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

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

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MikeL1 Make Art That Sells Want to be a top children’s book illustrator? See the cool life of Mike Lowery

Want to be a top children’s book illustrator? See the cool life of Mike Lowery

Lilla Rogers Studio artist Mike Lowery lives the fabulous life of a busy illustrator well known for his hilarious children’s books. Follow his dream life on Instagram. Mike Lowery’s Carl the Duck’s Travel Adventures on Instagram Mike Lowery at a book signing at Barnes and Noble “The Search for the Slimy Space Slugs” Doodle Adventures by Mike Lowery and “Random Body Parts” Illustrated by Mike Lowery How to Draw Carl the Duck with Mike Lowery Want to live the dream?  Learn how to create a killer children’s book illustration pitch with a top agent and highly-respected art director! Hurry! Space are limited.  Online live course beings October 3rd. Want to get prepared for class? Be sure to join in our FREE hugely popular mini prep series which began yesterday. #myMATSprep is a series of five mini assignments Lilla has created to get you ready to rock our brand new Illustrating Children’s Books class.


mymatsprep daily art Make Art That Sells #MYMATSPREP Day 2: Setting

#MYMATSPREP Day 2: Setting

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 “Minette”. 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


mymatsprep daily art Make Art That Sells #MYMATSPREP Day 1: Character

#MYMATSPREP Day 1: Character

I’m excited about this MATS Prep! For the next five days, I’m going to help you grow your work to prepare you for our newest course, Illustrating Children’s Books. For the next week we are going to imagine that you have just been commissioned to illustrate a children’s book. I’m going to share a series of fun exercises to help you tackle your project. I’d love to see what you do so be sure to share it on social media! Share your images on Instagram: Tag us @makeartthatsells and use hashtags #mymatsprep and #matskidbook So, let’s say you have just received a commission to illustrate a children’s book. You’ve been sent the manuscript. Now what? One of the first things you’ll want to do is to get to know the main character, like how an actor “becomes” the character. So for today’s MATS Prep, you’re going to delve into exploring


mymatsprep daily art Make Art That Sells 5 Free daily art assignments #myMATSprep

5 Free daily art assignments #myMATSprep

We are very excited about the upcoming MATS Prep! Back by popular demand! Starting Monday September 19, Lilla will help you grow your work to prepare you for our newest course, Illustrating Children’s Books. This #myMATSprep is a little different than previous ones!  Each day you will be building upon the assignment you worked on the day before.  So that by the end of the week you will have a finished piece of artwork which may even be a portfolio piece! In this 5 day free mini series of assignments, you will learn about: character setting scale and perspective scene magic environment Find out who this young girl is and why it matters to Illustrating Children’s Books: Learn about playing with scale and flipping:   BONUS: Every day in #MyMATSprep is complete with a tip from Lilla for you on being the best artist you can be. What is #myMATSprep? It’s


Who will be the next represented artist at Lilla Rogers Studio? Lilla’s favorite pieces by the GTS Finalists

Who will be the next represented artist at Lilla Rogers Studio? I’m so grateful that the judges and the People’s Choice voted on the Global Talent Search Finalists. (I never could have chosen!) They’ve narrowed it down to six incredible artists. It turns out that all of them have taken my Make Art That Sells classes, so I’m very familiar with their work. Allow me to show you a few of my favorite pieces of each of the Finalists. Terry Fry Kasuba, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Charmingly eccentric, joyful and painterly work all rolled into one. Left: For the MATS 2014 Bootcamp Course Right: For National Read-A-Book Day Marenthe Otten, Netherlands This may be one of the most trend-ahead pieces I’ve seen in a long time. I see tarot book illustrations here. Left: For the Make Art That Sells Self-Paced Course, Live Review, in conjunction with Janine Vangool, publisher of UPPERCASE Magazine. The


pictigar.com Make Art That Sells #mymatsprep DAY 5: YOUR IMAGINARY SHOP

#mymatsprep DAY 5: YOUR IMAGINARY SHOP

pictigar.com Complete this sentence. Be weird. Be yourself. Be nutty. Be a child. Once, a long time ago, I owned a special tiny little shop in the town of _____________________. I sold _________________ which everyone loved because __________. The name of my shop was _________________. It was only open on Tuesdays because ______________________. My best-selling item was: _______________ (Draw the shop if you like!) Can’t wait to see you in class. You are now prepared for the course, and hopefully motivated to make your dreamy killer pitch for you own amazing home décor collection with the guidance of expert Margo Tantau and me. Join the fun and show us your images for MATS Prep! –Upload your image on Instagram tagging @makeartthatsells and give it the hashtag #mymatsprep –To see all the fantastic images for MATS prep: Go to the #mymatsprep tag here


IMG 8189 Make Art That Sells #mymatsprep DAY 4: YOUR IMAGINARY ROOM

#mymatsprep DAY 4: YOUR IMAGINARY ROOM

Lilla Rogers Studio conference table and my big thinking throne on the upper right. I made this space exactly how I wanted it. Imagine the coolest room ever. It’s full of gorgeous prints that you love. Abundant colors and patterns fill the space exactly to your liking. There’s a fab chair for you to read in. What does it look like? Give it an ottoman to rest your feet, a special table to hold your coffee, place the perfect lamp on top, a little rug under it all. Now draw it so we can all see what your perfect spot looks like. Use your color palette from day 2. You’ve just created the beginning of a whole product line. We’ll teach you how to present it so that you get the home décor collection of your dreams.   Join the fun and show us your images for MATS Prep! –Upload


IMG 5791 Make Art That Sells #mymatsprep DAY 3: WHERE YOU’RE GOING TO WORK FOR THE 5 WEEK INTENSIVE COURSE

#mymatsprep DAY 3: WHERE YOU’RE GOING TO WORK FOR THE 5 WEEK INTENSIVE COURSE

Photo by Lilla Rogers Find a spot where you’ll make art for the course. Is it outdoors? At your art table? At a café? On a balcony in Bermuda? (Ok, maybe your space isn’t a vacation spot. That’s ok.) This is where you’ll be making art for 5 weeks. Make it special and inviting. Add flowers. Line up your supplies. Get a new paint palette. Put your pencils in a kooky vase or can. Show us the photo!   Join the fun and show us your images for MATS Prep! –Upload your image on Instagram tagging @makeartthatsells and give it the hashtag #mymatsprep –To see all the fantastic images for MATS prep: Go to the #mymatsprep tag here


color combos for MATS prep Make Art That Sells #mymatsprep DAY 2: COLOR COMBINATION PAGE

#mymatsprep DAY 2: COLOR COMBINATION PAGE

Using any medium, put together a few fave color combinations you love. Use at least one gorgeous neutral such as cream, taupe, beige, gray, etc. You can cut out little color squares from magazines, use paint, cut bits of solid colored fabric, work digitally, etc. In class, we’ll provide you with state of the art home decor inspiration boards with gorgeous color palettes in class, but for now, check in on what colors you love. It’ll help you select your board in the course. If you like bright colors, for instance, you’ll know that the bright-colored board is for you to work off of in class. Join the fun and show us your images for MATS Prep! –Upload your image on Instagram tagging @makeartthatsells and give it the hashtag #mymatsprep –To see all the fantastic images for MATS prep: Go to the #mymatsprep tag here


#mymatsprep DAY 1: ART CUP

Are you ready for #MyMATSPep? Lilla has cooked up a very special series of creative prompts, starting TODAY! It’s free, and Lilla has created a series of five mini assignments to get you ready for ‘MATS Creating Collections for Home Decor‘ all this week before the course starts next Monday.  If you are not already signed up to the class, come and join us! Photos by Lilla Rogers/Anthropologie ART CUP Put your art on a CUP that you’d like to use every morning. Does it have words? Flowers? What is its shape? What colors? What does your handle look like? Is there a saucer? Does it match or is it different? Look at that, you have just designed a product. Margo and I will teach you how to do tons of this on the top home décor substrates such as metal, wood, glass, ceramic fabric. Extra credit: Upload and order