For our covers, we ask visual artists to imagine a drag character and depict them in their own signature style! These illustrations appear on the front and back cover, as well as in custom endpages. After all, the cover is the "face" of the mag, and we want to give good face!

ISSUE 1 - What Is Drag? | John Lisle

ISSUE 2 - Realness | Sophie McMahan

ISSUE 3 - Sister | David Ayllon, Kelsey Short, Rumi Hara & Sasha Velour

This photo series by Adam Ouahmane was inspired by Sasha Velour and Shea Couleé's partnership on Season 9, specifically their dual challenge win on the "Naughty Nighty" runway...vintage femmes, 70s lingerie, a neon motel, lesbian undertones...you can't resist it! #teamsashea

Pre-order the issue now!

Sasha Velour | Shea Couleé | Adam Ouahmane | Dan Polyak | Kelly Boner | Tiger Lily

ISSUE 3 - Sister (available at Drag Con in limited advance, release in May 2017)

Sasha Velour and photographer Daphne Chan took inspiration from surrealist and realist painters to create mood-pictures that capture the very real experience of grieving in public. The piece is dedicated to Sasha's mother Jane, who died 5 days after the release of Issue 1. She was a fierce advocate for non-violence and community activism.

Sasha Velour | Daphne Chan | Iru Ba | Paula Lombardi

ISSUE 2 - Realness

Photographer Patrick Arias captured some of Brooklyn's finest drag stars out to Fort Tilden. In some ways, nature represents the ultimate "real" so it's exciting to see both photography and drag interacting with it--improving it, distorting it. Patrick used a Nikon N80 35mm, Pentax 6x4.5 120mm, and a Polaroid 600se.

Patrick Arias | Chris of Hur | Lee VaLone | Lady Simon | Pearl Harbor | Ultraviolet | Merrie Cherry | Fox Squire | Goldie Peacock

ISSUE 2 - Realness

Linda Simpson's photo-comic "60 Photos" was first published in '88 in her groundbreaking gay zine My Comrade. It was our great pleasure to share the original pages (so you can see her expert pre-photoshop collage work) today. The comic depicts a utopian fantasy, set in a fictional "Institute of Homosexual Inclination" and featuring a very young RuPaul!

Linda Simpson | John Boyer | Keith Kotick | Nancy Jung | Lisa Lederer | Hapi Phace | RuPaul | Tabboo | Keoki

ISSUE 2 - Realness

Johnny Velour sat down with vogue legend Kia Labeija to talk about art, drag, vogue, and activism. Through her artistic practice and extensive work as a public speaker, Kia, like her mother before her, is seeking to change the narrative surrounding the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Johnny Velour | Kia Labeija

ISSUE 2 - Realness

We ask accomplished visual artists to reimagine our editors - Sasha and Johnny Velour - in their own unique art styles. These illustrations accompany the editor's letter in each issue. 

ISSUE 1 - What Is Drag? | Laurel Lynn Leake

ISSUE 2 - Realness | Chad Sell

Sophie McMahan's illustrations for the cover of the second issue are incredible! They feature her signature blend of vintage femme glamour with some monstrous and powerful uncanny.

ISSUE 2 - Realness

We ask accomplished visual artists to interpret the "title" of each issue ("Realness" "What is Drag?" etc.) in a two page illustrated spread. These amazing illustrations tease out some of the themes of each issue with fun and funky characters and colors!

ISSUE 1 - What Is Drag? | Jon Chad

ISSUE 2 - Realness | Rumi Hara

In this amazing collaboration between Ritsu Hirayama and Jesus Ward, embroidered illustration becomes a fresh drag medium, stitching gender and glamour onto bare naked portraits.

Ritsu Hirayama | Jesus Ward | Sasha Velour | John Lisle | Olive d'Nightlife | Johnny Velour

ISSUE 1 - What Is Drag?

Veronica Bleaus calls herself "the worst queen in the midwest!" Scholar Ben Bascom sat down with Veronica for an in-depth interview, and photographer Kinzie Ferguson and artist Becca Kacanda collaborated on a wild series of Veronica-fashion-spreads (with Becca's own jewelry!).

Veronica Bleaus | Becca Kacanda | Kinzie Ferguson | Ben Bascom

ISSUE 1 - What Is Drag?

Donald C. Shorter Jr.'s essay and Yuki Matsumura's photographs capture the essence of Donald's beautiful theater/dance piece of the same name. Yuki's photos were taken during the final dress rehearsal of the piece.

Donald C. Shorter Jr. | Yuki Matsumura

ISSUE 1 - What Is Drag?

Illustrator Eric Kostiuk Williams created a series of art pieces that reinterpret Antonin Artaud's philosophy of the "BWO" for drag. As Deleuze and Guattari explain "the body without organs is not a dead body but a living body all the more alive and teeming once it has blown apart the organism and its organization...the full body without organs is a body populated by multiplicity."

Eric Kostiuk Williams

ISSUE 1 - What Is Drag?

Masha Bogushevsky's photos capture two drag transformations, and show how both the subject and the space seem transformed by the presence of drag. Featuring K. James and Sasha Velour.

Masha Bogushevsky | K. James | Sasha Velour

ISSUE 1 - What Is Drag?

John Lisle's illustrations for the cover of the first issue are legendary! They depict a fictional drag queen in a multitude of fierce looks, all created in John's unique digital 3D style.

John Lisle

ISSUE 1 - What Is Drag?