Category:Course: Illustrating Children’s Books
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Learn how you can build a lucrative career in the dreamy world of children’s book illustration with Make Art That Sells’ Illustrating Children’s Books and Illustrating Children’s Books Plus courses!

Designed for newbies and pro illustrators alike, this career-changing course covers everything you need to know to give your children’s book illustration career a huge boost. In just five weeks, you’ll create a ready-to-send pitch presentation that contains everything an art director or publisher needs to see to give you work. Taught by industry professionals, you’ll gain real-world insights into the thriving children’s book market, whilst honing your skills through weekly assignments, live reviews, downloadable worksheets, video lessons, interviews with publishers and illustrators and more. Get all the tools, insight, and advice you need to succeed with Illustrating Children’s Books.

Posted on September 27, 2017.

Alumni success ‘spotlight’ interview with Alexandra Thompson

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 Alexandra Thompson, who has taken Bootcamp and Illustrating Children’s Books. Tell us a little about how you got started in art and design Art has always been a huge part of my life. I’ve been drawing since I can remember and my family always encouraged me to pursue the arts. When I was small I used to get up early before anyone was awake and pop in Disney VHS movies. I would hit pause and draw the characters from the shaky screen. I’d always dreamed of creating picture books, but I ended up getting

Posted on September 27, 2017.

Alumni success ‘spotlight’ interview with Lisa Larsen

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 Lisa Larsen, who has taken Bootcamp, Mats-A and the Global Talent Search How did you get started in art and design? Art is something that has always been part of my life. I started painting as a child and throughout my life as an adult I have taken many art education courses, participated in several art shows, founded a couple of art rubber stamp and greeting card companies, and so on. However, I truly started my career as an artist and designer after I retired from 25 years of working in high tech. I decided

Posted on September 27, 2017.

#MYMATSPREP: Setting flip (Day 3)

I’m going to make you flip out today! Children are so in touch with their imagination. They live in fantasy land a great deal of the time. Children will love your imaginative world. I’m eager today to help you make some magic. Take the drawing you did of the view out of your bedroom window from yesterday (or if you didn’t do it yet, no worries; you can dive right in today). Now, flip the proportions of things. For example: Make huge buildings tiny. Make little insects huge. If the people were big, make them small. If they were small (like you’re looking down at the from the top floor of a building), then draw them huge. You get the idea. It’s going to be crazy! Little people and huge plants. Draw it, and show us. I cannot wait to enjoy what you’ve done! You’ll be creating some more

Posted on September 26, 2017.

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

Posted on September 26, 2017.

#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

Posted on September 26, 2017.

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

Posted on September 25, 2017.

#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

Posted on September 21, 2017.

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.

Posted on September 19, 2017.

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

Posted on September 17, 2017.

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