Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Brief Tips & Tricks in Art Licensing

I have started noting down some key tips & tricks I get from networking and in reading up about licensing from blogs or books. I'll start sharing them as I go. These are not laws set in stone, just comments I thought could be helpful in some situations.

• At a licensing group meeting a licensed artist/agent recommended to start building up your collections with three basic themes: Halloween, Christmas and birthdays, since these drive a large percentage of licensing deals.

• For those interested in finding an agent, there is a large spectrum of opinions. I've heard it suggested that you have a complete portfolio with some 200-300 pieces of artwork, or 8 collections of 4-24 pieces each, or 3 basic collections with 50-75 illustrations total, depending on the agent, your technical and design skills plus your understanding of the market. There are some exceptions to the above in that some artists get an agent even before they develop full collections, but these are apparently rare instances - their art is very fresh, unique or some sought-after style.

• The ability to develop innovative concepts that can be used for multiple product applications, which can also be applied across multiple categories, is much more important than having a large stack of illustrations.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

If you have any additional or contrary tips that you'd like to share, please leave a comment! I'll share more tips and tricks that I uncover in the weeks to come. By the way, Surtex 2012 is only about 260 days away!



6 comments:

Jenn said...

I'd say you're pretty accurate. I actually only had a bout 20 images in my portfolio that were ready for the market when I acquired my agent, I hope they saw something unique in my work :)

Unknown said...

Great post... and timely. I'm in the process of creating and putting my collection(s) together. Thanks !

Unknown said...

Jenn - thanks so much for your comment, you have really nice art :)

Marty - thanks! Didn't know you were working on collections, too. Are you going to exhibit this coming year?

Unknown said...

Wish I could say I was Alex, but I don't see that being in the budget yet. I'm just going to be contacting mfgs and maybe some agents via mail. Will you be at one of the shows ? I plan on at least walking the floor at Surtex again come May.

Unknown said...

Marty - am planning to walk the Atlanta show in January and striving to exhibit at Surtex in May 2012 ...will see how it goes!

Unknown said...

Good luck in Atlanta... let me know if you do exhibit at Surtex.. i'll make it a point to check out your booth.