Providing a way for children to ferret out their artistic ability, Drawing with Mark the television show has been released on DVD. The simple style with down to earth drawing techniques puts teacher and artist on the same plane. If you feel your child has the motivation or would like to see if they have any interest it’s an economical way to expose their creativity.
Mark Marderosian is a professional illustrator who has put together a television show that aims at the youngsters. He uses rudimentary drawing methods by taking simple subjects that children can understand. He uses animation to make his program child friendly while he brings them to places like museums and ice cream stores to show them how he would draw things they recognize as positives.
In the DVD titled Drawing with Mark, “We All Scream for Ice Cream and Happy Tails” he teaches how to draw squares and circles and other shapes and then adds color and shading. The children are having fun while they learn to draw an ice cream truck and later a cat. The second DVD called Drawing with Mark, “A Day with the Dinosaurs and Reach for the Stars” takes on more ambitious projects like drawing an astronaut and a T-Rex using the same shapes plus new ones.
Each of the DVD’s comes with bonus features of extra drawings that are interesting and fun to do. They also include a booklet inside the box with a drawing to color and how to draw the elements using a grid. The lessons are each 30 minutes long and can be paused so the child can draw along using pencils and other artist tools like crayons. If you watch and help the very young that show interest you can pause the film while you show them how to work with the various elements. Second and third grade children who have had a little art exposure at school should be able to work with the videos themselves.
The presentation may be a little too kid friendly for beyond the 3rd grade as Mark does have a Mr. Rogers kind of delivery. He has simplified his show a little too much and the older children will probably feel it is too kiddy targeted.
Specifications and additional film information:
Cast: Mark Marderosian
Created by: Mark Marderosian and Robert Palmer Jr
MPAA Rating: Unrated, All Ages
Genre: Family, Educational
Running Time: 60 minutes per DVD
Video Release Date: October 8, 2013
Language: English
Format: DVD
Audio: Monaural
Video: Square Format and Widescreen for Televisions 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio
Subtitles: none
Number of Discs: 2 titles sold separately
Distributed by: Shelter Island
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
