Get work in the dreamy world of picture book illustration

  Our raved-about course, Illustrating Children’s Books, starts Monday, July 7th

Category:Competitions
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We are the champignons! See the winner of our FREE Quarterly Art Challenge

Our most recent FREE quarterly Art Challenge took place last month, and, as ever, we loved seeing the beautiful art that you created! See some of Lilla’s favorites below, and learn how you can take part in the next FREE challenge on June 1st. Huge congrats to our joint winners, Alicia Fairbourn (left) and Rainbow Wang (right). They each won a FREE place in class – don’t miss our next challenge for your chance to win courses and more! The standard of entries was so high that Lilla couldn’t pick a single winner! Joint first place went to Alicia Fairbourn and Rainbow Wang, who each won a FREE place in Bootcamp Special: Character Play* – join in with our next challenge for your chance to win places in class, gorgeous products and more! (*Kicking yourself for not signing up to Bootcamp Special when you had the chance? Keep your eyes


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REVEALED: Check out some beautiful art from our FREE Quarterly Art Challenge

Our most recent FREE quarterly Art Challenge took place in December, and we loved seeing the amazing art that you created! See some of our favorites below, and learn how you can take part in the next FREE challenge on March 1st. The assignment was to draw your favorite holiday food. Food and seasonal art are both great items to have in your portfolio – they’re fantastic for getting illustration commissions for greeting cards, cookbooks (food and art!), prints, tote bags, editorial art, and more – so why not combine the two? The winning entry was by Make Art That Sells student Valerie Hamill, who won a FREE place in Lilla’s fabulous new Color Quest class – join in with our next challenge for your chance to win places in class, gorgeous products and more! Here are a few more of our favorite entries. Art by Ben Chu (left) and


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See Lilla’s favorite art from our first quarterly Art Challenge!

Our first FREE quarterly Art Challenge kicked off on Friday, September 1st and we were thrilled that so many of you took part. Today we wanted to share art agent Lilla’s favorite art from the challenge, and, in case you missed it, let you know how you can take part in the next challenge. The assignment from Lilla was to create an Empress tarot card in just one week. Why did Lilla choose this assignment? She told us: “Tarot cards are in high demand, and publishers are searching for talented illustrators to bring them to life. This means that this assignment is a golden opportunity to showcase your skills, boost your portfolio and catch the attention of publishers. Plus they’re enormously enjoyable to create!” Lilla looked at every piece of art submitted before the deadline, and her favorite was by Nira Bar, who won a place on Illustrating Children’s Books.


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Make us a birthday card and WIN!

Happy birthday to us! We know it’s hard to believe when we look so youthful, but Make Art That Sells is a whopping TEN YEARS OLD this year, and we’ve got tons planned to celebrate, including Ten Days of Giveaways, a Flash Sale, a Best of Bootcamp bundle that you’re going to LOVE, and lots more. This giveaway will ONLY be available to newsletter subscribers, so make sure you’re on our mailing list now! Sign up here. Our Ten Days of Giveaways will include a FREE place in Illustrating Children’s Books, a signed copy of Beth’s new book on writing, The Way of the Fearless Writer, gorgeous fabrics illustrated by Rebecca Jones, and tons more. It starts Friday, August 11th and will ONLY be available to newsletter subscribers, so make sure you’re on our mailing list, then keep an eye on your inbox every day from August 11th! Sign up


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REVEALED: The winner of our huge video testimonial competition!

Discover what our students love about Make Art That Sells! Last month, we launched our massive video testimonial competition. We wanted to know what you loved about Make Art That Sells, the great work you’ve gotten, the friends you’ve met, and the courses that have blown your mind, and you did NOT disappoint! We were amazed by the standard of the entries that we received, and it was very hard to pick a winner, but a winner we must have, so we are delighted to announce that the winner is … RAINBOW WANG! Watch her video below. Art agent Lilla said: “I loved each and every video, but I was particularly moved the film by Rainbow Wang. In the beginning, she shares, ‘I had a vision map filled with my dreams. How do I get there? I needed direction.’ Then, from Make Art That Sells, she starts to see her


ENTER COMPETITION Make Art That Sells WIN ALL of our live courses in 2023!

WIN ALL of our live courses in 2023!

Win an incredible career-changing bundle! What do you love most about Make Art That Sells? Is it a particular class, our amazingly supportive community, our outstanding teachers, a nugget of wisdom from art agent Lilla, the boost it’s given to your career, the way it’s stretched your art or something else? Watch the video below by Make Art That Sells student Sam Rudd’s that won her a place in My Year of Art School LIVE back in 2019. Whatever it is, share it in a one-minute video testimonial and you could WIN BIG in our 2022 video testimonial competition! What you’ll win: This incredible prize includes: A private 1:1 with top art agent Lilla Rogers A place on our outstanding YEAR-LONG My Year of Art School LIVE, featuring every single one of our highly acclaimed live courses in 2023, valued at £1,754 (approx. $2,050)! That means that you’ll: Create a


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Leave a review and WIN a free place in our NEW Character Bootcamp!

We’d love to know what you think of Make Art That Sells courses! We love hearing your feedback and reading your rave reviews, and to say thank you for taking the time to let you know what you think, we’re offering you the chance to win a place on our incredible NEW course, Bootcamp Special: Character Play! Learning how to create winning characters can give a huge boost to your creative career and get you more work in a ton of hot art markets. In this new course, you’ll join brilliant children’s book art director and picture book author, Zoë Tucker, and toy and game expert, art agent and smash-hit game creator, Riley Wilkinson, to learn how simple dreaming up engaging characters and to create four show-stopping pieces of art for your illustration portfolio. Find out more here! How to enter: To enter, simply leave a review on Facebook or


Sarah Walsh Galison 2 Make Art That Sells FREE video on what to put in a toy pitch, plus Part 2 of your FREE toy pitch assignment!

FREE video on what to put in a toy pitch, plus Part 2 of your FREE toy pitch assignment!

Find out what to put in a toy pitch and the three things an art director definitely wants to see! Lilla here. Can you believe that My Toy Pitch starts one week today? I’m so hyped for class to start: I know you’re going to love it and we’re going to make tons of amazing art tapping into those wonderful quirky minds of yours. What time is it?! Here’s a message from Riley and me – and if you like this, DO NOT MISS our FREE live Zoom event on Saturday, July 3rd at 12 noon EST/5 pm BST! Did you have fun researching for your Blobby Worksheet for Part 1 of your FREE #MATSprep warm up assignment? (If you missed it then click here to find out more and join in – and maybe win a free place in class!) Are you amazed at all the gorgeous toy and


Trina Dalziel The Great Jelly Race Make Art That Sells Win a place in Lilla’s brand NEW toy design course, My Toy Pitch!

Win a place in Lilla’s brand NEW toy design course, My Toy Pitch!

Win a free place in Lilla’s brand NEW toy design course! There’s just over two weeks to go until the start of art agent Lilla’s brand NEW toy design course, My Toy Pitch, and excitement is building! With co-teachers Lilla and Riley at the helm, this course is going to be a blast – but you’re also going to take a deep deep dive into the fascinating world of toy and game creation, and learn everything you need to put together a compelling pitch for a unique toy or game created by YOU! Why is Lilla on TV? Why are there quail? Watch below to hear more from Lilla and Riley. Want in? Lilla and Riley are going to be giving away a FREE place in their new toy design course during their free live Zoom event on Saturday, July 3rd at 12 noon ET! Read on to find out


BK September 2020 WEDNESDAY 314 Make Art That Sells A special holiday message from our founders, Lilla and Beth

A special holiday message from our founders, Lilla and Beth

Wishing you happy holidays and a calm christmas How are you doing in your corner of the world? We hope you have weathered the storm of all that 2020 has thrown at us. It will surely be a year that we never forget. Here at MATS HQ we have been so grateful for our incredible community throughout this time. So much has shifted and changed this year, and throughout that we have seen how art can be a powerful force for good, a support for our collective mental health and a way for us to stay connected and support each other. We have also seen how now, more than ever, we need creativity and community, to keep us hopeful, inspired, motivated, and nimble in shaping our careers in a changing world. Win a festive bundle including Beth’s NEW Calm Christmas book Before 2020 is out we want to take a