How To Draw Outside the Lines

How To!

Slate Magazine

Business, Education, How To, Self-improvement

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Drawing isn’t just child’s play. It’s a shortcut to joy, presence, and connection—all things we could use a lot more of these days. On this episode of How To!, Courtney Martin brings on artist, graphic journalist, and founder of DrawTogether Wendy MacNaughton to explain how everyone at the grown-ups table can start drawing, too. Courtney’s blind contour drawing If you liked this episode check out: How To Be an Artist and Not Starve Do you have a problem that needs solving? Send us a note at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001 and we might have you on the show. Subscribe for free on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. The show is produced by Rosemary Belson, with Kevin Bendis. Our technical director is Merritt Jacob and our supervising producer is Joel Meyer. Want more How To!? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the How To! show page. Or, visit slate.com/howtoplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, Wendy McNaughton.
0:03.3	Hi, Courtney Martin.
0:06.1	Okay, how should we start this thing?
0:08.2	You want to kick it off with some blind contour drawing?
0:11.2	Your signature move?
0:12.8	I don't go to formal intro.
0:14.3	I was waiting to get a formal intro.
0:18.1	Welcome to how to.
0:19.6	I'm Courtney Martin.
0:21.1	Guys, this episode feels like the equivalent of when you're sitting in school.
0:25.1	It's a beautiful day out and your teacher allows you to have class outside.
0:30.2	Oh my gosh, what a treat.
0:32.4	And it feels that way because I'm joined by a very special guest.
0:36.8	Her name is Wendy McNatton. She's an award-winning
0:39.8	artist, best-selling author, and she's currently helping a hundred thousand people discover the
0:45.7	joy of drawing on her substack draw together. Oh, and she's an incredible friend. In fact,
0:52.3	friend might be putting it sort of lightly.
0:54.2	We're besties.
0:55.0	We met a decade ago, and ever since, she's been teaching me about art, forcing me to talk
1:00.0	on the phone, and making me laugh so hard, I pee a little.
1:06.0	Wendy specializes in a bunch of things, but one of them is drawing people on the corner of
1:10.4	the street, on the subway, in hidden mahjong parlors, basically anywhere. The portraits are like oral history
	...

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