As the 2015 Global Talent Search approaches I want to share some really important insight with you through today’s mini. It’s all about how you compose your artwork. Mini assignment 4: Kick ass composition How your artwork is composed is so important! I’ve seen really great icons or products on a page passed on by art directors because the overall layout is not as strong as it could be. Don’t let that happen to you!
Q: What do these four images have in common? A: They all have the word “the” in them. Did you spot that?
Meet brilliant children’s book art director, Zoë Tucker! Zoë Tucker is an independent children’s book art director based in Brighton, UK (where the Global Art Gathering happened!). Specialising in children’s books, Zoë has over 17 years in the publishing industry working in-house for Random House, Penguin and Scholastic. Now freelance, Zoë remains Art Director of Alison Green Books (an imprint of Scholastic UK), where she commissions some of the world’s greatest picture book artists. She also consults with animation and production companies Magic Light Pictures and Dog Ears, Ireland. Learn more about Zoë on her website here. Zoë is a new addition to our Global Talent Search judging panel and we’re very excited to introduce her here. This is what a day at the office looks like for a children’s book art director! My Desk I live and work in Brighton on the south coast of England, where I share
All this week we are offering free mini assignments in preparation for the 2015 Global Talent Search. Yesterday was all about socks. Today your mission is to explore color nuances. Mini assignment 2: Fifty shades of blue What I’ve done below is taken five hues of blue (gouache and watercolor) and added Naples Yellow to each. Look at the results! Softer shades. For this mission, take some blue paint, add Naples Yellow, and see what you get. Why Naples Yellow? Naples Yellow is a flat yellow and white, so it dulls, lightens and warms the color. Fun fact.
It’s prep time for our annual Global Talent Search (GTS) – one of the most closely-watched events in our industry. This year, we’re offering a series of five mini assignments to get you ready to rock the competition, which will be shared daily here on the blog all this week. If you have not yet registered, book your place here and then dive into these ‘minis’ to help you get ready for the main competition. Mini assignment 1: Sock research Your first mission is to do research on socks, and take photos of them. What socks do you see out there? What socks do you like? What do you have in your sock drawer? Are they patterned? Textured? Hand-knit? What about on the bus, or in the town? What socks are other people wearing?
After entering Global Talent Search in 2013 and making it into the top 50, she decided to go back to “school” and signed up for Lilla Rogers’ MATS Part A, Part B, and Bootcamp to build her portfolio and strengthen her illustration skills. With energized confidence, she entered the Global Talent Search a year later, made it through three rounds of competitions and among thousands of entries, Tara became the 2014 winner! Tara has worked with Hallmark, Robert Kaufman, American Greetings, Galison, Midwest CBK, Peaceable Kingdom, Quarto Publishing, Crown Crafts Infant Products and other firms in the past year. Here’s a glimpse of a few projects Tara has been working on with Lilla Rogers Studio, while being a new mother to little June Ellawyn Lilly! All images are courtesy of Tara Lilly.
To those familiar with Make Art That Sells we hardly need to introduce Lilla Rogers! Lilla is the teaching force behind all our e-courses and our MATS alumni call her their Fairy Art Mother because she is dedicated to help passionate people create amazing and sustainable art. On top of that, she runs Lilla Rogers’ art agency that represents 30+ artists, creates her own art and is an author. We wondered, with all that going on, what does a day in Lilla’s life look like? She let us follow her for a whole day to find out.
Back in 2013, Zoe Ingram won the first ever Global Talent Search from Lilla Rogers Studio. Here’s where she is now. Where is illustrator Zoe Ingram now? Zoe Ingram was the Global Talent Search Grand Prize Winner back in 2013 when the competition was launched for the first time. Little did she know when she registered that she was going to work with amazing companies and get to design her own books! Zoe takes a step back to have a look at what she achieved in the last year and a half. These are only a few examples of the jobs she has been working on: the list goes on! All images courtesy of Zoe Ingram. October 2013 I won the first ever Global Talent Search Competition – as soon as the news was announced, things started moving quite quickly, with lots of sorting of images for my archive with
Rebecca Jones is the Global Talent Search Special Studio Award Winner 2014. She is an artist working and living in Melbourne, Australia. Since winning the GTS, she has had many incredible projects and worked with some of her dream clients. We have asked Rebecca to take us through some of the highlights of her career since winning representation with Lilla Rogers Studio and the work she has had access to through the agency. Here are only a few of the many commissions she has been working on in the past few months. All images courtesy of Rebecca Jones
If you are still wondering whether entering the Global Talent Search would be valuable for you, here are the reasons why it might well be one of the most important things you do for your creative career this year. 1. Give yourself a creative challenge “The whole key in a creative career is to keep making art and producing because the more you do the better you get, that’s just a fact.” -Lilla Rogers 2. Gain in confidence, creatively and professionally “I just love answering briefs, so any opportunity to be set a brief and to consider how I’m join got answer it is always an amazing challenge and I thoroughly enjoyed that.” -Ilona Drew, Global Talent Search 2013 participant
