Emotional Ramblings VS Practical Tips - Part 2

A closer look at philosophical and emotional ramblings

In this discussion, I'm actually going to talk a lot about two groups of people: art teachers and authors of educational materials. For convenience, I'm just going to lump them together as label them as "teachers". So when I say "teachers", you know that I'm actually referring to both groups.

Why are philosophical and emotional ramblings included in the first place?

Well, they may sound like ramblings to some people, especially if the teachers kept going on and on about the same subjects.

I think what's happening here is that the intention of the teachers is to let their audience get to know them a little better. That's why they dropped little stories here and there about themselves, their background, etc.

The benefit of doing this is that the audience gets a peek at the teacher's background. The sharper students will start acquiring an understanding of how the teacher's background is influencing his or her drawing style.

In the Home Study Course, you'll learn how to develop your own unique style of drawing. You'll find that given the 6 elements that you can choose from when developing your style, there are hundreds of different styles that can emerge.

With an insight to the background of the teacher, the student will be able to understand how the style developed. I think that's valuable information as it'll help the student develop his or her own drawing style as well.

With a deeper understanding of how background and culture affects the behavior of the artist, the student can draw from his own experiences and make choose wisely when it comes to developing his own drawing style.

In addition, we also tend to listen more to people we know. It's just human nature. When we feel we know a person more, we listen up. How many of you pay a lot of attention to complete strangers daily? Not many I'm sure. So it helps when the students get to know the teacher better.

Philosophical and emotional ramblings can make learning how to draw more interesting and exciting. Art lessons usually take up to 3 hours (sometime more) per session. So if there's no one brightening up the party, the drawing studio can be quiet as a graveyard.

Besides, if a teacher keeps on going for 3 hours non-stop on how to draw, the students may get sick and tired of hearing the same old stuff again and again. So it helps to break up the instructions with little interesting stories here and there.

Now knowing that stories can help the students learn, what went wrong in these art lessons and art books? Why are students and readers complaining about the art lessons and the art materials?