Do you want to get started in children’s book illustration? Illustrating children’s picture books is incredibly rewarding career for artists, both financially and artistically, plus it’s a huge market right now:
- In June 2021, the Business Research Company reported that the global children and young adult books market is expected to grow from $16.88 billion in 2020 to $18.2 billion in 2021 and to $21.95 billion in 2025.
- Back in January 2021, Deborah Halverson for SCBWI reported that sales for children’s books in every format rose during the pandemic, and predicted a boom in sales towards late summer-fall 2021.
- And with picture books taking around one to two years to complete, publishers are looking ahead too – in the same article, Halverson says “Anecdotally, many agents shared with me that 2020 was their best and busiest year for sales, with editors reporting steady acquisitions for their 2022+ lists.”
In other words: if you haven’t already explored this magical art market, it’s the perfect time to get started in children’s book illustration!
BREAKING: NEW live review announced!
Art agent Lilla has recently announced that she will be hosting a LIVE review for Illustrating Children’s Books PLUS on Monday, October 11th!
Art for Illustrating Children’s Books PLUS by Make Art That Sells student Jade Orlando. Fill your children’s book illustration portfolio with powerful job-snagging art like this – sign up now!
Anyone who has taken any of Lilla’s live courses will know how thrilling the live reviews are. Why?
- If your art gets chosen for the review, it’s a unique opportunity to find out exactly how a top art agent views your work.
- Even if you’re not picked, it’s still an incredible way to learn. Lilla will explain her thought processes very clearly and give specific tips that you can apply to your own art, so you’ll learn a ton.
- Deadlines are an artist’s best friend! And wanting to be in the review will push you to create your very best art.
- Lilla will view all the art submitted before the deadline before choosing which to include in the review. This means it’s an amazing way to get your art directly in front of an art agent. Lilla has already offered representation to four Make Art That Sells students in 2021 alone, and is due to announce she’s now representing a further three Make Art That Sells students in the next couple of months!
Get that date in your diary now! The live review for Illustrating Children’s Books PLUS will take place on Monday, October 11th, so register now to give yourself the most amount of time to complete the assignment and the best chance of being picked for the review. Sign up here!
Get started in children’s book illustration
Our raved-about career-changing indepth online course, Illustrating Children’s Books, won’t run again until 2022, but if you’re super keen to get started in children’s book illustration then you need to check out our fabulous self-paced mini course for all levels, Illustrating Children’s Books PLUS!
And that’s not all … ! Read on for more exciting news about Illustrating Children’s Books PLUS!
HOT OFF THE PRESS: Lilla has just written a brand NEW charming and very visual mini text called I like cheese for Illustrating Children’s Books PLUS, meaning that you now get not three but FOUR mini texts to choose from; and of course you can repeat the course four times – once for each text – to give you a really powerful children’s book illustration portfolio to wow publishers and art directors!
Art for Illustrating Children’s Books PLUS by Make Art That Sells student Janie Secker, who is now represented by Lilla Rogers after Lilla spotted her in class. Get your art in front of Lilla in our live review!
Because – what’s the ONE thing that agents and art directors need to see before they can give you a children’s book illustration deal? That you can deliver! The way that you demonstrate that is by having several strong children’s book illustration pieces in your portfolio: and that’s where Illustrating Children’s Books PLUS comes in.
Here’s what you get:
ThreeFOUR mini texts written by your course teachers, art agent Lilla Rogers and children’s book art director and picture book author Zoë Tucker, so you can go straight to making gorgeous art without getting bogged down in storylines and details.- Two assignments that you can repeat for each text, so you can produce four sets of powerful portfolio pieces to help you land that children’s book illustration deal.
- Access to the private Facebook group for Illustrating Children’s Books PLUS, where you can ask for feedback on your work in progress, share tips, celebrate successes and more.
- Useful downloads on next steps and more.
- Recordings of three reviews with Lilla and Zoë in which they give their feedback on student art (this is gold!) plus answer questions and share their tips from decades in the industry.
Lots of love
The Make Art That Sells team xxx
P.S. Ready to sign up but want to save a whopping 25%? Buy The Children’s Book Bundle today and you’ll get Illustrating Children’s Books PLUS, Lilla’s Art Recipes: Drawing Faces AND Lilla’s last live course for 2022, My Kid Book Pitch, all for a huge 25% off. Find out more here.
