Make Art That Sells “Illustrating Childrens Books” Course Review

Last month I was able to take a live, online course run by the famous, talented and knowledgeable Lilla Rogers and Zoe Tucker: the Make Art That Sells - Illustrating Children’s Book course, specifically ICB6 (the 6th iteration of this course). I had been looking forward to it for months. But before I enrolled, I thought hard about whether I thought it would be worth the investment. In the age of 15$ monthly online membership with access to unlimited videos, the price seemed high. Should I join? Would it be worth it? 

Blog reviews just like this one helped me decide to enroll, so I hope I can help you decided, too, by shedding a light on what my personal experience was like. 

So, the big question up front: Was it worth it?

And the simple, short answer: Yes. It was even more than I bargained for. 

But that’s not what you’re here for. Here’s the long answer: 

The course is five weeks long, and end-to-end packed with dense content, learning, and community. I reckon you could invest 30-40 hours a week and not run out of work for the course. There are enlightening weekly videos totaling multiple hours, covering key topics from what art directors are looking for, how to submit a pitch, to illustration tips to improve your skills in capturing emotions in facial expressions and body stance. You are given daily drawing prompts, plus a mini assignment and a big assignment for the week. The content is important, of very high quality, and the best news — you have access to it for a handful of months afterwards. 

For a beginner like me, that is a huge bonus. Why? Because though I invested 15-20 hours a week to do the assignments, watch the videos, etc., I was unable to finish the weekly assignments to fully meet the brief, and to my own happiness, and that’s without even doing the daily prompts. Speed comes with practice… So that is exactly what I will be doing, practicing, learning, perfecting. Since I continue to have access to the content, I will continue to work on portfolio-worthy pieces from the 3 texts over the next couple months, and continue to soak up all the wisdom. 

Yes, you get three texts to illustrate! Incredible! During the course, even the more experienced illustrators are encouraged to pick and stick to one text, but after the course ends you are encouraged to work with the other texts on your own time. 

I haven’t even mentioned the Facebook group yet! 500 people took the course when I took it, which is somewhat mind-blowing. It also means your odds of getting a personal review during the weekly live reviews by Lilla and Zoe is minimal, if you are not at the top of your game. The live reviews, though, show you just exactly the level that is expected on the professional level, and the Facebook group offers so many wonderful, warm, inviting and engaged individuals who are engaging in feedback for all the other work, too. 

So, my verdict is: Even if it is a stretch for you, take the course. The weeks may be a total whirlwind, and it’s likely you will not be able to keep up. My expectation that I would walk away with a complete, portfolio-level pitch at the end of five weeks was quickly revealed to be completely unrealistic for me personally as more of a beginner illustrator. And then between a week of exceptionally long hours, followed by a week attending a full-time course in illustration elsewhere, I was not able to submit anything for week 4 and 5. But it does not matter one bit: I learned a lot, I stretched, I grew, my mind was blown open in the best of ways, and I can continue to grow and learn and milk every last drop out of the course experience and content for months. So, even if you are a beginner, if you are motivated and excited, I still say: go for it! 

If you’re curious, here’s what I made :). I thought you might appreciate seeing a real example of work I submitted. It is incomplete (two assignments were not submitted). It is not 100% consistent as a series. But it is the truth of where I am, and what I was able to do. And you know what? I am still darn proud, and I can hardly wait to go back through and truly work on these characters and maybe even do all the assignments again. If I do, I’ll link the final results here!