-By Dan dos Santos

Before there was Bob Ross, even before there was Captain Bob, there was Jon Gnagy. Jon Gnagy was the original televised art instructor. Jon was the host of ‘You are an Artist‘, an instructional art segment that aired on NBC between 1946-1950, and was sometimes as short as 10 minutes in length.

Jon’s name came up several times in a post last week discussing childhood inspirations. After watching the videos below, it’s easy to see why. Jon Gnagy is incredibly deft at creating a strong sense of space and form in a very short amount of time, and does a great job explaining how.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YIRcQVkTOw?rel=0]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtUUjHp3ggY?rel=0]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHlunJ8PuU0?rel=0]