Guess what mischief I've gotten myself into!

I'm going live!

Lilla’s Art Chats with Katie Stack

Here’s how magic happens in my Studio on a snowy day in January.

For some time, I’ve been wanting to create videos for our community where I chat about all sorts of things—brain styles, organization, fun art supplies, who succeeds in the art business and why, what I’ve learned from thirty years as an art agent, and even questions like: Are all ADHD people creative? Do all creative people have ADHD?

I’ve had 50 years in the art business—a dozen as an illustrator (where I landed 70 jobs a year with clients like the New York Times Magazine, Sony Records, the Grammys, Rolling Stone, New York Magazine, Chronicle Books, Seventeen Magazine) and three decades as an agent representing incredible artists like Lisa Congdon, Suzy Ultman, Carolyn Gavin, Sarah Walsh and Helen Dardik. Plus, I’ve got my online courses over at Make Art That Sells where I’ve taught over 40,000 students.

Here’s what happened today.

One of my students, dear friend and illustrator,

Katie Stack

, came for a visit literally today in the studio ostensibly to chat about her book she’s working on.

We chatted first over coffee. She asked me how I got started in illustration, then that flowed to me asking Katie if she had an agent yet, and she said, “Well, I have controversial thoughts on that.” More questions.

“How do you cope with what’s going on in the world?” she asked. “And I want to hear more about the mystical part about you deciding to become an agent. And, like, do you always spray your pastels with fixative? Are you a paper or digital list-keeper?”

Over Florentine cookies and lots of laughs, it hit me: “Hey, Katie, this is fun. I love your questions. Let’s you and me do some videos on Substack! I have a burning need to share with my community. You always ask me such good questions. I’m sure lots of others in our community have the exact same questions. Plus, you know Substack inside and out (and, hello, it’s your last name, so obviously). So what do you say?”

Luckily, she agreed, and here we are.

In these live chats, I’ll share my insights, and Katie—a teacher turned illustrator—will bring her perspective. Just two years into being a full-time illustrator, she has loads of questions and insights to offer. She’s in it, navigating the early stages of her illustration career—building a portfolio, finding clients, figuring out next steps.

So we created this Substack post literally today—lettering and painting the image you see above, writing this very post, taking the shot of Katie, getting the zoom link, and clicking Publish. We’re obsessed.

The cool part is that the chats will be just like listening in on the conversations that Katie and I have together, over coffee.

We’d love for you to join us for our very first live chat on Substack, where you can ask us anything.

What do you want to ask us?

Join us for our first live chat on Thursday, February 6, at 11 AM ET! See you there! (And it’s free.)

Here’s the link.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85929044978

Hope to see you!

P. S. And it wasn’t just because she brought me Florentine cookies, by the way.