Madalyn Drewno

Madalyn Drewno (she/her) is a Denver-based illustrator and visual storyteller. Her work engages themes of grief, belonging, and identity.

As a transnational/transracial Chinese adoptee, Madalyn engages these topics by reclaiming her agency from mainstream adoption narratives and the model minority myth. She also challenges the capitalistic drive for individualism, perfectionism, and exploitation and elevates interconnected struggles for collective liberation.

Madalyn earned a BFA in Illustration at the University of Colorado Denver and an MA in Illustration at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She works in a variety of mediums, including watercolor, ink, colored pencil, collage, and block carving to create zines, comics, prints, and paintings.

Madalyn has been selected to distribute and exhibit her work in art and culture festivals such as Denver Zine Fest, ayA con, Denver Comic and Arts Fest, AAPI Culture Fest, and AZN Zine Fest. Her work has been published in the New York Times, Hyperallergic, Crucial Comix, Denverite, The Denver Post, and Southwest Contemporary.

She has received the Cheltenham Illustration Awards, and was chosen to be part of the 2026 American Illustration 45 Winners Digital Archive.