Write your picture book!

  Lilla’s innovative picture book writing course, My Kid Book Pitch, is back as a LIVE course in 2026! Find out more and sign up here.

Profile image A.TEMPEST Make Art That Sells Alumni success 'spotlight' interview with Annabel Tempest

Alumni success ‘spotlight’ interview with Annabel Tempest

We are so proud of our Make Art That Sells Alumni, and we are pleased to feature a series of spotlight interviews showcasing their successes and artwork. We’ve asked them to share how the MATS courses have helped them learn and grow. You can see more Alumni Success stories here *** Today, we have an interview with Annabel Tempest, who has taken ALL of our MATS courses –  Four Years of Bootcamp 2014-2107, MATS A and B several times, Creating Collections for Home Decor and entered the Global Talent Search two years in a row. Annabel is celebrating many successes and particularly the three children’s books she illustrated! Tell us a little about how you got started in art and design Ever since I was a little girl my favourite thing has been drawing, cutting, sticking, colouring in, making and doing. So I suppose I started then! I feel so lucky that my

mymatsprep daily art DAY2 V2 Make Art That Sells #MYMATSPREP: Setting (Day 2)

#MYMATSPREP: Setting (Day 2)

We are pretending all week that you have just been commissioned to illustrate a children’s book. Yesterday, you played around with drawing a character called “Jitna”. Now, you’re going to play with the setting. The environment, or setting, is one of the most exciting parts of a children’s book. Why? Illustrators love settings because it’s their opportunity to create an imaginative world that adds to the text. What’s the view out of your window? All photos by Lilla Rogers For today, you’re going to make a setting exploration drawing. Go to your bedroom window and draw what you see outside. (If you don’t have a window in your bedroom, you can choose another window.) Do your visual research. Look up at the sky, look down below, look for people, cars, trees, things on the sidewalk, things in the distance. I can’t wait to see what you see! What’s the view

Newsletter header SEPT 2017 650x600 Make Art That Sells Why I created a children’s book course for you.

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

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

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