Jumpstart your drawing skills in just five hours!

Ready to finally feel confident with your drawing? This 5-hour intensive workshop is designed to give you a strong foundation in the essentials: composition, proportion, and accuracy. You’ll learn to see like an artist, simplify complex forms, and capture not just “a dog,” but JoJo the dog—unique and true to life.

Through guided demonstrations and hands-on exercises, you’ll sharpen your eye, build control, and complete a finished still-life drawing using all the techniques covered. Whether you’re a total beginner or a painter looking to strengthen your drawing skills, this crash course will give you tools you can use right away.

All materials provided. Just bring your sketchbook and a set of pencils—everything else is ready for you.

Saturday, January 31st

11 am - 4 pm

Class Fee: $150

Unleash your creative potential and professionalize your artistic practice in this hands-on course focused on graphic arts marketing.

Designed for adult artists and makers, this class takes place in our digital lab, where you will learn to use Krita, the powerful and free digital painting and illustration software, to create professional marketing materials.

What You'll Create and Learn:

• Logo Design: Develop a unique and memorable logo that visually represents your artistic brand. You will learn Krita's vector tools to design a scalable logo that works on everything from your website to a business card.

• Book/Album Cover Art: Design a compelling front cover that tells a story and captures attention. We will explore composition, typography, and color theory within Krita to create a professional-grade cover for a fictional or personal project.

• Promotional Graphics: Create eye-catching digital graphics for social media, email newsletters, and online announcements. Learn to use layers, brushes, and text effects in Krita to craft stunning visuals that promote your work and engage your audience.

• Digital Portfolio Pieces: Transform your existing artwork into polished digital files for online display. You'll learn to prepare and optimize your art for web and print, ensuring your portfolio looks its best.

• Branding Fundamentals: Beyond the software, you'll gain an understanding of essential marketing concepts. We will discuss how to define your target audience, craft a brand message, and apply a consistent visual identity across all your projects.

Who Should Take This Course:

This course is ideal for artists, illustrators, and designers who want to learn robust and free software to market their work. A basic understanding of computers is helpful, but no prior experience with Krita or graphic design is required. You will receive step-by-step instruction and personalized feedback in a supportive and creative environment.

Course Format:

This is a project-based workshop where you will work on your own marketing materials from start to finish. By the end of the course, you will have a small portfolio of professionally designed marketing assets created entirely in Krita, giving you the confidence and tools to take your art career to the next level.

Moved to Saturday, January 31st due to snow

3-6 pm

Class Fee: $57

2026 is the year to focus on your mental and physical health, and this Wellness series is the perfect place to start!

Come and paint a beautiful landscape scene using acrylic! Painting a landscape scene can be relaxing and a great pleasure to view. Emily will go step by step to show how to poaint an outdoor landscape, including mixing colors, adding texture, and techniques for the use of acrylic paint.

Saturday, February 7th

10 am - 1 pm

Free for any residents of Manassas Park, Manassas City, or Prince William County in need of wellness programming.

Please note that this class takes place at the City of Manassas Community Center!

2026 is the year to focus on yourself and your wellness. Back by popular demand, join artist and teacher Mike Flynn as he guides you through simple steps to creating watercolor landscapes. 

In this workshop you will use simple design and composition to execute beautiufl landscapes in four or five steps. Start your year at the ARTfactory crafting a beautiful vision for the year to come!

All supplies will be provided, but experienced painters are welcome to bring their own!

Ages 15+

Saturday, February 7th

1-3 pm

Class Fee: Free!

This free wellness workshop is brought to you in partnership with UVA Health.

John will present a two hour class where he leads students in painting an original piece of art based on his signature strange and wonderful style using acrylic paints. 

February's class will be all about painting a Big Goofy Eyeball!

Join your favorite artist, Jortt, as he helps you create your next masterpiece based on his signature strange and wonderful style using acrylic paints. This project is a big goofy eyeball. John will guide you through his process of working with simple shapes, and turning them into Something Wonderful.

Students will paint along and be encouraged to create their own original work.

He will address the following :

– Feel confident at the easel

– Stop thinking and start creating

– Composition

– Finding shapes

– Color theory

...and this is a fast-paced painting project, so wear work clothes.

Tuesday, February 10th

4-6 pm

Class Fee: $38   Canvas Fee: $5

This workshop is an invitation to explore your emotions and intentions through three-dimensional form.

Using simple sculpting techniques, you will create a small, abstract or figurative sculpture from earthenware clay that represents a feeling, a goal, or a part of your inner world. The focus is on intuitive expression, not realistic representation.

This is a powerful and cathartic exercise in self-reflection. You'll take your finished clay piece home to air-dry and finish as you wish.

Ages 15+

Saturday, February 14th

1-4 pm

Registration Fee: FREE!

This free wellness class is brought to you in collaboration with UVA Health.

Sometimes the best paints aren't paints at all! Join esteemed artist Penny Shaw for a class that will explore using cut papers to create beautiful scenery.

From newspaper to cardstock, glue to Modge Podge, and everything in between, this three hour workshop will introduce concepts of color theory, and help you to arrange papers of all varieties into beautiful renditions of scenic views. Penny will help you break your preconceived notions of collage, and help you to create vivid scenes out of the simplest papers. 

Participants will come away from the workshop with an ideated piece, and the materials to continue working at home if desired. 

All supplies for this workshop will be provided via the supply fee!

Ages 15+

Saturday, February 21st

1-4 pm

Class Fee: $57             Supply Fee: $10

Back by popular demand!

Learn how working with a limited palette can help improve your art. One of the most essential tools for good composition is the use of lights and darks - kown as "value". 

This workshop will help you see values better, and understand their role and importance in creating contrast, depth, and form. Suitable for any media!

Students must bring their own supplies!

Michele will provide reference photos, or students may provide their own.

Ages 15+

Sunday, February 22nd

12-3 pm

Class Fee: $57