Designing a passionate life as an artist requires creativity in the making of the art and in selling the art. I don't consider myself an artist by any means but I have a creativity streak inside of me that very much appreciates the many ways that artists express their creativity. I'm continually amazed at the different creations done by artists.
I recently interviewed artist Tara Reed who is a dynamic person and absolutely passionate about what she does. Tara is a great example of someone who followed her passions. Tara's formal training is in marketing and sales, she is not an artist by training but she is passionate about her art. Tara was married and a stay at home Mom and then five years ago she found herself going through a divorce. She had a decision to make, go back to the corporate world and the steady paycheck or follow her passion for art and make a business out of it. She chose her art.
Five years later, she has a successful business licensing her art and teaching other artists how to do the same thing. Licensing your art means that you are giving the rights to a manufacturer to put your art on their products. Depending on how you structure the contract, you will receive a flat fee or royalties on a per piece basis.
Examples of manufactured items that contain licensed art include; fabric, paper products, dishes, coasters, bookmarks, golf balls, magnets, and shot glasses. Anything that has a piece of art on it could possibly contain licensed art.
Tara mentioned that the main concept that you need to understand about licensing your art is that it is your art's job to sell the manufacturer's product. It is not the job of the product to showcase your art. Because of the very personal nature of art, this may or may not work for you. It's important for you to understand this going in. You will have to make compromises and changes based on client feedback.
Tara is very up front about what it takes to license your art and explains it in her e-books. If you have any interest at all in licensing your art I highly encourage you to listen to the 30 minute interview I had with Tara. She gives you a lot of great information about what it takes and what you have to know to license your art. Click the button on the teleseminar page to take a look at her products.
