Meet the artist behind Artisma!
I’m Michael Artis, a 27-year-old portrait artist from Kansas City, Missouri. You might know me online as Artisma.
I create gold-painted portraits of strangers—not simply to make beautiful artwork, but to tell stories about people, connection and the things that make us human.
Over the years, that idea has taken me much further than I ever expected. My work has been featured by Forbes, I’ve received two U.S. Congressional Art Awards, and my portraits are now owned by people including 50 Cent and Richard Branson, as well as athletes, musicians, influencers and collectors around the world.
Online, more than half a million people have followed along with my work and the stories behind it.
But none of that is really where the story starts.
Everyone has a story. That story is the gold!
That’s the belief at the centre of everything I do.
When you look at someone, it’s easy to see a face. I’ve learned to look for something more.
A story.
A feeling.
A moment.
A connection.
That’s what I try to capture in my portraits. The gold isn’t just the paint—it represents the value, individuality and humanity that exists inside every person.
And that way of looking at people has completely changed the way I approach portraiture.
But I didn’t start out knowing how to do this.
Like most people, I had to learn.
I made mistakes. I struggled with proportions. I got things wrong. I experimented, simplified, practised and gradually figured out what actually worked.
And one of the biggest lessons I learned was this:
You don't need to be born an artist to become one.
You don't need some mysterious gift that other people have and you don't.
You need the right way of looking at things, the right techniques, the willingness to practise—and someone who can show you how.
That’s exactly why I created this course.
My Journey Is Still Going
I've been incredibly fortunate to see my work travel much further than I ever imagined.
I've collaborated with Reddit on a digital collectible project, where my collection of almost 5,000 avatars sold out in under 24 hours.
I've watched people from all over the world follow my work online.
I've had my paintings collected by famous names.
I've received recognition from Congress.
And I've built a community of more than half a million people around something that started with a very simple idea:
People are worth looking at.
But I'm still learning. Still experimenting. Still making mistakes. Still creating.
And now I want to share what I've learned with you.
