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Category:Creativity
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#6: Is this you? (The arty book author-illustrator who needs a nudge)

Lilla here. Recently I’ve been sharing a few imaginary creatives—characters I dreamed up who I can easily picture thriving in Inner Circle, my small group mentoring intensive. Maybe you identify with one of them, but even if not, I hope you have seen how this incredible opportunity could help you take your career to the next level. Class starts soon, on Monday, April 14th. I really hope you’ll join me. We’re going to do such wonderful things together. If you missed my earlier emails, catch up here: #1 The illustrator who needs a guide to help them shine #2 The fired up activist who’s ready to make a difference #3 The potential picture book artist who’s dreaming big #4 The illustrator who wants to make a living from their art #5 The established artist looking for a change #6 The arty book author-illustrator who needs a nudge You know exactly


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#5: Is this you? (The established artist looking for a change)

Lilla here. To give you a glimpse of who Inner Circle might be perfect for, I’ve dreamed up a few imaginary creatives—fictional artists who I can absolutely imagine thriving in this small group mentoring intensive. But of course, this is just a springboard: I know you’ll bring your own personality, quirks, and creative spark to the table, and I can’t wait to help you shape your career into something truly extraordinary. I hope these examples give you some ideas about how this powerful opportunity could be the perfect next step for you! If you missed my earlier emails, catch up here: #1 The illustrator who needs a guide to help them shine #2 The fired up activist who’s ready to make a difference #3 The potential picture book artist who’s dreaming big #4 The illustrator who wants to make a living from their art #5 The established artist looking for


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#4: Is this you? (The illustrator who wants to make a living from their art)

Lilla here. I’ve been dreaming up a few imaginary creatives who would be a perfect fit for Inner Circle, my new small group mentoring intensive—and I’ve been sharing them with you over the past few days. Consider this a little inspiration for how this transformative experience could help you! If you missed my earlier emails, catch up here: #1 The illustrator who needs a guide to help them shine #2 The fired up activist who’s ready to make a difference #3 The potential picture book artist who’s dreaming big #4 The dreamy illustrator who wants to make money from their art You join Inner Circle because you love painting florals, but you’re unsure whether to use watercolor, gouache, or digital. You’re open to experimenting, but you also want to refine your skills and make your paintings truly beautiful. Plus, you’re not sure how to monetize them. We explore gorgeous greeting


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#3: Is this you? (The picture book artist who’s dreaming big)

Lilla here. Right now I’m sharing some imaginary creatives I dreamed up—people I can totally picture thriving in my new small group mentoring intensive, Inner Circle. Of course, this is just a mental exercise and none of them will describe you exactly: I can’t wait to delve into your amazing art and that kooky mind of yours to bring out the magic – but I hope that this gives you a taste of how I’m envisaging the fantastic work my Inner Circle mentees and I will be doing together. (Read about #1 The illustrator who needs a guide to help them shine here and #2 The fired up activist who’s ready to make a difference here.) #3 The potential picture book artist who’s dreaming big You’re excited about Inner Circle because all you really want to do is illustrate picture books, but you’re unsure of the next steps. You show


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⏰ LAST CHANCE for Character Bootcamp 2025!

Hurry HURRY – it’s your LAST CHANCE to take a deep dive into the rewarding world of creating characters! Registration for Bootcamp Special: Character Play closes TODAY! Art by Make Art That Sells student Heather Manning. Create gorgeous art for children’s books with brilliant picture book art director Zoë Tucker, then turn it into a toy or game with creative director and smash-hit game creator Riley. HURRY, last chance to sign up – join the class now! Hurry HURRY – registration for Bootcamp Special: Character Play closes TODAY, and this course won’t run again until 2026! If you want to get something from a children’s book art director and picture book author and an art agent, creative director and toy creator every Monday for three months that will bring you joy, give you something positive to focus on, and help you create great portfolio art designed to get you work


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#2: Is this you? (The activist ready to make a difference)

Lilla here. Over the next few days I’m sharing some imaginary creatives who I dreamed up who I can imagine working with in my new small group mentoring intensive, Inner Circle. Of course, this isn’t an exhaustive list – I can’t wait to see the quirks and magic you bring to the table and how we can work together to transform your career into something amazing. But I hope that this will give you some ideas of how this incredible opportunity can help you. (You can read about my first imaginary artist, the illustrator who just needs a little boost, on the blog here.) #2 The fired up activist who’s ready to make a difference You’ve joined Inner Circle because you want to create art with a political point of view. You want your work to convey peace and compassion. I love this idea. Art has power. We look at mid-century


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Get your art in front of an art agent

Do you adore home décor? Do you dream of seeing your beautiful art on fabric, ceramics and more in stores like Anthropologie, West Elm or Crate & Barrel? Learn how you can get amazing jobs like these, all agented by Lilla Rogers Studio. Pillow by Katie Vernon for Anthropologie, mugs by Carolyn Gavin for Anthropologie, rabbit pitcher, cup, and linen by Zoe Ingram. Our raved-about online course, Creating Collections for Home Décor, is taught by top art agent and illustrator Lilla Rogers, and trend queen, creative director and now art agent Margo Tantau. Creating Collections for Home Décor is taught by two industry experts: creative director, art agent and founder of Tantau Studio Margo Tantau (left) and top art agent and illustrator Lilla Rogers (right). It will give you incredible, in-depth insight into five key substrates – fabric, wood, ceramics, glass and metal – and, uniquely, will teach you how


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Lettering is BACK! See gorgeous student sketchbooks

Learn how to do hand lettering with top art agent and illustrator Lilla Rogers! Being able to do lettering can get you a ton of work. Last year, Lilla launched her brand new lettering course, Assignment Bootcamp: Lettering, and it was such a huge success that, due to popular demand, we’re bringing it back for 2025 with all new dreamy content to amp up your art and help you get more paying jobs. In this three month bootcamp, you’ll spent 12 amazing weeks with Lilla with ALL NEW assignments to build up an incredible library of lettering you can use in your work going forward – and because it’s all new, you can take the course again if you took it last year, to create a really powerful reference tool to refer back to. NEW FOR 2025: enjoy a brush lettering demo with Lilla! Learn tips and tricks from Lilla


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See the beautiful books our students have illustrated

Picture books are one of the most magical and rewarding art markets out there, and we couldn’t be more excited to see so many of our graduates landing incredible picture book illustration deals! Here’s your teacher! As an art agent for 30 years, Lilla has viewed thousands of artists’ portfolios and agented many hundreds of picture books, so she knows just what you need to show in your portfolio. Today, we’re celebrating some of the amazing picture book success stories our talented students have shared with us – they’re truly inspiring! (Love these? You can explore even more of our alumni’s fantastic achievements right here.) And don’t forget—our huge Spring Sale is happening right now! That means 25% off every single course – and if your dream is to get paid for illustrating picture books, don’t miss our game-changing Get Me a Picture Book Deal bundle, packed with even bigger


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Look who’s represented

You know what’s great? Making art and getting paid for it. You know what’s also great? Getting an agent. Having an agent is amazing, because they negotiate contracts and fees and promote you, and leave the best part – making art – to you. Make Art That Sells courses are really effective at helping artists land representation, because they help you build a powerful illustration portfolio that contains everything an agent needs to see in order to get you work.  And let’s face it – Lilla should know! As an art agent for 30 years and a full-time illustrator for over a decade, she’s created our raved-about Make Art That Sells courses to help artists like you land agents and get commissions. In fact, if you check out our amazing public Zoom event with Lilla and illustrator Tamisha Anthony from earlier this week, you’ll see that Tamisha talks about how