Now this is an interesting conundrum...

So I got an email from a woman from my church asking if I was interested in teaching art at a new school she's opening up. It's an art school that teaches drawing through a "proven method" called the Monart Method. Their website is here.

Since graduation's just a hop, skip and a jump away, any job opportunities in the art field I can find are obviously a good thing. I probably won't be able to take this one since it'll still be in the middle of school, but something more about this "art school" sets me on edge. I think it's mostly their philosophy, as put forth on the front page of the website: "Convinced that drawing was in fact a "teachable" subject and a structured "method" could be established in much the same way as has been done in music, dance and writing, Ms. Brookes created what is now known as the Monart Method." This method basically involves teaching students an art "alphabet" that consists of five "families": dots, circles, straight lines, curved lines, and angled lines. By using this "proven" method, anyone young or old can also become a great artist (or "drawer", as it were.)

Am I the only one that finds this completely bogus? Can drawing really be taught as a "method" the same way math or science is? (And apparently music, although I'm skeptical about that as well...) To me, the method's saying that great artistic ability is really easy to learn and attain, and I just can't imagine that to be true. The more I improve in my artistic abilities, the more I realize I have a long way to go. And I certainly didn't learn anything useful by taking "families" of shapes and arranging them like you would arrange the alphabet to make a word. I skimmed some of the sample art on the site, and while it was very good (especially for certain ages) it just came across to me as...*lifeless.* Maybe it's because I'm used to the drama and expression of comics and animation, but they reminded me of the days I took art classes that basically had us copy photos or other artworks using a different medium. It's great for your refrigerator, but not for your soul.

So I'm probably going to turn down the job offer, citing the fact that I'll still have school during that time. (That, and I don't really have much in the way of "realistic art" to show, as she asked for some. At least, not the kind of realistic art I think they're looking for.) But I'm reluctant to mention that the "drawing method" also turns me off. Apparently, teachers have to go through a training program to learn this new method and then how to teach it to kids. I can just see how trying to *re-learn* how to draw would screw with my mind. I'd probably end up being a pretty poor teacher in the first place: "Screw this method kids, we're going to go outside and learn how to draw from OBSERVATION!" That, to me, is the best way to teach anyone to draw: to look at it and see how it's constructed; so that you can draw not just the lines you see, but the form you cannot see.

Or am I completely nuts for turning down a job? I'm really not certain. I think I'm just going to go with my gut instinct on this.

Operator status: Fairly busy; not bad. Will be done in less than an hour and a half.

Drawing: Struggled with redoing the character designs for the short comic, and today I'll tackle rethinking those last few pages. (Assuming I don't keep putting it off by doing LJ and email... ;)) I went and read the September issue of Takuhai Online, so that was some nice inspiration. ^^

Writing: I think I'm going to try and get as much writing done on my play for class as I can this weekend. It'll be tough, but then at least I'll have the following weekends free to work in inking and toning our RSOM 6 entry. (Stupid stupid lack of postage put on it...such annoyingness! Sorry about that, Wyna! XO)