Make Art That Sells (MATS) Part A Blog Hop/ MATS Review

As you can tell from previous posts I took the class Make Art That Sells Part A.  A few days after the class was over someone suggested doing a blog hop where every participant talks about their experience with the course.

Here is an overview of the projects I worked on:

Week One: Bolt Fabric:
This week our assignment was to create a bolt fabric collection using berries and vintage pyrex.  I challenged myself by embracing my love of cute things.  In this piece also wanted to play around with fun colors.  Previously I have been shy of creating cute items because I have a background in fine arts and creating simple cute things seems to contradict my education. I learned this week that I should listen to what my heart says and that it's just fine to create cute items - our teacher told us that cute things sell!

Week Two: Home Decor 

This week I wanted to do a more realistic approach to the assignment.  I thought home decor would be a good market for this approach. The assignment was to create a two to four plate collection about bromeliads.  I decided to include the scientific names of the plants as well.  I learned this week that I am comfortable doing both realistic and stylized cute items for decorative arts.  If I were to approach this assignment again I might go in a more vector/graphic direction.

Week Three: Children's Books

This week we were illustrate a cover for the Russian folktale The Language of the Birds.  I decided to change the setting of the story to being in New Zealand and have the birds be kiwi birds.  This week I challenged myself by going against the original setting of the story and also changing some character designs halfway through.

Week Four: Wall Art

This week our assignment was to create a piece of wall art for a 25-45 year old female that had at least one word and one flower.  After starting with one project I decided to go in a completely different direction.  I don't know why I chose a cactus, but it felt right.  I also found a great quote to accompany this desert plant. 

Week Five: Gift

This week was my biggest breakthrough in the class.  I challenged myself to work in a style and color palette that I'm not used to.  I'm also used to creating work that is bold and simple with not much detail.  Our assignment this week was to create a hyper lush zipper case (that was a reflection).  I started out creating simple objects and kept adding more and more details (which was something new for me).  It was a challenge, but I was pleasantly surprised with the final piece.  It is busy, but I think I balanced it out with some non-cluttered spaces. 

My overall impression:

I learned much from this course.  The assignments pushed me to try new approaches and subject material I never would have chosen for myself.  It felt good to try new things and stretch my artistic skills.  The most important thing I learned from this course was about how important it is to create well designed, detailed icons.  The community that also took this class is such a great resource as well.  We have a group on Facebook where we can ask each other questions, support each other, and more.  I would recommend this class if you're interested in learning more about how to market your artwork for various markets.



Today I'm sharing the blog hop with Eva Marion Seyffarth of Eva Twinkles Design and Illustration.

I'm so happy to share my blog hop day with Eva!  Her work is so great!  I love her use of color and texture.  I also love the process work that she does - from doodling to stamping and even paper cutting! It all inspires her beautiful final product.

Here is Eva's piece from week two of the course - love that texture and color!

You can find Eva's blog here: http://eva-marion-seyffarth.blogspot.de/

Her website is here: http://eva-twinkles.de/

Here is a list of everyone else participating in the blog hop:

Angie Sandy - http://www.angiesandy.com/blog
Katie Wood - http://www.katiewoodillustrations.blogspot.co.uk/
Anne Waters - http://annewatersdesign.com/blog/
Aisha Khan - www.aishaandherwork.blogspot.com
Linda Tordoff  - www.paintlovestudio.blogspot.co.uk
Martina Lenhardt - www.ma-len.blogspot.com
Melissa Doran - www.goradiate.ie
Jo Chambers - www.studiolegohead.blogspot.co.uk
Son Atwal - www.applekaur.com/blog
Bari J. - http://www.barij.typepad.com
Eva Marion Seyffarth - www.eva-marion-seyffarth.blogspot.de
Rachael Schafer - www.rachaelschaferdesigns.com
Danielle McDonald - http://reddogandjude.blogspot.com.au/
Renske de Kinkelder - www.renskedekinkelder.com
Jordan Vinograd Kim - http://www.foundandrewound.com/blog/
Emma Schonenbergh - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Emma-Schonenberg/175939639128136
Aileen Tu - http://aileentu.com/blog/
Sarah Ehlinger -  www.verysarie.com
Jen Burbridge -  www.madebyburbs.co.uk
Carolina Coto - www.carolinacotoart.com
Anna Whitford - www.rosanna-rossi.co.uk
Mary Tanana - http://www.barij.typepad.com
Jennifer Wambach - http://jennartdesigns.blogspot.com
Victoria Johnson - http://victoriajohnsondesignblog.blogspot.it
Nic Squirrell - http://nicsquirrell.blogspot.com
Melinda Hopkirk - www.crouchriverstudio.com
Jennifer Appel - http://www.jaillustration.com/
Wendy Brightbill - http://www.agirlandherbrush.wordpress.com
Andrea van Dalen - http://dreamkeeperfae.blogspot.nl/
Ohn Mar Win - http://illustrationsouljourney.blogspot.co.uk/
Jill Byers - http://jillbyers.blogspot.com
Sarah Gager - www.sarahgager.com
Angie Sandy - http://www.angiesandy.com/blog
Diane Neukirch - http://dianeneukirch.blogspot.com
Larisa Hernandez - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Larisa-Hernández/166215440228435
Kathy Weller - http://www.wellerwishes.blogspot.com
Kim Fleming -
Lisa Deighan - http://www.lisadeighan.com
Deb Trevitt - http://www.debtrevitt.com/blog/
Tara Lilly - http://taralillystudio.blogspot.com
Nicole Piar - http://www.ghostkittendesign.blogspot.com/
Stacy Peterson - http://stacypeterson.net/blog
Emily Dyer - http://www.emilydyer.com/blog
Antje MO (Martens-Oberwelland) - http://antje.art.com