Acrylic is the kindest place to begin. It dries fast, it forgives every mistake, and you don't need a drop of talent to start. We'll walk with you, brushstroke by brushstroke.
A small group each cohort, so every piece gets real feedback
Claim your spot for $99You've saved the YouTube videos. You've bought the paints. And the canvas is still sitting blank in the corner.
The missing piece is someone looking at your work and telling you exactly what to do next.
When your painting looks wrong and you can't tell why, you're alone with it, and that's usually where people quit.
This challenge is built the opposite way. Five guided projects, paced over fourteen days, with a working artist watching your progress and answering the one question no tutorial can: what should I try next?
Each project includes step-by-step video instructions, the assignment brief, a simple materials list, and personal coach feedback throughout the entire challenge.
The truest beginner start there is. One pencil, one line, your own hand as the model. You'll be amazed how much your eye sharpens in a single afternoon, and it assumes you've never drawn a thing.
By the end, your eye catches the line and proportion it used to miss.
This is the lesson that makes flat drawings suddenly look solid and real. You will learn to see form and shadow the way working artists do, and your sketches will stop looking like sketches.
By the end, your flat drawings start to look solid and real.
Your first painting, taught across three lessons so nothing feels rushed. The subtractive method is forgiving and almost meditative. You lift the light out of the dark, and the result genuinely surprises people who swore they could not paint.
By the end, you've made a real painting, and you know you can.
Portraits feel impossible until someone breaks them down. Across three lessons you'll develop an understanding of anatomy and a looser, braver hand. This is the project where most people stop calling themselves a beginner.
By the end, you stop calling yourself a beginner.
The joyful finish. No reference, no rules, just acrylic, color and your own instinct on the canvas. After two weeks of building skill, this is where you finally let go and discover the voice that was there all along.
By the end, you paint from instinct alone, no reference, all freedom.
Every student gets their actual piece looked at by a real coach who names what is working and what to try next. These are real notes, lightly trimmed.
Coach note
This is looking cool. I love the bird image in there, and I really like the colours that you have going on right now. There are some interesting relationships developing, and it feels like something unique is coming together. One thing I am noticing is that you have these dark spots moving across the painting, and then you have the bird.
Coach note
Haha I know it feels so strange, doesn't it?! And childish!! I get it! But it's also so much fun to let loose and make random things! But then it's about making sense of them. The top left piece, I'd watch the upper right corner triangle shape. The colour is a little muddy in a few areas like the yellow. And I'd take some of the marks off the edge of the paper. And I'd push the depth much further, on all of them.
Coach note
I think you did a great job on this painting. I'm glad that you pushed through and kept creating even if you're not used to it. That willingness to keep going and keep learning is so important. One thing I have learned through my own experience is that whatever you learn in oil painting can absolutely help with acrylics and coloured pencils as well.
Coach note
It's the best way to look at it - if your efforts keep improving and you can see that then you're certainly onto something really great, so well done for the positive attitude and for a really great effort. As you continue, push your darks on the right side of the face and also her left cheek. The purple on the forehead looks a little bruised so I'd change the colour a little.
Coach note
I think you did a great job on this. You picked up the brush, worked through the painting, made adjustments, and captured a lot of the proportions. That is a wonderful accomplishment, and I can see the effort you put into it. Going forward, I have two pieces of advice that I think will really help you improve your painting. The first is about the types of source images you choose.
Coach note
Great job so far!! One thing we artists aaaaalways do is make the nose too long, and I think it may be a little long in this scenario, but only a tinyyyy bit! Sometimes it elongates the face or doesn't give the mouth and chin enough space to co-exist, so if you need to make any tweaks I think maybe it's around here.
Coach note
I love your bird, so well done! Good questions about the background, you may add some more colour to. your army of paints as you go that may suffice for brighter pops of colour. I actually tend to mix warm and cool sometimes for the colour I want, knowing it's going to be a neutral-ish colour, which I'm happy with and it does the job.
Coach note
I think the painting looks cool. There are a lot of really awesome elements going on, and it feels like you explored a lot of interesting ideas throughout the piece. It's exciting to see how much variety and experimentation you brought into it. I'm especially loving the areas on the right side. Those sections really stand out to me.
Coach note
Her sister 🤣🤣 made me laugh!! It is indeed all about learning. Push yourself for this one. My hat goes off to you for doing this at midnight haha, I love those times for painting, there's something special about night time and creativity! I think just go back at it and remeasure everything.
Coach note
I think you have some really interesting things going on in this abstract. There are a lot of different colours and marks, and they are working together in a really engaging way. I find myself much more drawn to those abstract areas than anything else in the painting. You have some beautiful mark making happening throughout the piece, and it feels like there is a lot of potential there.
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These are unedited words from real students, the kind of message that lands in our inbox every week.
While learning and working on this artwork..I wondered if it could come together as I learnt..Finishing it brought a quiet sense of pride... not all my plans have worked.. but grateful to share that my very first artwork has been sold ..
Oh my giddy aunt - what an amazing experience!! I'm not long back from the opening night of the Liverpool Art Fair. Seeing my poppy landscape exhibited with all the amazing art on display was incredible.
Created this piece for a Cafe and I can say a lot of it is what I have learnt from watching your you tube videos and can't wait for what's to come at Breakthrough…
This is my first original composition since starting the mastery program and I am so in love with it. I feel very proud of how far I've come thanks to this community!
I painted this fox in the lesson with Allannah, lean to fat , so much fun , and really I felt so excited while painting , and the next morning I had sold it to a friend . How fantastic, what a blast. Thank you Allannah for this lesson.
My hummingbird botanical painting just went to its new home yesterday. It's my first sale! I just hope it brings others joy ♥️♥️♥️ Thank you to this program that's taught me so much already!
Sharing my painting from "How to Paint Portraits that Sell" Love learning and enjoying the Milan process ! 😊
Title: "Maiden in Flight" Size: 24"x28" Medium: oil and Acrylic Awesome to sell to my favorite Dog Spa/ Hotel owner , Ms Sabrina. She loved my SYMBOLISM : Longevity, Resilience , Freedom of a Woman who " goes with the flow of life's currents". Always grateful for the inspiration 🙏💞🙏
A little win I'm really proud of, I placed 2nd in the Skirmish at Swedesboro Art Contest ❤️ This piece meant a lot to me, capturing a powerful moment in history, and I'm grateful it was recognized.
I was selected to the Johnny Depp's People's Artist! So excited! I have never been chosen for anything!
Hi Everyone I want to share with you all our Art Show Unmuted I am very excited that it all has finally come together and is now online through solgallery.com.au to view and purchase if you so desire.
After two deeply meaningful years, I have just submitted my final work for the Milan Art Institute Mastery Program It has been an extraordinary journey of growth, exploration, and discovery.
I had an amazing weekend at the Winnipeg Fine Art Fair!! The best part were the comments of "your work makes me feel joy, or it makes me smile." I had a few comments asking if I had taken the Milan Art institute Mastery program, to which I replied yes and encouraged them to take it.
I am so happy, I sold my first painting! So funny because I never wanted to paint birds. My client connected with it because she grew up in Argentina where Parrots are common.
Proud Fred is all puffed out. Parrots do that : )) This is my 3rd parrot. I love them.
Elli and Dimitra Milan teach the lessons themselves, the exact methods that turned their whole family into professional artists, taught straight to you.
I couldn't draw to save my life when I started. Then a teacher showed me how to see, and something broke open. Twenty-eight years and ten thousand paintings later, I built this school for artists like you. In your first four lessons I'll teach you to see and to paint the way the old masters did. You were born for this.
I sold my first painting in a gallery at fourteen, and by sixteen I'd sold over a million dollars of my work. But what I love most is the freedom of a blank canvas. In your final lesson I'll show you how to paint an abstract from pure instinct, no reference, no rules, just color and feeling, and meet the truest version of yourself.
Lisa, Elmira, and Nick are working-artist coaches and mentors. They look at your work, name what's happening, and tell you what to try next. No piece goes unseen.
Lisa gives the kind of specific, technical feedback that makes a vague worry suddenly fixable. She will tell you precisely why a passage feels off and the small move that brings it to life.
Elmira's critiques always name what's working, what's not yet, and what to try next. Warm, honest and clear, exactly the voice a nervous beginner needs to hear.
Nick is a mixed-media artist and mentor who pushes you to experiment and find your own voice, with feedback that is honest, encouraging, and always something you can act on.
Two Week Challenge
One simple price. Five guided projects, fourteen days, personal feedback on every piece, and live group calls along the way.
Five finished works of art, personal feedback on each one, and real step-by-step lessons, all for less than a single private class.
Begin for $99If you're wondering whether this is really for someone like you, the answer is almost certainly yes. Here's the plain truth.
The canvas has waited long enough. Start with one forgiving medium, a first project that assumes nothing, and a real artist beside you. In fourteen days, you'll be holding five finished works.
Begin for $99
