THE HONEST FIT CHECK

Is Methods right for you?

Short version: Methods is built for painters who already have some experience. But I demonstrate real techniques throughout, so it isn't closed to beginners either. Here's the honest breakdown, so you can decide with your eyes open. I'd rather you read this and skip it than buy it and find out on chapter two.

Why I built it

I've spent fifteen years teaching, and I keep watching the same thing happen with online instruction. Courses hand you tricks without understanding, or they teach one skill at a time in its own little bubble. You finish, you got better at that one thing, and your painting as a whole didn't move. Nobody shows you how the parts fit together.

Methods is my attempt to fix that. It's designed as one whole, connected thing: the techniques, yes, I demonstrate them for real. But the spine of it is how those techniques get stitched into a process, in what order, and how to find and shore up the weak links in yours. That's the part I've never seen an online course do properly, and it's the part that actually moves paintings.

Who gets the most out of it

Painters with some experience. Maybe you've taken workshops, followed different teachers, picked up tools and techniques that each work on their own. And they don't add up. The work is skilled in places but it doesn't feel like one thing, and it doesn't quite feel like you. The course is about combining those separate parts into a process that's actually yours, and honestly assessing where the weak spots are.

Create a process that leads to a style, not a process that imitates a style. The best styles come from people being very genuine to their process. A lot of it is understanding yourself.

That idea runs through everything here, including the free journal piece on what a painting process is. The course is where we actually build yours.

What if you're a beginner?

You can absolutely take it. You'll see actual techniques demonstrated, and you'll get something most beginners never get: the higher vantage. What a process even is. How skills connect. Which skills matter at which stage, so you learn things in an order that compounds instead of collecting them at random. I think seeing how things get stitched together is good for everyone.

Two honest caveats. The course is tailored to people with some miles on them, so some of it will land fully only after you've painted more. And no course replaces focused study: if you want figurative work at a serious level, you'll still need to go study the figure intently. Methods shows you where that study fits. It doesn't do it for you.

Who shouldn't buy it

What it actually is

An online program on designing your own painting process, taught by me, Daniel Bilmes. Self-paced chapters with real technique demonstrations, lifetime access, all future updates included, and a private community. Early bird price is $100, then $190 after launch. No subscription. For lifetime access to the whole thing, I think $100 is genuinely affordable. That's the point of the early price: I want the first cohort in the room.

How to decide

Look at your last five paintings and be honest about what's weak. If it's one mechanical skill, drawing, values, color mixing, you may just need focused study on that one thing, and the free material here covers a lot of it. If the problem is that the paintings feel like separate exercises instead of one body of work, that's a process problem. More technique won't fix it, because technique isn't the missing ingredient. That second case is what Methods is for.

Still not sure? Take the free painter diagnostic. It reads how you currently work and matches you to the historical painter whose process is closest to yours. Costs nothing, and it'll tell you something about where you stand either way. Your judgment is part of the job description; this just gives it better information.

Common questions

Is Methods worth it?

Depends what you need. If you have some experience and your paintings feel like a pile of separate skills instead of one way of working, this is built for exactly that, and at the $100 early price I think it is about as affordable as serious instruction gets. If you just want free technique explanations, the journal and the painter atlas on this site already give you a lot, and they cost nothing.

Is Methods for beginners?

You can use it as a beginner. I demonstrate actual techniques, not just theory, and seeing how the parts of a process fit together early will save you years of collecting skills in the wrong order. But the course is tailored to painters with some experience. And no course replaces focused study: if you want to paint the figure at a high level, you will still need to go study the figure intently.

I have taken a lot of workshops. How is this different?

Workshops tend to hand you one skill at a time, each in its own bubble. What they rarely show is how those skills combine into a single process, in what order, and where your weak links are. That combining work is the core of Methods. The goal is that what you already know starts working together instead of sitting in separate drawers.

Is it live or self-paced?

Self-paced, with lifetime access to all materials and future updates. There is a private community of serious painters, and early bird members also get a live critique session with Daniel.

What does it cost?

One hundred dollars at the early bird price, one hundred ninety after launch. Lifetime access either way, no subscription.

How is Methods different from an atelier or art school?

An atelier trains you in a house method: you copy the master until the method is in your hands. Methods works the other way. You learn to analyze how effects are caused, then design your own process from that understanding. Both are legitimate. They solve different problems.

If this sounds like your situation: the program launches July 2026, and the waitlistholds the $100 early bird price. If it doesn't: the journal, the atlas, and the materials reviewsare free, and they're not teasers. Use them.