next steps

I am still riding the high of getting my sample prints but I realize this is just one of many steps required to actually make it as a licensed artist.

Now what?

In the week since I received my sample fabric I have been pouring over websites of manufacturers looking for other places the pattern might sell. Then, I painstakingly applied the design to many products, for example; napkins, trivets, tea towels, and gift bags. Once the art was all in place I created a nicely branded pdf and began the submission process all over again. Now if I didn't enjoy my family, I would've done this months ago, but I actually like having a life, so find myself just now taking this next step. Two packages in the mail, and three email submissions later, I realize I need to make more work, and find more places to submit.

It really is a cycle. A cycle of creating art, mocking it up, researching markets, submitting and promoting. I pretty much suck at the promoting part, so my next big commitment is to make this a higher priority.

final product

Wow. I started on licensing my art nearly two years ago. I started because I had a lot of time on my hands with the economic downturn. Of course it doesn't require time alone. I happen to be an artist with a ton of art, and a few concrete skills in the real world of design. Put that together and here I am, learning a new industry as fast as I can.

The bad news is, it isn't easy. And just because I have art and the know how to make it into a mock-up to send to a manufacturer doesn't mean instant success. As I have learned at the school of hard knocks, success in life takes a good dose of luck and timing too. Much to my chagrin. Seems some folks have more of that combination than others. I tend to fall towards the mid to low end of the spectrum.

The good news is that persistence pays. I have submitted no less than 30 designs to one company in particular. They in turn show them to their clients and finally, someone bit. Being new to the process, I didn't realize wholly that it would take nearly 5 months for the check to arrive with my sample product. The gears grind slowly in this industry. Much slower than the world of graphic design where everything seems to be due tomorrow and printed or posted within the week.

So here I am, contemplating how to celebrate my first real world success story. Granted it is one product. But it is too glorious yards of the most beautiful fabric I have ever seen. Why, because it is my fabric, my art, my name in the selvage. And that very fabric is going to be seen in stores this month.

Yippee.