> The Dinosaur Edition of Draw to Learn was released this week.
> Produced by Draw to Learn Associates in Tustin, the $39.95 program
> teaches youngsters to draw three-dimensional-looking pictures with
> pencil and paper by watching instructions on a computer screen.
>
> "It's not whiz-bang, state-of-the-art animation," said Tom Howell, a
> partner in the company. "Kids should not be distracted by that when
> they're trying to learn. We wanted it to be a quiet-time program."
>
> Draw to Learn is the brainchild of Craig Chandler, 43, a software
> entrepreneur, and Howell, 72, a free-lance cartoonist. Its genesis
> was in July, when Howell thought aloud to Chandler: "Teaching kids
> to draw is so mechanical that a machine could do it."
>
> Chandler is president of Computer Information Enterprises in Tustin,
> which installs IBM computer systems and publishes business software
> such as programs that control conveyor belt systems in warehouses.
>
> Chandler worked on the project for six months in his spare time.
>
> "Initially it was a hobby," he said. "Now it's going interstellar."
>
> He worked with Howell in a partnership to develop a program that
> would mimic the teaching process. Howell drew the animated
> sequences, and Chandler scanned them into the computer and worked
> them into a program.
>
> The drawing lessons are led by an animated character named Rembrandt
> Worm, who outlines each move so that children can pencil basic ovals
> and circles in what is called the construction-line technique.
>
> With that method, children draw geometric figures to get the basic
> form of the three-dimensional object, then fill in the details and
> erase the construction lines.
>
> The technique, Howell said, is the same one that cartoon animators
> use. When several animators work on a cartoon, they have to use a
> uniform style of drawing to make sure that a character such as
> Mickey Mouse always looks the same.
>
> Children have a choice of nine different dinosaurs. Once they
> complete their drawings, they are rewarded with a colorful painting
> of dinosaur scenes. The program is organized into different steps;
> the child can press a button when ready to move on.
>
> Art books offer instructions, but they don't show the motions needed
> to create drawings. With the computer as instructor, children can
> learn at their own pace without the pressure of keeping up with a
> classroom of other students.
>
> "It gave them an opportunity to experience drawing from a different
> point of view," said Kerry Rubel, a fifth-grade teacher at Los
> Naranjos Elementary School in Irvine. "It gave them a chance to move
> from geometric figures to a finished product."
>
> The fifth-graders in Rubel's class were no experts in drawing. Yet
> by using the program, they produced three-dimensional-looking
> sketches of dinosaurs, rather than the typical stick-figure outlines
> that non-Rembrandts draw. Recommended ages for the program are 7 to
> 14.
>
> Howell learned cartooning the old-fashioned way. In the 1930s, while
> he was in high school, he began working for "Ripley's Believe It or
> Not!" ghost stories. He also did pencil work on "Flash Gordon"
> comics and helped with the conception of "Captain Kangaroo." Now he
> is a syndicated artist who produces cartoons on tennis lessons.
>
> "I've been around kids all my life," Howell said.
>
> Chandler worked for IBM for five years, leaving in 1982 to form CIE.
> The company has 40 employees and generates about $4 million in
> revenue.
>
> "I see this Draw to Learn business as another division," he said.
>
> Other programs planned in the series are Down on the Farm, Under the
> Sea, Outer Space, At the Circus and A Trip to the Zoo.
>
> \- The [Los Angeles Times][1], May 1993

A sad postscript: Howell died shortly afterward, and while the
dedication to his memory in this Macintosh port implied that the line
would be carried on, I've seen no evidence of any releases beyond
Dinosaur Edition.

Version: 1.3

Compatibility
Architecture: 68k

  [1]: http://articles.latimes.com/1993-05-14/business/fi-35284_1_computer-software