Art Gym™A practice system for artists who keep falling out of practice.
You want to make a lot more art. But somehow, you don’t.
Art Gym™ helps you escape the frustration of making art in bursts and then nothing for extended periods, know what to practise, and make more of the art you want to make.
Created & taught by Sarmed MirzaAward-winning artist · Exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy
“I thought this shift would happen over months, not one session.”Mirtha Peña · Member of Sarmed’s artist community
You want to make more art. But something keeps knocking you out of it.
- “I procrastinate, tell myself I’ll do it tomorrow, then another evening disappears into Netflix or something else.”
- “I start, hate what I’m making, and want to throw it away.”
- “I keep practising, but I don’t feel like I’m getting any better.”
- “Perfectionism makes every drawing or painting feel like a test.”
- “I have twenty ideas and can’t choose one. Then sometimes I have none.”
- “I don’t know what I should actually practise to improve.”
- “I stop for a few days. Then suddenly it’s been weeks, months, sometimes years.”
- “When I finally come back, I feel like I’m starting all over again.”
- “Part of me doesn’t trust that I’ll keep going this time either.”
And underneath it, there’s often something heavier.
- The quiet guilt of time slipping by.
- The feeling that you could be so much further on by now.
- A skill you know you could master, still waiting.
- Something you want to say with your art, still going unsaid.
Not because you lack talent. Because nobody taught you this part, and you didn’t know who to turn to.
You care about the art. You just haven’t been taught what to do when resistance, doubt, low confidence or long inactive spells show up.
Whatever you want from your art, you have to make enough work to get there.
To improve, find your own visual language, finish a series, take commissions or simply enjoy making regularly, you need to be able to start, keep going and come back when life interrupts.
That’s creative stamina.
Make art regularly because you love it
Give art a real place in your life, instead of it disappearing for weeks or months.
Get noticeably better
Improvement needs attempts. Very little work means very little chance to learn.
Find your own style
Art Gym™ doesn’t teach you a style. But style becomes clearer when you make enough work to see what keeps returning.
Finish a series or body of work
Keep making after the exciting beginning has passed.
Take commissions
Work well even when confidence or inspiration isn’t there that day.
Exhibit or sell your work
Have finished work to show, and more being made behind it.
You can’t build a body of work without making a body of work.
Art Gym™ helps you make more, improve while you do it, and stop every interruption becoming another long disappearance.
You don’t need more motivation, or to push yourself harder. You need a smarter way to train, so you keep making art, even when life gets in the way.
Forcing yourself usually backfires. The harder you push, the more making starts to feel like a chore, until you find yourself avoiding the very thing you most want to do.
Artists are taught how to draw and paint.
They are rarely taught how to:
- begin when they feel resistance
- know what actually needs practising
- work through a bad session or a low-confidence phase
- improve one weakness without every session becoming a finished artwork
- return after a break
- trust that a quieter or less productive phase does not mean they have failed again
- make enough work to genuinely develop
Art Gym™ helps with that part.
The aim is to make starting feel as easy as tying your shoelaces, rather than something you have to fight yourself to do.
The more often you begin, the less negotiation beginning can require. Art Gym™ helps make reaching for the pencil, brush or sketchbook more familiar, so starting does not have to feel like a major event every time.
Train to become the artist you want to be. The one who actually makes art, instead of waiting for the perfect moment.
What Art Gym™ helps you do
Start again sooner
A rough day or missed week does not need to become months away from your art.
Know what to practise
Stop guessing. Learn to recognise what actually needs attention.
Get better through smaller training
Work on seeing, proportion, value, accuracy, control and attention without demanding a finished artwork every time.
Handle bad sessions better
Move from “This is rubbish. I’m rubbish.” to “What actually isn’t working here?”
Keep going through low-productivity phases
Not every week will be productive. A quieter period does not mean the art has disappeared or that you have failed again.
Make enough work to develop
More work means more attempts, more information, more skill and more chance for your own artistic voice to become visible.
Trust yourself more
Not because you promise never to stop again. Because you know a stop does not have to become another lost year.
Make more art. Get better at it. Trust yourself to keep going.
Because artists have things they can train too.
Athletes strengthen the muscles underneath their performance. Art Gym™ applies the same idea to making art, with small, focused reps that train:
Seeing · Proportion · Value · Accuracy · Control · Attention
Finished work
The drawings, paintings and series you actually want to make.
Art Gym™
Isolate one skill and train it, without asking every session to become finished artwork. It also builds the creative stamina to keep showing up for the bigger work.
Train the muscles underneath the art, so you can make more of the art itself.
No Lycra. No burpees. No shouting instructor required.
We’ll work on your actual practice.
This isn’t another course to just watch. Here’s what you get:
Live teaching and Make It Together sessions: we practise, troubleshoot, answer your questions and work out your next move.
Share what you’re making and get honest, useful feedback that turns into a clear next step.
The Art Gym™ Course
Growing Video Library · New Zones addedWatch anytime. Return anytime. Practical training and reps, with new material added as the gym grows.
The Art Gym™ community
Artists training alongside you, sharing work and keeping each other going between sessions.
Not another set of recorded videos. Sarmed’s attention and judgement, applied to your own work, every month.
Train every week. Keep growing every month.
The Course
Work through the Zones at your own pace: starting, attitude, seeing, proportion and rehearsal.
Live Teaching
Demos and reps done together with Sarmed, with time for your questions.
Group Critique
Bring what you’re working on and leave knowing what your art needs next.
Make It Together
Accountability sessions where we simply make, side by side, so the work actually happens.
I’ve had to learn how to keep going too.
My practice has taken me from painstaking realism and becoming a Scottish Portrait Awards finalist to whole bodies of abstract work, exhibiting at the Royal Scottish Academy, filmmaking and published writing.
Behind that are years of doubting, starting again and figuring out how to keep making, especially when deadlines loomed and life got in the way.
I realised making art didn’t have to be a battle every time.
I started working small, repeating simple exercises that trained drawing, observation, proportion and colour, even alongside completely different projects. My skills kept growing without the pressure of making something important every time. Hundreds of tiny paintings became whole bodies of work, and I learnt to trust the practice instead of questioning whether I was doing enough.
I’ve seen the same in my students. Some who once struggled to begin are now exhibiting, selling paintings, taking commissions and building bodies of work of their own.
Art Gym™ grew out of this. It builds artistic skills and creative stamina together, so making art becomes a natural part of your life, and you have the freedom to see where it can take you.
“A creative spark came back after 30 years.”
Member of Sarmed’s artist community
“I started doing this because of you… just to keep my art engine warm and running.”
YouTube subscriber
Why join now?
Founding members lock in the lowest price Art Gym™ will ever have, for as long as they stay.
Founding price closes 31 January. From 1 February, new members pay $47/month.
Questions
Do I need to be good at drawing?
No. The reps meet you where your practice is now, whether you are new to art or experienced.
Is Art Gym only for drawing or realism?
No. The skills support painting, abstraction, print, sculpture, mixed media and other visual work.
What if I’m a hobbyist?
You’re welcome. Art Gym™ helps art stay part of your life without becoming another obligation.
What if I already make art regularly?
It helps between bigger pieces: knowing what to practise, working with judgement and strengthening your skills.
When are the live sessions?
Saturdays at 4pm UK time, four a month: live teaching, group critique and Make It Together sessions.
What happens if I miss one?
Every session is recorded, so you can watch the replay whenever suits you.
What does the founding price mean?
Join before 31 January at $37/month or $370/year, and that price stays locked for as long as you remain a member. From 1 February, new members pay $47/month.
Are one-to-ones included?
No. One-to-one sessions with Sarmed are available separately.
Where does it happen?
Everything lives inside the Art Gym™ community on Skool: the course, the live sessions, the replays and the conversation.
Make more art. Get better at it. Build something with it.
And when you stop, know how to start again.
Become a founding member · from $37/monthFounding price closes 31 January.