Children’s illustrator gives lesson at South Point library

SOUTH POINT — Drawing cartoons can be accomplished successfully by mastering a few simple shapes, and children in South Point got to see how that is done on Friday.

Illustrator Steve Harpster, the author of several children’s drawing books appeared at the South Point branch of the Briggs Lawrence County Public Library to give children a free lesson in drawing, using letters and numbers as the starting point o draw a host of animals.

Harpster, of Cincinnati, who also appears in several how-to drawing video in his Youtube series, used a tablet and projection system to instruct the group of 12 children.

For one animal, he had the children start with the number 3.

“Now we’re going to draw eyes on the three,” he said. “And then we’re going to draw a nose with an upside down ‘U” like this.”

As each drawing progressed, the children would guess what the final product was going to be.

“I know what we’re turning it into,” Destiny Loudermilk, 6, exclaimed.

“I think it’s a mouse,” her friend said.

“No, it has to be a pig,” Destiny replied.

They were both surprised when the finished piece was of a monkey, and Harpster asked the group for names.

By the lesson’s end, they had created Shelley the Sea Turtle, Barry the Bear and others.

The subjects were not limited to real life creatures, though. Harpster also taught them how to draw two friendly monsters.

He also emphasized creativity and encouraged them to vary from his pieces, showing them that, with the turtle, they could make it male or female, add spikes to be a Koopa from the Super Mario videogames or a mask to be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

Harpster has produced a series of books, teaching children to draw animals, video game characters, robots and more. His latest is set for release in October.

Jan Gullett, librarian for children and teens, who hosts the programs, said the children attending ranged in age from two to 12. She said Harpster also appeared at the Proctorville branch of the library earlier in the day.