Learn how to get paid for illustrating children’s books!

  Our hugely popular online course, Illustrating Children’s Books, starts May 20th

HELENportraitdrawing Make Art That Sells Meet Helen Stephens, renowned children's book illustrator and author of How to Hide a Lion

Meet Helen Stephens, renowned children’s book illustrator and author of How to Hide a Lion

Meet Helen Stephens Today, we have an interview with children’s book illustrator Helen Stephens, who calls herself an authorstrator: an author who writes with pictures and adds words in where needed. Helen drawing Helen has been creating children’s books for over 17 years and she is known for her bright, instantly recognisable illustrations. As well as illustrating for authors like Michael Morpurgo, Cécile Aubry, Sophie Hannah, Holly Webb and Roger McGough, Helen writes her own stories. These include Fleabag, The Night Iceberg, The Big Adventures of the Smalls, the Betsy toddler series, and How to Hide a Lion, which has sold in 14 languages, been nominated for The Kate Greenaway Medal and The Redhouse Book Awards and won the Prix Livrentete. It is now being developed for stage at The Polka Theatre in Wimbledon, where it will be shown this Christmas. The most recent additions to Helen’s ever-expanding portfolio include

mymatsprep daily art Make Art That Sells 5 Free daily art assignments #myMATSprep

5 Free daily art assignments #myMATSprep

We are very excited about the upcoming MATS Prep! Back by popular demand! Starting Monday September 19, Lilla will help you grow your work to prepare you for our newest course, Illustrating Children’s Books. This #myMATSprep is a little different than previous ones!  Each day you will be building upon the assignment you worked on the day before.  So that by the end of the week you will have a finished piece of artwork which may even be a portfolio piece! In this 5 day free mini series of assignments, you will learn about: character setting scale and perspective scene magic environment Find out who this young girl is and why it matters to Illustrating Children’s Books: Learn about playing with scale and flipping:   BONUS: Every day in #MyMATSprep is complete with a tip from Lilla for you on being the best artist you can be. What is #myMATSprep? It’s

Who will be the next represented artist at Lilla Rogers Studio? Lilla’s favorite pieces by the GTS Finalists

Who will be the next represented artist at Lilla Rogers Studio? I’m so grateful that the judges and the People’s Choice voted on the Global Talent Search Finalists. (I never could have chosen!) They’ve narrowed it down to six incredible artists. It turns out that all of them have taken my Make Art That Sells classes, so I’m very familiar with their work. Allow me to show you a few of my favorite pieces of each of the Finalists. Terry Fry Kasuba, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Charmingly eccentric, joyful and painterly work all rolled into one. Left: For the MATS 2014 Bootcamp Course Right: For National Read-A-Book Day Marenthe Otten, Netherlands This may be one of the most trend-ahead pieces I’ve seen in a long time. I see tarot book illustrations here. Left: For the Make Art That Sells Self-Paced Course, Live Review, in conjunction with Janine Vangool, publisher of UPPERCASE Magazine. The

Manifesto Monday 2016 {part 7}

Welcome to Manifesto Monday, where we share some of the Manifesto artwork submitted by our Make Art That Sells Alumni. Would you like to experience the Make Art That Sells class yourself? Browse our live and self-paced classes here *** KATJA POTOKAR I love the weekly Persicopes of Lilla! The Videos especially have helped me a lot to pursue my career as an illustrator, to stay positive and look at the illustration business from a different perspective. Make art the sells courses make you look on art from a different perspective. They show you that art isn’t there just for it’s own purpose, but it can have much more potential. See more of Katja’s work here. *** NICOLE GOLDEN | PEA SOUP I am currently enrolled in MATS A-Self-paced class and am working through the Children’s Book portion right now. The MATS experience for me has been a rejuvenation of

Q1 Make Art That Sells If you were a children's book character, who would you be and why?

If you were a children’s book character, who would you be and why?

How about you? who would you be and why? Comment on our Facebook post here or share an image of your character on Instagram with your comments. Be sure to tag @makeartthatsells and use the hashtag #MATSKidBook so we can see your character! *** Would you like to develop your own characters in our ‘Illustrating Children’s Book‘ class? Do you dream of illustrating a children’s book? Would you love to create a magical world with characters that you’ve designed? Do you love the magic of children’s books and feel that you have something to offer? Then this course is for you. In five weeks, you’ll create a brilliant children’s book pitch to help you land your dream children’s book gig. You’ll get over 20 videos, weekly assignments, live weekly video reviews, interviews with publishers and illustrators and more. Co-taught by top art agent Lilla Rogers and highly-respected children’s book art

gts imafinalist Make Art That Sells 2016 Global Talent Search Finalists announced!

2016 Global Talent Search Finalists announced!

The wait is over. It’s time to reveal the 2016 Global Talent Search Finalists, chosen from the 50 Semi-Finalists (who were selected from nearly 1,000 artists’ work). We are thrilled to unveil the SIX Finalists, knowing that one of these artists’ careers is about to change forever. Five were chosen by our panel of industry experts, and one chosen via public vote (our peoples choice winner). The overall competition winner will be represented by Lilla Rogers Studio for two years, and win a host of licensing deals from prestigious companies (see here for the awesome prize details). The second assignment Lilla created was full of possibilities! The Semi-Finalists were asked to design a cover of a dessert recipe book from Sunny’s Cafe. So without further ado, here we go… Over 10,000 votes were cast by the public, and we can now reveal that the 2016 Global Talent Search People’s Choice

some kid books block650 Make Art That Sells Why I created a children’s book course for you. And a secret.

Why I created a children’s book course for you. And a secret.

Why a children’s book course? For one thing, sales of children’s books are booming. Revenue from children’s books sales ballooned to $1.7 billion in 2015, according to the Association of American Publishers. Even in this digital age, consumers want the high-touch experience of an actual book. Art directors are on the lookout for artists! We know that artists love illustrating children’s books. Why? Because it’s magical to sink into a project for months, creating their own signature characters and imaginary world. There was also a growing demand from students who loved the week on Children’s Books in MATS A. Zoe and I have each enjoyed great success in this area and were excited to develop a course together. Both of us regularly work with artists and we they understand how to get the best out of creative people. Together we will give you everything you need to you get work

Want a chance to develop your own fabric line?

The UPPERCASE + Windham Fabrics New Designer Competition We’re excited to share with you that Uppercase magazine and Windham Fabrics have teamed up for a design competition.  The winning designer will have the opportunity to develop a fabric collection with Windham and will be featured in UPPERCASE magazine. Read all about this fantastic opportunity and the competition details here.  The submission form closes on September 12, 2016. Good luck! Make Art That Sells Team

MANI2016 BERNA DATEMA Make Art That Sells Manifesto Monday 2016 {part 6}

Manifesto Monday 2016 {part 6}

Welcome to Manifesto Monday, where we share some of the Manifesto artwork submitted by our Make Art That Sells Alumni. Would you like to experience the Make Art That Sells class yourself? Browse our live and self-paced classes here *** MARISA PARRA Through the wonderful MATS Global Talent Search and resources, I feel that my art has been brought to new heights. I find that I’m being more relaxed when it comes to creating my art work, which is making me more in tune to my creativity. I even find myself experimenting and playing more with different mediums. See more of Marisa’s work here *** BERNA DATEMA | BERNA’S PLAYGROUND I have taken MATS A, B, Bootcamp and Home Decor, I joined the Global Art Gathering in Brighton and participated in the Global Taken Search. I took all this classes because I feel I am getting better and better in

gts votenow Make Art That Sells Cast your vote! 2016 Global Talent Search Public Voting is now open! Vote now and help launch an artist’s career.

Cast your vote! 2016 Global Talent Search Public Voting is now open! Vote now and help launch an artist’s career.

We’re incredibly excited to unveil the online gallery of the submissions for the second assignment of the 2016 Global Talent Search! We’d love you to vote for your top five favorites. The 50 Semi-Finalists were announced two weeks ago and then were given Assignment #2 to challenge them further. They’ve just finished the assignment, and now you get to vote on your choices. At the same time, our esteemed panel of VIP judges will also go in and privately select their top favorites. “Sunny” checking out a London café In the second assignment we continue the adventure of our fictional character, ‘Sunny Spindler’ (played by our own marketing director, Reine Sloan) who visits a café to discuss the cover of her cookbook with her editor. Our 50 semi-finalists have accepted the challenge to design the cookbook cover, and now you can see the brilliance that they’ve submitted, here. Why did