We’re incredibly excited to unveil the online gallery of the submissions for the second assignment of the 2016 Global Talent Search! We’d love you to vote for your top five favorites.

The 50 Semi-Finalists were announced two weeks ago and then were given Assignment #2 to challenge them further. They’ve just finished the assignment, and now you get to vote on your choices. At the same time, our esteemed panel of VIP judges will also go in and privately select their top favorites.

“Sunny” checking out a London café

In the second assignment we continue the adventure of our fictional character, ‘Sunny Spindler’ (played by our own marketing director, Reine Sloan) who visits a café to discuss the cover of her cookbook with her editor. Our 50 semi-finalists have accepted the challenge to design the cookbook cover, and now you can see the brilliance that they’ve submitted, here.

Why did I create this particular assignment for the second round?

Because it’s open enough to allow each artist to show off their style. There’s a lot of latitude here. They may elect to draw a scene or choose to do a more heavily designed cover.

I want their styles to shine.  Here are the tips that I gave the Semi-Finalists

• Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Show off what you do best. That’s what I want to see. I want you to do your best. Look over your existing work and analyze what makes you shine.
• Ask yourself if your idea for a cover is what you would love to buy. Have fun with this! We’d love to see what you do in your style. Trust your taste level. Don’t “dumb down”. The judges look for sophisticated styles.
• Have fun! People buy your joy. Let your passion for what you want to draw lead the way for you.
• Rather than trying to guess what I’m looking for, do what makes you shine. You definitely do NOT need to do a style that you see on our site. We are looking for fresh talent.
• Of course you’re nervous! That’s because you care. But remember that you got this far, and so you’ve got what it takes to do this assignment. It’s a very open one, with room for you to do what you love.

The artists are encouraged to be themselves with a vengeance and create art with personality.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

The person with the most votes when the gallery closes at 9am PT / 12 noon EST / 5pm BST/UK on Monday, September 5^th will go through to the Final as The People’s Choice. These six Finalists will then get my final assignment.

The winner of this competition will sign with Lilla Rogers Studio for representation and win a host of licensing deals and professional development opportunities, so this is your chance to contribute to a LIFE-CHANGING OPPORTUNITY for one artist.

After you have voted, upload this photo to Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #iVotedGlobalTalentSearch so we can share the fun!

xo

Lilla, Beth and the Studio Ladies

PS Can I tell you how out-of-our-minds excited we are here at the Studio? Who will be our next stellar artist?

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Carolyn Gavin recently took over Lilla Rogers’ Instagram account @Lillarogers. Carolyn splits her time between Canada and Belize.  She sure did give us a treat to see a glimpse in the day of her life as a working artist in Belize. It was filled with lush tropical life, gorgeous colors, and even a sneak peek into a Mayan Chocolate Factory and Organic Cacao Farm!

Hop over to @Lillarogers on Instagram to see more of Carolyn’s colorful day in Belize. See Carolyn Gavin’s portfolio here.

xo,
Reine

Announcing the 50 Semi-Finalists in our 2016 Global Talent Search!

Semi-Finalists, Feel Free To Share This Banner on your blog and social media

TOP 50 who go through to round #2 (alphabetical by first name)

Abby Bunnell, Allistair Burt, Anette Heiberg, Anna Berger, Anne Bentley, Bec Williams, Colee Wilkinson, Dana Tanasa, Daniela De Marco, Diane Neukirch, Elizabeth Munro, Elizabeth Wood, Emily Jepps, Emma McGowan, Eva Zurita, Gill Bond, Heidi Griffiths, Jess Racklyeft, Juliet James, Katherine Quinn, Kimberly Carter, Laurence Lavallee, Lee Foster-Wilson, Lisa Kirkbride, Mara Penny, Marenthe Otten, Marieke Middendorp, Meghann Rader, Michele Phillips, Michelle Brown, Neryl, Walker, Nicole LaRue, Paloma Pedrera Martinez, Portia Monberg, Rachel Grant, Sandrine Monnier, Sarah Allen, Sarah Papworth, Sarah Hand, Sharon Montgomery, Sofia Moore, Stephanie Hofmann,, Susan Spiers, Susan Evenson, Tatiana Von Beelen, Tatjana Mai-wyss, Terri Kasuba, Tina Loeffler, Trisha Klempel, Youngsun Kim.

VIEW OUR SEMI-FINALIST GALLERY HERE

Honorable Mention Winners, Feel Free To Share This Banner on your blog and social media

As you can imagine, it was incredibly hard to narrow the entries down to 50. There were a number of entries that came very close. So this year, we thought it would be nice to let those folks know. We hope that gives them a boost of confidence!

These are the 33 Honorable Mentions (alphabetical by first name)

Q: Lilla, how did your team select the 50 semi-finalists out of the boatload of incredible submissions?

A: First and foremost, we asked ourselves, would we love to represent this look? On a gut level, is this a style we are infatuated with?

Q: Were there specific criteria?

A: We considered the following in selecting the 50 semi-finalists

• Will this style get lots of work with our outstanding clients?
• Does the art stand out from the crowd? Do you get a sense of a well-formed and unique style?
• Did the artist give 110%? Is the entire image loaded with goodness?
• Do we see fluent drawing ability?
• Is the color palette and the overall composition of the piece consistent and at a high level?

Why is the important to our clients?

It allows the agency to continue to deliver the freshest and best work in the industry along with our list of stellar artists. We are the place to find the newest and greatest talent from all over the world.

What’s next for the semi-finalists?

1. The 50 semi-finalists have been notified today that they are, in fact, the 50 semi-finalists. You know they are going to be over the moon! (To all those that did not make it into this round, I want to assure you that I could not select all the qualified candidates.)
2. They will receive their second assignment today as well, which is a continuation of the story of our main character, Sunny Spindler, played by our own Reine Sloan!  The purpose of a narrative is to help the artist engage with the subject matter and demographic.
3. The second assignments are due Monday, August 29^th.
4. Our panel of 20 top industry judges will privately select their favorites based on their highly regarded expertise.
5. The Public Gallery opens for live voting for the People’s Choice on Wednesday, August 31^st and runs through Monday, September 5^th. Here’s your chance to vote!
6. We announce the six Finalists on Wednesday, September 7th.
7. The winner is announced Wednesday, September 28th and their amazing full-time career as a represented artist begins!

See all the dates here

The People’s Choice begins August 31^st

Remember, you can cast your vote for your favorite image on Wednesday, August 31^st through Monday, September 5^th. Watch for our newsletter for more details.

Follow along as the contestants share on Instagram #globaltalentsearch.

We are honored that such outstanding talent has participated in our annual Search!

Warm regards,
Lilla, Beth, and the Studio Ladies
Lilla Rogers Studio

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It’s remarkable. The submissions for our annual Global Talent Search are absolutely top-notch.

What is the Global Talent Search? It’s our annual competition to find the next top artist for our art agency to represent. The winner lands a boatload of assignments, licenses, and consultations with some of our favorite companies. (I will tell you that our GTS winners of previous years are consistently booked with work!)

The fifty semi-finalists are from all over the world.

21 Europe
22 North America
6 Australasia
1 Africa

82% of the participants have taken one or more of my e-courses, Make Art the Sells.

The competition consists of three assignments. In the first assignment we introduced our fictional character, Sunny Spindler, who owns a charming candy shop and café.

Meet “Sunny Spindler”, the star of our competition this year.

We asked the participants to design a teacup and napkin set for Sunny’s café.

Sunny’s cafe

I provided tons of inspiration and reference from photographs I’ve taken in England, New York City, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, to get the participants motivated.

Liberty of London

They were given total creative free reign and encouraged to be themselves with a vengeance.

Narrowing the submissions down—there were close to 1,000—was not an easy task!

Watch for the big announcement!
We’ll announce the 50 semi-finalists tomorrow, August 19, 2016 in our newsletter and here on the blog. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter if you haven’t already (on the right hand side of this page), to stay on top of the competition.

The People’s Choice begins August 31st!
Remember, you can cast your vote for your favorite image on Wednesday, August 31st through Monday, September 5th. Watch for our newsletter for more details.

Again, we are honored that such remarkable talent has participated in our annual Search!

Warm regards,

Lilla, Beth, and the Studio Ladies
Lilla Rogers Studio

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Artist Carolyn Gavin’s brand new home décor collection “Garden Party” for TAG, Ltd. recently made a big debut at the Atlanta Gift Show for the wholesale market.  These gorgeous products will soon be available through various retailers and we will be adding them to our products page as soon as we find out!

Carolyn created this beautiful line through the e-course from Make Art That Sells called “Creating Collections for Home Décor,” co-taught by Lilla Rogers and Margo Tantau. You can learn more about this incredible course here.  See more of Carolyn’s portfolio here.

Congrats to Carolyn on a beautiful line and thanks TAG, Ltd. for being a great client to work with!

xo,

The Studio Ladies

Sarah Walsh ambushes Lilla Rogers’ Instagram account @Lillarogers.  Sarah lives in Kansas City with her family. We had the best time following along in her spunky colorful day!

Sarah even turned me onto a new TV show. A Netflix original series “Stranger Things” which is pretty dope! Hop over to @Lillarogers on Instagram to see all of Sarah’s day.  See Sarah’s portfolio here.  Tomorrow we will be following along with Carolyn Gavin’s busy day as she takeovers Lilla’s Instagram account. Be sure to watch!

xo,
Reine

Hi Lilla!

I’m so excited about the release of these chunky, colorful, design-filled ABC flashcards. My team at Land of Nod is always so generous with their art direction, and they allowed me to explore some unusual characters in this card mix. My hope is that this deck is a whimsical, educational ride for the whole family. You can purchase them here.  Enjoy :)

xo,

Suzy

Zoe Ingram ambushes Lilla Rogers’ Instagram account @Lillarogers. Zoe lives in Australia with her family! Zoe won the Global Talent Search in October 2013. It has been a life changing event for her.

Hop over to @Lillarogers on Instagram to see all of Zoe’s day! See Zoe’s portfolio here.

xo,
Reine