Would you like to win a free place on our hugely popular course ‘Illustrating Children’s Books? The class will run again in January 2017, and we are offering two free spots, worth £399, for creating an awesome children’s book cover based on the assignment below.
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THE SUGAR PLUM FAIRY’S ADVENTURE
Assignment: Create a children’s book cover for the book title “The Sugar Plum Fairy’s Adventure”. Be as creative as you like! Be you with a vengeance.
WHO CAN ENTER:
All levels are welcome! Everyone is welcome! (you do not need to have taken a MATS class to enter) Let’s have some fun! If you have not taken the Illustrating Children’s Book course, check out our FREE 5 part video series to give you some insight and some tips.
THERE WILL BE TWO WINNERS: Lilla and Zoe will choose as follows:
- Best in Show
- Random Pick
JUDGING CRITERIA
—Character design
—Lettering of title
—Concept and Style (imaginative, witty, beautiful, quirky, etc.)
—Color Palette
—Overall impact of cover
CLOSING DATE: EXTENDED T0 11.59pm EST Sunday 4th December
WINNERS ANNOUNCED: Week of 5 December, 2016
Please see below for rules of entry
Here are some more tips to help you get stared. As we teach in our Illustrating Children’s Book course, there are 5 main ingredients to consider:
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Who is your Sugar Plum Fairy? What does he or she look like? What colors come to mind? Maybe do the opposite of those colors. Don’t necessarily do the first thing that comes to mind. Can you go against type? Is she an urban character? What is she wearing? Is he an animal with wings? Fall in love with your character.
ENVIRONMENT
First off, what is The Sugar Plum Fairy’s adventure? Think for a moment about what would YOU love to have as your own adventure? An adventure can be an exploration of any kind. As a child, what was your idea of an adventure? Let your mind space out a bit. Is it a silly adventure? Quirky? Dreamy? Is she/he taking a risk? Why? Where? Once you know this, then you can begin to sketch out the location. She can be on another planet, in a space ship, at the North Pole, at a museum, in Hollywood, Berlin, Buenos Aires? At cooking school making cookies? Whatever.
Push it. Here’s what I mean. Let’s say she’s at the North Pole. The first thought is that she is next to the pole itself. Hmmm. Maybe she’s in an Igloo. Or maybe she’s at an ice cream factory. Maybe she is in the sled factory. See what I mean? Go the next step. Since this is a made up title, YOU can do whatever you want with it.
EXPRESSION
What is the expression on the face of the character? Can we tell? Is it reflecting the emotion of the story, or perhaps the quest of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Maybe it’s just an image of the character that gets us to fall in love with him/her.
POSES
The position of the character helps animate the character. Remember, often the children hearing the book read to them may not understand all the words but they can understand the images.
LETTERING
It’s so fun to make letters. Cut them out of paper, rubber stamp them, draw them. You’re the boss! Make sure the title is easy to read. It doesn’t have to be super huge but it needs to pop and we need to be able to read each letter easily.
RULES OF ENTRY
Here’s what you need to do to enter:
- Create a Children’s Book Cover in response the assignment above. If you haven’t yet taken one of our classes you can still enter. Please refrain from using the Lilla Rogers Studio or Make Art That Sells logos in your work.
- The cover can be any size (square, vertical/portrait, horizontal/landscape)
- Remember to include the title of the book and your name (i.e. Illustrated by Jane Doe) on the design.
- You can work in any medium – digitally or traditional
- Save your art as a 72dpi JPEG (save for web) at 650 pxls wide and use the following image title naming convention: FIRST NAME_SECONDNAME_ICBCOMP (e.g. LILLA_ROGERS_ICBCOMP.jpg)
- Email it as an attachment JPG to [email protected] by
Monday 28 November, 2016***EXTENDED DEADLINE*** Sunday 4 December (11.59pm EST) with ‘Sugar Plum Fairy Book Cover Competition’ in the subject title of your email. - Include the following details in your email:
- Your full name (and studio name if you have one)
- Your website link
- A list of what MATS courses you have taken (or if you haven’t taken any courses, indicate which free resources have helped or inspired you)
- OPTIONAL: 1-2 sentences describing the MATS experience as if you were telling a friend (if possible include what is different for you/your work as a result of taking the course) and if you have taken the ‘Illustrating Children’s Book’ class, please write 1-2 sentences.
We would also LOVE to see your images on Instagram, so please do share them using the hashtag #MATSkidbook (this is not a requirement to enter the competition and is optional)
THE SMALL PRINT: By submitting work for this competition you give us permission to share it on the website, blog and/or any social media accounts related to Make Art That Sells, Lilla Rogers Studio or Do What You Love at any time. You will not receive a fee for this, but will be entered into the competition to win one free place on ‘Illustrating Children’s Books’ (starting January 2017). The winners will be chosen by the MATS team and no correspondence will be entered into. There is no cash alternative and the prize is not transferable. You will retain all rights to your own work.
If you have already registered for the Illustrating Children’s Book class when we announce the winners, you will be refunded the necessary amount. (please note this will be calculated accordingly if you purchased a package during the Cyber Monday Sale Nov 24-28)
Can’t wait to see what you do!
The MATS team
