Just imagine – in just six weeks’ time, you could be holding your very own fabulous children’s book illustration pitch in your hands, containing everything you need to land you great jobs from art directors and publishers!
Our next Illustrating Children’s Books course starts NEXT WEEK and we couldn’t be more excited about it! This will be the sixth time we’ve run the course, and it just gets better every time. Hurry, hurry – spots are going fast!
As ever, there’ll be three exclusive, brand new texts for you to get stuck into, written by our brilliant co-teacher, children’s book art director Zoë Tucker: we can’t give away too much, but rest assured they’ll be bang on trend and designed to bring out the best in every student, no matter what level you’re at.
Plus, as Lilla and Zoë review a selection of the work submitted, it’s a unique opportunity to get your beautiful art directly in front of an art agent and art director! (Just last month, Lilla’s agency took on MATS student Kelly Anne Dalton – and keep your eyes peeled for more exciting news coming up soon!)
Books by some of Lilla’s artists. As one of the top art agents in the industry, whose artists are often booked solid with kid book illustration work, she knows exactly what publishers and art directors are looking for!
But before we head off into the new course and get ready for another amazing crop of work, we thought we’d have a look back over some of the student successes from the most recent Illustrating Children’s Books course, in fall 2018.
Fiona Barden
Fiona has taken Illustrating Children’s Books twice and says “I can completely see why people take this course multiple times, and this definitely won’t be the last time for me either!” She was approached by a UK book publisher for a four book deal based on numbers, shapes, colours and animals, and already has another potential gig in the works!
Fiona says: “I can’t thank MATS enough – I initially saw the Illustrating Children’s Books course advertised, but after looking at your site I realised that there was so much more I needed to learn, so I signed up for the My Year of Art School in 2018. It was invaluable. My confidence has soared (I even had the confidence to negotiate a better fee!), my portfolio has been vastly improved, my website looks so much more professional, my social media presence is better, I have a plan on how to move forward and I am much more knowledgeable about the markets I want to work in. I really can’t thank Lilla, Zoë and Beth enough (along with everyone else behind the scenes), I feel that I am finally on the right track thanks to them!”
Some of the character poses which Fiona Barden produced in class. In five weeks, you’ll create a brilliant book pitch to get you noticed by art directors and publishers, just like Fiona!
She adds: “The brief is for a set of four early learning board books that feature a sound bar along one side. Each spread will feature lots of different illustrated elements with two of the elements corresponding with the sounds on the sound board (car horn beeping etc).
“So far, artwork is complete for the first book, and the second book is well under way. I’m really enjoying the experience and I think this has been an ideal first brief for me to work on – I’m learning so much about the process! I’ve also been approached by a second UK publisher who is interested in working with me later in the year, so fingers crossed that will come to fruition too.
“I’m so grateful for MATS and Illustrating Children’s Books for enabling me to grow my skills and make this possible!”
See more of Fiona’s work on her website here and Instagram here.
Want to get your own book deals? Learn how! Sign up for Illustrating Children’s Books here!
Anna Lindsten
Anna has also taken Illustrating Children’s Books [twice] and has recently landed not one but TWO book illustration gigs!
She says: “I got my first children’s book request from an author living in Canada, after I finished my last Illustrating Children’s Books course. She really liked the character I did in class, and now we’re making a book that will be out in 2020. I’m super excited about that, and after just hearing that the storyboard is approved by the publisher, I’m now moving on to coloring the spreads.
Anna Lindsten’s full page spread from our most recent Illustrating Children’s Books course. In just five weeks, you’ll produce everything a children’s book art director or publisher wants to see in your portfolio!
“I was also contacted shortly after by a Swedish publisher of children’s books after the editor had seen the squirrel character I created in the previous Illustrating Children’s Books course! I was so happy to work with this book publisher for a classic anthology of stories and poems for young children: the book celebrates its 30th birthday this year and is a classic in Sweden, with lots of wonderful authors and illustrators involved, old and new. I was even more thrilled when the publisher asked if I wanted to make a whole book with them as well, so that’s something I’m working on at the moment. It is truly a dream come true!”
One of Anna’s page spreads for Barnkammarboken by Bonnier Carlsen.
She adds: “Illustrating Children’s Books with Lilla and Zoe really taught me how to draw a character with feelings and movements and I’m super happy I took this class – I’m joining Illustrating Children’s Books Plus soon too – as it got me my dream gigs!”
See more of Anna’s work on her website here and Instagram here.
Class starts next week! Hurry! Sign up here.
Ruth de Vos
Another Illustrating Children’s Books addict, Ruth’s first book, Barefoot Bea, comes out this month.
She says: “Taking Illustrating Children’s Books (three times!) has given me a process to follow in my illustration work. For one thing, it’s given me the courage and the push to submit my portfolio to publishers. I love that even as a complete amateur, this class gave me enough knowledge about publishing and the children’s book world to not feel completely overwhelmed when a publisher approached me to illustrate my first book. And because of Illustrating Children’s Books, I was able to illustrate that book with confidence.
“The art director and I had a bit of back and forth correspondence in order to develop the main character and to make her do everything she needed to do. This was exactly what Zoë prepared us for in class! And our first review commended the illustrations for the facial expressions (thanks Zoë!) I’m so thrilled with the final result. Thank you for such a comprehensive class, Lilla and Zoe! (By the way, this class is so comprehensive that you can take it three times, and learn and take in more every time!)”
The front cover and one of the pages from Ruth’s first book, Barefoot Bea. She says Illustrating Children’s Books gave her all the tools she needed when approached by a publisher.
See more of Ruth’s work on her website here and Instagram here. Join our next course here.
Kassia J Markowska
Kassia was offered a book deal after her first Illustrating Children’s Books course!
Kassia was offered a book deal after taking Illustrating Children’s Books for the first time and sharing work from the course on Instagram.
She says: “This project was great learning experience not only in illustrating a whole story and working to schedule but also in book formatting and whole nuances of setting correct format for printing book. Absolutely loved the whole process and right now I’m working on personal projects and defining my style while waiting for new commissions.”
See more of Kassia’s work on her website here and Instagram here.
Congratulations again to all our alumnae!
The world of children’s book publishing is huge – in fact, in the five years since 2013, publisher revenue for children’s and young adult fiction has grown by 11.3 percent to $3.67 billion. This means that publishers need your gorgeous artwork! Are you ready to dive in to this magical and lucrative market? Book now!
Plus, don’t forget, right now you can get both Illustrating Children’s Books and our brand new Illustrating Children’s Books PLUS course in one fabulous bundle and save 15% – click here to book. (Already signed up for Illustrating Children’s Books and want to upgrade? Check your inbox for a special discount code, or email [email protected] if you haven’t received it.)
See you in class!
Love from
The MATS team xxx
P.S. Get ready for class by doing Lilla’s Art Recipes: Drawing Faces with 10% off when you use coupon code KIDBOOKFACES (offer expires July 4th, 2019).
