The Secret I’ve Been Keeping
(And Why I’m So Relieved to Finally Tell You!!)
If you’ve noticed, I’ve been quieter lately here on this publication related to my creative side (well, not on The Show Up Productivity Hub and around the amazing events in The Studio and The Collective! ;-) ... so you know why! )
I’m part of Liz Kohler Brown’s team, and keeping quiet about this event has genuinely been one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. Not because I’m bad at keeping secrets (well, maybe, also!), but because this is exactly the kind of thing I would normally shout about immediately! Because I can’t wait for it!!! And here it is! Free Enrollment is officially open for:
A little backstory
You might know Liz‘s name already — she’s one of the most generous, competent, and inspiring educators in the surface design and digital art world. I’ve been part of her community for years as a student, a fan, and, honestly, a bit of a devoted lurker of everything she creates. At some point (2024) — and I still kind of can’t believe this — I became part of her team! So I get to see her amazingness behind the scenes, too!
And this summer, Liz is doing something I genuinely wish had existed when I first started trying to sell my art.
Summer Art School — free, live, and starting June 16th
Summer Art School is a free, three-day live event on Zoom where Liz takes you from a blank page to a finished, sellable piece of art. Not just pretty. Sellable. There’s a difference, and that difference is basically what the whole event is about.
June 16, 17 & 18 | 9–10:30 AM Pacific / 6–7:30 PM CEST Replays included. No fee. No upsell during the sessions.
Here’s what happens across the three days:
Day 1: Research and SEO — you pick what to make based on what actually sells, not just what you feel like drawing
Day 2: Making the art, live, together
Day 3: Taking that one piece and turning it into a repeat pattern, a product lineup, a thing that can go on fabric, mugs, calendars, stickers
By the end of Day 3, you’ll have one finished piece that could live on a dozen different products.
Why this one hits different for me
I’ve thought about running something like this myself — smaller, more niche — so when I saw how Liz structured this, I kind of just sat there nodding. She’s solved the exact problem I kept circling: people make art, but they don’t know how to make art that sells.
She’s not teaching you to be a better artist in the abstract. She’s teaching you the specific thinking behind making something that a stranger will pay money for, and then actually making it, together, live.
And then there’s this: Liz’s Spoonflower shop — which she hasn’t actively touched since 2018 — still earns around $17,000 a year. Her calendar sales went from 204 to over 4,000 in three years. That’s not hustle. That’s strategy applied consistently. And she explains exactly how in the most non-intimidating way.
The prizes are genuinely wild
I have to mention the prizes because they’re not an afterthought.
Every day, artists who submit their work can win Etsy gift cards, free Studio memberships, iPad cases, and shirts. The grand prize is an iPad for one of the participants who submits all three projects.
And Gelato — the print-on-demand platform Liz uses in her own Etsy shop (4,000+ sales, 4.9 stars) — is sponsoring the event with five Gelato+ memberships. That’s a 33% discount on every single product you sell through their platform, for a full year. Each membership is worth $239.
If you sell through print-on-demand, or you’ve been thinking about starting, this alone is worth signing up for.
Full transparency
I’m sharing this with my proud affiliate link — which means if you join The Studio Membership, I may earn a commission. The event itself is completely free and there’s no sales pressure during the sessions.
But I want to be honest about something else too: I would be sharing this even without the affiliate link. And if you know me, you know it well! Being part of her team means I get a front-row (behind-the-scenes!) seat to how she thinks about teaching. And she still amazes and surprises me. Every single release! That’s rare. That’s the kind of mentor worth telling your people about.
Come join us
The event is June 16, 17 & 18. Replays are available through July 21st, so even if you can’t make it live, you can still walk through everything (and still enter for prizes if you submit by 8 AM ET the morning after each session).
I’ll be there. Show Up for Your Creativity! Come draw with us.
— Madda (here as really MaddaMom! ;-)
Questions? Drop them in the comments or DM me directly here on Substack — Thanks to the SUPH, I do check it every day, and I’m genuinely happy to talk through whether this is right for you. This is not just creative, it is going to be incredibly productive! ;-)
Thanks for sharing! I signed up!
Amazing news!! Well done you and the team! I’ve shared with my studio many whom sell work already but we do have new artists coming up all the time who would really benefit!