From Strong Portraits To Striking Contemporary Paintings
COMPLETE is a self-paced program that takes you from portraiture to fully resolved paintings where background, composition, colour, and figure truly work together.
ENROL TODAY ⟶
COMPLETE is where you learn how to bring everything together — strong portraiture, expressive grounds, and a method that makes the painting work as one.
If your paintings aren’t clicking — if the portraits aren’t convincing, the figure feels stuck on the background, or the work feels stiff and disconnected — it’s not a talent issue.
It’s a method problem.
🎥 Watch the short video below — or keep scrolling to read how the method works.
Does This Sounds Like You?
You might be at the beginning — trying to understand how to draw a face, mix skin tones, and how to make something feel real without losing expression.
Or you might already have experience, but your paintings still don’t quite come together — the likeness is off, the colours feel muddy, or the figure sits awkwardly on the background.
You might feel stuck between two worlds — realism and something looser, more expressive — without knowing how to bring them together.
Or maybe you simply feel that there’s more in your work that hasn’t come out yet.
Wherever you are, this program is designed to meet you there — and move forward with a clearer sense of direction — seeing your ideas take shape on the canvas, one brushstroke at a time.
What Will Start to Click:
You won’t just follow steps — you’ll begin to understand how a painting actually comes together.
You’ll learn to build a portrait from the ground up — where structure, colour, edges, and surface are not separate stages, but part of the same process.
You’ll understand how to mix skin tones that feel natural — and how to adjust them as the painting shifts.
You’ll stop treating the background as something to “fill in,” and start using it as an active part of the painting — experimenting with mixed media, developing it alongside the figure.
You’ll know when to push a painting further, and when to stop — and more importantly, how to fix it when something feels off.
This holistic way of working will naturally push your creativity and bring you closer to your own voice.
“I went from stiff portraits to contemporary work with ‘crazy’ backgrounds.”
Rosso teaches the classical foundations, then shows how to loosen them and make them your own.
— Sharon Blake, UK
“I finally understood how to make the background work.”
I always felt stuck there — but working with texture and simplifying my palette completely changed my approach.
— Saniya, France
When each part of the painting starts to support the other, everything starts to make sense.
COMPLETE is built in two parts — both reflecting the way I’ve learned to paint over the years.
We start with realism (Part I) — building the structure and the body of the painting. Then we move into abstraction (Part II), where I’ll show you my ground-up method to bring the two together — adding energy, rhythm, and a contemporary edge to each work.
PART I — MASTERING REALIST PORTRAITURE
1 · Portrait Drawing & Structure
Drawing is where solid figurative work starts. Learn the classical tools — proportions, head anatomy, form and depth — through targeted drawing exercises that train your eye to see structure before you pick up a brush.
2 · Color & Mixing Skin Tones
Colour is what comes next. Learn how light affects value, temperature, and saturation — and use that understanding to mix skin tones that feel natural across any complexion (white, olive, brown, black) and lighting condition .
3 · Realist Portrait Painting
Once structure and colour are understood, we bring them into practice. Follow two complete oil portrait demonstrations — different models, different skin tones, different palettes — from drawing transfer to finished painting, including background integration.
PART II — MOVING INTO CONTEMPORARY PRACTICE
4 · Mixed-Media Grounds & Abstract Surfaces
This is where we start digging. Let go of control and explore layered mixed-media grounds using acrylic, spray paint, pastel, stencils, and gold leaf — the base for contemporary looking work.
5. Inside the Studio: Creativity & Process
Theory alone is not enough. Here we step inside my studio to see the practical side of my process: how I generate ideas, overcome creative blocks, develop sketches, and plan my paintings. We also look at colour theory and composition — and how to balance classical principles with intuition.
6 · From Study to Large-Scale Painting
In the final project, you bring everything together in one painting that reflects your visual language. You'll learn how to move from sketch to colour study — and transform it into a large-scale finished work, ready to hang or sell.
Each module comes with exercises, ideas, and references to help you experiment and practice at your own pace. See what's inside COMPLETE in detail:
Explore the full curriculumArtists joining RossoArtSchool come from different backgrounds but share the same goals: to transform the way they approach painting and develop their own artistic voice.
In their words:
“Rosso teaches all the classical foundations of portrait painting, then gives them a contemporary twist. I went from stiff portraits to more alive, contemporary work with ‘crazy’ backgrounds, lost edges, and bolder colour. I can’t believe how much I’ve learnt so far and how motivated I feel to work hard and experiment” (Sharon Blake, UK)
“Rosso teached me to see the hidden colors - the ones you cannot see with a quick glance, and that opens your eyes to a whole different way of looking at the figure...It's nice to have a community where you can go and share ideas. Put yourself out there, you can grow, it's pretty amazing” (Justin S, US)
“It has been an amazing experience. I have learned so much. Her method is mind blowing. I learned the brush work, the patience, experimentation, not to be afraid" (Sabine R., Hawaii)
“I love Rosso style - Her Portraits really Pop” - Fritz has produced, exhibited and sold some outstanding work since learning with me (FRitz PunkArt, Germany)
Here's some of the outstanding work created by students:
This Spring, something extra comes with COMPLETE.
Two years ago, I collaborated with Pro Arte to design a brush-set specifically for detailed portraiture and expressive mark-making . The result is the Rosso Crimson Brush Collection — a signature set built specifically for the kind of painting I teach. It normally retails at over $110. For every artist who enrols in COMPLETE this Spring, I'm including it free - delivered to your home.
One condition:
Only 25 brush-sets are available, offered on a first-come, first-served basis between April 15th and 30th. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
The Spring enrolment closes on April 30th — after that, the price returns to standard and the brush set will no longer be included.
If you’ve been thinking about joining — this is your moment.
See below what’s included and how to get started.
SPRING 2026 — LIMITED OFFER
Here’s what awaits you inside COMPLETE:
✔Instant access to 60+ hours of step‑by‑step video lessons and demos
✔Lifetime access to all current and future content inside COMPLETE
✔Downloadable references, guides, and checklists you can keep
✔Assignments and exercises to help you apply each concept
✔A certificate of completion at the end of the program
✔Access to the dedicated artist community
✔Subtitles in multiple languages
✔Alumni discounts and early-bird access on future events and programs
✔Email support
✔FREE brush-set delievered to your home (first 25 signs ups between 15 - 30 April)
ONCE YOU ENROL,
YOU CAN MOVE THROUGH THE CURRICULUM AT YOUR OWN PACE, FOR LIFETIME!
You might still have a few questions — here are the ones I’m asked most often:
What skill level is this for?
How long do I have access to the program?
Is it good for acrylic painters?
I mostly paint abstractly — will this still help me?
What makes this program different than any others?
Do you offer other programs?
Can I upgrade to the Master Path later?
Can I enrol now and start later?
Before you join, this is important to understand.
COMPLETE is built to meet you exactly where you are — and to help you move beyond what you currently know.
This isn’t about copying demos mechanically.
It’s about learning to observe, question, experiment, and embrace mistakes as much as breakthroughs — and having the tools to stay with a painting until it resolves, or even goes beyond what you imagined.
If you’re ready for that, you’re exactly who COMPLETE is built for.
The method you’ll learn here has been refined over 15 years of studio practice and teaching artists around the world. I’ve seen it transform the work of hundreds of painters — and I’m confident it will transform yours too.
"I am very grateful to have met you. You are helping me take my work to another level. I can’t wait to see where it comes out. Thank you!!"
Craig Palmer, Florida
"I love your explanation of the axes and plane shifts on a face and although I paint portraits your method shone a whole new approach to portrait painting. Thank you for explaining this in such a clear way!!"
Janet Moule, US.
"I have learned so much and created so many new artworks, and they have gained a whole new level of depth and expressiveness. Thanks to your guidance, I finally dare to paint faces and hands — something I never thought I would feel confident doing."
Martina Schubert, Germany
"I’m still on the drawing realism section as I’m savouring every morsel of information and I can’t believe how much I’ve learnt so far and how you have motivated and excited me to work hard and experiment. When I’m not doing the art I’m thinking about it !"
Jill S, US
Take Your Painting Beyond What You Thought Possible
If you are drawn to this kind of work — and you've read this far — I think you already know. Commit to your practice — and step into it fully.
Not sure COMPLETE is the right path for you? Check my other programs below:
START
A 30hours+ program entirely focussed on Mastering realist Portriature - proportions, mixing skin tones that look real, get the likeness right, & capture the personality of your model. You'll also learn about composition and ground preparation.
Ideal if you only want to learn portraiture.
MASTER PATH
A comprehensive mentoring program with an extended curriculum: all the content of COMPLETE plus extra monthly topics, live sessions, group critique and ongoing guidance.
Ideal if personal feedback is important to you and you also want real life opportunities (sell, exhibit, participate in real events, etc).
Meet Rosso,
award-winning contemporary painter and founder of Rosso Art School.
I’ve been painting professionally for over 15 years and have built a global audience of more than 190,000 artists on Instagram (@rossoartist).
I have won multiple awards including the Jackson's Painting Prize, appeared twice on Sky's Portrait Artist of the Year, exhibited internationally at institutions including Mall Galleries in London and MEAM in Barcelona, and been on the cover and featured in major publications including International Artist and Colossal. My work is held in private collections worldwide, including Soho House.
I began teaching my method in person after artists asked for it — workshops in the US, Italy, France, Spain and the UK.
In 2024 I founded Rosso Art School to bring everything I learned together in one place. Since then, more than 450 artists from across the world have joined the programs.
Read more about me →
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