I remember doing stuff like that in school.
It was enough to almost turn me away from painting forever. Anything that involves a grid and rigid copying is a total turn-off for me.
But I moved on, went to art school, and changed majors anyways since, well, what the hell would I have done with a painting major?

worked in publishing like the rest of us? ; >

Odd, my first visit to Metachat & this site just happens to be my high school art teacher's. The paintings were all done by my lab school classmates (one by my first girlfriend). Peon Queen was a damn fine teacher to us non-artists; the real artists didn't have many complaints, either.