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How to make a living as an illustrator: 5 MATS success stories!

Do you want to learn how you can make a living as an illustrator?

Do you want to make your art better and better and discover how you can make real money from drawing pictures while wearing your pajamas and listening to your favorite music?

make a living as an illustrator

Let art agent Lilla Rogers show you how! Don’t forget that every single one of our career-changing courses is currently a big 25% off in our giant Cyber Sale, plus you can save even more – up to half price! – when you buy one of our tasty bundles. Check out everything that’s available in the sale here – but hurry, the sale ends next Tuesday, November 30th!

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Today we’re sharing a fantastic quiz that Lilla has created for you to work out which of our sale bundles are best for you, plus we’ve got some fabulous success stories to share!

Here’s the first part of the quiz! Have a look at the beautiful images, pick your ten favorites if you can, then tally up your scores. Then join Lilla and the rest of the Make Art That Sells teachers in the fab FREE live Zoom event on Monday, November 29th at 2 pm ET/7 pm GMT to find out what your illustrator style is and which bundle is perfect for you. Oh, and to make it more playful and fun, Lilla has described each category as a different bird! Will you be a parrot, a hummingbird or a bird of paradise? Join Lilla et al in the live Zoom event to find out!

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Here’s the first part of the quiz! Click here to download your copy, then pick your favorite images. Then be sure to join Lilla and teachers in the fab FREE live Zoom event on Monday, November 29th at 2 pm ET/7 pm GMT to find out your illustration style and which art bird you are!

Now, on with the show … We love showing off our incredible students’ amazing successes … Why? Because they show that Make Art That Sells courses really do work. Because we all get to look at some dreamy artwork. And because they’re super inspiring – they just go to show that you can make a career from making pictures, you can make a living as an illustrator, and you can – well – make art that sells. On with the show!

Lynn Gaines

Lynn has taken a ton of Make Art That Sells courses, including Assignment Bootcamp: Portfolio twice, Illustrating Children’s Books four times, Creating Collections for Home DécorMy Kid Book Pitch and Illustrating Children’s Books PLUS – all of which she describes as “an unofficial master’s degree on steroids”.

Lynn told us: “It was because of Make Art That Sells that my agents, Lori and Claire at Painted Words, spotted me in the first place and took me on in 2016.”

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Art by Make Art That Sells student Lynn Gaines for My Kid Book Pitch. Sign up now​ and save 25%!

Lynn adds: “Because of all my classes, especially Illustrating Children’s Books, I learned how to take what I knew from working in the greeting card industry at American Greetings and develop storybook characters with expression, movement and personality. More importantly, learned how to develop a pitch and show how I could illustrate a picture book, thanks to Lilla and Zoë – there’s so much information, so well presented!”

Lynn illustrated her first non-fiction book in 2018, and recently landed a deal to illustrate her very first children’s picture book: Stella Keeps the Sun Up by Clothilde Ewing will be printed under the Denene Millner Books imprint for Simon and Schuster in March 2022.

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Front cover and full page spread from Stella Keeps the Sun Up Stella Keeps the Sun Up by Clothilde Ewing, illustrated by Make Art That Sells student Lynn Gaines.

Lynn said: “I can’t thank Lilla, Zoë and the Make Art That Sells team enough for all the fantastic teaching over the years – I am so grateful!”

See more of Lynn’s art on her website and Instagram​.

 

Jo Podmore

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Art by Make Art That Sells student Jo Podmore for Home Décor PLUS. Sign up now with 25% off, or buy as part of our My Dazzling Home Décor Career Bundle and save!

Jo Podmore is (yet) another return Make Art That Sells student: the courses she’s taken include Illustrating Children’s Books twice, My Kid Book PitchAssignment Bootcamp: Portfolio three times, Editorial: Illustrating for Magazines and More three times, Hot Markets for Your Art Part AIllustrating Children’s Books PLUS and Home Décor PLUS.

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Art by Make Art That Sells student Jo Podmore for Illustrating Children’s Book. Make beautiful, job-snagging art like this – and right now it’s 25% off.

Jo told us that she recently landed a huge and dreamy illustration job inspired by the art she’d created for Make Art That Sells. Jo said: “I illustrated the wise words of writer Cheryl Richardson in a self care card deck for Hay House. They selected a lot of my work done in Make Art That Sells classes as examples of what they were looking for. And the job itself was all the easier because of all the work I’d done in those classes. Make Art That Sells is EXCELLENT preparation for real world clients! It really was a dreamy job and a joyful experience.”

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Make Art That Sells student Jo Podmore landed this fabulous illustration job based on the work she created in class for Make Art That Sells.

BREAKING NEWS: We’ve also just heard that Jo is now represented by Astound agency. Congrats Jo!

See more of Jo’s art on her website and Instagram.

 

Romina Rollhauser

Romina has taken Illustrating Children’s Books three times, Assignment Bootcamp: Portfolio twice, Hot Markets for Your Art Part ALilla’s Art Recipes: Drawing FacesEditorial: Illustrating for Magazines and More and MATS MBA (Money BadAss).

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Art by Make Art That Sells student Romina Rollhauser for Illustrating Children’s Books. Sign up now and save 25%!

In 2019, Romina was a finalist of the Pixi Award, organized by the Dutch Editorial De Vier Windstreken. Then in February 2021, they contacted her with a proposal to illustrate Een baan voor Boris (A job for Boris), by Caren Peeters, for Children’s Book Week in the Netherlands, inspired by the art that she did for Illustrating Children’s Books.

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Front cover and one of the pages from Een Baan voor Boris, illustrated by Make Art That Sells student Romina Rollhauser. Find out how you can make a living from Illustrating children’s books.

Romina told us: “Make Art That Sells courses helped me to find my own style, explore new color combos and create for markets I’d never considered before. I learned to play with different characters and bring them to life. I gained confidence with every assignment! I learned (and am still learning!) not only from the amazing teachers, but also from my classmates, who are always ready to give some feedback, share tips or support you. Lilla’s reviews are incredibly inspiring and motivating. It’s thanks to Make Art That Sells courses that I had the confidence to make my dream happen!”

See more of Romina’s art on her Instagram.

Sandra Eide

Last year, Sandra signed up for My Year of Art School – all of the Make Art That Sells classes for an entire year – and her successes so far include building a children’s book illustration portfolio, snagging a number of editorial gigs, and getting taken on by an agency.

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Art by Make Art That Sells student Sandra Eide for Illustrating Children’s Books. Sign up now and save!

Sandra told us that her favorite classes were Illustrating Children’s Books and Editorial: Illustrating for Magazines and More. She adds: “Lilla makes every class fun and easily breaks down the steps of what a real life project with deadlines would be like, so it helped me feel prepared when I finally got hired to do things!”

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Illustrations by Make Art That Sells student Sandra Eide for Might Kind magazine.

My Year of Art School – every Make Art That Sells course for 2022 – is now on sale and you can save up to a massive 50% – but HURRY: the giant Cyber Sale ends next Tuesday, November 30th! Find out more and sign up here.

See more of Sandra’s art on her website and Instagram.

Brian Lambert

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Make Art That Sells student Brian Lambert was offered an illustration gig after a publisher spotted this character from art he created for Assignment Bootcamp: Portfolio on his Instagram account.

Brian has taken Assignment Bootcamp: PortfolioEditorial: Illustrating for Magazines and More and My Toy Pitch (so far!). He was offered an illustration job after a publisher spotted some of the art that he created for Assignment Bootcamp: Portfolio on Instagram.

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Here’s Brian’s complete Assignment Bootcamp: Portfolio assignment. Want to create gorgeous portfolio art like this – which gets you jobs? Sign up now and save 25%!

See more of Brian’s art on his website and Instagram.

 

Congratulations to all of our wonderful students! Are you ready to supercharge your art career? Shop our sale here!

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Lots of love

The Make Art That Sells team xxx

P.S. Get Part 2 of your FREE #MATSprep illustration assignment tomorrow! Lilla will be giving you nine questions to help you dream big in 2022 … Find it on our newsletter and blog. And if you missed Part 1, catch up here!

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