Check out this picture book illustration success story!
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picture book illustration success story: Martina Stuhlberger
Today we wanted to share an amazing success story from Make Art That Sells student Martina Stuhlberger, who is currently working on her sixth and seventh books since taking Illustrating Children’s Books!
Martina (left) and with the mural of her front cover at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, which she describes as a career highlight (right). Martina told us: “When you take a risk and do what makes you happy, the right people and things will find you. And Make Art that Sells will forever be the foundation of that!”
Plus she’s also represented by the Bright Agency, and her latest picture book, 9 Little People (NorthSouth), was selected by the jury for the Illustrators 67 exhibit by the Society of Illustrators! Wow!
Martina said: “I can‘t thank Lilla, Zoe and the whole MATS team enough for where I am today! Society always tells you that you should have figured everything out when you turn 30. But honestly, my life and career really just took a surprising turn after that!”
A spread from Martina’s latest picture book, 9 Little People (NorthSouth), which has just been selected by the jury for the Illustrators 67 exhibit by the Society of Illustrators.
Martina told us that she joined her first Make Art That Sells course, Illustrating Children‘s Books, in mid 2019, right before the pandemic hit. She said: “It was right after leaving a truly exhausting and unfulfilling job in the corporate world. I had put aside creativity as a way of expressing myself for years, but immediately felt at home again. Lilla’s and Zoe’s unique style of teaching, the community of like-minded people (something I’ve missed for so many years), and everybody’s incredible joy, energy and dedication really hit a nerve!”
Over the next two or three years, Martina took a ton of other Make Art That Sells courses, including Editorial, Creating Collections for Home Décor, Assignment Bootcamp, My Kid Book Pitch, My Toy Pitch, and Redrawing Back History. She told us: “I even took My Year of Art School twice. You can say I was hooked! It felt like I had finally discovered my true self again, and had come back to what I loved as a child, and what made me happy and filled my soul with joy.”
Art by Martina for Illustrating Children’s Books. She was contacted by her now-agent after her agent saw art she’d done for Illustrating Children’s Books and Redrawing Black History, although she also landed several picture book illustration gigs before getting an agent from work she’d done in class.
Martina continued: “I was lucky enough to get picked in quite a few reviews, and over time I gained the confidence to start thinking that making art and illustrating children’s books truly could be my career. My portfolio jam-packed with art from Make Art That Sells courses helped me land my first two picture book jobs for the German speaking market even though I didn’t have an art agent.”
Martina did eventually land representation though. She told us: “In 2022, after seeing my art for Redrawing Black History and Illustrating Children‘s Books, my now agent at Bright contacted me, and the rest is history. It’s funny that our incredible Redrawing Black History teacher, Tamisha Anthony, is now my agency colleague!”
Two of the covers from the many books Martina has illustrated since taking Illustrating Children’s Books. She’s currently working on her ninth book!
Martina has landed many more illustration jobs since then. She told us: “My art for Redrawing Black History and my Amanda Gorman piece for Assignment Bootcamp soon brought me my first editorial job, illustrating the story of Ruby Bridges for Kazoo Magazine. I’m currently working on my ninth picture book, while my next book, 9 Little People will be published in the US in three languages in September 2025.”
Martina added: “My absolute career highlights this year were seeing my art for this book on a huge mural at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, and being selected by the Society of Illustrators for the Illustrators 67 exhibit in New York. To this date, I have worked with publishers including Lantana, Affirm Press, Carlsen, NorthSouth Books and HarperCollins in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, Australia and the US.”
Martina’s portrait of Amanda Gorman, which helped her land her first editorial illustration job (left), plus other art created for Assignment Bootcamp (center and right).
Martina concluded: “As you can see, when you take a risk and do what makes you happy, the right people and things will find you. And Make Art that Sells will forever be the foundation of that!”
Martina’s main Make Art That Sells takeaways and aha-moments:
- I learned that hard work always pays off. With the dynamic of live courses and weekly deadlines, everybody in class took things very seriously, and we invested as much time and energy as if it was a real client project we were working on. Dedicated to making the best art possible, we did grow and get better incredibly fast.
- The courses were the perfect mix of encouraging and inspiring – seasoned with decades worth of knowledge and industry insights from our teachers – and equally demanding.
- Through diving into different markets, you really get a wider understanding for the industry and also for the land of possibilities that lies in front of you.
- Talking about portfolio-pieces, I loved the structure of the live courses that breaks down the process of illustrating a children’s book in bite-sized, doable steps. Starting with how to create unique and appealing characters with a range of emotions and poses, gives you the perfect foundation and starting point for creating complex scenes next.
- Lilla’s best career advice: As Lilla always tells us, make art you love, be yourself, and show the jobs you wanna get. People buy your joy!
- Creativity and style are not a destination, not a one-way-ticket. They are a journey and ever evolving, same as you are as a person.
Some of Martina’s beautiful personal work from her portfolio. See more of Martina’s work on her website and Instagram.
Huge congrats again, Martina!
Want to build a successful career like this? Then hurry HURRY, sign up for Illustrating Children’s Books now – registration closes TODAY!
- TODAY: LAST CHANCE to join Illustrating Children’s Books – registration closes TODAY! Join top art agent Lilla and brilliant children’s book art director Zoë, for five incredible weeks where you’ll learn a ton about the picture book industry and create a ready-to-send pitch that contains everything an art director needs to see to give you work! Sign up here.
- LAST CHANCE TO SAVE 20%! Sign up for the Brilliant Kid Book Bundle and save a whopping 20% on art agent Lilla’s last two LIVE courses for the year, student-favorite Illustrating Children’s Books and the wonderful Assignment Bootcamp: Lettering. This offer ends TODAY! Find out more here.
- Next newsletter: Find out how mentoring with Lilla could transform your art
Lots of love
The Make Art That Sells team xxx
P.S. If you missed the fabulous live with Lilla on Monday, watch below!
