FREE Magic Cards to generate your picture book story idea!

Lilla here. I’m so thrilled that my picture book writing course, My Kid Book Pitch, is running as a LIVE course again this year. Class starts next Monday, February 23rd, and I really hope you’ll join me.

Lilla here! I can’t wait to help you write your fabulous unique picture book story, just like I helped the artists I represented when I was an art agent for 30 years.

Why? Because I love helping creative people like you thrive, and picture books are such a wonderful income stream for artists and illustrators – that’s why I started working on them with the artists I represented when I was an art agent.

I know you’re probably thinking: “But Lilla, I’m not a writer!”. I think you are, but you just don’t know it yet. I bet you have tons of characters and little stories whirling around in your magical brain.
I created My Kid Book Pitch especially for artists like you, to help them get those stories down on the page. And the beauty is that if you write AND illustrate the story, then you get paid double!

Artists are innovative and creative and have unique minds, all of which makes them perfect for telling stories. All you need to do is learn the craft of writing, just enough so you’re your story is strong enough to be picked up by a publishing house. Then an editor will help you polish your work.

In My Kid Book Pitch, you’ll get a 100+ page downloadable workbook that breaks the whole process down so it’s accessible and playful. You can follow my Write a Story Recipe step-by-step to build your story, pitch it to a publisher and get a book deal, just like loads of students have done before you – read real-life student success stories here.

In My Kid Book Pitch, you’ll get a 100+ page downloadable workbook packed full of tips, advice, worksheets and my Make a Story Recipe to help you nail your story idea. We’ll work through it together in class.

Plus at the end of the course, I’ll be choosing one student from class to have a warm supportive private 1:1 meeting with me to discuss their story idea and polish their pitch to perfection before sending it off (the course also includes information on exactly how to send it, who to send it to, and how to avoid the dreaded slush pile!). Don’t miss this incredible opportunity!
To give you an idea of how the course works, and how easy and enjoyable it can be, I’ve created this FREE three-part #MATSprep warm up exercise for you to help you get ready for class.

First though I need to tell you about the amazing FREE public LIVE Zoom with me TOMORROW, Friday, February 20th, at 12 noon ET/5 pm GMT!

I’ll be showing some of my favorite picture books from my huge library – including some agented by Lilla Rogers Studio and some written by the artists I represented – and explaining what makes them so special.

Plus I’ll be answering your questions about writing a picture book, and I’m going to be giving away a FREE set of my gorgeous NEW Magic Cards, printed on beautiful thick cardstock by Moo! (I’ll also be giving away another set to one lucky student on the first day of class).

I’ve created a brand new set of my dreamy Magic Cards for 2026. You’ll get your downloadable set on the first day of class, but I’m also giving away a FREE set printed on thick cardstock in the public Zoom this Friday, February 20th and another to a student on the first day of class.

How to join the Zoom

Don’t miss it! Set a reminder now! Click here to join – you’ll also find the link to join the Zoom in our Instagram and Facebook Stories, and on the front page of our website at www.makeartthatsells.com.

Ready for your FREE #MATSprep?

Today we’re going to pick a few of my Magic Cards to start thinking of our story idea, and write a couple of sentences. Easy peasy, right?

What’s a Magic Card you ask? Let’s dig in …

Get your story idea with my dreamy Magic Cards

On Day 1 of the course, you’ll get your set of 28 brand NEW downloadable kooky Magic Cards. I’ve carefully curated 28 delicious images to get your wonderful imagination firing off in all directions – you’re going to love them.

The Magic Cards are just a starting place, a jumping off point to get you used to coming up with ideas and creating story arcs, because the more you do it, the easier it becomes. Today I’m going to share three Magic Cards with you so you can get an idea of how they work. Then we’re going to write a sentence about them and workshop it together.
Ready? Let’s go!

Here’s your first Magic Card:

Here’s your first Magic Card for today. Isn’t it charming? You’ll get 28 fantastic images like this in class. Sign up here.

What do you see? Jot down a few notes about the image you see and any thoughts that arise.

Perhaps the girl will be your main character – can you give her a name? What’s the expression on her face – is she happy or is she maybe a little apprehensive? Is she excited by the thought of winning all those candies or worried that she’s going to miss out if she doesn’t guess right?

How fabulous are her red tights – perhaps she loves red and she’s actually only interested in the red candies.
Or how about that tape measure in her hand – maybe she actually isn’t interested in the candy at all but is an unusual kid who is obsessed with measuring things. Or perhaps she’s looking for a receptacle of a particular size, and that’s why she’s measuring the jar.

There aren’t any right or wrong answers here, it’s just about tapping into your imagination, giving it a stir, and seeing what comes up.

Let’s turn over our second card.

Here’s your second Magic Card! (I loved scouring the internet to curate these wonderful evocative images to inspire and delight you.)

There’s a lot going on here! What draws your eye first? What pops into your head?

There’s a young girl in this image too: is it the same girl as in the first image, or are they friends, or family, or maybe someone she looks up to? How about the little boy? Is he related to the girl in the picture and if so, how?

Who are the three adults and how do they relate to the children we’ve met so far? The woman and man on the left seem to be listening very intently to the man in blue on the right – why do you think that is? Make up anything!

What kind of a store is it? Could this be the setting for our story? From the mower on the floor I think maybe it’s a hardware store, but we can play a little. Look at all those coloured jars on the shelves at the back: perhaps it’s a chemistry lab, or a candy store. Perhaps this is a shop that makes the most marvellous flavored soda. Again, make up anything.

Don’t forget to keep noting down anything which the images suggest to you.

Let’s turn over our third and final card for today.

Here’s your final card for today! Don’t forget, in class you’ll get a full set of 28 of these gorgeous things with worksheets to guide you. Join the class here

I love this vintage card and its lively energy. What’s going on? We have a man and a woman. She’s holding a steaming kettle and he looks as though he’s dancing while blowing a plume of condensation into the air. The wording lets us know it’s cold and frosty, and the warm drink, leaves and stove make us feel cozy.

The heart of any story is a conflict: the main character wants something, and they can’t have it. Perhaps this card could be our conflict – so what does our main character want that she can’t have?

Perhaps she wants to win the jellybeans so she can boil them up into a drink. Perhaps she’s an inventor who wants to create the first ever hot fizzy soda. Perhaps she’s cold and is looking for a way to get warm. Maybe she’s always too cold, or too hot.

(You would usually need a resolution for your story too, so we’d pick another card for that, but I’m trying to keep this short for today! In class, you’ll work from five cards.)

In class, you’ll use my unique Magic Cards and follow my Make a Story Recipe to come up with a fabulous character like this for class by Make Art That Sells student Claudia Marianno.

Now that we’ve got our cards, let’s write a few sentences based on the cards we have and then work on it a little. Write a couple of sentences about what you got from the Magic Cards. Remember, it doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to exist. Broad strokes. Keep it loose, fun, and play around.

Once you’ve got your sentences, we can start to refine them.

Here’s an example:

Bella, a young girl who wore red spotty tights every day, measured everything she saw. Yesterday, she quickly measured Mr. Simpson’s big black fluffy dog. Suddenly, he barked at her! Bella was scared. “Help!” she shouted loudly.

Let’s dive in and make it even better.

Remove visual descriptions

First, I’m going to cross out the visual descriptions – in other words, anything that can be shown in the illustration, like a “bright green hat”.

Why? Picture books are short – generally only 500 to 1000 words – so you have to make sure every word is pulling its weight.

Tip: Leave out visual descriptions in your text, because that will be shown in the illustrations.

Plus part of the joy of picture books for children is, of course, looking at the pictures. You’re going to fill them with gorgeous details for the children to look at while their adults are reading the words to them, so we don’t need them in the text.

Bella, ~~a young girl who wore red spotty tights every day~~, measured everything she saw. Yesterday, she quickly measured Mr. Simpson’s ~~big black fluffy~~ dog. Suddenly, he barked at her! Bella was scared. “Help!” she shouted loudly.

What do you think? It’s better, but it’s still not great – but that’s enough for today. In class, we’ll polish your sentences until they shine – and don’t forget, one student will have the chance to work on their story with me 1:1.

And if you already have a story idea in mind that you want to start with and develop further, that’s great too. Using the Magic Cards you may find that you come up with something completely fresh that you like better, a new way of thinking about your character or your story, or you might still be in love with your idea and see clearly how it’s going to work. It’s all good.

I hope you enjoyed today’s mini lesson! Find out more about My Kid Book Pitch and sign up here. I can’t wait to read your wonderful stories!

And please do share your first few sentences on social media if you want to – I’d love to see the kooky ideas you came up with. You can just write them down or illustrate them if you like, but be sure to tag @makeartthatsells so I can see them!

Do you want to write your picture book? Don’t miss out – I don’t know when this class will be running as a live course again. Sign up here.

In class, we’ll look at tons of gorgeous picture books, both class vintage books like these and more modern ones – including some agented by Lilla Rogers Studio – and dig in to why they work and how you can replicate that secret sauce.

TOMORROW, Friday, February 20th: Join me for a FREE live public Zoom event at 12 noon ET/5 pm GMT to get your questions answered and maybe win a FREE set of my dreamy Magic Cards! Click here to join the Zoom.
Monday, February 23rd: The first day of class for My Kid Book Pitch! Sign up now and you’ll get the first part of your 100+ page workbook and your downloadable set of Magic Cards, and join me for the first LIVE webinar of the course, all on Day 1! Join here.

With love