“Beautiful paintings like Lady in Shimmering Light, by Yim Mau-kun, … transcend time and distance. Though Mau-kun has lived all of his 64 years in the Far East, this stunning work features a classic quality that crosses geographic and cultural boundaries…. There is, after all, no need for a translator when it comes to brilliant brushstrokes and powerful compositions.” – The Artist Magazine

 “Perhaps the most striking element to Master Yim’s painting and drawing is the use of light, which infuses his art with a sense of hopefulness; a feeling of lightness and emotional connection with the subject. This connection is magnified when color is present, and Master Yim’s understanding of color in its tactile use and symbolic relationship embody his subjects with a welcoming aura that allows the viewer to approach his work without inhibition.” – Damian Goidich

 “I think Yim Mau-Kun’s work is amazing. I am a painter/draughtsman and a teacher. I have a great love for work that is both filled with knowledge of the old masters and unique at the same time.  I believe your work has both.” – Richard Morris

Still Life Oil Painting

Still life paintings aim to express the object and life within a small space. It serves as a study on the shape, form, colors and texture of various objects in such a space. Freed from the influence of the sun’s movements, a painter can examine the lights and shades, colors, texture and brushstrokes at their leisure.

This module includes 2 video lessons of still life painting – one on fish and the other on flowers. The very first video also explains the artist’s background and his philosophy in painting to provide a context of his styles and techniques.

Plein air landscape

Plein air painting is an excellent way to train observation and develop a great sense of color. Before the emergence of Impressionism, all landscapes had brown tones. It was not until the emergence of Impressionism that outdoor plein-air painting became a trend and many artists began exploring how light and color in nature was actually perceived by the visual senses. Color is the most attractive yet challenging aspect of plein-air landscape. Colors should be sensed. To create a painting with good colors, one must quickly scan the scene and compare and contrast it with the surroundings. Once you have sensed the colors, you must then render them in paint. Mixing colors becomes an important task. The landscape oil painting video lessons cover scene selection, composition, perspective, observation of light and color and brush stroke.

This module includes 3 video lessons, two on small plein-air paintings and one on medium size plein air painting.

Portrait Oil Painting

The portrait is a painting style that was established during the Renaissance and its earliest example was the Mona Lisa. In the past, there were no cameras; all portraits were painted from life. Every life painting session is a new journey of exploration into life and art. Portraits painted from life are more vivid, colorful and life-like compared to those based on photos. In this live demonstration, the artist explains

How to analyze the subject

How to apply colors layer upon layer

How to create painterly aesthetics

Above all, how to create a portrait that resembles the subject in both likeness and spirits

Human Figure Oil Painting

The balance, symmetry, variation and general proportions of the human body embodies the harmony of “Golden Ratio” and mankind’s ideal of what is aesthetically pleasing.  In Ancient Greece, the beauty of the human body was what the great sculptors of the time sought to express.  The great Italian masters of the Renaissance period embraced the ideal of humanism and further enriched the beauty of the human form, an example being the statues of “David” by Michelangelo.  When art schools emerged during the 17th and 18th century, the human body became a required component of art education. In addition to the techniques covered in the previous lesson, this video lesson addresses

Creating a study before putting brush to the canvas to explore proportions and dynamics

Creating the ambiance to accentuate the human body

Analyzing the body and how knowledge of anatomy is applied

Colors and skin tone

When and where to create details

All videos have English subtitles.

Video lessons are accessible via login on our website (at the top navigation bar towards the right) after purchase. At this time, there is no end day to your access. Should we change video access methods, you will be given the option to download the videos that you purchased.

Downloads are also available. Please e-mail Iris Yim at iris@yimmaukun.com after purchase.

What others say about the comprehensive oil painting course

“This is the best set of oil painting video lessons. I have ever had. It covers almost all the genres of oil painting: Still life, plein air and studio landscape, portrait and figure. And most of all, it is the demonstration by Master Yim! I was fortunate to attend his 3-day workshop in Rochester in 2009 and I was fascinated by his dazzling techniques and wonderful teaching. I have learned a lot from it. However a 3-day workshop was too short for me and I have been waiting for this video lesson to be published since then. Now, here it is! I have already watched it once and will watch it again and again in the future.”– Bin Zhang

“I purchased a few of the videos you had and was very pleased. (A picture viewed is like a thousand words understood). I have taught for many years and have always hoped for someone with your talent to explain in more detail his thinking on design of a painting (layout), value breakdown (distribution of light and darks), dominant color choices and their balancing complements. Too many art instructional materials cover the same factual principles without the philosophy or reasoning behind said principle. I hope my ‘ personal’ insight helped and please keep me posted on anything new from Yimaukun Atelier.”– Alberto Ortega

It was particularly helpful for me to see the artist’ s painterly and masterful approach to painting a portrait. In particular, he gave some advise or warnings about trying to perfect or obtain asmoothly rendered subject – something I am guilty of doing even when working from life. I think the suggestions he gave when determining a painting to be “done” are going to be helpful to me to know when to quit and leave the artist’ s hand and brushstroke visible, rather than continuing to paint and lose the painterly and aesthetic look I am after. I also enjoyed his discussions of art history, criticism and examples of old master works – it was a great way to break up the video and your father is certainly very knowledgeable on those topics. – Roberta Remy