Get Part 1 of your FREE art assignment! Plus SPOILERS 👀

Our most popular course, Assignment Bootcamp: Portfolio, starts in under two weeks! Want to know what Bootcamp’s really like? Over the next two newsletters, we’ll be sharing the first few steps from the first mini assignment for Bootcamp for August – so if you love it, be sure to sign up!

Every year we get students emailing us to ask if we can run Bootcamp all year round. Why? Because it’s enjoyable, energizing, and gets you jobs – check out last week’s blog and newsletter for a few recent examples.

What even is Assignment Bootcamp: Portfolio anyway? Here’s the skinny:

You’ll get something from art agent Lilla every Monday for three months – maybe a playful and instructive downloadable worksheet, a quirky Mini assignment, a video tutorial or an interview with an industry expert or one of the artists Lilla represents.
On the first Monday of each month, the Mini assignment will start you off by simply drawing imagery that you’ll use for the Main assignment in week 2 – easy!
On the second Monday of each month, you’ll get a Main assignment that will help you create three kick-ass portfolio pieces (one per month) for three of the hottest art markets right now to boost your portfolio and increase your $$$.
On the third, fourth and fifth Mondays, you’ll get creative insights, tips and tricks from creative director and trend queen Margo Tantau or enjoy an inspiring and energizing live Zoom event with art agent Lilla.
It’s suitable for all levels – from beginner to pro. Lilla specially designs the assignments so everyone can shine.

Get ready for some fun as you prepare for class!

SPOILER ALERT! The assignments for Assignment Bootcamp are a closely guarded secret – that’s what makes the course so much fun – but we pinned Lilla down and threatened to show her ugly colors until she spilt some serious beans about what to expect this year.

Here’s what she told us:

You’ll get some color work to make your art even more gorgeous.
Plus some lettering work which is always fantastic for your portfolio.
And you can look forward to lots of gorgeous, inspiring flat lays coming up in August.

Lilla says: “Great color and fantastic lettering always amp up your income: I was paid big bucks to letter two words for a giant cosmetics company when I was an illustrator. Art directors and agents love a gorgeous palette, and lettering opens up doors for all kinds of things: think picture books, non-fiction arty journals, package design, book covers, greeting cards and tons more!”

Okay. And what’s a #MATSprep? It’s a FREE creative warm-up exercise to get you ready for class, and it’s open to everyone, whether you’re a Make Art That Sells student or not. It’ll get you prepared for class, give you taste of what’s to come, and get you motivated and raring to go!

Here’s Part 1 of your FREE #MATSprep:

Lilla here! I’m super excited about today’s #MATSprep that’s going to help you prepare for my upcoming course, Assignment Bootcamp, which starts Monday, August 1st. Today I’m giving you Part 1, then you’ll get Part 2 in next week’s newsletter and blog.

Guess what? These two preps are the first part of Monday’s very first Mini assignment! That means you’re getting an actual sneak peek at the course.

I want you to totally have fun with this prep. Work in any style and medium that you like. You’re going to be creating some visual bits and pieces that you can use for the first assignment in class, but don’t worry if you don’t have time for the prep: you’ll have plenty of time to work on this in class.

Let’s go! Today, you’ll take the third letter of your first name and pick a flower that starts with that letter.

For example, if your name is Tiffy, then your letter would be F.

Then draw any flower that begins with the letter.

For example, Tiffy googled “Flowers that begin with the letter F”. She chose fuschia (pronounced few-shuh) mostly because she loves the colors, but the shape is cool, too. (You’ll see Tiffy’s sketch in class.)

Here’s the image Tiffy is working from. Look at those stunning colors and that gorgeous shape! Have fun choosing your flower. Explore, experiment and play! Photo: www.growjoy.com

You can sketch your flower loosely, in a sketchbook style, paint it digitally or traditionally, or do anything that you like.

You might have a page of flower studies, or the flower in different stages, like seedling, bud, flower, etc. Anything is fine. Use your curiosity of what you feel like drawing as your guide.

Remember that you are doing two things for in this prep:

1. Warming up and having fun.
2. Learning about your flower for class.

Now share what you’ve done on Instagram and/or Facebook and tag Make Art That Sells so I can see what you’ve done! You can use the tags @makeartthatsells and #MATSprep so that I can find it. I love obsessing over your gorgeous art when I’m scrolling my feeds.

You’ll get Part 2 in next week’s newsletter and blog – don’t miss it!

Join me for a FREE public live Zoom event next Friday, July 29th, at 12 noon ET/5 pm BST! I’ll be talking about the #MATSprep, answering your questions, giving tons of advice about how to manage your creative career, popping a volunteer up on screen so I can talk to them direct, and giving away a fabulous bundle of self-paced courses! Set a reminder on your phone now and join the Zoom here.

Want in? Then sign up now! Class starts Monday, August 1st!