What makes magical Marenthe tick? How does she come up with such dreamy, other-worldly images, painted so lushly? Is she from another planet?

We’ll find out TODAY at 12:30 PM ET for the next in our series of WebinARTs with our artist Marenthe, who has worked on a variety of illustration projects for Amber Lotus Publishing, Elle Magazine, Flow Magazine, Hallmark, Quarto Publishing, Roger La Borde, and more.

Click here to join our free public WebinART on Zoom with our artist Marenthe today at 12:30 PM ET. Password: Marenthe77

I’ll ask Marenthe to share with us her various creative projects, her dream illustration project she’d love to manifest, her tips on working from home with two kids, a book that most influenced her, plus enjoy her gorgeous work in a slideshow. We’ll take a few questions live.

We’ll do a random giveaway one of Marenthe’s products. Join us!

We can’t wait to see you there!

Marenthe, illustrator

The Hague, Netherlands

“I dream of my own Pippi Longstocking castle in France near Paris. With lots of whispering trees, animals and flowers where I can stare out of my window and I make art all day!”

Above: Contact us about licensing availability of the above artwork.

A Few of Marenthe’s Commissions

Various clients

Lettering and illustration for a spread for Flow Magazine

Lucky Elephant character and packaging (Running Press)

Scratch and Reveal 78 Original Magical Tarot Cards (Quarto)

Gorgeous art by Marenthe

available for licensing

Back before the pandemic when 2020 was still new and fun and we were allowed to be together, Kim and I gathered a box full of our favorite products by our artists to show you. We hope you enjoy this short video.

Watch Coffee Time with Lilla & Kim

More great products by our artists…

Fabulous circular puzzle for eeBoo.

Photo: eeBoo

American Greetings

Land of Nod / Crate&kids

Coming this Thursday!

Jennifer M Potter

San Francisco

Above and below:

Claude: The True Story of a White Alligator (Sasquatch Books)

Join me Thursday for our WebinART #11 as I chat with the unparalleled

and view her gorgeous work.

This Thursday,
August 20th at 12.30 PM ET.

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We’ll be broadcasting live on Zoom here on Thursday. See you then!

WebinART link here

Password: Jennifer77

Did you miss last week’s WebinART and portfolio showcase with Kelly Anne Dalton? You can catch the replay here; Password: 51Zfn7.f

Find links to our entire WebinART series HERE.

Claude received a starred Kirkus Review !

Congratulations to Åsa Gilland whose book The Perfect Shelter (Little Tiger Press) also received a starred Kirkus Review.

“Gilland’s illustrations use gorgeous layered colors, patterns, and clean lines with plenty of white space for thoroughly engaging pictures.”

Check out this lovely piece that Janie Secker did for one of the assignments for my text, I Paint Purple, for my Illustrating Children’s Book course. Stay tuned for an upcoming newsletter and see the big reveal of all the work by our artists for class!

Sarah writes:

I’m in portrait/fan art mode! Been nibbling at this piece for a minute and finished last week. If you don’t know, Slick Woods @slickwoods is a dynamo, an artist, and a boundary breaker. Giving her the label of supermodel seems so narrow! Slick is a beam of bad a*s light! She’s changing the tired perception of what beauty is in the world and I’m here for it. She’s worked with Rihanna, Mark Jacobs, UGGS, Vogue and soooooo many others. Not only is she incredibly beautiful, she’s hilarious as well. Her one liners on @lauraperlongo Moms In Hot Tubs kill me. (Yes she’s also a mom) Slick your spirit speaks to me! I had to put my brush to the paper✨✨✨✨✨

Puzzle by Crocodile Creek

Rebecca writes:

It’s always a lovely surprise when I come across one of my illustrations unexpectedly. Spotted my little mouse puzzle in a gorgeous gift shop by the beach.

Even in a pandemic, children’s books are selling remarkably well, and we’re receiving book deals for our artists all the time. As a matter of fact, Susan McCabe, Senior Agent here at LRS, dropped by today and remarked at how all of our top children’s book illustrators are heavily booked. In part, that’s why I created this course five years ago–to help our artists make even better pitches, and to find new illustrators in that market. And we’re happy that this is keeping many of our artists busy during this time.

Make Art That Sells Illustrating Children’s Books starts today! It’s not too late to sign up and get your first assignment. Join me.

Scroll down to see work that our artists have created in the course from previous years.

I regularly fall in love with the artists in my courses. Occasionally one will emerge that is so appealing, so unique, that we are compelled–and thrilled–to take them on.

We’re excited to announce (really, to tease you with that fact) that we are taking on a new artist this week! Join me as I will be interviewing them and enjoying their incredible work in our next WebinART this Thursday.

Join me for WebinART #10 as I chat with special guest, our newest artist! I’ll reveal who it is this Thursday. (Yeah, a sneaky ploy to get you to watch.)

This Thursday,

July 30th at special time

7.00 PM ET.

Watch for details in your inbox

on Thursday morning.

Here’s a little sneak peek of their work.
Can you guess who it is?

Hints:

— This artist’s style is highly rendered and very dreamy.

— This artist’s dream job is to illustrate a compendium of insects or magical flowers.

I’m excited to invite you to join me TODAY at 12:30 PM ET for the next in our series of WebinARTs as I chat with our witty and charming artist Julia Christians, (‘memorizing song lyrics is my useless superpower’). She’s worked on a variety of fantastic book projects for Nosy Crow, Oxford University Press, Scholastic, and more. You’ll see why she is kept so busy with work commissioned by top publishers.

to join our FREE WebinART on Zoom

with our artist Julia Christians today at 12:30 PM ET.

Join me as I ask Julia about her process (“the three P’s: Photoshop, Pencils and Procreate”) her tips on working from home with two kids, how she stays sane, and we’ll view her gorgeous work. We’ll do a random giveaway of one of Julia’s fully-illustrated books for one of the viewers.

“I worked with Julia on a children’s book series and I am blown away with how well she captured the characters’ humor and all the energy she injects in the stories! Julia is an amazingly talented illustrator!”

Elisabetta Barbazza, Senior Fiction Designer, Nosy Crow

Julia Christians

Harz Mountains, Germany

Animation by Natasha Dewitz

Above: Magnificent Mabel series covers

What’s That In Dog Years

(Oxford University Press)

When I saw this brilliant piece by Julia, I immediately knew that I had to represent her. What I saw was hilarious and expressive characters, the ability to depict cinematic views (close-ups, medium shots, wide angles), rich textures and charming lettering (not to mention the hilarious text she wrote!) This is still one of my all-time Julia Christians favorites.

Azutura wall decals

Illustration for Make Art That Sells course

Julia’s art for an assignment for

the Make Art That Sells Home Decor class.

Available for licensing as of this writing.

Coming this Thursday!

Above: Cover for The Soup Movement (Oxford University Press)

Join me Thursday for our WebinART #9 as I chat with the lively and hilarious

Julia Christians and view her gorgeous work.

This Thursday,July 23rd at 12.30 PM ET.

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We’ll be broadcasting live on Zoom here on Thursday. See you then!

WebinART link here

Password: Julia77

Last week’s WebinART and portfolio showcase with Sarah Papworth was a blast! You can catch the replay here; Password: 8R?K4=+9

Find links to our entire WebinART series HERE.

Agility Live Magazine

“An artist and an activist are not so far apart.”

— Ava DuVernay, award-winning writer, producer and film director ( New York Times)

Live today 12 Noon ET!

I’m loving our WebinARTs over here at my agency Lilla Rogers Studio where, as you probably know, I interview our fascinating artists and we chat about their work and careers, most Thursdays.

As of this writing, I’ve done eight WebinARTS, and I’ve found that I enjoy them so much that we dreamed up “Live with Lilla”, where I’ll be interviewing artists, art directors, editors, and more, over at my school site, Make Art That Sells.

I’m thrilled that my very first Live with Lilla interview starts today with someone I’m crazy about, the QUEEN, Vanessa Brantley-Newton, beloved and highly-regarded author-illustrator of over 40 children’s books and diversity expert. We’ll chat about increasing diversity in our industry, what agents and art directors can do, and more.

Kim, I hope you’ll join me over on my Make Art That SellsFacebook page. It’s free and open to everyone, 12 noon ET today, July 20th.

Here’s the fabulous Vanessa Brantley-Newton with her newest book of poems for little girls, “Just Like Me”(Knopf/Random House). Available here.

Amazon selected This Little Dreamer: An Inspirational Primer, as the best kids’ book of the year so far, for ages baby to 2!

Huge congratulations, Daniel!

Published by Simon & Schuster

You get to customize your wall art with Katie’s people and icons! How cool is that? Check it out at Uncommon Goods.

Tara is available for Bolt Fabric commissions!

Left: Available for license

Below, left: Fabric for Robert Kaufman

Available for license as of this writing.

Contact us to assign or license–we’re happy to help!

Animation by Natasha Dewitz

Red Dragonfly artworks

Available for license as of this writing.

Available for license as of this writing.

Click here to join our free public WebinART on Zoom with Guest artist Sarah Papworth today at 12:30 PM ET.

Password: Sarah77

I’ll ask Sarah how she begins an illustration, how she hones in on a particular color palette, tips on portraiture, what makes a great art director, what she’s reading right now. She’ll show us a number of her favorite images in a gorgeous slideshow.

We can’t wait to see you there as we put some goodness out into the world, and we’ll do a giveaway of Sarah’s stunningly illustrated Rainbow Revolutionaries book (HarperCollins).

Sarah Papworth, illustrator

Evesham, UK

Above: Greeting card for

American Greetings

Above: Fifty LGBTQ+ People Who Made History, fully illustrated by Sarah Papworth (HarperCollins)

From I Know An Artist (Quarto)

From I Know A Woman (Quarto)

Illustrations for The Washington Post

From my Make Art That Sells Creating Collections for Home Decor class

I hope you’ll join me for our WebinART #8 featuring

our artist Sarah Papworth and her latest work.

This Thursday, July 9th at 12.30 PM ET.

—–

We’ll be broadcasting live on Zoom here on Thursday. See you then!

WebinART link here

Password: Sarah77

Our previous WebinART and portfolio showcase with Anke Rega was so fun. You can catch the replay here; Password: 2g*=w&85

Find links to our entire WebinART series HERE.

Left: The cover of Sarah’s beautiful portfolio PDF.

I Know a Woman(Quarto)

for the Wall Street Journal, Better Homes & Gardens, and The Washington Post.

‘Summer Reading’ for The Wall Street Journal

‘Secrets of Getting Organized’ for Better Homes & Gardens Magazine

Better Homes & Gardens Magazine

Anke was commissioned to create a series of five illustrations on spring cleaning and home refreshing for the

Spring issue.

Personal Work by Marco Marella