Even if you only want to draw ugly stick people, this book is carefree entertainment.  Mark Kistler breaks down drawing from a daunting task to a fun, low stress way to relax. He has been teaching people to draw for around 30 years. Originally, he was on PBS but now has his own web site and at least five books. You can even check him out on YouTube. He’s on a mission to teach people of every age and has some great teaching packages and some free videos on his web site.

In my quest to decide what I thought of Mark’s book, I drew several of his lessons from Half Hour of Pencil Power. In the past, if my art were to be graded, sadly, I would have failed. However, after trying several of Mark’s projects, I was simply amazed that they were not only identifiable, but they would have gotten me a passing grade and I actually enjoyed doing them. Two other people with no drawing experience gave them a try, too, and they also produced great drawings.  What a fun way to build self-esteem and skill with just a pencil and paper. 

Mark writes kind of like he sounds in his videos.  He’s very chatty and easy going.  He’s a no stress kind of guy and encourages budding artists to use the tools they have at hand. Between the words Mark uses to give direction and the step-by-step drawings that go along with them, every lesson is laid out in a manner that’s very do-able. At the beginning of every lesson, Mark tells us what inspired that particular picture so he’s also a great story teller. Because he loves to teach, he introduces what he calls the Twelve Renaissance Words of Drawing and even compass direction.

Thanks to this book I’ve become a big Mark Kistler fan and will even be looking for his other books because now I have a little confidence in the drawing department.

Review of a Advance Reading Copy provided by Hachette Books

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language: None                                    

Violence/Gore: None

Sex/Nudity: None                       

Mature Subject Matter:

None

Drug and Alcohol Use:

None