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

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

Category:Creativity
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Art by Janie Secker

3 portfolio tips from an art agent + FREE mini assignment

Lilla here. Today I want to share a playful mini assignment with you plus some great portfolio tips. Why? Because it’s fun to get prompts that spark your creativity, and because the more art you make the better your art will get. Some of my favorite cups. First, I want you to take a moment to reflect: what’s your favorite drink? Do you drink it in your favorite cup? A glass? Do you use a straw? Do you garnish it with a lemon? Whipped cream? Sprinkles? Where do you drink it? When do you drink it? Here in the northern hemisphere, as we (finally!) move into spring, maybe you want something bright and full of fruit. For those of you in the southern hemisphere, maybe you’re thinking about something cosy, comforting and autumnal. Just to show you how timeless this subject can be – here’s a painting by Mary Cassatt


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Don’t miss our FREE 5 part video series

FREE video series: How to pitch your very own arty book Non-fiction illustrated books, or arty books, are an amazing source of income for artists, crafters, illustrators, writers, designers, photographers and more – basically anyone who is passionate about a hobby or an interest. Let Lilla show you how you can build a career in writing and illustrating gorgeous arty books, like these by Lisa Congdon, who was formerly represented by Lilla. You don’t need to be an expert to write your own arty book: you just need to care about something you want to share. And you don’t need to be a writer either – think about craft how tos, illustrated journals or books of illustrated quotations. Want an example? Here’s art agent Lilla Rogers talking about A Year of Weeks, which was written and illustrated by Erica Root. Erica is a Make Art That Sells student who is


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Top 10 tips for Instagram for artists

Top 10 tips for Instagram for artists Art directors (and agents!) are increasingly finding fresh work and discovering new artists via Instagram, as well as using it to look for artists to commission for jobs. Showing your art can be a fantastic way to get noticed, build a following, and land paying illustration jobs. The Make Art That Sells Instagram feed shows off tons of gorgeous student artwork, plus it’s a fab place to hear about our sales, freebies and giveaways – give us a follow! It’s an easy interface to work with, and anyone can do it. Here are 10 top tips and pointers from the Make Art That Sells team: 1. Make sure people can find you! Consider using your or your studio’s name as your Instagram account name. If your Instagram is very different from your name, think about including both when signing your work to make


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Have you signed up for our FREE art history course?

February is Black History Month in the USA, and to mark it we wanted to invite you to join our FREE art history course, Redrawing Black History, with top art agent Lilla Rogers and illustrator and educator Tamisha Anthony. Redrawing Black History is a visually rich, fascinating course. Sign up for FREE now. Redrawing Black History is a fascinating and visually rich online course that covers four iconic eras in Black American history. It’s self-paced, which means you can dive in whenever you want and complete it at a pace to suit you, and will help you broaden and strengthen your illustration portfolio while learning more about some less well-known but incredibly important areas of American history. Tamisha says: “Redrawing Black History is a great way to get a snapshot of Black history, to see the creativity and resilience of African Americans, their incredible artistry in creating something out of


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LAST CHANCE to design your home décor collection!

LAST CHANCE – registration for Creating Collections for Home Décor closes TODAY and we don’t know when we’ll run this course as a LIVE class again! Do you adore home décor? Do you dream of seeing your beautiful art on fabric, ceramics and more? Do you want to know how to get your art on home decor products for stores like Anthropologie and West Elm? Then hurry HURRY! Our raved-about online course, Creating Collections for Home Décor, will give you incredible in-depth insight into five key substrates – fabric, wood, ceramics, glass and metal – and, uniquely, will teach you how to create home décor collections, so you can sell more art to each client – but registration for this game-changing LIVE class closes TODAY. Art by Make Art That Sells student Claire Westwood for Creating Collections for Home Décor. Design your own stunning home décor collection with brand NEW


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Class starts TODAY! Get your FREE video taster!

Class starts TODAY! Get your FREE video taster! Hurry hurry HURRY – Creating Collections for Home Décor starts TODAY and there’s still time to sign up! You’ll get five weeks of incredible teaching from top art agent Lilla Rogers and trend queen and creative director Margo Tantau that will help you put together your own stunning ready-to-send pitch presentation, plus you’ll get access to four brand NEW gorgeous trend boards, and loads more supporting content. Imagine walking into your favorite store, maybe Anthropologie or West Elm or a charming neighbourhood boutique, and seeing your beautiful unique art on a line of products. Can you see it on plates, pillows, rugs, tea towels and more? How do you get that gig? Let top art agent Lilla Rogers and creative director Margo Tantau show you how! Still not sure whether Creating Collections for Home Décor is for you? Today we’re sharing the


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FREE assignment: Let’s explore your kooky personality

Lilla here. I’m excited to share Part 4 of this #MATSprep warm up exercise I’ve created for you ahead of my course, Creating Collections for Home Décor, which starts NEXT MONDAY, February 13th. You can catch up on the previous parts here if you missed them, or just dive straight in. If you haven’t signed up for Creating Collections for Home Décor yet, there’s still time! You’ll spend an incredible five weeks with me and my fantastic co-teacher, creative director and trend queen Margo Tantau, learning everything you need to know to create and license products for the lucrative home décor market. You’ll create some stunning art and learn how to present your designs as collections, making them more appealing to clients. The course is packed with information from our decades in the industry – don’t miss it! Sign up now. In Part 3 of this free #MATSprep, we started


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FREE assignment: Get started with illustrating for home décor

Get started with illustrating for home décor Creating Collections for Home Décor is back as a LIVE course in 2023 by popular demand! That means you can enjoy all this: LIVE weekly reviews with your brilliant teachers, top art agent Lilla Rogers and trend queen creative director Margo Tantau Weekly deadlines to keep you accountable, motivated and on track Brand NEW market-savvy trend boards to inspire you A fantastic group of creatives from all over the world to share your journey with and learn alongside … and more! Create ready-to-send home décor pitches Every week for five weeks, you’ll explore one of the five main substrates for home décor design: metal, fabric, glass, ceramics and wood/MDF. By the end of the course, you will have a complete collection of home décor products, ready to send to companies like West Elm, Anthropologie and Target. Plus, crucially, this unique course teaches you


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Get your FREE illustration assignment!

Lilla here. Welcome to your #MATSprep for Assignment Bootcamp:Portfolio, which starts one week TODAY on Monday, January 9th! “What’s a #MATSprep?” you ask. A #MATSprep is an assignment I create for you to warm up in preparation for a course that I’ll be teaching. The prep is free, so even if you don’t sign up for the course, you can still benefit from the instruction. This particular prep is to get you ready for my Assignment Bootcamp: Portfolio course, which is now in its tenth year. It’s a hugely popular course, with almost a thousand students taking it each time. I adore coming up with assignments for you that teach you something, but also ideally motivate you to make gorgeous art and expand your portfolio to pull in lucrative projects. Here’s your free warm up assignment. Your assignment is to draw these filigree items from my collection. I see you


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REVEALED: Meet the latest MATS student snapped up by Lilla Rogers Studio

What more pleasant way to finish up the year than by introducing you to the most recent Make Art That Sells student who has been scooped up by Lilla Rogers Studio? Since Make Art That Sells was founded back in 2013, art agent Lilla has taken on 30 – now 31 – Make Art That Sells students, and she’s always looking for more. With no further ado, we’re thrilled to reveal that the most recent Make Art That Sells student to be represented by Lilla is … Lydia Graves! We caught up with Lydia to find out a little more about her and how Make Art That Sells has helped her along her journey. Here’s what she told us. MATS: Which course was your favorite, and why? Lydia says: My favorite course so far has been My Toy Pitch. The assignments were super fun! I enjoyed dreaming up toys and