Learning to love to draw with Commander Mark, the Bob Ross of drawing
Commander Mark had big bright eyes and a wide mustachioed smile big enough to match his magnetic persona. He wore bright red military coveralls with a bandoleer filled with — not bullets, but magic markers.
His catchphrase was "Dream it. Draw it. Do it." Back in the 1980s and early '90s, millions of children tuned in to PBS to watch Commander Mark create magical worlds with his pen, teaching them how to draw along the way.
And 40 years later, a new documentary — The Secret Cities of Mark Kistler — tells the story of Mark Kistler, the artist behind the shows The Secret City, Draw Squad and Imagination Station.
Born in Ohio, Mark Kistler grew up in Southern California, the youngest of five kids with a single mother who worked as a nurse. He says his mom encouraged him to follow his passion for art early on, buying him art supplies and letting him turn his bedroom closet into a tiny art studio.
He loved Disney animations and dreamed of becoming an animator. Then, as a teenager, he began teaching drawing workshops for kids, through his local parks and rec programming. There, he fell in love with teaching art and came up with a goal to teach a million kids to draw.
It didn't seem a crazy idea, he says, because he really believed anyone could draw. Forty years later, he told me he still believes it. "If you can write your name, you can draw," he says.
But how would he reach that goal? After all, he says, he was just a broke kid with a dream.
One day he was in an art store and noticed a rack of VHS tapes with titles like "How to Paint" and "How to Sculpt." He didn't see one that said "How to Draw." He went to his local public television station to see if they'd give him a shot at hosting such a program. No way, they said.
He didn't give up. In New York, he met with PBS producers, who also said no. They wanted a show about painting for kids, to ride the coattails of Bob Ross. Kistler pushed back on that idea, pointing out that paint was not as accessible to kids as a pencil and paper. Eventually, they let him try out his idea.
Kistler's shows and subsequent how-to books, like You Can Draw in 30 Days, teach drawing fundamentals using a step-by-step approach based on copying and tracing. It differs from more traditional art classes that teach drawing from observation, or "realistic" art, but these methods are based on principles of drawing developed by the Renaissance masters.
In his approach, kids learn about composition, shading, foreshortening and other techniques in a fun environment that emphasizes practice over perfection.
All of this is done with a generous dose of showmanship and lessons about attitude.
In fact, watching Mark Kistler is kind of like listening to a self-improvement audiobook: "You can do this!" He believes drawing is the way to visualize and achieve your life goals.
Kistler's style is certainly fun and encouraging, but is it just a gimmick or does it really teach kids how to draw? Is drawing really a skill, not a talent, like Commander Mark espoused?
I asked Seymour Simmons, a retired professor of art and art education at Winthrop University in South Carolina, who wrote a textbook about the history of drawing.
Simmons says drawing is an intuitive process that captures momentary brain processes and records them. He, too, believes it is a skill, not a talent, that humans have used to communicate for thousands of years, since they began making marks on cave walls long before formal written language.
And if it is a skill, he believes it is something that should be taught. But there are many ways to teach drawing:
"Drawing is observation, drawing is invention, drawing is self-expression, drawing is problem-solving," he explains. "Drawing is a visual language."
Simmons says Mark Kistler has a great approach to drawing as ideation and invention. As Simmons puts it, "It's a discipline, but it should be fun."
For his part, Kistler believes that it helps to have a positive attitude when learning a new skill. Or as Commander Mark would put it: "Wave bye-bye to the stress bus."
That's the reason he created his character, and the cosmic world around him, so many years ago. He wanted to create a safe place for kids to try something new, mess up and not be afraid to try again. All so they could put to paper what was in their minds.
And thanks to that young 18-year-old who wanted to teach the world to draw, many children across the globe — kids like me — got his message and fell in love with drawing, too. We followed along with Commander Mark at home, drawing goofy toucans, birthday cakes and castles.
His hope from the start was that his lessons might lay the groundwork for future engineers or scientists to design solutions to something big.
The whole point of education, Kistler believes, is to teach students to become problem-solvers. And he's worried that arts education is sometimes forgotten, especially in times of budget cuts. "Science, technology, engineering and math are all very noble pursuits," he says, "but you've got to have that creativity."
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Transcript
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
If you were a kid in the 1980s or early '90s watching PBS, you might recognize this voice.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE SECRET CITY")
MARK KISTLER: You got your pencil ready. You have your paper out in front of you, right? OK, we're ready to draw today.
SUMMERS: That's Mark Kistler, or Commander Mark, as he's known to fans. He's the creator of several PBS children's television shows, including "The Secret City," and he's also the author of many books on drawing. He is like the Bob Ross of drawing. Now there's a new documentary film out about Kistler's life and work. LA Johnson, an art director and illustrator at NPR, sat down with Kistler to discuss the power of the pencil.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE SECRET CITY")
KISTLER: Hi. I'm Commander Mark, and this is "The Secret City."
LA JOHNSON, BYLINE: Commander Mark had big, bright eyes and a wide, mustachioed smile that were like a magnet to me.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE SECRET CITY")
KISTLER: Isn't drawing fun? It really captivates you and gets you moving.
JOHNSON: Dressed in bright red military coveralls with a bandolier filled with markers, he created magical worlds with his pen.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "THE SECRET CITIES OF MARK KISTLER")
KISTLER: It was this just eruption of energy on the screen.
JOHNSON: The new documentary "The Secret Cities Of Mark Kistler" takes us back to the '80s, where it all began. It tells the story of how the shows were built and their legacy.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "THE SECRET CITIES OF MARK KISTLER")
KISTLER: We wanted to create a safe place for kids they could travel to in their imaginations.
JOHNSON: Born in Ohio, Mark Kistler grew up in Southern California. At 18 years old, he fell in love with teaching art.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
KISTLER: Now, I'm going to let you decide...
JOHNSON: And over time, he came up with a goal to teach a million kids to draw.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
KISTLER: What kind of texture I should use on the design right here. I can use small little circles or squares.
JOHNSON: It didn't seem a crazy idea, he says, because he really believed anyone could draw. Forty years later, he told me he still believes it.
KISTLER: You can draw. If you can write your name, you can draw.
JOHNSON: Chatting with Mark Kistler is kind of like listening to a self-improvement audiobook. You can do this, is his messaging. He believes drawing is the way to visualize and achieve your life goals, and he's even got a handy catch phrase.
KISTLER: Dream it. Draw it. Do it.
JOHNSON: Kistler teaches drawing fundamentals using a step-by-step approach based on copying and tracing. It differs from classical art classes that teach drawing from observation or realistic art. All of this is done with a generous dose of showmanship and lessons about attitude.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
KISTLER: This is fun, huh? Don't you get in a good mood when you start to draw? So you're becoming much more confident. I've noticed that.
JOHNSON: Kistler's style is certainly fun and encouraging, but I wondered, is it just a gimmick, or does it really teach kids how to draw?
SEYMOUR SIMMONS: There's lots and lots of ways to teach drawing. There's not one correct way.
JOHNSON: Seymour Simmons is a retired professor of art and art education from Winthrop University in South Carolina.
SIMMONS: Drawing is observation. Drawing is invention. Drawing is self-expression. Drawing is problem-solving. Drawing is a visual language. There's so many different methods.
JOHNSON: One thing common to all of them, he notes, is that learning to draw is a discipline, but it also needs to be fun. And that's where Commander Mark comes in.
SIMMONS: Mark Kistler has a fabulous approach to the drawing as ideation and invention.
JOHNSON: Kistler says all of this is super important at a time when arts education is often a victim of budget cuts and so much of the emphasis in education is about STEM.
KISTLER: Science and technology and engineering and math - all very noble and important pursuits. But without the art, how can you solve the problems? You have to get that creativity.
JOHNSON: And as if to prove his point, while we're talking, Mark Kistler makes an unusual request.
KISTLER: Can we do a drawing together? I wanted to draw this toucan with you.
JOHNSON: Yeah, I think we can.
KISTLER: Yeah?
JOHNSON: I see Kistler change as he slips into teacher mode...
KISTLER: See what I'm doing?
JOHNSON: ...And switches over to a script in his head that he's honed over four decades.
KISTLER: I love this toucan. So I'll start down here at the bottom of my page.
JOHNSON: I'll admit it. At first, I feel a little silly drawing this. This cartoon toucan is a bug-eyed, fluffy little guy sitting on a tree branch.
KISTLER: I want to draw the toucan beak coming way out. So look at this.
JOHNSON: I have an art degree. But my inner child artist is giddy.
KISTLER: The first step I mention to the students is to draw really light. We're going to do layer upon layer of detail.
JOHNSON: Pretty quickly, we both start to relax and loosen up, and I remember it doesn't matter how it looks. It's the act of drawing that holds power.
KISTLER: It doesn't have to be perfect. Remember, no stress, no stress. Give yourself permission to make mistakes. Wave goodbye to the stress bus. Bye-bye.
JOHNSON: I humbly wave bye-bye to the stress bus and my ego and lighten up. Hey, even us pros can get stuck in our heads.
KISTLER: Here, hold up your drawing. Let me see it. Hold it up to the...
JOHNSON: Yeah, it's getting there.
KISTLER: Yes. Oh, that's so awesome. You're really developing true pencil power. Pencil power - that's right.
JOHNSON: Gimmick or not, after 15 minutes drawing with Mark, I felt great. Because no matter what stage you're at, beginning or professional, we could all use a little encouragement. LA Johnson, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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