Happy 2015! A new year brings a chance for new beginnings, new energy, and fresh commitment. In this short video Lilla shares some tips to make 2015 an amazing year for your art career and gives a sneak peek of some of the awesome things we have planned for the coming months.

We’d love to hear about your plans – please share in the comments below.

Best wishes for 2015 from all at Lilla Rogers Studio and the Lilla Rogers Studio School!

PS Want to get 2015 off to an amazing creative start? Join us for Make Art That Sells: Assignment Bootcamp, beginning January 5! Just a few spots left for this six month online course of advanced creative assignments to boost your portfolio and give structure to your art creation. Book your spot here!

Lilla will be speaking on trend at the show, too! Don’t miss it! xo, Reine

Lilla will be speaking on trend at the show, too! Don’t miss it!

xo, Reine

Lilla will be speaking on trend at the show, too! Don’t miss it!

Xo, Reine

If you want to kick start your year with a bang, and motivate yourself to create great art for many months, then join MATS Assignment Bootcamp 2015. This brilliant online class begins on January 5 and runs for six months, offering five monthly assignments*, lots of inspiration and a monthly surprise from the Lilla Rogers Studio, plus the chance to submit to an online public gallery each month to showcase your work. It’s a snip at just £99 (approx $149) for the entire six months!

(*There is no assignment in March when MATS A/B are running)

This class is a fantastic way to give yourself structure and deadlines so you build a strong body of work over an extended period. The class is delivered online and is at a relaxed pace, so you can take it alongside full time work (and even other classes).

CLICK HERE to find out more and book your spot

Some of the gorgeous work from Bootcamp 2014 

NOTE FOR RETURNING BOOTCAMPERS

If you joined us for Bootcamp in 2014 we’d love to have you back. We will have all new minis and assignments waiting for you, plus an exciting twist on the monthly special surprise. We promise you will love it!

THE PERFECT HOLIDAY GIFT?

You can also gift this to a friend. If you want to do that please email school@lillarogers.com with ‘Bootcamp Gift Voucher’ in the subject, and give the full name of the person you are buying the gift voucher for, along with the email address you use for Paypal. We will email you back with a Paypal payment request and then send you the gift voucher once the payment has gone through. The last date for guaranteed Christmas delivery is Monday 22 Dec, by which time your payment must have been received in full. We therefore strongly encourage that you email in requesting your gift voucher by Friday 19 December latest to avoid disappointment!

Not sure if it is for you? Click here fore more details of the class.

THE SMALL PRINT: Please note all courses are payable in GBP. USD$ prices are given for guidance only and the actual equivalent in your home currency will depend on the Paypal exchange rate at the time of purchase. All sales are final. Please read the Terms & Conditions of sale before registering. ***

Lilla will be speaking on trend at the show, too! Don’t miss it!

Xo, Reine

Lilla will be speaking on trend at the show, too! Don’t miss it!

Xo, Reine

Thank you to everyone who entered. This competition is now closed. You can find out the answer and the winner here!

Dear Everyone,

Let’s play! Guess the first Bootcamp Assignment e-course mini assignment and WIN:
–a signed copy of my book (with a secret message),
–a free place in the Bootcamp e-course (If you have already signed up for Bootcamp, you will get a full refund!),
–and this necklace made by me!

Assignment Bootcamp is an inspiring, motivating 5-month art assignment e-course geared toward helping you make some great, marketable art in your own style. Each month starts with drawing a mini-topic. In the past, mini-topics included Bavarian cuckoo clocks, Ship in a bottle, and vintage gelatin (Jell-o) molds. From your drawings, you are given an assignment that is geared to a specific, hot market that buys art. Read more about it here. There is still time to sign up, by the way.

Join us! It’s very fun.
The first person to guess the mini assignment exactly right will win, and the winner will be announced on January 5th, which is the first day of Bootcamp class. There is no cash alternative.
Leave your guess in the comments below, and have fun with this!

xo
Lilla

Our ‘Q&A with Lilla’ series is back and here is part 3. This is where we share questions from the previous class of Make Art That Sells.

In Lilla’s Make Art That Sells classes she often gets asked about how to sell work in particular markets, so we thought we’d share some of those questions and answers with you. If you want to work on making art that sells yourself, then why not join us for Assignment Bootcamp, starting on January 5*. (Please note there is no Q&A with Lilla in Bootcamp as the focus is on creating art. If you want to ask Lilla questions directly you will need to join MATS A or B)”

The next Make Art That Sells classes will take place in March 2015, so get on the mailing list here to be one of the first to hear when registration opens!

***

Q) When you’re just starting out in licensing, is it ok if your portfolio consists of art you made up on your own (versus “stuff that got licensed”)?

A) Totally, and even when you’re not starting out, because you want to show new work to clients that they can license.

Q) It seems that highly anthropomorphized animals and plants (and inanimate objects) have been trending for a while. Do you think artists decrease their chances of getting licensed with mainly non-anthropomorphized icons in their portfolio?

A) Why not have both? And if that’s not your thing, (to do anthropomorphized animals such as monkeys on bikes), then follow your passions and do other things that you’ve learned in MATS. There’s so much room for great art, and you absolutely do NOT need to do everything. In fact, you can’t, so you might as well follow your informed passions. By that I mean following what you love with an eye toward what you’ve learned in MATS vis a vis what’s happening in the markets.

Q: It has been mentioned that even a hint of ‘darkness’ in illustrations can turn away clients. Is it ever appropriate to create more melancholy/contemplative pieces without being commissioned, or is only “cheerfulness” sought after? Isn’t depicting a single mood rather limiting to both artists and clients?

A) Dark moods are great for children’s books, editorial (magazine) work, and occasionally in the Gift Market for indy/boutique clients.

Q: How does one know what is *ahead* of trend?

A) You don’t really know. It’s a continuum. I can tell in my bones. My course helps you do work that is on trend or ahead of trend. It all depends upon the subject matter and color palettes that I give you, and then the style of the art. The style can be dated or fresh (or somewhere in-between). If it’s fresh, then it can be ahead of trend, in a good way.

Know that some clients and markets are a bit behind, some are ahead, so it really is ok to just make art and show it. Some clients take big risks and some want more predictable work.

Q: What are your views on the ethics of spec work? Do you recommend artists do spec work even if odds are that they won’t be compensated?

A) It’s really tricky. It’s not black and white. Here’s when to do it: If a client is top notch and you want to get in with them; if you feel you’ll learn a lot in the process; if you can resell the art if they don’t pick it up. There has to be something in it for you.

***

Want to work on making art that sells yourself, then why not join us for Assignment Bootcamp, starting on January 5*. (Please note there is no Q&A with Lilla in Bootcamp as the focus is on creating art. If you want to ask Lilla questions directly you will need to join MATS A or B)”

Got your own questions for Lilla? Join us for the next round of Make Art That Sells. Class begins on Monday 2 March, 2015 and you can register your interest here to be one of the first to hear when registration opens.

Our ‘Q&A with Lilla’ series is back and here is part 3. This is where we share questions from the previous class of Make Art That Sells.

In Lilla’s Make Art That Sells classes she often gets asked about how to sell work in particular markets, so we thought we’d share some of those questions and answers with you. If you want to work on making art that sells yourself, then why not join us for Assignment Bootcamp, starting on January 5*. (Please note there is no Q&A with Lilla in Bootcamp as the focus is on creating art. If you want to ask Lilla questions directly you will need to join MATS A or B)”

The next Make Art That Sells classes will take place in March 2015, so get on the mailing list here to be one of the first to hear when registration opens!

***

Q: How many icons are good to have in a pattern? Sometimes I feel too many get busy – is there a magic number?

A: Excellent question. There is no magic number. If you keep watching the review videos in the MATS class, over time you will get a sense of what is too busy. Tip: Vary the size of the icons and let some pop the most, with others receding.

Q: For the trade shows that you mentioned, like Printsource and Surtex, can individual artists set up their own booth or is it only for agencies and artists represented by agents?

A: Definitely individual artists, too.

Q: When receiving a licensing inquiry from a company one has never heard of (and about whom an online search doesn’t yield more info than their website), how does one know if the company can be trusted?

A: What we do here is if we never heard of them, and they have a sketchy or no website presence, we ask for money up front, like a flat fee, paid by PayPal. If that scares them off, then perhaps it’s for the better.

Q. With any licensing deal, how can one be sure that the company pays out the correct royalties (since one can’t monitor their sales)? What if they don’t report all the sales (perhaps more a concern with lesser known companies)?

A: This is a tough one. If the company is unknown, refer to the previous answer. Get a flat fee. You can ask to audit the royalties, but this is tricky because it’s insulting, so tread VERY carefully. It implies you don’t trust them. Of course, if you DON’T trust them, by all means, do so.

***

Want to work on making art that sells yourself, then why not join us for Assignment Bootcamp, starting on January 5*. (Please note there is no Q&A with Lilla in Bootcamp as the focus is on creating art. If you want to ask Lilla questions directly you will need to join MATS A or B)”

Got your own questions for Lilla? Join us for the next round of Make Art That Sells. Class begins on Monday 2 March, 2015 and you can register your interest here to be one of the first to hear when registration opens.