When Mark Kistler was a little guy, maybe 3 or 4 years old, he was a finger drawer.

No, he didn't draw pictures of fingers.

He used a finger to draw pictures...in the peanut butter his mother spread on a slice of bread, in toothpaste squirted on the bathroom mirror and in the soap suds in the sink.

His methods are a lot more advanced now, but Kistler is still having fun drawing.

He also teaches others to draw, especially kids. He believes kids who learn to draw in 3-D also learn to think more creatively and feel more positive about themselves and their ability.

Drawing in 3-D means giving the objects and people in your drawings a more lifelike appearance, with depth or thickness, in addition to the height and width in a flat drawing.

Earlier this month, Fort Wayne area children, ages 6 to 13, had the chance to learn 3-D drawing from Kistler at a summer art camp at Whispering Meadows Elementary School. He taught them how to create contours, shadows and shading and how to vary sizes and placement of objects to achieve a three-dimensional effect.

He even sang to them. Well, sort of. As he added shading to his own drawing, he warbled to the class, "Shade, shade, shade." As he demonstrated placement of shadows, he shouted, "Pop the shadows! Make the drawings look alive - like they're popping off the paper."

The theme that day was ancient Egypt. That meant drawings of pyramids, pharaohs and mummies - with a little break for the class to do the "mummy walk."

On other camp days, drawing themes included undersea adventures, drooling dinosaurs and a marshmallow metropolis.

As Kistler demonstrated, the kids made their own drawings, learning the techniques that all good artists use to create the illusion of depth.

Kids also can learn 3-D drawing through Kistler's Dare-to-Draw books or DVD's, by visiting his Web site, www.draw3D.com , or by watching his TV program, "Imagination Station," which airs on PBS stations around the country. The half-hour show doesn't appear on WFWA PBS-39 in Fort Wayne, but Kistler would like to see that happen.

He donates the show to PBS stations and raises the money to do that through his summer art camps. He also does programs in elementary schools and estimates he has visited more than 5,000 of them in 17 countries.

The jolly artist said his mission is "to teach the world how to draw in 3-D, one child at a time."

"My Web site has been a great way to take my message to the world," he said. "I have 500 families in 14 countries in my online art school."

He says the ocean with its wondrous creatures is the most popular theme with kids.

"Three and a half million kids have drawn the fish on my Web site."

Kistler, who lives in Wisconsin with his wife and four children, said drawing has always been the anchor in his life.

"I'm a big believer in positive thinking - dreams do come true. I wanted to raise a family (through) cartooning and go all over the world."

And he did.