Published: January 13, 2009 01:56 pm      

Artist shows Southern Indiana children easy ways to draw 3-D

Pencil power!

He has taught art to students who have gone on to draw characters for “Shrek”, “The Incredibles”, “Monsters, Inc.” and Marvel Comics.

His alumni also work as NASA Space Station designers, London fashion designers and more.

That man is Mark Kistler. Kistler travels the world to do what he calls his two favorite passions at the same time: Teaching and art.

Now, Kistler is leaving his mark locally at Indiana University Southeast, by hosting workshops on 3-D drawing for area children for the rest of the week.

The program, which is sponsored by a variety of grants and donations by area businesses, is free to those who call and reserve a spot. On Monday, he taught about 45 students at his first performance, but only a handful came to his noon showing.

Tracy Heightchew, box office supervisor for IUS, said three different schools canceled within the past month, due to not being able to afford the busing to get to the university.

However, the show must go on and it did, even with four adults and two children in the audience.

Kistler showed the group using an overhead projector how to create 3-D images using “pencil power,” as he calls it.

He started with just two dots with each example, walking the audience (each person having his own pencil and paper) step-by-step through the rest of the process until the design was complete.

The program is geared for those in kindergarten through eighth-grade. However, even adults said they learned a lot.

“It was just really amazing to get such a thorough lesson in art in an hour,” said Annette Dailey, who came with her husband and their two sons. “I learned a whole lot.”

“I learned about [creating a] horizon, shading, 3-D and a whole bunch of stuff,” 9-year-old Logan Dailey said as he examined his handiwork.

His younger brother, Levi, was already involved in art, creating paintings at home.

“I thought it was awesome, because I got to do this,” 7-year-old Levi exclaimed, showing off his drawings.

Heightchew said she was disappointed that more people couldn’t come for the noon performance, but hopes the other showings during the week attract additional people to come out.

“It’s a really good program, because it’s interactive and he’s really talented,” Heightchew said. “It also reaches out to a different group that doesn’t always come [to events at IUS].”