Mark Kistler's Draw Squad [Paperback]

Mark Kistler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1988 | Age Level: 3 and up

As "Commander Mark" on his national PBS TV series The Secret City, Mark Kistler has taught 10 million viewers of all ages how to draw. Mark Kistler's Draw Squad gathers all his zany, effective shortcuts to basic drawing skills into a book that will delight would be artists of all ages.

Like his TV show, the thirty lessons in this book are peppered with jokes, tips, and slogans, and organized in easy-to-follow steps. "Warm-up" exercises generate enthusiasm; the "Key Drawing Words" develop specific skills; practice pages are provided for hands-on participation; and the Commander's own lively sketches and "contests" invite you to add your own creative touches. His bubbling energy, flashes of whimsy, and talent as a teacher make learning to draw fun and easy -- even for those who swear they can't draw a straight line!

Editorial Reviews

Review

Betty Edwards author of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and Drawing on the Artist Within Kids love cartooning. This book will help keep drawing alive until children are ready to learn to draw from life and nature.

Ray Bradbury Super! I wish I had had Mark Kistler 's Draw Squad when I was ten!

From the foreword by James M. Clarke Former President, Texas Art Education Association and Art Curriculum Director, Aldine School district, Houston, Tx. Mark Kistler is the most noted art educator in the history of modern art education.

About the Author

In addition to his popular TV drawing show, Mark Kistler is a cartoonist, illustrator, and school workshop leader. He lives in Oceanside, California.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone (September 15, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671656945
• ISBN-13: 978-0671656942
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #47 in Books > Children's Books > Arts, Crafts & Music > Art > Drawing

More About the Author

Over the past sixteen years Mark Kistler has taught millions of children how to draw in 3-D at over five thousand elementary school assembly workshops around the world, including Australia, Germany, England, Scotland, Mexico, and the United States. His starring roles as Commander Mark and Captain Mark in the hit children's public television series The Secret City, The Draw Squad, and The New Secret City Adventures, have been viewed in eighteen countries with over forty million viewers. His most recent self-produced public television series, Mark Kistler's Imagination Station, is currently airing on nearly one hundred PBS stations nationwide. Mr. Kistler has written and illustrated many popular children's drawing books, including Learn to Draw with Commander Mark and Mark Kistler's Draw Squad. As a result of his television series and drawing books, Mark Kistler has generated over one million letters containing 3-D drawings from children around the world. Mark deeply believes that learning how to draw in 3-D builds a child's critical thinking skills while nourishing self-esteem. His positive messages on self-image, goal setting, dream questing, environmental awareness, and the power of reading have inspired millions of children to discover their awesome individual potential. When Mark is not waiting for connecting flights at airports, he enjoys sailing his Catalina sloop in the blue Pacific waters off the coast of sunny southern California. Mark lives in Carlsbad, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anyone CAN Draw!, October 17, 1998

By 

Robert Boyle (Winnetka, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mark Kistler's Draw Squad (Paperback)

*

This book is for EVERYBODY. Elementary school children will take to it with no reservations or inhibitions; Kistler knows how to prepare and motivate his readers to just dive right in. Adults (I am 44) will discover that the ONLY prerequisites for learning to draw fluently are a few 3B pencils, a cheap sketchpad -- and Kistler's book. The lesson/exercises could not be more easy, painless, or fun. If you go through the entire book as I did -- once you start, it's almost impossible to stop -- you will have accumulated an impressive collection of well-drawn doodles, sketches, vignettes, illustrations -- and at least one gigantic mural. And YOU are the artist.

Kistler doesn't teach you merely to "copy" figures, he gives you insanely simple projects that become a kind of alphabet / repertoire for assembling a larger, more grandiose project, and then he exhorts you to go and do just that. And you do go out and do it, because now you can.

You don't just learn to draw objects, you acquire the ability to visually invent, create, generate and connect pictorial ideas and expand on artistic themes. By the time you get half-way into the book, you begin to see your dining room wall as a nice place for your own "Guernica" mural or "Historical Pageant of the Milky Way Galaxy". By the end of the book, you understand why Michaelangelo couldn't just paint the Sistine Chapel beige with a roller and quit at five o'clock.

RDB

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great art program for teachers, children and adults!, November 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Mark Kistler's Draw Squad (Paperback)

As a fourth-grade teacher who was never very good at art, I always found teaching art to be very difficult. Elementary school teachers aren't provided with any real curriculum, and the majority of ideas out there in books and teachers' magazines are simplistic cut-and-paste busy work that don't really teach any art concepts. Then I found this book! This is incredible! My whole art program is set up around this book! It teaches art concretely and step-by-step so that the most art challenged students (including myself) are able to learn from it! The kids love it, and its great for teaching mathematical and geometrical concepts like shapes, angles and terms. I couldn't recommend this book for any teacher (or child, or parent) more! You and your children will draw great pictures, even if you are as bad at drawing as I am!

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a great starting point, July 20, 2005

By 

microjoe - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mark Kistler's Draw Squad (Paperback)

If you are looking for a place to start learning to draw, and the books you have seen before only make it harder, your search is over. Mark makes it easy for anyone at any age to get basic drawing skills, the building blocks you need to get started. He teaches the skills that other books make seem complex, without the stress or making it go over your head. His way of teaching is simply the easiest method a person can have to start drawing. And if the books are good, his old show on PBS and his videos are even better. Mark makes drawing so fun kids beg to use the book again and again. He does not start by intimidating you with the completed project, in fact you don't always know what you are drawing until you are done. He takes you one line, circle, or square at a time and before you know it you have a fun drawing. I also reccommend you try the books from Ed Emberly, or check my lists on Amazon for kids that want to learn to draw, or be a cartoonist or animator.