Summer 2025

Teen Fine Art Intensives

Art camps for serious young artists

Level up your art this summer

  • Focused art intensives for high school teens, ages 14-18

  • Small class sizes for plenty of feedback

  • Develop the technical and creative problem solving skills colleges look for

  • All materials provided

  • Camps taught by professional, award-winning artists

Classical Realism 101

w/Alex Martinez
6/30-7/3
$300
9:30am-1:30pm
When you’ve mastered lights and shadows, there is no limit to what you can draw. Learn the fundamentals of classical realism in this short, but information-packed intensive. With continued practice, your drawings will fly off the page!

Portrait Drawing

w/Alex Martinez
7/7-7/11
$375
9:30am-1:30pm
Learn how to draw a masterful portrait from start to finish. A solid understanding of proportions, designing with lights & darks, and rendering techniques are taught, allowing you to capture anyone’s likeness. Once all the pieces start coming together, you can draw a portrait in any angle with confidence!

Oil Painting Fundamentals

w/Michael DeBrito
7/14-7/18
$375
9:30am-1:30pm

Through a series of carefully crafted lessons, you will explore advanced concepts in oil painting techniques and artistic expressions to enhance your skills and help develop a unique artistic voice. As you engage in the various painting exercises, you’ll come to understand why oils are the preferred paint medium of artists today and throughout history. There simply is no comparison!

Portrait Painting Fundamentals

w/Michael DeBrito
7/21-7/25
$375
9:30am-1:30pm

Capturing the “essence” of a person is the challenge of every portrait painter. Demystify the process with master artist Michael DeBrito as he walks you through a series of exercises designed to make sense of creating masterful portraits in oils. By the end of the week you’ll walk away with a deeper knowledge of how to paint a face realistically.

Color Pencil & Mixed Media Techniques

w/Julian Tejera
7/28-8/1
$375
9:30am-1:00pm

Explore the endless possibilities of mixing color pencils with other media, such as acrylic, pastels, and oil paints. Create beautifully layered and unique works, limited only by your imagination. Embrace your curiosity and “play” with a variety of colors and materials to unlock your creative potential.

Color Pencil & Mixed Media Portrait

w/Julian Tejera
8/4-8/8
$375
9:30am-1:00pm

Color pencils are a popular and versatile medium for realistic portraiture. In this intensive you’ll learn how to capture a person’s likeness in color pencil, but also how to combine various media like cut paper, pastels, paint, collage, and more, to create one-of-a-kind portraits that really stand out!

Fine Art Studio Intensive

w/Julian Tejera
8/11-8/22
$850
9:30am-1:00pm

In this 2-week intensive, you’ll learn how to come up with and develop meaningful ideas for your art through a series of exercises. Along the way you’ll draw from observation, explore the psychology of color, understand how to make powerful marks, and create a work of art from a live, clothed model. Along with Julian’s guidance, each week will have a mini-lesson and critique from a guest artist to really fire up your creativity!

This summer, learn and grow with highly concentrated art intensives made especially for high school teens. Whether planning on going to art school or simply interested in improving your abilities, these intensives will challenge you to think creatively, teach you skills that make your art stronger, and nurture your original voice.

“Julian is the reason I am what I am today. Not only did he help build my skills and expand my creative thinking immensely, he encouraged me to actually pursue art and let me know that it is physically possible to be an artist. I cannot thank him enough and recommend him enough. All that I know is from him.”
— Ava B, RISD ‘27

Are you ready to take your art to the next level?

 Summer Intensive FAQ’s

  • Camps are broken up into 8 sessions that run weekly from 6/30 to 8/22.

  • FAAM Intensives are all 1-week long to offer families flexibility during the summer months. Each day is 3 ½ hours long to allow for a maximum amount of time for students to absorb the lesson, practice the skills, and make friends.

  • Absolutely! We will all take a much needed 20+ minute breather to step away from the art and refresh our minds. Being in Watchung Plaza, and with permission, we can all take a walk to the park, grab a snack, and chat with friends. If students need to step away from their work for a couple of minutes to recalibrate, that is totally okay, too.

  • Large class sizes make it difficult to devote much time to an individual student. Many art camps have a 15-person cap. When accounting for demos and breaks, that is very little time to really address a student’s needs.
    A 8:1 ratio ensures each student gets at least 20-minutes of direct feedback per day.

  • Camps are intended to be fun, first and foremost, while also being broadly educational.
    Intensives are also fun, but offer a more concentrated level of instruction. And so the fun comes from learning our growth in the skill, watching as our ideas come to life on the page or canvas.
    The goal is to bring passionate and serious young artists to share and grow together.

  • High school students ages 14-18.

    Too many camps are broken up into either 12-15, older teens 16+, or everyone is lumped into 12-18. That is too broad an age range, and with so many camps having 12-15 students per class, the likelihood of distractions grows. Creative teens deserve a space to focus and enjoy themselves with likeminded classmates and minimal distractions.

  • Yes, absolutely!

    Squarespace is wonderful, but there are some technical limitations.

    If you sign up for multiple intensives, you will receive a 10% refund after your order is placed.

  • The Academy’s founder, as well as all instructors, are working professionals. We are “teaching artists” who pride ourselves in elevating our students, in offering highly personalized attention based on your individual skills and needs, and not shying away from honest, but gentle, feedback.

 General FAQ’s

  • Please inform Julian of any allergies, physical or dietary limitations, and/or concerns that may relate to your child. It is the responsibility of the child’s parent/guardian to inform FAAM of any allergies, for example peanuts, that would be of concern. FAAM is not held responsible for any bodily injuries or damages sustained as a result of participating in a class.

  • Students and parents/guardians may enter from the front under the main awning, or from the back parking lot entrance. Simply walk up the stairs to unit 4 (you’ll see the sign) and walk in.
    If students are allowed to walk home they may leave at the end of class. Otherwise they must remain in the studio until a parent or guardian arrives to pick them up.

  • Given that the studio is on the second floor by way of only stairs, there are limitations to accessibility for students with specific physical needs. Please contact Julian before signing up to discuss reasonable accommodations where possible.

  • For students who drive, or for parents/guardians waiting for their teens, there is plenty of street parking available, both paid and free, as well as a municipal lot in the back. Just mind the signs :)

  • Given the nature of these intensives being intended for “serious young artists,” it is important that all students behave and act in a respectful manner. Misbehavior, inflammatory language, or harassment of any kind will not be tolerated, and parents/guardians will be asked to pick up their child. If the problem persists, you will be asked to withdraw your child. This is a supportive space for creatives of all walks of life.

  • Students are expected to come to class fed and ready to make art. They can bring a snack from home, or during breaks they can visit any one of the local food businesses for a snack. Out of an abundance of caution, please do not bring any food items with nuts.