Specialties
Kids and teen art classes in Monterey Park, serving San Gabriel Valley families since 2004.
What we teach (ages 4–18):
• Drawing and painting fundamentals — pencil, charcoal, watercolor, acrylic, oil
• Anime and manga illustration
• Digital art and iPad illustration
• College art portfolio preparation for high school students
• Weekend art camps and competition prep
Small leveled classes. A first-grader who has never held a pencil and a junior building a portfolio are not doing the same worksheet — every student works at their own level.
Our students compete and win. Vicky Zhang took 1st place in California in the 2026 State Fish Art Contest (K–3 division). Seven AFA students placed in the LA County Library's 46th Bookmark Design Contest, including two 1st-place winners. Max Liang earned an Honorable Mention at the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
Our teachers are fully bilingual — classes and parent communication in both Mandarin and English.
Rates vary by age, program, class size and payment plan — generally about $25 to $55 per hour. Call us and we'll put together an exact quote for your child.
College portfolio prep: ages 16–18, Sunday afternoons, capped at 10, one-on-one guidance for RISD, Pratt, Parsons, ArtCenter and SVA applicants.
We're at 401 S Garfield Ave G-H, Monterey Park — minutes from Alhambra, San Gabriel, Rosemead, and Arcadia.
New families: book a trial class at afaarts.com/trial or call (626) 466-5161.
History
Established in 2004.
AFA opened in Monterey Park in 2004 as a small studio for neighborhood kids who wanted to draw. Twenty-plus years later we're still in the San Gabriel Valley, still teaching the same fundamentals — line, value, color, composition — because everything else is built on them.
We've watched students walk in at four holding a crayon and walk out at eighteen with a portfolio that got them into art school. That arc is the whole point of this place.
Meet the Business Owner: Fafa M.
I've been teaching art for more than 25 years, and I opened AFA in Monterey Park in 2004.
What I keep coming back to is how many children walk in believing they can't draw. Almost none of them still believe it a year later. Drawing is a skill, not a gift — it responds to good teaching the same way math or piano does. That conviction is the whole reason this school exists.
So we teach the real fundamentals: line, value, color, composition. Beginners at four, teens building a college portfolio, and everyone in between — each working at their own level, in both Mandarin and English.
I'm in the studio, not just on the website. If you're deciding whether AFA is the right fit for your child, come sit in on a trial class and ask me anything.
