After four months, entrants from 30+ countries, three rounds of competition, more than 10,000 public votes and many hours of deliberating, we were over the moon to reveal two very talented artists as the winners of the 2013 Global Talent Search! It was so hard to choose from our outstanding six Finalists that we decided to give two awards – the Grand Prize and a second Special Studio Award. Two art careers have been changed forever. Drum roll please…

Grand Prize Winner:

ZOE INGRAM, Australia

Congratulations Zoe! The finalists were asked to design for a home decor line with Midwest CBK. Here’s a glimpse of Zoe’s winning work for the competition:

We loved the very fresh take on birds with the integration of the doilies, the zany/happy freedom of her style, and her sensational color palette. She has a distinctive look that we know will become recognizable and is highly marketable. Artists that can do patterns, lettering, icons, and people are able to attract a vast array of work – and she has proven herself in all of these areas. She’s expert in traditional media as well as digital media which is a terrific combination. Plus she can paint.

Can you believe these amazing plates? Zoe created in response to the assignment for Home Decor week in our Make Art That Sells class. We fell in love with them the minute we saw them. I am quite fond of the “seedling” lettering as well. I remember commenting on the plate that she submitted for class (the plate on the top left) and saying in the weekly art review, “This is a perfect piece.” Can you believe she created all four in one week? Her years as a graphic designer show.

It was clear that Zoe already had the talent, and then Make Art That Sells helped her understand the market potential for her work, and present it beautifully. Zoe won TWO YEARS’ INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATION BY LILLA ROGERS STUDIO, with a host of licensing deals and international promotion.

12 months before entering the 2013 Global Talent Search Zoe Ingram was working as a freelance web designer, earning a living but her ‘heart wasn’t in it’. That was until she took Make Art That Sells, and then entered the Global Talent Search, and everything changed.

Click below listen to an interview between Zoe and MATS/GTS producer Beth Kempton where Zoe shares her experience of the course and competition, It is hard to believe that she was nervous at the outset, unsure of whether her work was ‘good enough’, and never drew in a sketchbook. One year on she has been crowned the GTS winner, signed by Lilla Rogers Studio and in the last six months alone has landed licenses and commissions from a host of prestigious companies including a book deal, a home décor product line, a fabric collection, greeting cards for IKEA, and seven foot tall garden totems!

Special Studio Award Winner:

Daniel Roode, USA

Here’s the winning work Daniel created for the third and final round of the competition:

Can you see why we had to add another prize? His submission is a fully-realized product line with a strong graphic read with a charming retro feel, and lovely textures. And check out his calligraphy!

We are thrilled to announce that Daniel has won:

– TWO YEARS’ INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATION BY LILLA ROGERS STUDIO and a HOME DECOR AND GIFT PRODUCT LINE WITH MIDWEST-CBK. We couldn’t be happier to add these two awesome artists to our studio family, alongside all our other talented artists. The other four Finalists were also brilliantly gifted and we wish them the best of luck with their careers. We are grateful to our judges, to everyone who entered the contest, and to everyone voted and supported the participating artists.

LOVE WHAT YOU SEE?

If you are an Art Director… Want to talk to us about licensing or commissioning work with our newest artists? We’d love you to contact us.

If you are an artist… Want to see your career skyrocket? We would strongly encourage you to consider joining the next round of Make Art That Sells. The course clearly had a major impact on Grand Prize Winner Zoe Ingram’s work, and helped her take it to the next level. She said on her blog “I learned so so much during the e-course and I don’t think I would have made the top 50 had I not taken part in it.” If you want to learn how to make great art that sells in the top ten markets for art internationally, whilst staying true to yourself, there is no other course like this out there – register here!