note, Colón recalls his own childhood memories of drawing alone in his room. By illustrating this actual experience with sketchy lines that contrast greatly with the fully rendered images of his fantasy, Colón suggests what many artists, writers and, of course, poets know in their own lives: an imaginary world even more fully realized than reality.”
Click below to check out the review in its original context and learn a bit more about this terrific story!
