I think I've turned back on work wise and my wheels are spinning again. I'm working through some ideas at the moment and getting excited about possibilities. Above are some monogram designs I'm flushing out.

Labels: licensing

I finally have my licensing site up and organized how I want it. I still have some tweaking to do but it's suitable for public viewing now :) Above is a rooster form my junk-a-doodle-doo™ collection.

Over the last few months I've been collecting contacts and researching licensing. I've found out a lot The possibilities seem endless. With everything I have going on, I've brought on a Licensing Manager who will allow me to have more time being creative. She seems just as excited as I am which makes me more excited!

I've also feel in love (it's become an obsession actually) with making repeat patterns. It had been so long since I made them I had forgotten most of the steps. So, I purchased
Tara Reed's e-book and my memory was instantly refreshed on those few simple steps. It was well worth the money for the one page of steps I really needed.

Labels: licensing

The above is my full color logo that reflects they type of work I've been getting ready for my licensing portfolio. It's nice to do something a little different from drawing kids :)

I have totally engulfed myself in the licensing world and what I've been finding out is that there are a gazillion companies out there that license work and there is this air of secrecy that surrounds the entire industry from both artist and companies. It's really hard to explain but it's become very evident to me. I understand that some artist have to keep their licensing partners confidential due to specific contract agreements but when you can't see any of a companies or artist's work unless you are a manufacturer, that seems a little weird to me. I totally get why they do it that way, but I'm wondering if people are hurting their business by being so hush-hush (visually and informationally). I'm in no way telling people how to run their business (I still have secrets under my belt) and maybe they've been burned in the past? I think I feel this way because I've always had an "open" portfolio and freely talk about my experiences in the illustration field. It has gotten me thinking if I should be secretive with my work and information. I don't know the answer yet... Anyone else get this vibe about the licensing industry?

I had a great, awesome, long-overdue, meet-up with an old professor of mine from college. She was my absolute favorite and I had lost touch with her after graduation. Over the last 8 years I've been periodically googling her seeing what she was up to and couldn't find anything. When I started thinking seriously about licensing, I thought about how great it would be to pick her brain since I remembered she had dealt with licensing and product development for a company. Well, low and behold, while doing my research on licensing, I happened to find her on the staff page of a licensing agency. Serendipity? Serendipitous in deed! So I was able to pick her brain last week and my brain hasn't stopped firing since.

I've also been reading a lot of blogs from licensing artists and since Christy (love her!) tagged me, I'll share some of my recent licensing favorites:

Tara Reed's Art Licensing Information Blog
Heather Bailey's HELLOmynameisHeather
Paula Prass' Show + Tell
Amy Schimler's Red Fish Circle

And here's a fun piece I did this weekend. It's been on my to-do list for a while. Now I'm working on some things to compliment it:

Labels: junk-a-doodles, licensing

Here's a snipet from what I was working on yesterday. I'm please with how the entire piece turned out. I see myself going more and more in this direction for licensing and children's work. There's something so relaxing about making 3-D art :) Now, off to the two, 2-D projects due today...

Labels: junk-a-doodles, licensing

I love when you just stick stuff on a scanner, do a little in photoshop and it becomes something cool. This is from today's Woogie Wednesday. These will appear in an assignment I'm working on and also future pattern designs for licensing. A few weeks back I designed some stamps specifically for my junk a doodles work so this is really the first time I've had a chance to use them.

Labels: licensing, woogie-wednesday

I worked on a new mailer for licensing. Not 100% sure I like it yet though. I want to go ahead and get some promos out there and then figure out what my next step is for promotion. I don't think postcards are the entire way to go for this type of work so I'm coming up with some other ideas. I've found a lot of companies who have take email submissions so I've emailed them my tearsheets. It's been fun watching my stats as these companies come to visit my site.

I've also loved having the opportunity to just play. I've been experimenting with textures and more collage in my work. I've been able to break more rules and get out of the ridgidness (is that a word?) I've put myself into with children's illustration. I'm loving it!

I have big plans and expectations for my licensing work and I've been tackling it like I did when I first started out to become an illustrator. It's been so fun and I've already learned so much!! I've even decided to take on a marketing assitant who will do a great job for my business and I think be a great agent/rep one day. She has a sales background and is used to the phone call, meet and greet scene (something I'm not into and don't like very much) plus, I'll have someone to travel with for trade shows and such. Plus part of her responsibilities is window shopping so that's right down her alley! I'll be sharing what all she's doing for me throughout the process.

Thanks to everyone for the "good luck" and "advice" emails. I really want to thank Vela at Little Star Soup for being so generous with information. Isn't her work the cutest?

By the way, my desk still looks like it does from the last post. Maybe I'll have time to clean it today....

Labels: licensing, promotion

See. It did help showing my logo to the world. I took action! I'm getting everything together for my licensing push. I have a meeting with an attorney tomorrow about it all and then I'll start making some contacts and getting my work out there. The site is coming but I need to figure out a few things before it goes live. I have a pretty big client wish list so here's hoping they like my work!

Labels: HOLLi CONGER designs, licensing