I've been undertaking some fabulous courses from Make Art That Sells to improve my chances of getting more illustration work. Every year they run a Global Talent Search (GTS) competition. I've never entered it before but, despite not finishing all my coursework, I thought I might enter. There's some superb illustrators that take part and I can't beat them but I can join them. So I did. The brief was to design a gardener's journal including japanese anemones, staghorn ferns

1. FINDING THE RIGHT WORKSHOP FOR YOU OR YOUR CHILD What are your interests? What skills to do you want to learn and try? What date and time suits you? The Workshop Details page on the paperscissorsrock.net website gives all the up to date information on current workshops. There's also an article here about the Paper Art (5-8 yrs) workshop in particular. What's the workshop leader like? The workshops are run by me, Sam Hickman, an artist who primarily works with cut paper.

Fed up of the same boring and insipid Valentine's Day cards? Here's a handy guide to some refreshing, illustrated options for you. I've been having a mooch around the internet to find some beautiful, funny or geeky illustrated Valentine's Day cards from some independent UK artists. While searching for cards for a science nerd, I came across one by Protease Prints who does some marvellous anatomical drawings. If travel is your thing then Helena Carrington's city illustrations

I've been designing some LOVEly things!! It all started last year when I made this papercut called All The Love. I then made a wedding card for a friend and played around with some other things and came up with these... They will hopefully be available to buy as Valentine's Day cards at the the beginning of February. Watch out for more info... #love #valentine #valentinesday #card #greetingscard #Paperart #papercut #allthelove #papercut #design #artwork #art #illustration

I've been looking to do an illustration course for a while but I specifically wanted to find one online which would teach me how to use and market the skills I've already got. I have dreams, you see, of becoming an actual paid illustrator with an agent and everything. I don't know how to get there. I found the Make Art That Sells website a couple of years ago but I was worried that it was aimed at a US audience. Since then I've seen a few of their videos and content from i

Brief: to create an A4 wedding card for my client’s nephew and fiancé. It should be black and white with maybe a splash of colour, include the couples initials B and L and show their love of music (he plays the keyboard and she sings). It should be simple and bold. I wanted to know as much as possible about the couple. My client wasn’t sure what sort of music the couple played but from our chat I felt it might be something a bit chilled out – jazzy, bluesy, indie-y. My m