Lilla’s artists work on tons of kids’ picture books every year. Let her show you how they got the gigs in her raved about online course, Illustrating Children’s Books Do you dream of illustrating your own children’s book (or books)? Imagine passing by a book shop and seeing your art in the window, or visiting the library and hearing a child exclaiming over the pictures you created! There’s something really magical about immersing yourself completely in a text and bringing it to life for generations of children to enjoy. Work from a previous Illustrating Children’s Books course by MATS student Agnes Ofner In our raved-about e-course, Illustrating Children’s Books, which runs for the seventh time from July 1st 2019, you’ll create exactly what an art director needs to see for you to get a children’s book gig: a full page spread, a character page, a front cover and more, in just five weeks. Plus,
Category:Tips & Advice
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Lilla, how do I know which market is right for me? Which one should I be focusing on and trying to get work in?
In a recent Facebook Live event, you had the chance to ask top art agent Lilla anything you wanted and you had a lot of questions! Over the next few months, we’ll be taking the opportunity to answer some of your burning questions in our weekly newsletters. We hope you find them useful! Today’s big question: Lilla, how do I know which market is right for me? Which one should I be focusing on and trying to get work in? We know what it’s like! You’re a creative person and you have so many things going on in your head: you love to paint, you love to draw, you love using a load of different media and drawing a load of different things. How do you know which ones to invest your time in? How do you know which markets to focus on or what to draw when your time is limited
Tips from a top art agent: How to have an illustration career in three steps. Plus discover your USP!
You might already know that, before she became a renowned international art agent, Lilla Rogers had a long and illustrious career working as a professional illustrator. All of the courses from Make Art That Sells are based on the fact that, from over 30 years in the business, Lilla knows exactly what you need to know in order to make art that sells in your own unique style. Some artwork by Lilla from her Art Recipes: Drawing Faces ecourse In today’s newsletter, we’re going to talk about how to have an illustration career in three steps. Note that we don’t say easy steps! Each of these steps will be an ongoing process that will become easier and more rewarding the more that you practice them. But one thing that Lilla does know for sure is that big daunting things become very much less overwhelming if you just break them down
What is your brand? Find out with our FREE download!
What is your brand? You may have heard people saying that you need to have your own brand, but what is it and how do you get it? Lilla breaks it down in her inimitable style: your brand is simply the art you love to make plus the gigs you want to get. Your brand is also your style. Lilla says “It’s an internal thing and completely instinctive: the art you love to make, your own art that you love, the art materials you love to use, the things that you love to look at, buy or own … All these things come together to create your own personal brand.” Student feedback for Portfolio Review Live Let’s take an example. When you look at someone’s art and think: wow, they’ve got a really strong brand, perhaps you’re seeing that they really love messy paint, working in blues and greys and drawing birds. You’re seeing the
Hands up who wants four months of art to look forward to! Plus find out why deadlines are your friend
How would you like to get a little packet of awesome from a top art agent every Monday for four months for the same price as a weekly latte? What a wonderful thing to have to look forward to! Work from a previous round of Assignment Bootcamp by MATS student Frida Hammar. You’ll create hot new portfolio pieces in your unique style with fun, engaging prompts! Assignment Bootcamp is one of our most popular courses, and for good reason: it’s brilliant fun for everyone, from beginners to professional artists; you’ll make some really cool art which will get you great work; you get to find out about the newest trends and create gorgeous portfolio pieces which are bang up to date; and it’s completely motivating because of Lilla’s unique teaching style. Picture this. You’re making great art. You’re clear about your goals. You want to create a knockout portfolio piece
Plan your amazing 2019 with our FREE Dream Snail downloadable worksheet!
What are your plans for 2019? This part of the year feels like a pause, doesn’t it? A big breath in, a time to take stock, to think about plans for the year ahead. So many of us will be planning resolutions, from small to huge, from mundane to life-changing. And we also know that even as everything settles down into the quiet of wintertime, there’s new life tucked away under the earth, just waiting to burst out and bloom. Art produced by MATS student Nancy Chalmers during our most recent Illustrating Children’s Books course. Nancy landed representation with a global agency during the course and has just been approached by her dream client. Huge congratulations, Nancy, we’re thrilled for you! The Make Art That Sells teachers really know their stuff. Between them, they have decades of experience in illustration, in education, in commissioning work, in home décor, in creating
Zoë Tucker’s Insider Review of the Bologna Book Fair
Zoë Tucker is our beloved co-teacher of the Make Art That Sells Illustrating Children’s Books course and a highly regarded children’s book art director. Earlier this year she attended the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, so we jumped at the chance to catch up with her and get her insights about the show. We also asked our MATS students who attended the fair to share images and their experience, so you can read their thoughts here. Zoe writes: Hi everyone! I haven’t been to the Bologna book fair in years and decided this year it was high time I reacquainted myself with it. It didn’t disappoint! Aside from the fact that Bologna is a beautiful medieval city and a great mini-break, the international Bologna Children’s Book Fair is a one stop wonder of inspiration and excitement – especially if you love children’s books like I do! You can download this report from Zoë
Have you always dreamt of illustrating your own children’s book? Find out how!
Have you always dreamt of illustrating your own children’s book? Find out how from industry insiders, top art agent Lilla Rogers and top art children’s book art director Zoë Tucker! Many of our students who have taken the course multiple times have gone on to get agents and book deals precisely from the work they did in class! Read our success stories here! Check out our gorgeous classroom where you’ll live for 5 weeks. You’ll get: Facebook Live broadcasts from class where you can interact with Lilla and Zoë! Your choice of one of three carefully-chosen original texts for you to illustrate. This will give you structure for the course, and allow you to dive in instantly. Fifteen in-depth videos with Lilla and Zoe on every aspect of the creating and pitching of your children’s book, growing your creative business, and Lilla’s art technique demonstrations Interviews with top art directors and successful illustrators. We ask them everything you
Lilla’s expert advice on managing creative overwhelm and building your confidence
Lilla often gets great questions from MATS students creating artwork that sells, and some of the common challenges they face in building their creative careers. One question she is often asked is about confidence, so we decided to share her useful insights with our readers in the hopes that others might find her advice useful as well. A MATS student writes: Lilla, I often have times when I feel confident about my art, and totally believe that I can do this. No doubt about it. I was a graphic designer before I had my children (trained in the days when I had to do it all by hand!) but my love of drawing pushed me to want to do more. I had no training in actual art as I went straight from school to graphics, but have drawn f o r e v e r! When I start on these courses
What makes a great pitch to an art director? Check out the work by our talented MATS students!
The amazing part about our Make Art That Sells courses is the variety of styles, media, color palettes and vibes of the work that the students create for class. It’s all about creating the right pitch for the right market, and I teach my students exactly how to do just that in my courses. Let’s take a look at some exciting art that our students did for our courses Make Art That Sells Part A and Part B. Party Paper (MATS Part B) is about making a gorgeous statement at an event. Here, Colleen Bringle did exactly what I constantly stress: vary the scale on each product, and change out the color palette while keeping the work in a consistent collection vibe (like, it all goes together well). Plus, a print is a great part of any product collection. It gives the art director a boat load of options for