After three months, around 1000 entrants from 30+ countries, three rounds of competition, more than 10,000 public votes and many hours of deliberating, we are delighted to reveal the hugely talented winners of the 2014 Global Talent Search! It was so hard to choose from our outstanding six Finalists that we have decided to give THREE awards – the Grand Prize and two Special Studio Awards. Three art careers are about to change forever. Click on the video below to hear Lilla talking about who won and why, and scroll down to see their work!

(Note: In the video Lilla refers to MATS, her e-course Make Art That Sells, which starts on October 20. You can register here)

Grand Prize Winner:

TARA LILLY, USA

Congratulations Tara! The finalists were asked to design for a home decor line with Midwest CBK. Here’s a glimpse of Tara’s winning work for the competition (we will be sharing more in the coming days):

It was clear that Tara already had the talent, and then Make Art That Sells helped her understand the market potential for her work, and present it beautifully.

Tara had impressed us in the Make Art That Sells e-course. Her work was frequently in the top reviews. Here’s what we loved: we adore her sophistication and charm, with an extraordinary color palette. Her background in graphic design takes her presentation that much further. Check out the “Page 1” and “Page 2” flags. It’s that attention to detail that wow’d us. If you look closely, you’ll see her almost tactile textures. The kitchen canisters are a perfect example of utilizing her art in a really marketable way. She is thinking like a product designer. For example, look at the pom-poms on that yellow cushion! And finally, we could easily envision her beautifully handling all of the GTS prizes.

We are thrilled to announce that Tara has won TWO YEARS’ INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATION BY LILLA ROGERS STUDIO, with a host of licensing deals, professional development opportunities and international promotion and an all-expenses paid trip to England to participate in a major art event in June 2015! See the full list of incredible prizes here.

We are thrilled to welcome Tara into the studio fold and cannot wait to start working with her!

Special Studio Award Winner:

REBECCA JONES, Australia

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

Rebecca’s art has a robust joyfulness with a big wow-factor. The use of dark backgrounds and bold lettering really pops on the screen. She gave so much. For example, each bird is different and well-designed. The grey coordinate is a lovely, sophisticated touch. Look how she took a photo of an interior (lower left) and mocked up the lamp and wall art piece so beautifully! We adored seeing what Rebecca came up with in the reviews each week in Make Art That Sells.

Special Studio Award Winner:

FLORA WAYCOTT, New Zealand

And here’s Flora’s gorgeous work from the final round:

We loved her style for her delicacy and very intimate quality. We loved the contrast of the grey watercolor silhouetted florals with the pen and ink hand-drawn line art. Reviewing her site and the work she had done for the e-course, we were impressed with her strong body of work that we are dying to get our hands on!

We are excited to announce that Rebecca and Flora have both won TWO YEARS’ INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATION BY LILLA ROGERS STUDIO and a home decor or gift license with Midwest CBK! So our stable of talented artists just increased by three, and we couldn’t be more thrilled!

Like Tara, both Rebecca and Flora are also graduates of Make Art That Sells, and it shows. Congratulations to our three amazing winners.

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. Hurry! These artists are going to get booked up fast. And of course we have all your favorite artists, too.

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 (which starts on Monday 20 October). Even though the finalists were chosen independently by leading industry experts, and by the general public, all of them were graduates of Make Art That Sells, which just goes to show how the course really teaches artists how to up their game. We couldn’t be more proud.

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. There are still a few places left if you are quick – register here!