NoBrow Review: The Art of Drag

This NoBrow edition was created in support of the LGBTQ+ community around the art form of drag and discusses the evolution and history of the art form, from its original roots in ancient Greece all the way to modern times.

I love the concept of this book, creating an edition solely based around the inclusion and representation of a community which is still very much under presented in today’s society. I love the homage to icons throughout history including those which we know today such as Ru Paul, whose ability to engage an audience has led the art form to a global audience, providing an amazing platform for those who work with the medium.

I really love the illustrations created by all of the artists but I especially like the works of both Helen Li and Sofie Birkin. Helen Li’s designs are prominent on the covers as well as throughout the rest of the book and inner leaf pages of the book. They utilise bold colours and edges which still manage to convey a friendly and feminine appearance which I absolutely love.

Sofie Birkin’s work can be seen throughout the book and I love the androgyny surrounding the style of her characters. She combines the use of harsh outlines alongside cell shaded objects which creates a really interesting result I would be keen to explore within my own future designs as I like the way she chooses to highlight particular areas in order to add detail rather than having a continuous border around the designs.  

I was also super impressed with the various composition styles used throughout the book which allowed designs to cover double-page spreads seamlessly. One element I found particularly clever was how they show at the inner pages of the book a drag queen ready for action yet on the back end pages they show the same character taking off their makeup. This felt highly engaging as it was almost like we travelled with this character throughout the history of drag before the end of the show where they began taking off their makeup, coming to a clean resolution to end the narrative of the book. I would love to be able to create a book with similar engagement levels as I found the styles and layouts utilised throughout this book managed to maintain my attention on every page which would be amazing to be able to emulate within my own work.

I love the colour play within the choice of palette as well by incorporating both blues and pinks as the main colour schemes for the book, which I feel comments on how there isn’t such a clear definition between male and female behaviours and desires. In the end we all want to feel beautiful and enjoy our art.