Draw Me!

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Name
Draw Me!
Designer
Art Instruction School
Date
1914–
Disciplines
  • Branding
  • Graphic Design

Created in 1914 to help fill a shortage of trained illustrators for the burgeoning printing industry, the Bureau of Engraving, Inc., formed the Federal School of Commercial Designing, the precursor to the Art Instruction School. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Art Instruction School offered correspondence courses throughout the country in a range of visual art subjects, including: perspective drawing, cartooning, color theory, and other fundamentals of art. Art Instruction Schools pitched prospective students through extensive advertising campaigns, most memorably the “Draw Me” series, which featured various subjects in profile: a clown, a doe, a woman, and even Bob Hope. Certain characters, appearing on matchbook covers, would become icons, such as Petey the Pirate and Tippy the Turtle. The school continues today with an expanded range of courses and instruction in the use of digital tools.