I have been thinking a lot lately about teaching some classes on reborning babies using Baby FX air dry paints and products. It is still very much in the thought process at this point and not the moving forward point yet. However, there are some things I have pondered that has led me to my own conclusions about a lot of things I see being said and done in the reborn doll art community.
First of all, there are a good many people now days teaching reborn methods either via video, online classes, tutorials or in person classes. Some charge money and some offer their info for free. Some use Genesis paints and some use some type air dry paints. Some use some sort artist grade pigment powders or chalks and some use eye shadows. Some root heads and teach how to root directional hair and make swirls and some teach how to paint hair. Every teacher or artist has their own style and way of doing things. There is a lot of overlap from class to class and many of the same methods are being taught by multiple people.
Since reborn doll art has been around many years now, it is quite the norm to have people teaching the same thing just from a different slant. No one has a patent on the reborn method. No one has a patent on a painting style. No one has a patent on a rooting style. It is all informational and no one owns any of it. Lots of people like to say "I was the first." "I developed that method." "That is my idea." Realistically speaking though anything they came up with was based on knowledge that someone taught to them and they took it forward another step. No one owns artistic expression other than their own. Even when people try to mimic what another person is doing, it always comes out slightly different. Have you ever noticed that 10 people can sit and paint the same doll using the same paint colors and the same instructions and all 10 dolls will come out differently and NONE of them will look just like the teacher's? Then someone will like the way one of the 10 students performed a particular method and that person suddenly births their own style that they can then go try to teach to others. It's like a domino effect. One starts and others follow falling and they may all move in the same direction but not a single one falls exactly in the same spot.
Having gone through that thought process I have come to the conclusion that if I do teach classes, I will not be teaching something no one has never taught before. I struggled a bit as to whether I would be justified to charge money for that in light of those who complain loudly saying someone stole their teaching methods. I too may use some methods that I learned some where along the way and then tweaked to my liking and my expression. I will teach with many of the same tools and products that others have used. So is it okay to charge money for that? I think so. Because the fee is for my time, my own experience, supplies, the benefits of my having made mistakes so the student does not have to make the same mistake, the insight or perspective I have on this art and the methods I am using. Not to mention that via live classes the student has me present to assist and try to answer their questions. And you know what? My ideas will no longer be my own if I share them. Some may not like my methods and find my ideas a waste of time. Others will take ownership in them and use them as their own and teach them as their own. It doesn't mean they stole anything from me. It means they are spreading the knowledge that has been given to them. The dominoes will continue to fall forward and that is something I have to be comfortable with if I want to be a teacher. I think that is ok by me.
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