I'm an MFA artist and educator with fifteen years in the high school and university classroom. I write books and build curriculum for serious homeschool families who refuse to settle for ordinary — and for students who want a portfolio worth showing.
Most homeschool families piece together art education from YouTube tutorials and craft kits. The result is a student who can follow directions but can't actually draw, think visually, or build a portfolio. This book lays out a real four-year framework — aligned to National Core Arts Standards, built from fifteen years in the classroom, and written for parents who want something that actually works.
Join the Early Access ListMost families are piecing together art education from YouTube and craft kits and calling it a curriculum. There's a better way. This is the parent's guide to building a real four-year art education — standards-aligned, sequentially structured, and designed to actually develop a student. Book One of the series.
Most drawing instruction gives a kid busywork. The Lucid Drawing Method teaches a student to actually see — and from there, to draw anything. In just over twenty hours of structured instruction, your student goes from blank-page anxiety to genuine independence. That's seven weeks in a classroom. At home, on your schedule, it can happen faster.
Color is not decoration — it's a language. This book teaches students to read it, speak it, and use it with intention. Built around the same principles taught in university foundation programs, this is the painting curriculum most homeschool families never knew existed.
A BFA admission committee doesn't want a collection of nice projects. They want evidence of development, technical foundation, and a student who can think visually. This book shows exactly how to build, document, and present a portfolio that opens doors to competitive programs and scholarship consideration.
A 30,000-foot view of what a real high school art education looks like — what standards apply, what skills matter at each level, and where most families are leaving their students behind. This guide frames the problem. The books solve it.
For families who want more than a book. ChromaLogik is the membership community where students get live drawing and painting instruction, structured group critique, and direct feedback from an MFA educator who has taught this material for fifteen years. This is where the real work happens.
You pulled your child out of conventional school because you want something better — not a watered-down version of what they'd get in a classroom. Art is no different. If you want your student to actually learn to draw, develop visual thinking, and build a portfolio that opens doors, this is where that starts.
The high school years are where art education either builds into something real or quietly disappears from the transcript. If your student is in 9th through 12th grade, this is the window — for developing genuine skill, building a portfolio, and creating options for what comes next. Most homeschool families reach junior year and realize they've run out of time to do it right. This curriculum is designed so that doesn't happen to yours.
I'm Michael Strahan, an artist, educator, and writer. I studied at the Atlanta College of Art — now part of SCAD — on an independent study track that took me across painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, graphic design, and photography. I received the senior show painting award at graduation in 1994. I went on to earn my MFA from the University of Houston, where I taught drawing and painting as a graduate student and was invited to continue teaching after graduation. I also taught design at Cy-Fair College in the Houston area before eventually finding my way into the high school classroom, where I've spent the last fifteen years.
Before teaching, I spent years in sales and marketing — training engineers, building brands, and contributing to a company's growth from regional distributor to manufacturer. I bring that same structured, results-oriented thinking to the way I teach art: sequential, rigorous, and built for students who want to actually get somewhere.
My work now centers on making serious art education accessible — through books, courses, and direct instruction — for students and families who refuse to settle for ordinary. The curriculum series I'm writing draws on that full background: graduate training at a top fine art institution, university-level teaching experience, and fifteen years in the high school and dual credit classroom at Missouri Southern State University.
My work has been shown in serious galleries across Atlanta and Houston — including the Barbara Davis Gallery, Apama Mackey Gallery, and the Blaffer Gallery at the University of Houston, where my MFA exhibition was held. A review of my work appeared in Artlies, one of Texas's leading art criticism publications. I studied under Gael Stack, Rachel Hecker, Aaron Parazette, and Al Souza at the University of Houston — working artists across painting, sculpture, and conceptual practice whose influence shaped not just how I make art, but how I think about teaching it. I've spent thirty years inside the gallery world, and I bring that experience into every lesson.
Read the full background"He is in the top tier of students I have worked with: inventive, curious, extremely hard working, not puffed up and a wonderful artist. He was also an accomplished teacher. He was knowledgeable in the entire scope of art, and very up to date in critical thinking. He is conscientious, reliable, highly motivated, considerate and committed, and a natural leader. I recommend him without qualification and with very real pleasure."
— Gael Stack, John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Painting, University of Houston
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What a real high school art education looks like — what standards apply, what skills to build by year, and what most families are missing. Free. No credit card. Delivered instantly.