8-12 yrs Art Fundamentals

8-12 yrs Art Fundamentals - 1

ONLINE / IN-STUDIO

ART FUNDAMENTALS - 1 (8-12 yrs)

2 hours weekly

online: $180 monthly

in-studio: $200 monthly

High-quality art materials are included into the in-studio price. Sibling 15% off

This course is teaching all important art fundamentals and all common art materials to kids of various levels. If your child wants to draw, paint and sculpt realistically from real life and imagination, it is the right choice. For drawing in cartoon style, check Sketching for Kids.

Each lesson covers an important art concept, needed for fluent representational drawing and painting. It is combined with an 2-3 minute intro to a cultural phenomenon: a style, and epoch, or a single artist. Students get to create their original artworks from scratch within the guidelines of the topic. Each topic can be adjusted to a variety of levels, from beginners to advanced.

We start a lesson with a short lecture and demonstration (live in studios, pre-recorded for online lessons). Teachers provide advice, help, correct the digital image of a student's work, explain what works in particular cases and what does not, and why.

This class is ongoing, students can join anytime. Important concepts like drawing humans and animals, nature, and architecture are repeated every 1-2 months, each time associated with a new topic and art material. Topic rotation is 2-3 years. Art materials we master: acrylics, watercolor, pastels, pencil, markers, clay.

Topics for Fall 2026:

Week of August 31 - September 6, 2026.

Painting Fruits (a small still life for old students, one fruit at a time for demo kids). Learning to achieve the desired color by mixing. Mastering brushwork basics.

Week of September 7-13, 2026

Sculpting an Egyptian Relief. Learning the basics of sculpting.

Week of September 14-20, 2026

Drawing a person Egyptian Style. Understanding human anatomy and proportions.

Week of September 28 - October 4, 2026

Continuing the Egyptian project, or

Painting the animals of African savannah.

Learning about animal anatomy, mastering miniature brushstrokes.

Week of September 21-27, 2026

Fayum portrait. Learning to draw a portrait of a person looking straight at us. Learning about facial anatomy. Pastels.

Week of October 5-11, 2026

Designing a Greek Plate (4-7 yrs) or a Vase (8-12 yrs). Working with expressive silhouettes. Silhouette is a very important concept in 2D art.

Paint, sharpie.

Week of October 12-18, 2026

Sculpting a Greek Mask (4-7 yrs) or a Greek Monster (8-12 yrs).

Mastering facial expressions.

Self-drying clay.

Week of October 19-25, 2026

Post and Lentil. Drawing architecture of Antiquity.

Introduction to perspective. Pen, watercolor.

Week of October 26 - November 1, 2026

Self-portrait in Halloween costume

Learning to draw a recognizable figure in motion.

Acrylics, watercolor.

Week of November 2-8, 2026

Continuation of self-portrait, or

Day of the Dead. Making a decorated skull.

Construction paper, acrylics.

Week of November 9-15, 2026

Drawing a bird of a choice. Learning about anatomy of birds.

Paper, material of a choice.

Week of November 16-22, 2026

Sculpting miniature food. Colorful oven-baked sculpey.

Week of November 23-27, 2026

Painting an American Landscape

Learning about areal perspective. Mastering watercolor wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry technique.

Watercolor.

Week of November 30 - December 6, 2026

Designing and drawing a space ship. Acrylics on a dark board.

Week December 7 - 13, 2026

Painting a Tropical Forest.

Acrylic on board. Painting close-ups of plants and insects.

Week of December 14 - 18, 2026

Making holiday cards.

TESTIMONIALS

This art school is truly a treasure! My 9-year-old son… prefers more sophisticated art over typical children's crafts. This school has been instrumental in helping him hone his advanced skills and thrive as a young artist.

M.S., San Rafael
(parent of a 9-year-old)

We've been amazed by how much her skill has improved since working with Sarah! She's also been exposed to several mediums that are new to her… Best of all, it's by far her favorite activity.

K.B., San Francisco (parent of 8-year-old)

We sign up for the Art School of SF Bay because they have the best teachers. (Its per my almost 10 years old)

M.S., Walnut Creek

Payments and make ups:

The payments for ongoing classes are either per semester (available only before the semester starts) or monthly, with automatic monthly charge. Monthly payment is collected on the same day each month and the billing starts either on the day of the first class of semester (if you signed up before the start of the semester) or on the day of the registration. Payment for the last month of the semester is prorated, if less than 4 classes fall into last billing cycle. Our registration is for the whole semester, even if you choose the monthly payments. In case you decide to discontinue the classes before the end of the semester, please let us know 30 days ahead of time, and we will stop the auto-payment. Payments are made through our secure online registration system which accepts all major credit cards. We do not have access to your credit card information. You can make up a missed class on another day when we offer the same age/skill group class. The make-up class should be arranged in advance, no drop-ins. Limit 2 make-up classes per month. Make-up classes are subject to the availability of space in a similar class. We reserve the right not to provide make-up classes or terminate the class enrollment for repeating truancy. We do not provide refunds for ongoing classes tuition, courses or camps payments. However, full credit towards future booking or transfer to another camp/course will be offered for any cancellations made up to 24hrs before the camp or course starts. Ongoing classes can be canceled with a 30 days prior notice. If you paid for the full semester, the remaining amount can be used towards future bookings. Monthly payments will be stopped 30 days after we received your cancellation note.

FALL SCHEDULE - 2026

Fall 2026 semester:
First Day of Classes: August 31st, 2026 (Monday)
No Classes September 5th (Saturday) - 7th (Monday) - Labor Day weekend
No Class October 31st, 2026 (Saturday) - Halloween
No Classes November 23rd (Monday) - 29th (Sunday) - Thanksgiving break
Last Day of Classes: December 18th, 2026 (Friday)

Location	Day & Time	Class Teacher	Register

Materials we provide for in-studio classes,

and recommend for the online lessons:

Paint:
- set of acrylic paint (at least these colors - black, white. red. blue. yellow, green. brown, orange, purple). Recommended brand - Basics by Liquitex
- watercolor paint, preferably in dry pans form. Recommended brand - Artist’s Loft by Michaels
Set of soft pastels. Recommended brand - Artist’s Loft by Michaels

Drawing Medium:
- regular HB pencil
- eraser
- optional: set of graphite pencils of different softness (2H, H, B, 2B, 4B etc)
- colored pencils. Recommended brand - Prismacolor
- optional: markers. Recommended brand - Copics
- liners or sharpie pens.

Tools:
- brushes - flat and round (pointy). Use separate brushes for acrylic and watercolor paint.
- wooden clay sculpting tools
- paper plates for mixing paint
- water bucket or cup
- scissors
- glue stick

Clay:
- Air-dry clay - white. Recommended brand - Crayola
- Oven baked clay - white. Recommended brand - Sculpey
- Modeling clay - multiple colors. Recommended brand - Claytoon

Surfaces:
- painting boards or mixed media paper, 8’’x10'’ or bigger - good for acrylic paint, coloring pencils, markers and graphite pencils.
- canvases, 8’’x10’’ or bigger - for acrylic paint only
- watercolor paper, 8’’x10’’ or bigger - for watercolor paint
- sketchbook or loose sketch paper (printing paper is ok) - any size
- construction paper (multiple colors), 11’’x14’’ or bigger

Testimonials:

My 11 year old son has been enrolled in the school for 2.5 years. He likes it a lot )) From mom’s perspective, classes provide academic preparation, fun and interesting projects, and supportive atmosphere. Thank you!!!

Katherin Sannikova

Mountain View, CA

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My 8-yr old daughter has been taking classes here for the last two months and its incredible. She enjoys the mix of media and her drawing, painting and understanding of art has increased tremendously. Vika uses real art vocabulary and the lessons and creations are wonderful. I highly recommend this small, but brilliant local art school.

Meghan Lee

San Jose, CA

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My son (he is 9) just loves this school! Even though we live quite far he attends evening classes during school year and summer camp in summer with a great pleasure. I appreciate Masha's teaching method very much, I can see huge progress in my son's techniques and kind of awareness of what he does.

K.T.

Los Gatos, CA

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Katherin Sannikova

Mountain View, CA

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Excellent school!!! My daughter 8 y.o. group is perfect for the kids and teacher. It is enough space for everyone to explain, to share, to have conversation and concentration moment. Director of the school is always easy to reach, to address any concerns or conversation. My daughter count days and can not wait for our art classes on Thursday! In terms of classes itself, it is very goal oriented, structured and full of practicing different materials and techniques. I am really recommend it to anyone. Schedule will be suitable for any family, there classes earlier and later the evening as well as weekends.

Vera K.

San Francisco, CA

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My two daughters have been taking art lessons from Maria for almost five years. Art School of SF Bay organizes their curriculum in a way that the students have opportunities to use a variety of media and materials, and to learn about different artists and styles from all over the world. Of course, they learn about art history as well. During the class, each student will work on a subject matter of their choice, but under a pre-designated theme. So you will not see all the kids are drawing the same apple, but rather each kid has their own still life set. This requires a lot more attention and guidance from the teachers, but really frees up the kids' mind when they create their own art. Art School of SF Bay is truly a hidden gem and we are delighted to learn that Maria is now teaching at their San Jose site (near Santana Row), which is much closer to us. If you are looking for some high quality art classes for young kids, I strongly recommend Art School of SF Bay.

Jia Dailey

San Jose, CA

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This is our third year with Art school of SF Bay. All lessons are informative, very well led and guided. Students get instant comments and instructions from a teacher and apply to their work. Lessons teach not only art techniques but also a history. My children are always enthusiastic about upcoming lesson and very excited to share their complete works. I could clearly see the progress!

Shushanik A.

San Jose, CA

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Since the school year started, my daughter's been taking weekly classes, first with Julia and then with Maria. I'm so very pleased with their methods and approach - and with her progress. I love to see her study different styles, work with various materials and learn to see, feel, and work to put it on paper or in clay. The school offers one-day camps during school holidays as well as weekly camps during breaks. Still haven't found the time to do an adult class... but I hold out hope.

Anya "grumpity" K.

San Francisco, CA