Five important concepts in art licensing (Part 2)

Part 2

Last week we talked about the first two concepts; flat art and colour art. This week we are continuing to explore the next three important concepts; series art, commercial art and Flat art portfolio. 

What is Series Art?

When you create series art, your focus is on creating a story or a series of art works. Licensees or manufactures are always looking for a range or a collection of art works. This way they can put together and create a range or a collection of products based upon your art. 

 

Beetle Boy

Ellen Crimi-Trent Copyright

An ideal series or collection is a set of FOUR and this is an industry standard too. There’s no reason why you can’t do more if you like as long as the all work comes together as a series. The key is they all compliment each other.

Manufacturers like patch work or quilting fabric companies generally seek a range of up to four through to seven colour ways in a collection or series.

Commerciality

To do well in art licensing your artwork needs to be commercial. Manufactures who license art are generally seeking art that is commercial or mainstream. If artworks are selected from “alternative” sources, it’s because there’s an identified niche, or audience readily available to purchase the finished product. The manufacturer’s objectives are to attract a wide audience. 

This works to the artist’s advantage too. After all, the more products the manufacturer sells, the bigger the pay cheque you will receive.

Your Art Portfolio

To grab great attention for licensing your art you need to have a well laid out art portfolio.

Your portfolio should include the following areas:

Artist’s statement - a text composed by you the artist that explains and contextualises your works, themes, and journey as an artist. We’s suggest both a short (50-100) word version, as well as a longer (500-1000)word version of the same statement. It’s important that these statements are maintained and revised over time.

Sample of Art Portfolio

Artwork - show your creations. This could be original or a quality scanned versions of your artwork. Categorise your artwork into different stories and highlight any of your artwork that has already been licensed. This is to gain the potential licensees’ confidence in your work and designs.

Mock Art™ - is a great way to show your artwork and design as an object. This way your potential clients could see how your design would work on a particular product. Mock Art™ is an ArtSHINE service that we created for Licensing Artists. It helps you translate your art into a mock object like a mug or teapot. Mock Art™ allows you to embed your art into a mock object using Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. 

 Mock Art                                        Mock Art

Before                                             After

                                                                                                         

                                                                                           

                                                                                   IMOK Design on Mock Art    
              

 Product samples - show your clients some of the finished products. For example you could feature some of your licensed greeting cards, or a actual photo of your ceramic range.

Overall, your portfolio needs to be inspiring, exciting and appealing.

Your portfolio is one of the key elements that you’ll need to succeed in the Art Licensing world.

Next week we will talk about “What to Create and What to Paint for Art Licensing”

So stay tuned and thanks for dropping by...

Chapter 2 :Five important elements you need to be ready for license your art

 PART 1:

Flat Art

Imok Copyright

Available for  Art licensing

To ensure that you are ready to license your art, you’ll need to first consider these five concepts:

• Flat Art
• Colour Art
• Collections & Series
• Commerciality
• Flat Art Portfolios

What is Flat Art?

Flat art refers to any art work that is painted, illustrated on paper, or presented on flat surfaces like canvases.  Flat art could also be digital or even photographic. In our experience flat art is preferable to presenting any three dimensional art work or objects.

That said, three dimensional art works have been used to license figurines and toys before, the process just takes  a little bit longer because the three dimensional object needs to be translated in flat art first.

What is Colour Art?

Colour art is the most popular and successful form for licensing. We realise how important colours are, and sometimes colour is just as important as the actual design.  After all, colour can be the first thing that attracts our eyes.  Colour can make or break a design too.

Black and white art on the other hand may not a good option for licensing and may have less chance of being selected by manufacturers.

Colour Art

Imok Copyright

Available for  Art licensing

Tune in next week for Part 2 

How Do I Know Art Licensing Is For Me?

Nikki Catalano Copyright

Art licensing is just one way that you can earn income by doing what you love... but is it for you?

Ask yourself these questions:  

• Are you passionate about creating art & designs?

• Are you able to commit to deadlines?

• Are you flexible within your artistic creation?

• Are you prepares to compromise by making changes to your colour schemes, and even your designs sometimes?

• Are you versatile within your art practice, and able to generate different art themes, or character art?

• Would you love see your artwork on products sold in stores, and on-line?

Have a think about those questions, and notice some of the words that we've used. Words like passionate... flexible... versatile... 

And some challenging words too... Deadlines... Compromise...

Art licensing is about being clear of who you are as an artist. It's about you having an deep understanding of what is at your very core as an artist, and a real confidence in your creation. 

To be successful it's important that you're able to decide what belongs to you as an artist, and what you can share with the world as a design that's able to to be licensed.

Art licensing isn't for every one... so is it the right path for you?

One of the keys to creating success is to develop a system that supports your creativity and allows you to maintain a momentum.

Tune in for next week to learn more about our art licensing process.

Need help in mapping out your Art Licensing journey?

Call Vinh on 0410 636 138

 

Vinh@quantumcompass.com.au

Is Art Licensing a right path for you?

 Imok's Alphabet Mug

Available for Licensing

There's some common questions artists and clients have when they're exploring the idea of licensing their art work:

            • Is my work  suitable for licensing?

            • How do I know if my artwork is good enough to be licensed?

            • What will I paint?

            • Where do I begin?

            • How do I get started with art licensing?

            • Who do I see to get help with licensing?

            • What are my first steps?

            • Where do I find the manufacturers who license art?

The truth is that there are no easy answers to these questions... Art licensing isn’t for everyone.

There’s no quick way through, and no magic pill either!

To be successful in this art licensing game you need to work hard and understand how art licensing works.

Art licensing is a process like any other and it could take some artists at least 12 to 18 months before they earn their first royalty cheque. In saying that, the art licensing journey could be worthwhile and rewarding for you the artist if you have a  good process or systems in place.

Art licensing is an alternative revenue stream It allows you to earn a living through leasing you art work to a manufacturer for a period of time in exchange for a royalty payment.

Seems like a great way to earn a residual income...

Ask yourself these questions:

            • What do I want to achieve through art licensing?

            • What will art licensing give me?

            • For me to be successful in art licensing hat do I need to learn and what commitments do I need to make?

We encourage our clients to do at least three art licensing related tasks per week.

Three tasks in a week means that you’ll complete twelve tasks in a month. Wouldn’t this level of focus bring you closer to your art licensing goals?

And remember... There’s always times when you feel like throwing in the towel and call it quits. Everything can be more difficult at the beginning... And success rarely comes easily, or without hard work, application, and focus.

Here are some more tips to get you started with art licensing

            • Read blog posts.

            • Watch art licensing videos via youtube

            • Read about artists who are successful in the industry.

            • Read  books about art licensing

            • Get an art licensing coach to help you in the process

            • Listen to podcasts.

            • Talk with others who are learning about art licensing.

            • Create art with licensing and commerciality in mind.

            • Create four coordinating pieces of art.

            • Learn to create repeat borders & patterns

            • Learn to create "mockart"
              (mock up product with you design on it. like the Imok 's Alphabet mug)

            • Learn Photoshop

            • Learn Adobe Illustrator

            • Join a group of artists who are also interested in art licensing.

            • Do research and see what kind of art you see on products.

            • Research companies that license art.

            • Contact a manufacturer and submit your artwork for review.

            • Be open to feed-back.

            • Keep creating new artworks.

            • Promote yourself as an artist, and promote your artwork.

            • Allocate your “refresh” time.

As we’ve said, art licensing is a process. While it’s easy to feel overwhelmed sometimes, try and avoid the temptation to give up before your even start.

Commit to doing three tasks per week and you will be amazed at the progress you’ll make in your art licensing journey...

To your art licensing success!

Need help? 

Contact Vinh  on +61 410 636 138.

vinh@quantumcompass.com.au