Are Style Guides Needed in Art Licensing?

Periodically artists ask if style guides are necessary, what do they look like, and how much do they cost. Read the following comments by art licensing coach Jeanette Smith of J'net Smith, Inc. about style guides that are paraphrased from her September "Ask J'net Free Friday - Q&A" teleseminar.

"When I worked on licensing Dilbert in the early 1990s, style guides cost from $20, 000 to $70, 000. Style Guides can be huge projects with big budget price tags for big properties. These large properties create style guides for those manufactuers that really want the property and expected the property creator to design the products. The style guides are created so that the style of the property is preserved.

Style guides provide all kinds of information and instructions to protect the integrity of the property. They usually include the fronts, backs, sides of characters, precise colors, size and proportion guidelines, type fonts, character descriptions, frequent sayings, and suggested layouts for products and retail displays, as well as suggesting patterns, icons and other elements for coordinating lines of products.

When artists are just starting out they probably won’t need a style guide. Usually a portfolio of art with mock-ups is all that is necessary. If the artist isn't well known then manufacturers won't expect a style guide. However, if you think that you do need a style guide, than I suggest that you figure out exactly why, what the purpose it is going to serve, and what needs to be in it. You may be able to get along with a small one that costs less or that you can create yourself. Most artists can go a long time without a style guide. They just need to keep building their portfolio and creating strong presentations for manufacturers."

For those artists that are further along on their path to building a brand and/or doing character licensing, consistent looks and colors from product to product is a must. In this case, style guides are important to make sure that they are preserved. Check out the following sites for more information and examples of what style guides look like.

1. See style guides for CD Comics. They show the poses of characters, the colors to be used, and the logo.

2. Artistic Solutions and Productions creates style guides for their clients. Their site has a description of what is in a style guide, their uses, and many examples.

3. Style guides are also used when many people are involved in large projects such as in video games. See an example of the elaborate style guide used for the video game Vega Strike.

Resource: Portals to Color Sites

The following two portals has links to many sites that show color pallets for art inspiration, examples of color mixing, let you generate color palettes from paintings, and much more.

1. Check out Kate Harper's blog for her articles Fantastic List of Color Resources and More Great Color Resources.

2. Download a free color tool bar that you can use in conjunction with your internet browser. It was created by Cherish Flieder and links to over 30 color sites.

What are Art Collections and Why Create Them?

An art collection is a series of pattens, icons, and borders that are created to compliment a painting(s) so that it can be used in a variety of ways on numerous products. Artist / art director Joanne Fink of Lakeside Design may not be the first to create art collections but she sure has been the most vocal in embracing the concept. Joanne has given many talks at art licensing conferences spreading the word to artists about the advantages of creating collections around a painting (central image). Art collections can be created anyway you wish on any size paper. The example above shows a two page (8-1/2 by 11 inches each) spread of one of my own art collections. Read the following article for more information about art (themed) collections by Joanne Fink.

Themed Collections

by Joanne Fink of Lakeside Design

I think in terms of what I call ‘themed collections.' The purpose of a themed collection is to create a body of work that is formatted in enough different ways that manufacturers in different product categories will have all the parts and pieces they need to develop whatever shape and any type of product they want to make. By developing a themed collection in this manner, you can license the same collection to a tabletop manufacturer (who will need circular frames for plates), to a scrapbook manufacturer (who will be interested in backgrounds for scrapbooking papers and icons for stickers), and to a puzzle manufacturer (who will most likely only want a central image).

I define a collection as coordinated group of images containing most (if not all of the following):

1. Central image(s): 1 to 4

2. Frames: rectangular, circular, oval, square (preferably at least one of each; the rectangular and circular are the most important)

3. Borders: at least three (preferably in different widths – i.e. ½ inch, 1 inch, 2 inch)

4. Backgrounds: at least three (preferably created at 12 x 12 so they can be used as scrapbook papers).

5. Supplemental icons: at least 6 - more is always better. You can use the icons to build some of the backgrounds and borders.

6. Text: if appropriate

For detailed verbal information (sorry no visuals) on building themed collections listen to Joanne Fink's seminar that she gave at the 2006 CHA Winter Show. Session # 356 -D501: 2006 "Effective Marketing Strategies for the Art Licensing Business". The cost is $12.50.

To see pictures of themed collections created by Lakeside Design, go to their website. Note: Lakeside Design website was generated in flash so there is no direct link to the example pages. Use the following directions to locate the collection examples. After the website is open, click on services, then click on services for artists, then click on artwork development, and then click on see examples of themed collections click here.

An Editorial on Color Trends

Google the words "color trends 2010" and over 3 millions links pop up. It seems that everyone and every industry has their own ideas on what the color trends for 2010 will be. So who's color tends should an artist follow? To tell you the truth I don't know but I can tell you what I do. I choose the top one or two sources in the industry that I am concentrating my design efforts. I check to see what colors are similar and use those for designing SOME new art. However, beware the colors predicted by the experts are not always accepted by manufacturers or consumers. For instance, several years ago bright red and chartreuse green were the "new" Christmas colors so artists rushed to use them. When licensees showed interest in the art, the artist was requested to alter the colors to the traditional darker red and green. Thus, I think it is better to design mostly in the color pallet that suits your art style and follow color trends sparingly.

But if you feel that using color trends is important in creating your art, read an interesting article on tracking your own trends titled Trend Spotting and Tracking - Chart Your Own by Jacqueline Gikow (Polymer Clay Polyzine, April 2002). And read articles by two top color trend forecasting organizations - Pantone Color Institute and Color Marketing Group.