The Renaissance Workshop
Junior Course
The Renaissance Workshop
Junior Course
Milano Painting Academy is a highly innovative drawing and painting academy that brings the disciplines and principles used in the workshops of the great Renaissance masters to life in a contemporary way. In these workshops, students worked from life and under natural light.
Starting this year, Milano Painting Academy has decided to expand its educational offerings by introducing a Junior Drawing and Painting Course.
Among the numerous innovations and advantages, the innovative MPA method features an open-circuit structure, meaning there are no distinct levels. In the instructional sessions, students will be directly guided by teachers Salvatore Alessi and Michela Gibillini, allowing them to easily integrate into the existing group at any point during the year.
The mission of Milano Painting Academy is to introduce young people to art, drawing on the artistic experience of the Renaissance.
In a contemporary Renaissance workshop, students will have the chance to discover and experiment with a wide variety of materials, even gaining a fresh perspective on those they may already be familiar with.
Through drawing practice, they will be introduced to studying the human figure and portrait, focusing on observing and recognizing simple shapes and rendering them with volume.
As they move on to painting, they will experiment with painting techniques, giving more space to their
creativity and personal expression.
Their role models throughout this journey will be the great masters of art from the 15th to the 17th centuries (Michelangelo, Titian, Tintoretto, Botticelli, Raphael, Leonardo, Caravaggio), whom they will learn to appreciate not only through their drawings and paintings but also through their stories.
1st Phase
The students will become familiar with the space, tools, and materials they will be working with. They will participate in an introductory game to get to know each other and warm up.
In the first phase of the course, the students will be invited to discover and experiment with different graphic materials while engaging in life drawing.
Objectives:
- Gain familiarity with various materials
- Develop their mark-making and observation skills
Each lesson will focus on a different material, including:
- Graphite
- Charcoal and sanguine
- Colored pencils
- Markers
- Oil and wax pastels, etc.
Using the indicated materials, the students will draw from life the casts in the Gipsoteca of Pietrasanta and various objects selected by the instructors.
Proposed Exercises:
- Draw within a time limit and quickly
- Draw with the non-dominant hand
- Draw with both hands simultaneously without lifting them
- Draw without looking at the paper
- Draw from memory
- Draw without looking at the subject
- Draw with one color or with two or more colors
The students will be encouraged to collect and preserve different types of paper to expand their personal portfolio (objective: to develop their individual interest in researching and experimenting with materials and to nurture their curiosity)
2nd Phase
Once the students have gained more familiarity with the materials and discovered their inclinations and preferences, more structured exercises will be introduced to help them acquire their first technical skills.
They will work on simplified and reinterpreted drawings by the instructors, focusing on the following main subjects: portrait and human figure.
The students will practice identifying the simplest shapes that constitute the represented object (initially with guided sheets, then with more free copies).
They will then progress from simple shapes to volume with new drawings.
In one or two dedicated lessons, the students will be introduced to the theory of shadows using a “three-dimensional model,” which will then be applied to drawing through other dedicated exercises.
At the end of this phase, the students will have the opportunity to create their own “Renaissance cartoon” (for painting), either working on a personal drawing based on their individual abilities or following a pre-simplified guide drawing.
3rd Phase
In the final part of the course, the students will experiment with painting tools: colors and brushes, applying what they have learned from drawing.
Based on exercises on volume and chiaroscuro, the students will attempt simplified guided painting transpositions (acrylic on canvas board):
- One black-and-white painting
- One color paintingCourse Conclusion: A free painting entirely designed by them and driven by their personal creativity.
Note: Throughout the duration of the course, the exercises proposed to the students are assessed and personalized according to their abilities and inclinations.
Docenti
Alessio Sala
Master Instructor
Born in Milan in 1981, Alessio has been drawing for as long as he can remember. While earning a degree in Philosophy, he graduated from the School of Comics in Milan with a focus on illustration. After attending Mi-Master, he enrolled in the Milan Painting Academy, where he has been a student since 2021. He is the winner of the “A CEREMONY OF COLORS” competition, with three painted work selected for the covers of three new EPs by musician and composer Giuseppe Califano. He also creates commissioned artworks.
Michela Gibillini
Junior Instructor
Born in Bareggio in 2000, Michela completed her studies at a figurative art high school before continuing her education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brera, where she graduated with top honors in Painting. After graduating from Brera, she enrolled in the Milan Painting Academy, where she has been a student since 2021.
Info sul Corso
| Course Information | 9 months |
| Age | 8 - 13 years |
| Elementary school Schedule (age 8 - 10) | Monday (5:00 PM - 7:00 PM) |
| Middle school Schedule (age 11-13) | Friday (5:00 PM - 7:00 PM) |
| Disciplines Covered | Drawing and Painting |
| Student Level | Beginner or with previous experience |
for questions, to request more information or to book your spot, please contact us at: info@milanopaintingacademy.it
