A few of my many cups, vases, bowls and containers. From left: Floral bowl by Carolyn Gavin; fox cup by Helen Dardik; rabbit cup by Zoe Ingram Never before in the history of the planet have there been so many opportunities for creative people! For the next three days, I’m going to help you prepare for our hugely successful course, MATS MBA (Money BadAss) which starts this Monday. In the MBA course, you’ll make your dreams a reality, and this 3-Day MATS Prep is going to help you get ready for that with this kinda magical exercise. Each day, you’ll build on the previous day, so be sure to dive in right now. I’d love to see what you do so be sure to share it on social media! #matsprep Today, I’d like you to draw cups! Yup, cups. Draw a page of 10 – 20 cups, vases, bowls, containers of varying sizes. Leave room to write words on the front of each vessel. You’ll learn more tomorrow. Here’s a really simple page
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Lotsa goodness for you: MATS prep and Facebook Live!
Happy New Year from all of us at Make Art That Sells! The start of a new year is always so exciting, isn’t it, like the start of a new page, or a new sketchbook? And maybe a little overwhelming too. You want it to be perfect, right? We say: play. Get messy. Have fun and make mistakes. We can’t wait to fill the year right up with your amazing art. Make Art That Sells manifesto by student Kara Kramer. When you play and have fun, you make better art. People buy your joy. That’s how you make art that sells! We’ve got loads of awesomeness coming up, from Assignment Bootcamp (the perfect way to start filling that new-year-new sketchbook!) to Lilla’s new Editorial Live to Illustrating Children’s Books and so much more. First off though, we’re kicking off with three FREE fab days of MATS prep to launch our first course of the year, MATS MBA (Money BadAss). If your new
Your free 2018 GLOBAL TALENT SEARCH (GTS) PREP: DAY THREE!
Are you enjoying the GTS Prep? Here is Day Three of our free GTS Prep. We are so excited to launch our 5th Global Talent Search (GTS) which begins June 25th! Join the fun with our free prep—three days of mini assignments to get you warmed up for the first GTS assignment. Each of these is like a little hint, too. Here’s your third and final GTS Prep mini: Draw some sea anemones! How cool are they? Seriously, to my eye they are hilarious and gorgeous at the same time. The purpose of this is to invite you to draw organic shapes. TIP: Think about shading, as that will help you define the form (the roundness). You will want to have a little practice with this for when you get your first GTS assignment. Feel free to make up your own anemones if you like! Any style works here. You can
Get your 2018 GLOBAL TALENT SEARCH (GTS) PREP: DAY TWO
Yay! Today is Day Two of our free GTS Prep. We are so excited to launch our 5th Global Talent Search (GTS) which begins June 25th! Join in on the fun with our free prep—three days of mini assignments to get you warmed up and prepared for the first GTS assignment. Each of these is like a little hint, too. Here’s your second mini assignment: Draw the following letters: A, G, and J. Do them in any style and medium you like. Have fun with them. Remember, letterforms are simply shapes. TIP: Experiment and play with the letterform. Just be sure that it’s clear what the letter is. Here’s a little inspiration board I created to give you ideas: TIPS: –Look at the thins and thicknesses of each letter, especially on the letter “A”. –Note the serifs. Are they pointy? Rounded? Bell-bottomed? –Is the overall shape chubby? Lean? Wide? –Check out the dots
Get your 1st free download for the GTS prep!
It’s time for our GTS Prep! We are so excited to launch our 5th Global Talent Search (GTS) which begins June 25th! Join in on the fun with my free prep—three days of mini assignments to get you warmed up and prepared for the first GTS assignment. Each of these is like a little hint, too. First up is “Let’s Make a Color”. Download this worksheet and paint right on it, or simply follow the instructions on a nice piece of paper. Use any medium you want. I am always encouraging you to use neutrals in your art, and to ‘shop’ for new colors to add to your repertoire. This playful worksheet should help you do just that. In the actual GTS assignment, you are going to be asked to use one of my favorite neutrals, so this is a warm up for that. (Can you guess the name of one of my favorite neutrals?)
#MatsPrep for Illustrating Children’s Books class: My Home Planet
Let’s get you ready for my course, Illustrating Children’s Books! I’ve chosen my very favorite MATS Prep for you. What’s a MATS Prep? They are free exercises to get prepared for class, or just to have some creative fun. What’s the number one thing that art directors look for in a portfolio when selecting an illustrator for a children’s book? They look to see that an illustrator can draw a great character! What is a ‘great’ character? It can be a person, an animal, or even a thing like a robot or even a pencil! The character has personality. So how do you show that? We will teach you how in class, but for now, here’s a tip: give it interesting accessories. What is it holding, carrying, wearing? Do the accessories help to tell the story? I’m going to show you some work for for Illustrating Children’s Books. See how
#MYMATSPREP: Jitna in your scene (Day 5)
Oh, man, you are a whole bunch of brilliant artists! You delight me with your imagination, sensitivity, talent. Are you enjoying yourself? Play. Visit Instagram and search the hashtag #mymatsprep to see the vast array of terrific art being created this week for the MATS Prep. You know, a few years ago we came up with the idea of a free mini series as preparation for our courses. We figured that it would be a way for the students to get geared up for class and also to get a taste for what my teaching style is like, to see if it’s a good fit. We have been wowed with the response to our MATS Preps, and I thoroughly enjoy writing them. I hope you’ve found them helpful. So today, for our last day of Prep, you’re going to live the life of a children’s book illustrator. It’s about placing a
#MYMATSPREP: Scene Magic (Day 4)
Wow, what fantastic worlds you created yesterday. I dig your wacky minds. By the way, if you’ve just joined us, you can start any time. Visit Instagram and search the hashtag #mymatsprep to see the vast array of terrific art being created this week for the MATS Prep. Today, I’m going to teach you three giant tricks to create depth (distance) in your artwork. –If you draw something on the top of your page, it looks like it’s far away. For example, if you draw a little house toward the top of your page, it looks like it’s in the distance. That’s because our understanding of distance in art is that the higher up the page, the farther away. And then, by making stuff smaller, it enhances the illusion of distance. The converse is true: things at the bottom of the page are close to the viewer. You can enhance
#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
#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