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

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

mymatsprep daily art OCT17 Make Art That Sells #MYMATSPREP: Character (Day 1)

#MYMATSPREP: Character (Day 1)

Lilla here. :-) I’m excited about this MATS Prep! For the next five days, I’m going to help you grow your work to prepare you for our highly acclaimed course, Illustrating Children’s Books. For the next week we are going to imagine that you have just been commissioned to illustrate a children’s book. I’m going to share a series of fun exercises to help you tackle your project. I’d love to see what you do so be sure to share it on social media! Share your images on Instagram: Tag us @makeartthatsells and use hashtags #mymatsprep and #matskidbook So, let’s say you have just received a commission to illustrate a children’s book. You’ve been sent the manuscript. Now what? One of the first things you’ll want to do is to get to know the main character, like how an actor “becomes” the character. So for today’s MATS Prep, you’re going

Brogno Make Art That Sells Industry Expert: Kristine Brogno - Illustrating Children’s Books class

Industry Expert: Kristine Brogno – Illustrating Children’s Books class

Those of you who have taken our Make Art That Sells classes will know how valuable it is to hear from a professional and expert who works in the industry day in, day out, and can communicate what they look for from artists. Over the next couple of weeks, we are excited to reveal some of the amazing Industry Expert interviews and articles we have lined up for our ‘Illustrating Children’s Book’ class, so you can get even more valuable insight and know-how on becoming a Children’s Book Illustrator. Class begins on Monday, October 2nd and is almost full! You can still register HERE *** Today, we reveal that Kristine Brogno, Design Director, Children’s Publishing at Chronicle Books will be one of our expert interviews in class. Kristine Brogno is an award-winning art director and designer and is currently the Design Director of Children’s Publishing at Chronicle Books in San Francisco. She’s

Emily Make Art That Sells Industry Expert: Emily Ford – Illustrating Children’s Books class

Industry Expert: Emily Ford – Illustrating Children’s Books class

Those of you who have taken our Make Art That Sells classes will know how valuable it is to hear from a professional and expert who works in the industry day in, day out, and can communicate what they look for from artists. Over the next couple of weeks, we are excited to reveal some of the amazing Industry Expert interviews and articles we have lined up for our ‘Illustrating Children’s Book’ class, so you can get even more valuable insight and know-how on becoming a Children’s Book Illustrator. Class begins on Monday, October 2nd and is almost full! You can still register HERE *** Today, we reveal that Emily Ford, Senior Commissioning Editor for Macmillan Children’s Books UK, part of leading publisher, Pan Macmillan. Emily will be sharing a wonderful piece on ‘How to write a children’s book’ Emily has commissioned authors and illustrators for the award-winning list for

Newsletter header SEPT 2017 650x640 Make Art That Sells How to Manifest your Dream Illustrated Children's Book (Free Download)

How to Manifest your Dream Illustrated Children’s Book (Free Download)

Here’s a free downloadable quiz I made especially for you. The idea is to get you thinking in a playful way about what your very own Illustrated Children’s book might look like. You might be surprised to find out how you can connect with this vast and lucrative market. Hope you enjoy the quiz! Be sure to post your results on Instagram. Follow us at @makeartthatsells and include the hashtag #makeartthatsells and #matskidbook so we can see your results! I made the quiz to help you get ready for our highly regarded course, ‘Illustrating Children’s Books‘ which starts Monday, October 2. I co-teach the course with brilliant art director, Zoe Tucker, and in five weeks, we’ll guide you step by step to create your own fantastic children’s book presentation which you can then pitch to art directors. ***Facebook LIVE: Today, September 21 at 11 am Boston time (EDT)*** Join Lilla on our public Facebook page HERE.

kate1 Make Art That Sells Industry Expert: Kate Clarke – Illustrating Children’s Books class

Industry Expert: Kate Clarke – Illustrating Children’s Books class

Those of you who have taken our Make Art That Sells classes will know how valuable it is to hear from a professional and expert who works in the industry day in, day out, and can communicate what they look for from artists. Over the next couple of weeks, we are excited to reveal some of the amazing Industry Expert interviews and articles we have lined up for our ‘Illustrating Children’s Book’ class, so you can get even more valuable insight and know-how on becoming a Children’s Book Illustrator. Class begins on Monday, October 2nd and is almost full! You can still register HERE *** Today, we reveal that Kate Clarke, Fiction Art Director at Harper Collins Children’s Books will be one of our expert interviews in class. Kate studied Visual Communications at Leeds College and Art and Design and has since worked at some of the UK’s leading publishing

K Nobles CandlewickArtDirector Make Art That Sells Industry Expert: Kristine Nobles - Illustrating Children’s Books class

Industry Expert: Kristine Nobles – Illustrating Children’s Books class

Those of you who have taken our Make Art That Sells classes will know how valuable it is to hear from a professional and expert who works in the industry day in, day out, and can communicate what they look for from artists. Over the next couple of weeks, we are excited to reveal some of the amazing Industry Expert interviews and articles we have lined up for our ‘Illustrating Children’s Book’ class, so you can get even more valuable insight and know-how on becoming a Children’s Book Illustrator. Class begins on Monday, October 2nd and is almost full! You can still register HERE *** Today, we reveal that Kristine Nobles, Art Director at Candlewick Press, will be one of our expert interviews in class. Kristin is the Art Director at Candlewick Press and the Group Art Director for the Entertainment Imprint globally for Walker Books in the UK and Australia,

6 Fabulous tips: Illustrating a children’s book

  What’s amazing about our children’s book illustration course is how our students’ work blossoms over the five jam-packed weeks. I love to teach our intensive courses for exactly that reason. The passion and achievement of our students are awe inspiring. What kind of children’s book would you like to make? Today I’m going to show you student work from Week 4 of Illustrating Children’s Books which I co-teach with the very fun and highly respected children’s book art director, Zoë Tucker. The theme of Week 4 is Environment. Students are tasked with creating a scene from their text. At this point they have already developed their character and now they get to place their character in a setting. TIP 1: Make a magical little world with lots of details that the child can explore over and over again, as Maria has done here. Doing research is a great way

devon Sussex Seagulls Web Make Art That Sells Illustrating Children's Books Student Showcase part 5 {Jan 2017 class}

Illustrating Children’s Books Student Showcase part 5 {Jan 2017 class}

We are so proud of our wonderful Make Art That Sells alumni and are pleased to showcase a series of gorgeous student work that was produced in the previous session of the Illustrating Children’s Books class. *** Devon Holzwarth   My “Sussex Seagull Gang” came from a really lovely part of the course (during week 4/5 – Poses) where I had pushed myself so far into my characters and the story that I was able to imagine the world around them. The gulls came out so freely, like they were waiting for me to draw them. I had the best laughs while adding all their little accessories and thinking of their personalities and how they’d interact. It was one of my most fun moments in creating the story’s characters and affirmed I should follow my curiosity when little ideas pop into mind. How did the ‘Illustrating Children’s Book’ class help you grow? I’ve taken the

Sofia submittedtoblog Make Art That Sells Illustrating Children's Books Student Showcase part 4 {Jan 2017 class}

Illustrating Children’s Books Student Showcase part 4 {Jan 2017 class}

We are so proud of our wonderful Make Art That Sells alumni and are pleased to showcase a series of gorgeous student work that was produced in the previous session of the Illustrating Children’s Books class. *** Sofia Moore My favorite week was week #5 “Cover design” for the Ted Tingley story. How did the ‘Illustrating Children’s Book’ class help you grow? I felt like it was my most successful week because I was able to see how my skills to illustrate had been improved by the end of the course. And in general, I keep taking this class (again in October) because I am still establishing my style as an illustrator and Lilla’s class helps tremendously to grow and evolve in the shortest time. I can’t wait to see where the next class will take me! As I feel little more confident about my painting and drawing techniques, I want to create stronger pieces

KATE MERRITT COVER ICB2 WK5 Make Art That Sells Illustrating Children's Books Student Showcase part 3 {Jan 2017 class}

Illustrating Children’s Books Student Showcase part 3 {Jan 2017 class}

We are so proud of our wonderful Make Art That Sells alumni and are pleased to showcase a series of gorgeous student work that was produced in the previous session of the Illustrating Children’s Books class. *** Kate Merritt Week five was the ‘Cover’ assignment and it was my favourite because it was a culmination of everything I had learn’t over the whole course. Here is Ruby and Norman walking along the beach wall, hand in hand. How did the ‘Illustrating Children’s Book’ class help you grow? The ICB course helped me grow so much. When you look at the work I was doing at the beginning it’s so different to the end. I learn’t how to break down each step eg: Building characters, their expressions, poses, the environment, covers and how important it is to see the connection between the characters. I learn’t how to use a limited colour palette and how neutrals really