4th Annual Mother Daughter Pumpkin Carving Contest!

Happy Halloween!
I have moved the contest this year over to my new "an artist's life" blog.

Please head over there to vote for either "Nemo or Snoopy"...I have lost 3 years in a row! Hoping this might be my year.  click here to go to my new blog, see previous years' photos, & what the winner gets.

Or you can leave a vote in the comments below :-)

You all are the best - SO FUN to connect with you, thanks,

A bit about "2nd Thursdays" chat group on ArtLicensingShow.com

Hi Everyone!

Quick post about my "2nd Thursdays" group on ArtLicensingShow.com. We meet the 2nd Thursday of each month in a text chat room. 6:30 PM US Central Time (Chicago). Everyone is welcome who is interested in any aspect of the Art Licensing business. You do need to be a paid member of ArtLicensingShow.com to get access to the group. You can sign up for ArtLicensingShow.com for free if you want to look around and see what it is like & get a free business directory listing.

If you are already a paid member of ArtLicensingShow.com - I send out invitations to the "2nd Thursdays" group to everyone. If there is a glitch, just request to join :-D.

We usually keep the format open so that we can put our heads together. Cherish, Founder/CEO of ArtLicensingShow.com attends almost all of the chats. She updates us on any new features on the site, exciting news and answers any questions you may have. The group came up with the very successful holiday coloring book idea https://artlicensingshow.com/holiday-coloring-book/, I believe it has had 6,000+ downloads. Recently we had Susan January, VP Leaning Tree, answer all of our questions around the greeting card industry. https://artlicensingshow.com/2nd-thursdays-special-guest-susan-january-of-leanin-tree-chats-about-greeting-cards/.

Join us! we try to keep it to an hour long - always some great ideas and topics on everyone's minds.

Really looking forward to chatting with all of you!

3 years into Art Licensing - Things are starting to grab hold.

Hey Everyone!

Can you believe I started blogging 3 years ago last March?! Time flies when you are having fun ;-)

I thought I would chat a bit about where I am 3 years in. This isn't a gauge of where you should be, but from what I have heard and read, I look to be about 'average' ;-) Some say it takes 3-5 years to get going in this business.

 

Art

My art and patterns are SO MUCH better than 3 years ago thanks to the input of my agent ArtsDG.com and manufacturers. Art Licensing really is a wonderful community of support! Creating art almost every day really has done the trick too ;-) Practice makes perfect.

Licensing

I will rattle off a few licenses. Halloween figurines coming out this fall, Patriotic Notepads and note cards on Amazon and other sites. Flags and soft goods (to be announced soon) through a manufacturer that also sells through Wayfair, Amazon and Walmart. Thankful for a handful of manufacturers shopping some of my art around. - Things are starting to grab hold! :-D I need to take a minute and give a shout out to ArtLicensingShow.com - 3 exciting opportunities have come my way through this site - Cool Beans! Thankful for all the hard work my agent ArtsDG.com has done and continues to do <3

Blogging/Social Media 

Social media and blogging has been great for me and hopefully good information for all of you too. I get a front row seat and learn new things with each post. Nothing is better than when a manufacturer recognizes you at a trade show and raves about you & the blog! I am really blessed. It has been a fabulous way to connect with you. I appreciate all of you who have sent money to support the blog & newsletter. I could use more support. (Tip jar and PayPal link, top of right-hand column).

My "2nd Thursdays" group on ArtLicensingShow.com is a monthly text chat group. We put our heads together and great ideas and information come from it! Recently Susan January, VP Leanin' Tree was in the hot seat while the group asked her questions. If you are a paid member of ArtlicensingShow.com, you can get the PDF of the chat on the 2nd Thursdays group wall.

I recently decided to put the Pattern Parade on hold. I hope to pick it back up when I can afford an intern. Over the last 3 years I have added more to my social media plate and it was time to trim back a bit.

If you haven't already, I would LOVE to connect with you on social media sites. I enjoy seeing what all of you are up to :-D Go to my website and scroll to the bottom for the list/links of social media sites I am on http://www.annietroe.com. If you like, sign up for my newsletter so you don't miss any of the action here on the blog.

Advice?

While I haven't been in the licensing business that many years AND this is what I have to remind myself of once in awhile –– If you want it, you will get there. Stick to it, and one step at a time works beautifully. It won't be a straight path. Go where the opportunities pop up.

Any of you have advice you would like to share in the comments below? That would be great! Looking forward to hearing about your journey. Hugs!

Surtex 30+ Photo Review!

Annie with her art in rep.'s booth ArtsDG.com

Hey Everyone :-)

I made sure to get more photos this year! It is dependent on if I can catch people in their booths with a minute of free time and they agree to have the photo taken. These are in the order I took them, which is random because of the people I would bump into an speak with etc. Last year's post has that year's floor plan to give you a bit of an idea of the size of the 3 shows: Surtex/NSS/ICFF  click here

I attended Surtex on Monday only. The day Started with a meet up organized by http://artoflicensing.com. People come and go between 8:15 am - 10:00 am. There was a lot of great swag given away at this event! There was a short talk given by a publisher Judith McCabe, from Fox Chapel Publishing and by Melissa Schulz, ArtLicensingInfo.com.
This is a great meet up for anyone in the art licensing business to meet other people and get information.

My Agent Julie in Red and her partner Mary Ann behind her - No, They didn't know I took this pic ;-)

Part of the Art of Licensing Meet up, Level 1 Jacob Javits Food Court area

I barely walked the National Stationery Show (NSS) - I did catch a talk Joanne Fink gave to store owners about having coloring book parties, contests Etc. - It was great info that can apply to artist with coloring books.

Partial view of NSS entrance

Jennifer Speer, Artist, coloring on Joanne Fink's Coloring wall just outside of the NSS entrance

Before I post all the Surtex photos - Note that my '2nd Thursdays' group on Artlicensingshow.com will be text chatting about Surtex, trends and all things related and I hear there are some surprises! Spread the word and see you at 6:30 pm CST.  TOMORROW Thurs. May 19th, 2016 Link to group

We postponed this month to the 3rd Thursday for Surtex

SURTEX PHOTOS ;-) - Exhibitors, let me know if you would like to link to a different link. Click images to view larger - click link to each artists' work - this is on the fly photography :)

Kris Ruff

Lucinda Wei

Dinah, Western Illustration

PI Creative Art

Danielle Kroll

Cherian Design

Pamela Hamilton Designs - Gracefull Arts - This is a Design Next booth :-D

Dot & Flow

Tatyana Starikova

equinox art & design - Marsha Rollinger

My Favorite Designs!

Kate Mawdsley

Ella Bella Rose, England

Lilla Rogers Studio

Painted Planet Licensing Group

Wild Wings

Kitty Keller Designs

Nicole Tamarin - She also was a speaker/panelist for a Surtex Conference that was great!

Elizabeth Stirling Designs

Stacy Peterson

Marion Nixon Paintings

Figgy Pudding Designs - Shelley Brant

Suzanne Cruise Creative Services, Inc. - They recently merged with Buffalo Works: Press Release

 Altelier - Surface/Pattern section at Surtex, They do not like booth photos taken :-)

 

Trend Theater - Free seminars

 

Thank you all for giving me permission to take photos of you/your booth!

Make my day! and Buy me a cup of coffee (PayPal Link in right side bar, you don't need a PayPal acct.), follow this blog, and/or click an ad (you don't need to buy ;-)

 Don't want to miss the good stuff? Sign up for my newsletter ;-)

 

Behind the Scenes of Shake a Tail Feather Collection - answering a few art licensing questions

Click images to view larger

Answering a few of your questions

 

Happy Friday Creative Souls!

One of the most popular emails I get from all of you is how do you create art for licensing. I have done a couple of posts so you can get a peek behind the scenes of how I do it. (links at the end of this post). Here we are taking a peek behind the scenes of my "Shake a Tail Feather" collection. Please realize, there is no one way to do this! There are as many ways as their are artists. I know artist who paint complete paintings and do not set up mock ups or patterns. They may pull icons out of the finished painting.  I personally like having a lot of icons (a single rooster is an 'icon') to create different image combinations with. So I will paint in steps, then scan in the art after each step. Example: Paint the rooster first, scan in the computer, paint the background, scan in the finished painting. Sometimes I just paint a background to use.

Another question is how much work do I need to have before I get into licensing?
Gosh, there isn't a magic number. You could be a stunning floral painter and only need just a couple of paintings that catches a manufacturer's eye. I lean towards having several images and/or collections. That to me says you are serious, have more than one image to sell/make money on. Everyone including you wants to make money from your art. I think I had around 12 art collections before I started approaching agents. I also set up an art licensing website. It was my personal comfort level.

Finishing touches in Photoshop

Do I worry about not having just one style?

No :-) I primarily work in watercolor and acrylic. They dry fast! Some say I have a couple of styles. Some say that they can tell that all of it is my work. I like the idea of being able to offer a manufacturer a wider variety of art for their products. 

Watercolor sample image

What programs do you use?

I am a Photoshop girl!, since I create my art by hand (not on the computer). I scan it in to the computer at high resolution, so that the image can be around 36 or more inches at 300 dpi. I may work in Illustrator down the road, right now I use Illustrator for logo design, some t-shirt design etc. depending on what my client needs. I use InDesign for magazine layout, newsletters and it works great for billboards etc.

Sprinkled through this post I am showing you some in progress photos of how I paint the "icons" first. Above, I lightened the dark brown background to get a different feel/color to the painting.
• Find more painting steps in this post here
• Find out about building a portfolio and what a collections means to me here
• More behind the scenes photos, Patriotic collection here

One of the Shake a Tail Feather portfolio pages.

Thank you all for your social media shares and emails. The art licensing community is fabulous! Looking forward to hearing your comments about how you create art and licensing experiences.

Help Me Celebrate - Wed. March 30th - Right Here!

Hey! Happy Friday Gang!

I am holding off my usual post until THIS Wednesday, March 30th cuz there is going to be a party! ArtLicensingShow.com (ALSC) is turning 1 year old! Check out my blog post this Wednesday and see what all the fuss is about. It is an open house, come at anytime, I will be wearing my PJ's & drinking raspberry tea ;-)

If you have an art licensing focused business an have not yet taken advantage of the free directory listing on ALSC - click here! http://redcarpet.artlicensingshow.com/join

Do you want to join the fun? Giveaways, art promotion opportunities and more - you can read about ArtLicensingshow.com 's Anniversary Celebration blog post here:
http://artlicensingshow.com/1st-anniversary-virtual-meet-greet/

So excited!

Creative process - think small? - What is yours!

Happy Friday Everyone!

I was asked recently what my creative process is and I drew a big fat blank! I had never thought about it.  - please share your tips/process in the comment section below :-)

In a nutshell I think small - I know right?! We are suppose to think big! - I dream big, but as my Dad so wisely told me when I was WAY ahead of myself over a decade ago, is to take one step at a time. I/you can be so much more effective breaking things down into small manageable steps - Thanks so much Dad. I remind myself of this a lot :-)

I like it best when I wiggle into the creative side of work. (Really, I think it all has creative aspects :-) below are a few of the steps I take each day.

Exercise

I am not sure some of you would consider this part of a creative process, but for me, I need it.
I exercise pretty much every week day. If first thing in the morning, it wakes me up! OR, sometimes I will work out around the lunch hour to get me off the computer and out of my office. For me it clears out the cob webs. I will check emails on my phone while at the gym and trash a bunch that do not need my attention.

To do list

I keep a calendar of meetings, deadlines etc. and have a running to do list. Some think this isn't creative, but it saves me. I like to knock off my top 3 or so 'must do first' items each day (usually for graphic design clients) plus work on the social media for the day. Social media ranges from just an image post to the sites I am on, to writing/setting up blog posts. If time allows, I do pop in and comment/respond to people on social media through out the day.

Plate is clear

For some reason I have to clear off stuff before I can settle in and work on my current art collection. I prefer it to be quite - no people coming in my office. But I do listen to all kinds of talk radio & music. The music choices really vary: Fleetwood Mac 60's - 70's, Adel, and Baroque Classical music to name a few. Typically I am painting, setting up mocks, designing patterns and that kind of stuff in the afternoon, Break for dinner, and then usually back to it until about 10:00 pm. -- do it again tomorrow :-)

A Few Last Thoughts

Not every day is the same - but this is the schedule for most days of the month. I do have a standing date each week to have lunch with favorite son of mine and dinner with favorite daughter :-) We do family dinner night every Friday.

Don't feel you should be this scheduled. I personally like it and don't need to wait until "inspiration" hits me to paint etc. I schedule it and show up to do it. As ideas pop into my head through out the day, I jot them down in a notebook.

My office studio is typically cluttered. I used to fight it and pick up more often until I realized I am very visual. Out of site is literally out of mind! - These photos are from 2013 when I did a blog post on my studio/office - not much has changed other than some equipment updates - and the Christmas tree has been put away. Most of the art on the walls my adult kids did when they were in school.

 

 

Do we have similar approaches? Completely different? Can't wait to hear about you :-D