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  Don’t miss Portfolio Club LIVE! Class starts January 5th, find out more here.

monetize weirdness Make Art That Sells #MATSPREP DAY Three: Your 2019 CUP of dreams

#MATSPREP DAY Three: Your 2019 CUP of dreams

You’ve written on each cup on your page, and learned some things about yourself. There’s something about working pictorially that may help you get clarity. I’m guessing that you’re probably a visual learner (duh!) and that by making a drawing, you may have made some discoveries about what you want for your future. Today, pick one of your favorite cups and make it a whole big picture. Add ‘2019’ to the page, and any other words or drawings you like!  Maybe it’s simply the cup and ‘2019’ on a page. Maybe you are drinking from the cup, or mixing up a cake mix in the cup/bowl…draw a picture of the cup any way you like! “But Lilla”, you say, “How can I pick just one?” I’m literally smiling as I write this because I know, as a creative person, you have a million things you want to do. But for now, pick one and make it a page.


be you Make Art That Sells #MATSPREP DAY TWO: Your cup runneth over

#MATSPREP DAY TWO: Your cup runneth over

Cups, containers, vases, mugs. Cat cup by Helen Dardik and blue floral travel mug by Carolyn Gavin  There’s something really precious about cups. What do you think of cups? Did you enjoy drawing a page of cups? (Remember, they can be any kind of vessel. I’m just calling them cups for shorthand.) The guts of a career is the dream. The thing that will keep you motivated and passionate—through thick and thin—is if the work comes from your very special dream. What do we mean by a dream? A dream is a vision for your future that makes you happy.  Yes, your career will evolve—that’s the fun of it—but for now, start where you are right now. In our MBA (Money BadAss) course, brilliant entrepreneurs Beth Kempton and Lilla Rogers will guide you to create your brand, your look, and to think about who you want to appeal to. This MATS Prep that you’re working on is my sneaky secret trick to help you prepare


#MATSPREP DAY ONE: draw a page of CUPS!

  A few of my many cups, vases, bowls and containers.  From left: Floral bowl by Carolyn Gavin;  fox cup by Helen Dardik; rabbit cup by Zoe Ingram Never before in the history of the planet have there been so many opportunities for creative people!  For the next three days, I’m going to help you prepare for our hugely successful course, MATS MBA (Money BadAss) which starts this Monday. In the MBA course, you’ll make your dreams a reality, and this 3-Day MATS Prep is going to help you get ready for that with this kinda magical exercise. Each day, you’ll build on the previous day, so be sure to dive in right now. I’d love to see what you do so be sure to share it on social media! #matsprep Today, I’d like you to draw cups! Yup, cups. Draw a page of 10 – 20 cups, vases, bowls, containers of varying sizes. Leave room to write words on the front of each vessel. You’ll learn more tomorrow. Here’s a really simple page


Lotsa goodness for you: MATS prep and Facebook Live!

Happy New Year from all of us at Make Art That Sells! The start of a new year is always so exciting, isn’t it, like the start of a new page, or a new sketchbook? And maybe a little overwhelming too. You want it to be perfect, right? We say: play. Get messy. Have fun and make mistakes. We can’t wait to fill the year right up with your amazing art. Make Art That Sells manifesto by student Kara Kramer. When you play and have fun, you make better art. People buy your joy. That’s how you make art that sells! We’ve got loads of awesomeness coming up, from Assignment Bootcamp (the perfect way to start filling that new-year-new sketchbook!) to Lilla’s new Editorial Live to Illustrating Children’s Books and so much more. First off though, we’re kicking off with three FREE fab days of MATS prep to launch our first course of the year, MATS MBA (Money BadAss). If your new


Plan your amazing 2019 with our FREE Dream Snail downloadable worksheet!

What are your plans for 2019? This part of the year feels like a pause, doesn’t it? A big breath in, a time to take stock, to think about plans for the year ahead. So many of us will be planning resolutions, from small to huge, from mundane to life-changing. And we also know that even as everything settles down into the quiet of wintertime, there’s new life tucked away under the earth, just waiting to burst out and bloom. Art produced by MATS student Nancy Chalmers during our most recent Illustrating Children’s Books course. Nancy landed representation with a global agency during the course and has just been approached by her dream client. Huge congratulations, Nancy, we’re thrilled for you! The Make Art That Sells teachers really know their stuff. Between them, they have decades of experience in illustration, in education, in commissioning work, in home décor, in creating


Happy holidays from MATS! REVEALED: our winning holiday card! Plus our holiday gift to you

Happy happy holidays from all of us at Make Art That Sells! All month you’ve been sharing your beautiful entries to our 2018 holiday card competition with the hashtag #MATSholidaycard and we’ve been blown away to see all your amazing art! We’re thrilled to share that the winner of this year’s competition is: Joanna Winograd! Congratulations!   The winning entry was chosen by art agent Lilla, and it was then sent off to the talented Parsons student and animator/illustrator Natasha Dewitz* to be animated just for us! Isn’t it fabulous? Runner Up Lilla also chose Sara Netherway’s design below as our runner up. Special Mentions Lilla also chose a selection of her favorite designs below. Anna Lindsten Annie Bakst Arancha Perpinan Erica Root Faye Hurley Jennifer Ray Stahl Jo Podmore Karina Busquets Karolien Vanderstappen Kay Wolfersperger Kelly Anne Dalton Krista Langley Haner Lisa Coutts Martina Schachenhuber Sabeth Elberse Sarah Knight Stephanie Marian


free illustration resources

WIN BIG with our huge video testimonial competition!

Ever wondered how a top art agent views your website? Want a children’s book art director to review your work? Want to know how to tweak your portfolio so you get work in the home décor market? Now’s your chance to find out: we’re offering the rare opportunity for an exclusive 1:1 with your choice of one of our amazing teachers PLUS a place in our raved-about My Year of Art School LIVE, which includes every single one of our live courses for 2019 in our huge video testimonial competition to keep you creating over the festive period! This is one of our stunning manifestos from former student Abigail Halpin which sums up what we’re all about. Now we’d like to hear what you love about Make Art That Sells, whether it’s the courses as a whole, a favourite class, our amazingly supportive community, our outstanding teachers, the boost it’s


IMG 8456 Make Art That Sells Make your business fun and lucrative! Plus a sneak peek into Lilla’s artists’ retreat!

Make your business fun and lucrative! Plus a sneak peek into Lilla’s artists’ retreat!

Wouldn’t you like to make your creative career even more enjoyable and lucrative? Maybe you’ve already built a successful business, or maybe you feel like you just don’t have a head for numbers, but wherever you are in your journey, it’s all about finding something that works for you. Business can be warm, personal and fun if you make it that way! For example, in our first ever MATS MBA (Money BadAss) course over summer, we asked our students to design a to do list for themselves. Of course you can just write a list, but if it’s beautiful to look at then it’s more inspiring, you’re more invested and it’s just more fun for you. We suggested that our artists focus on three areas or projects that they wanted to do and then maybe three more things that would be nice to haves. This was Erica Root’s to do


Erica Root holidaycard Make Art That Sells Win in our Big Holiday Competition!

Win in our Big Holiday Competition!

  Art by MATS student Sandrine Monnier Phew! Our huge cyber sale is now over and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. It was amazing to experience all the great energy you brought to Lilla’s live sessions, read all your lovely comments, and hear what you have planned for next year. 2019 is going to be amazing! But for now, we’re feeling festive and getting into the holiday spirit, and we’re excited to announce our new holiday card competition! Entry from 2017 by Cass Urquhart We loved last year’s theme so much that we’re going with the same one again, so the theme for this year is: Draw your favorite festive winter beverage! Hot cocoa with chocolate sauce? Spearmint tea with wild honey and peppermint leaf garnish? Brandy egg nog in a vintage shot glass? Is it in your favorite mug? Do you drink it with


FionaBarden ICB5 EMOTIONS AFTERNL Make Art That Sells Before + after student work PLUS Sale ends tonight!

Before + after student work PLUS Sale ends tonight!

The best possible testimonial for any course is the quality of the work that comes out of it, and a great way to assess this is by seeing the befores and afters from the students taking the course. Plus everybody loves a makeover, right?! Today we’re thrilled to share some extraordinary work by our Make Art That Sells students, showing their progress before and after taking courses from Make Art That Sells. As an educator, Lilla prides herself on the effectiveness of her teaching, and she works hard to make sure that her students find her courses useful and fun: you can expect lots of surprises, cliffhangers, inspiration and whimsy along solid wisdom and insight in any MATS course! As a top international art agent, Lilla views hundreds of portfolios and sells millions of $$$ worth of art every year. She knows exactly what art directors are looking for and