CMD+Shift Design

Do any of you remember Mark Kistler?

Every day Mark Kistler, clad in his space jump suit and combat boots busted out the #2 pencils and highlighters to teach me the wonders of “perspective”, “foreshortening” and other such art terms that at the time totally blew my mind.

His enthusiastic “DRAW! DRAW! DRAW!” attitude made him a hero to all the art nerds growing up in the 80′s. His shows The Secret City, The Draw Squad, The New Secret City Adventures and Imagination Station ran on PBS throughout the 80′s and early 90′s, and Kistler’s has since published a whole library of drawing books and instructional DVD’s. He now tours elementary schools, and even runs a summer art camp, for a whole new generation of kids.

Grab a #2 and a sketch pad! Or (do what I did) open up Photoshop and pick up your Wacom tablet, Let’s DRAW! DRAW!! DRAW!!!

How-To-Draw with Mark Kistler: Electric Eel

The Rough Sketch

Tighten it up

Add some Shading

Finishing Touches

Check out all of Mark’s YouTube videos! Do your own drawing (no joke – it’s still fun!) and email it in — maybe I’ll do drawing roundup post down the road.

You can learn more about Mark, his elementary school assemblies, his summer camp and more at his website, Mark Kistler’s Imagination Station.