Tippy Turtle T-Shirt

Tippy the turtle. Spunky the Donkey. Cubby the bear. The Pirate. You've likely seen their faces on late-night TV or in a small ad in the back of a magazine. "Do you like to draw?" they wonder. "Draw me," they urge. For decades, these characters and their kin have tempted talented and not-so-talented doodlers, offering a free art test. The one-sheet flier asks you to sketch "draw me" heads, finish a drawing of a house, answer a few questions. The return address is in Northeast Minneapolis, headquarters of Art Instruction Schools. Since 1914, it has been the home-correspondence school to thousands of would-be painters, cartoonists, illustrators, art directors and animators. Its "draw me" advertisements were once so ubiquitous that they've inspired parodies.