Anyone Can...Arts in Canoga Park, CA | Art Schools | California Catalog

In the 1970's while he was busy studying psychology, a light bulb went off in his head. Why do some people have the talent to draw well, and others don't? Was it in their DNA, did they have an extra gene? Something inside told him that it was more than talent and his investigations led him to conclude that people were not only not getting the right encouragement, but that they were also getting instruction based on faulty premises. Schools teach that art comes from "intuition" and that it simply flows from us.
  If a child isn't showing any artistic instincts from the get go, he never will. Mr. Kraus doesn't deny the existence of artistically gifted individuals, but he believes that drawing should be taught analytically as a skill. Instead of using the historically great artists as absolute models, our learning should start from the basics and evolve step-by-step at one's individual pace. This method gives the student a fair chance to discover that he or she can actually draw well and do something with the skill. In fact Mr. Kraus prefers to look at drawing as a basic skill that everyone should learn and apply to his/her daily life. "Drawing is a skill that is vitally needed in almost everything we do." he said. "It should be functional and we can use it any way we want."
Because of the conservative educational climate in the 1970's, Mr. Kraus found few allies in his theories. In the meantime, he obtained a degree in art education, collected his findings into manuscript form and put them to work in classes he taught. He proved to himself and to his students that virtually anyone ranging from childhood age to seniors could learn how to draw proficiently and artistically and his success rate was staggering. Over the years, attitudes toward education began to expand and in 1997, Mr. Kraus decided it was time to open his Anyone Can...Arts studio where he personally teaches classes during the day time and in the evenings. He also formalized his curriculum in the Drawing Magic self-teaching workbooks/guidebooks, so that those who are out of the San Fernando area are able to take advantage of the Anyone Can Arts program.
Essentially, the Drawing Magic system is based on simple components which deal with giving students a solid foundation. The components include learning to draw variations of lines, curves, angles and simple shapes in proportion. The initial goal is to take the mystery out of drawing and build the learner's confidence to go further with his/her skills.