Master Oil Painting

What Master Oil Painting does

Master Oil Painting is a US-based, privately held online art education platform founded in 2015 by professional artist Bill Inman and operated as a family business in Muncie, Indiana. The company delivers structured oil painting instruction through a subscription membership model, serving hobbyist and aspiring artists in over 100 countries with a catalog of more than 2,000 hours of video content, including 40+ full-length gallery-ready painting demonstrations, a Plein Air course, a 6-week foundational course, beginner challenges, and a materials best practices library. Live programming runs continuously: a monthly critique webinar (in operation since 2015) and a weekly lunch hangout conducted over Zoom are layered on top of self-paced video libraries, with community engagement distributed across a private Facebook group and the Circles mobile platform.

The technology stack is conventional rather than proprietary: a WordPress site with MemberMouse for membership management, Zoom for live events, and Facebook and Circles for community, with all content delivered as recorded or live video. There are no disclosed AI/ML capabilities, patents, integrations beyond the community platforms, or mobile applications beyond the third-party Circles app. Revenue is generated almost entirely through two subscription tiers — Essentials ($9/month or $99/year, self-paced) and Growth ($29/month or $249/year, including live events) — with a 30-day happiness guarantee and a 40% veteran discount available. Customer segments are primarily hobbyist and aspiring artists (oil, acrylic, and some watercolor users), with secondary segments of intermediate-to-advanced artists and art educators using the platform as supplemental material. The company is bootstrapped, has no external funding, no parent or subsidiary entities, and reports a headcount of 1-10.

Name

Master Oil Painting

Legal name

Master Oil Painting

Website

https://masteroilpainting.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Master Oil Painting is a bootstrapped online art education platform founded in 2015 by artist Bill Inman, offering subscription-based oil painting instruction (video courses, monthly critiques, weekly live hangouts) to 48,000+ hobbyist and aspiring artists across 100+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Muncie

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Membership Subscriptions: Recurring monthly and annual subscription revenue from two membership tiers (Essentials and Growth). Subscribers pay $9-$29/month or $99-$249/year for access to video library, critique replays, community groups, and live events.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Master Oil Painting is an online art education platform offering subscription-based oil painting instruction. It provides over 2,000 hours of full-length gallery-ready painting demonstration videos, structured courses, monthly live critiques, and a worldwide artist community taught by professional artist Bill Inman.

Product overview

Master Oil Painting is an online art education platform built around membership tiers offering structured oil painting instruction. The core offerings consist of the Essentials Membership (self-paced learning with full training library access) and the Growth Membership (which adds live events to Essentials). Both memberships include access to the 6 Week Painting Course, Plein Air Course, Monthly Critique Webinars, Weekly Lunch Hangouts, Full-Length Painting Videos, Reference Photo Library, Beginner Challenges, Critique Replay Library, and Materials Best Practices Library. A separate Free Art Training section provides limited free content. The platform operates via WordPress with MemberMouse for membership management, and serves members through private Facebook groups and Circles community platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Essentials Membership Self-paced learning membership providing full training library access including oil painting instruction videos, the Plein Air Course, Beginner to Advanced 6 Week Painting Course, Materials Best Practices library, live-event replays, beginner challenges, reference photo library, and access to private Facebook and Circles community groups. Priced at $9/month or $99/year.
• Growth Membership Comprehensive membership tier adding live events to Essentials features, including a monthly live critique webinar (running since 2015), weekly Lunchbreak Artist Hangout, and full-length gallery-ready oil painting video library with 40 lessons. Priced at $29/month or $249/year.
• 6 Week Painting Course Structured beginner-to-advanced 6-week painting course covering materials selection, color mastery, painting techniques from shapes and abstract patterns, plein air basics, reference image editing, and professional finishing touches. Included within membership.
• Plein Air Course Complete outdoor painting course teaching plein air painting techniques, location selection, and capturing nature's dynamic conditions. Included as a bonus within membership.
• Monthly Critique Webinar Interactive live critique event where Bill Inman examines and digitally tweaks member paintings using Photoshop, exploring the reasoning behind adjustments. Running since 2015, critiques 5 paintings each month.
• Weekly Lunch Hangout Weekly live Zoom call where members gather to discuss art, ask questions, share experiences, and build community across the globe with Bill Inman.
• Reference Photo Library Extensive library of royalty-free reference images available for members to use personally or commercially for creating artwork, including selling artwork derived from the library.
• Full-Length Painting Videos Over 40 full-length gallery-ready oil painting tutorial videos (1-8 hours each) showing every brushstroke from start to finish. Videos feature paintings that were sold through galleries, not demos.
• Free Art Training Free oil painting lessons and training materials available without membership, including color matching beginner ideas and full-length advanced video previews.

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature3 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• MasterClass: Premium subscription platform with celebrity/renowned expert instructors across many categories including painting and illustration. Comparable on the 'pay for one master teacher' subscription model and on the positioning of high-credential practitioners as the key selling point; a much broader and higher-priced incumbent.

Direct peers

• Domestika: Subscription and one-off purchase marketplace for high-production creative courses across painting, illustration, and crafts, taught by professional artists. Directly comparable on premium video production quality, artist-instructor model, and D2C subscription monetization aimed at hobbyist creatives.
• Artists Network University: Online art instruction platform offering self-paced video courses and workshops in painting, drawing, and mixed media from working artists. Comparable on subscription-style access to artist-led video instruction targeting hobbyist to intermediate painters.
• Craftsy: Subscription platform offering video-based creative classes across painting, drawing, and crafts. Closely comparable on the combination of subscription access, video course catalog, and hobbyist fine-art audience.
• Skillshare: Subscription-based online learning platform with a deep catalog of creative and arts classes (painting, illustration, design) taught by working practitioners. Most directly comparable to Master Oil Painting on business model (low monthly subscription, self-serve, video-based) and on overlapping audience of hobbyist-to-intermediate artists.
• New Masters Academy: Subscription-based online art school with structured video courses, live workshops, and critique components taught by working professional artists. Directly comparable on subscription model, structured curriculum, and focus on fine art fundamentals (drawing, painting).

Emerging players

• Schoolism: Online art school originally focused on concept art and illustration, offering video lessons and live critiques from working industry artists. Comparable on artist-led video courses plus critique/community layer, though its core niche is illustration/entertainment rather than traditional oil painting.
• Will Kemp Art School: Independent online art school run by a single professional artist offering video courses in oil and acrylic painting with an emphasis on classical techniques. Closely comparable on the single-instructor, online, oil-painting-focused model, though smaller in scale.
• SVSLearn (Society of Visual Storytelling): Subscription-based online learning community for illustrators and storytellers with video courses and live critiques. Adjacent peer — same subscription + critique recipe for creative learners, but in illustration rather than oil painting.

Others

• Patreon: Creator-monetization platform used by thousands of working artists to sell memberships, tutorials, and community access directly to fans. Functions as an indirect competitive channel for Master Oil Painting, since artists can bypass a dedicated school and monetize on Patreon with similar economics.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/inmanfinearts
• Facebookfacebook.com/groups/1628956164051910
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/master-oil-painting

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Master Oil Painting