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Category:Creativity
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#mymatsprep Day 1: Color Hunt

Are you ready for #MyMATSPep? Lilla has cooked up a very special series of creative prompts, starting TODAY! It’s free, and it will offer you five mini challenges over the course of this week. Be sure to check out the MATS blog every day January 18-22 for your free daily challenges. *** To prepare for the upcoming MATS: Creating Collections for Home Décor class, I want you to hunt down some color palettes—not by thinking about it but by simply taking some photos of what you see around you. So for this Mini Prep assignment, take photos of what you see on your desk or table. (You can cheat and not just use what’s on your desk or table. I’m just suggesting that to give you a starting point). Throw things together and see what kinds of colors that you juxtapose together. You may surprise yourself with some exciting palettes.


showcase collections Make Art That Sells MATS Home Decor Student Showcase part 1 {June 2015 class}

MATS Home Decor Student Showcase part 1 {June 2015 class}

We are so proud of our wonderful Make Art That Sells alumni and are pleased to showcase a 4 part series of gorgeous work that was produced in our first session of Creating Collections for Home Décor   Sam Osborne “This is the overview piece that shows most of the items in the collection. It really showcases the breadth of materials and textures we were introduced to as well a the variety of my final designs and how they work together. I love the glass pendants and the wooden birds!” How did the Home Décor class help you grow? It taught me to believe in my own style, to experiment within that, have fun and trust that each new brief and material brings exciting, creative opportunities. What did you discover about yourself? That the more I put myself and the things that make me different into my work the better


Home décor products

Want a piece of the $60 Billion Home Decor industry?

What is home décor? It’s all the gorgeous and/or functional items in your house. It’s a booming market that needs tons of art, with over $60 billion in annual sales. Its massive growth is due in part to the popularity of home design TV shows, Pinterest, and Instagram, and stylish online retailers like One Kings Lane and Dot&Bo. Art directors NEED your great art!  Image: Selection of products from Lilla Rogers Studio artists created for Margo Tantau The Lilla Rogers Studio regularly licenses work for these kinds of products to retailers on the leading edge of trend such as Land of Nod, Creative Co-op, Garnet Hill, TAG, and Crate&Barrel. Imagine YOUR art on these products. How do you get that gig? Our next live e-course, Make Art That Sells: Creating Collections for Home Décor starts January 25th and teaches you everything you need to know to create killer presentations with your



reason 300 04 Make Art That Sells Reason #4 of Ten Reasons to join MATS Creating Collections for Home Décor

Reason #4 of Ten Reasons to join MATS Creating Collections for Home Décor

Attracting clients is hard work. Often they will buy or license a single design from you, and then perhaps give you repeat business in the future. Wouldn’t it be better to land an entire product line or collection deal in the first place? MATS: Creating Collections for Home Décor is your key to selling more to each client. Why? Because the course teaches you how to think differently, and see your art in three dimensions instead of two dimensions—think ‘art on products’. And then it teaches you to see your art on multiple products, which work together. This isn’t about taking one pattern and putting it on several different products, but about presenting coordinating art pieces on complementary products, so your client, and their customer, wants to buy more than one thing at once. Concepts developed in class by Sam Osborne The course will make you think differently about materials,


reason 300 03 Make Art That Sells Reason #3 of Ten Reasons to join MATS Creating Collections for Home Décor

Reason #3 of Ten Reasons to join MATS Creating Collections for Home Décor

We all have dream clients. Maybe you swoon every time you walk into Anthropologie, your heart races when you see a new home collection in Crate & Barrell, or you daydream about seeing your work on Land of Nod bedding. The clearer you are about your dream client, and the more you understand what they want and what their customers look for, the more chance you have of landing work from them. However, dreaming is not enough. You need to demonstrate to them that you have the concept ideas they want, and attract them with compelling presentations. Home collection by course graduate Patricia Lebedel MATS: Creating Collections for Home Décor will teach you exactly how to template your work onto product ideas, and present these as exciting collection concepts which will make potential clients notice you. Each week of class you will create a presentation board for a series of


The MATS Festive Student Showcase – part 11

We are so proud of our wonderful Make Art That Sells alumni and are pleased to showcase part 10 of the festive designs and products they have created for the season. See all the festive showcase posts here *** Anne Bentley I’m new-ish to MATS, having taken bootcamp and MATS A for the first time this year. One thing, in particular, that Lilla said during MATS A has really resonated with me. And that’s to do the kind of work I like to do and be myself. Because of MATS I’ve ‘met’ this incredible community of illustrators. I’m going to Surtex in 2016 with the Finch & Foxglove art collective. See more of Anne’s work here: Website | Instagram *** Rachel Mense This is a Holiday Greeting card for those who love a good adventure and winter thrills. Playing with geometric winter wonderland creatures and non-traditional Christmas colors. I have


erdene Make Art That Sells The MATS Festive Student Showcase - part 10

The MATS Festive Student Showcase – part 10

We are so proud of our wonderful Make Art That Sells alumni and are pleased to showcase part 10 of the festive designs and products they have created for the season. See all the festive showcase posts here *** Studio Erdene I’ve just designed this greeting card for MATS B paper market assignment. Drawing holiday cookies were so fun and inspiring. I’ve taken MATS A and now taking static MATS B class. I’ve got so much out of MATS classes. It was really valuable knowing what different markets look for and how to go about submitting works. In terms of making art, I explored subject matters I’d never think of previously. Also, breaking a project down into small steps really helped me. I enjoy doing minis and having a plenty to work from. In 2016, I want to make a lot of art and start approaching companies. I’m going to


Celia Worrall Make Art That Sells The MATS Festive Student Showcase - part 9

The MATS Festive Student Showcase – part 9

We are so proud of our wonderful Make Art That Sells alumni and are pleased to showcase part 9 of the festive designs and products they have created for the season. See all the festive showcase posts here *** Celia Worrall – Celia Worrall Designs My Christmas Cards are fun, colourful and bright. I have taken the MATS A October 2015 course and I am excited to take the Bootcamp course in 2016. The MATS A classes were incredibly inspirational. They help my work evolve and greatly increased my creativity. I learnt many important lessons – such as the importance of designs “popping” in small format. The classes gave me great insight into delivering art that sells. My next steps are to continue to work on my portfolio and set up my website. I am also hoping to gain representation from an agent. See more of Celia’s work here: Facebook


melissaiWai Make Art That Sells The MATS Festive Student Showcase - part 8

The MATS Festive Student Showcase – part 8

We are so proud of our wonderful Make Art That Sells alumni and are pleased to showcase part 8 of the festive designs and products they have created for the season. See all the festive showcase posts here *** Trudi Murray I have challenged myself to make a black and white illustration every day in Advent and post them day by day on my social media channels. So far, so good! (I’ve managed it every day). While doing MATS A, I decided to make more use of the daily doodles and sketches I already do in my sketchbook. I realised that they can be a strong part of my portfolio, showing who I am and what I think about. So, next year, I aim to mine the rich seam of beautiful weirdness already in my sketchbooks, and get it on my website! I also want to look for an agent,