The Good Teacher

For the first time in his life, Kano was feeling dissatisfied with his work. Back in the village, whenever Kano drew something, painted something, or even modelled something out of clay, he never felt such a loathsome emotion every time he looked at it. But just yesterday, as he gazed at his wall-painting of Smaug being carted off towards the exhibition, he felt disgusted.

"What's the matter? Why the long face?" Mister Rasmus asked him from his side. Currently, the two were on a carriage ride towards the Artist's Guild within Radiant City for the exhibition.

Kano snapped out of his dismayed trance and exhaled loudly, "D-D-Do we have to show my painting at the exhibition?"

In fact, Kano learned about the specifics of the exhibition just two days ago. He didn't know that his work was also going to be up for display! He thought that the purpose of coming to the city was to broaden his horizon by observing different artworks, and according to Mister Rasmus that was the original plan. However, through some rather annoying circumstances, Mister Rasmus was forced to push Kano into the spotlight and publicise his painting of Smaug, which Mister Rasmus had transported from his village.

"We have a slot. We kind of have to," Mister Rasmus affirmed. "Are you feeling apprehensive about it?"

Kano nodded lightly with a deep frown.

"And why is that?" Mister Rasmus urged again, with a faint smile on his face - Kano was too absorbed in his own troubles to notice it.

"I d-d-don't know... When I first painted Smaug, I was really excited. I liked it a lot. I felt that it was a good painting. B-B-But now... I guess I don't like it as much?" Kano said while scrunching his nose.

"What did I tell you about being descriptive with our words?" Mister Rasmus responded sternly.

"Well... Suddenly, I feel like my work isn't as good as I thought it would be. There are so many mistakes and shortcomings that I could have avoided. And it's so... basic!" Kano rattled off briskly.

Back in the village, Kano had stumbled along the path of visual arts purely by feel and intuition. He did what he "felt" was right; he applied "techniques" that worked through natural experimentation. Because of that, every new work he created was amazing in his eyes. But after travelling to Radiant City, learning about painting techniques with Mister Goran, and perusing the textbooks sent over by Teacher Larks, Kano realised that he was like the frog trapped in the well from the fables.

"It's only natural," Mister Rasmus replied, causing Kano to jerk his head and face him in surprise. "Just like everything, art is all about growth. No one is born perfect. Even those with innate talent need to put some effort to unearth it and polish it. Along the path to improvement they inevitably have to make mistakes. If people don't make mistakes they won't learn and improve. You hate your earlier work because it is filled with imperfections in your eyes. Don't fetter over the fact that you were a poor artist back then. Look at it from a different perspective: you only notice these imperfections because you are a better artist now!"

"But still... I feel like I could've done so m-m-much more with it," Kano admitted with a pout. "My interpretation is so superficial!"

The reason why Kano absorbed literature so avariciously, especially the fiction books provided by Teacher Larks, was because of how the authors used words to paint a picture in the reader's minds that could sometimes extend beyond the surface-level interpretation. More specifically, Kano was enthralled by the works of some authors who would use stylistic devices, diction, sentence structure, etc. with such skill that it threw him for a loop with each repeated reading. To an extent, Kano was envious of these authors because he knew that he lacked the capacity to craft thought-provoking proses using words.

BUT, thanks to the textbooks sent by Teacher Larks, Kano was given new hope. He realised that visual arts could also be used as a medium to evoke deeper thought. In fact, Kano felt that he was close to scratching the surface of this new avenue with his Smaug wall-painting, nonetheless, he had still fallen short by a decent margin. For one, he realised that his understanding of Smaug was too shallow. Smaug the dragon was much more than just a calamitous beast. He was the reckoning of the dwarves who had succumbed to their endless greed. This wasn't the first time the dwarves had perished through overindulgence in the sin of avarice. At a later date, the inhabitants of Moria too had been smothered by endless fire and darkness after mining too deeply. By using the skills Kano picked up from the books, he could have altered the perception of the character in his painting in an interesting way!

Mister Rasmus snapped his fingers and declared excitedly, "Keep that thought in mind at all times! The words you have just spoken are the basis of your artistic pursuit, your philosophy. Every artist has a philosophy that guides their journey. To improve a technique, to develop a new technique, to explore ways to create certain kinds of moods, modelling specific creatures, are some examples of artistic philosophies. Of course, these philosophies are subject to change as the artists advance through the ranks and gain more insight into their craft."

"I don't quite understand, Mister Rasmus," Kano said with slightly furrowed brows.

"What do you want to achieve as an artist?"

"I want... my artworks to resonate with the audience," Kano said with some uncertainty.

"Too vague. Try elaborating it," Mister Rasmus guided.

Kano hummed contemplatively before speaking with a measured intonation, "It's like this: when you look at an artwork you observe what is shown, which encompasses all aspects ranging from the techniques used, colour, content, composition and so on. When someone looks at my work, I want them to see more than just that. I want them to think about what they are seeing. What it means not just in general, but to them."

"That's good! You are close, but I can still see some ambiguity in your words," Mister Rasmus said. "I want you to do the following when we enter the exhibition, every time we see a new painting I want you to evaluate it with your artistic philosophy in mind. Ask yourself how the painting would relate to your philosophy if it even relates to your philosophy, and what you could do differently to tie it with your philosophy?"

Just as he finished, the carriage started to decelerate.

"Clan Leader Rasmus, we have arrived at the Artists' Guild," the carriage driver indicated with an audible and respectful tone.

Unlike most other guild buildings in the city, the Artists' Guild opted for a flatter design. That is, while the others built up, the Artists chose to build out. Given the lack of, and the high price of, land within Radiant City, it was nothing short of a miracle how the Artists' Guild managed to secure such a large swatch of real-estate and that too at one of the most high-traffic areas of the city. One advantage the Artists' Guild branch had over the others was that it was one of the oldest established branches in the city. Being the first, they had managed to grab a lion's share before the other swooped in and staked their claim.

Kano and Mister Rasmus alighted right in front of the building's entrance. The gate into the building appeared to be made of wood, with intricate inlays, models and designs sprawling over it evoking a sense of tranquil elegance. Upon passing through the gates, Kano realised that the guild's building had a U-shaped design, with a wall at the open end acting as the entrance, where he was currently standing. At the open space in the centre was a beautifully maintained small landscape. It was like a scene captured from his village near the spring. A small brook flowed through the centre of the landscape, bisecting it in half. The regions it passed through formed a serene rocky meadow, with a wooden walkway arching over the brook to allow passage back and forth. There was a myriad of colourful flowers, bushes, small fauna, and trees that grew only as high as the roof of the flanking building. From Kano's position, he couldn't see the end of the small forest which spoke a lot about just how wide the building itself was.

"The quadrangle is a gathering place for the artists registered with the guild. Here they are free to socialise, relax, or even sketch. Spell circles are lining the boundaries that inhibit sounds from entering the quadrangle, there are a few other circles that discourage excessive damage due to hotheaded conflicts between artists as well," Mister Rasmus explained.

"It's weird," Kano commented. "Why are they going through so much trouble to bring in nature into the city, when there is nature already present outside?"

"Convenience. Most artists aren't as adventurous and prefer to stay within the safety of walls," Mister Rasmus replied.

"But you said that an artist must explore the world and learn more about it to grow," Kano reasoned.

"I don't want to judge other artists through my lens. Everyone has a process, and what I've taught you is just one of the many. It may work for you, and it may not, you can only know after trying."

Kano hummed and followed Mister Rasmus through the hallways bordering the quadrangle. Along the way, Mister Rasmus bumped into many people he seemingly spoke intimately with, but Kano observed that he wasn't being sincere. This was Kano's first time witnessing the art of doublespeak in person, and he wasn't feeling too fond of it.

The walk was long, and it was not helped by the fact that a lot of people were interested in reacquainting themselves with the leader of the Rasmus Clan. Due to Kano's generally small stature and unnoticeable aura, he was easily overlooked by those approaching Mister Rasmus. But his luck wouldn't last, as just when they reached the double doors leading to the exhibition hall, a nasal voice laced with disdain and mockery called out from behind.

"Ah! Big bro-"

"Clan Leader." Mister Rasmus interrupted immediately and without turning around, as though he knew exactly who was calling out to him just from the tonal shift of the first syllables from the person's mouth.