Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Creating a Collection


Hi folks.  Many of you know that I have a toe in the licensing world with my artwork on Judaica products, greeting cards, and other surfaces.  When you're pitching your artwork for licensing, it's  important to show prospective licensors how your art will look on their products.  Although I do all of my drawing and painting on paper or canvas, I learned Photoshop to be able to make parts of my images into repeats, and "mock-up" products with my artwork.

Here are two recent instances where I did this, and also created "Sell Sheets" to show my work.

Below is a page from my art journal, where I outlined and doodled in pen and filled in with watercolor. Here's how it looked in black and white, and then painted.  


Art directors see a lot of art, so if you can lay it out on potential products, you'll have an edge.  Here's my example:


As you can see, I created a background for my design, showed it in a square, in a round, on some oven mitts, on an apron, a coffee cup, coordinating designs, and a border.  All from one art journal page!

Highly textured mixed media art is a little more challenging, but here's an example of one I just finished.  

The original, is a spread in my art journal (featuring my Hebrew Calligraphy & Hamsa Stencil  and the Peacock from January 2014 Stencil Club, as well as Mary Nasser's Compass stamp from RubberMoon and Pam Carriker's Cordelia Stamp) :  


and here's the Sell Sheet: 

  
Because I don't envision this design on as many products, I only show it in different variations, an allover pattern, and a few mock-ups.   It's important to only show your design on appropriate products - don't just place them on everything (for example, there's no reason to mock up a banana design on a coffee cup!).

Here's a great blog post about creating a Sell Sheet.  Thank you Natalie Timmons for generously sharing your experience and knowledge.  A great resource for learning Photoshop is Lynda.com.  And Phyliss Dobbs created great templates for mock ups, which you can purchase and download

Here's a video of me painting a face.  It's not the woman in this piece, but I hope you find it helpful anyway!  You can see other examples on my YouTube channel.    I hope you'll become a subscriber!



Thanks for stopping by. Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

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16 comments:

  1. Great post I thoroughly enjoyed the video. Thank you.
    Nicole/Beadwright

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    1. Thank you Nicole, and thanks for stopping by.

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  2. Oh you creative one. Your sell sheets are the perfect visualization too of what you are creating. Love them and thanks for the tips. xox

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    1. Thanks Corrine. It's been quite a learning curve.

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  3. thank you so much for sharing your process and the invaluable info on your marketing/licensing!

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    1. Thank you Linda. It's taken me many years and I'm still learning tips. Happy to pass the knowledge along!

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  4. She is beautiful, thanks for sharing video, very inspiring!!

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    1. Thank you Shilpa. I'm glad you found it useful.

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  5. There is much that goes into licensing- I had no idea! The sell sheets really make a difference- I love the apron with flowers!
    Thanks for sharing all of your tips and videos Jessica-and yes, I am a subscriber! xo

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    1. Thank you Jackie! I hope an art director sees it and likes it too!

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  6. Thank you for sharing this video. I am always fascinated, watching you paint faces. This particular video was quite helpful to me. In the future, I will find a magazine photo of a face, and rather than getting frustrated, trying to create a "perfect" copy, I will relax and find the shadows and lines. I also think it is helpful, having some color already on the page, as you have shown. Thanks again, Jessica. Your ability to share techniques in a friendly, non intimidating way, makes you my favorite artist to watch, especially when I am struggling with painting faces.

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  7. I have just discovered your wonderful blog! Thank you so much for sharing all the information about sell sheets, Photoshop etc. and for all the links. I will be viewing your youtube channel later on. :-)

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  8. She's stunning! Then you added your decorations and WOW! I love watching you create. You work with such confidence! Such beautiful pieces have come from this!
    ....Raine

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  9. This post is beyond helpful! You might be the first person to reveal and tell so much that is so helpful of all the blogs I read. Thank you! You art is gorgeous, and love designs...sure to be picked up!

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  10. What a great post, Jessica, especially for those who are considering doing licensed products!

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  11. Dear Jessica, thank you so much for this very helpful post - also all your other posts. i am here in germany bavaria and i am a great fan of your art. i love the way, how you work so much! i will surely watch all your videos - that is so exciting. dear greetings from bavaria

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