The Licensing Nook » Uncategorized

Find Your Own Voice

Monica Lee — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:03:16 +0000

I recently joined a linkedin group that discusses copyrights or to be more specific, copyright infringement. Needless to say in the age that we live in…this group is extremely active. It can be so disheartening to realize that someone has taken your art and used it as their own or even worse, is using it to make a profit for themselves! Even as an art student I innately knew that copying someone else’s art was wrong. This did not prevent me from copying John Singer Sargent’s watercolors in an effort to teach myself how to paint better but certainly it stopped me from acting as if it were “original” in fact it stopped me from even showing it to anyone. But what about the people that have never picked up a brush? Do they understand how life draining it can be to have ones art copied and used without permission? I am not sure they do understand. This group of artists and I are banding together to do some friendly educating. We politely want to inform younger artists/crafters that it is not ok to copy someone’s art and sell it on etsy and we want to (not as politely) give notice to bigger businesses that the internet is a powerful tool and if you are using art without permission or payment-shame on you-you will lose customers, period. We want to encourage art teachers to make teaching “originality” as a part of their curriculum, talk to students about copyright laws, use examples right within the classroom. Discuss how disheartening it can be to have artwork copied or “stolen.” Let’s teach younger artists now! And yes, I did use the word stolen..the evil right click. The letter of the law is that if I create it, I own it. I may sign that ownership away or “lend” ownership for a certain amount of time to someone, that is what people do in licensing. I give “limited use” for my art to be on products so we both make a profit. That is the simple version of what an artist does but can you see how awful it is for everyone if someone takes the art that I have created and makes a profit without my knowledge? It can hurt me and the people that I partner with. Here is a terrific website be your original best that promotes a copyCAT free artistic industry. I am going to add the button to my blog. There you can read some artists personal accounts and frustrations with this issue. One artist who is really addressing this issue is Terri Conrad. You can find her here . Tomorrow a large group of artists are all taking part in a blog hop to discuss who INSPIRES us in our creativity. Inspiration and copying are very different and tomorrow, I will talk about how I am inspired by other peoples art so you can see the difference. Until then, here is a little Cardigan Girl from Monica Land that encourages you to Find Your Own Voice!

Monica Lee for Tiny Prints!

Monica Lee — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 14:34:24 +0000

Happy Tuesday! More snow for us! ack! Enough already! I wanted to tell you about one of my licensing deals. I was very busy with creating Valentine’s Day cards for Tiny prints over the holidays. I noticed that they went ‘live” couple days ago and I thought I would post some of them for you. I created about 30 cards for them so I will trickle them in for you. You don’t know how excited I am to show you new art! It is so hard to keep mum when I have created something that makes me happy…I want to post it right away! I got to create all sorts of romantic cards…right up my alley and I got to draw some new girlies! fun! These have to sweetest greetings. I like the girl snuggled the chair, that is me today..all the way down to the top knot. Instead of chocolates, I had apple crisp for breakfast…ugh! Lots of sugar in my tummy so early…but I HAD to finish it off! ANYWAY, Tiny Prints does an absolutely lovely job personalizing cards, nice paper quality. You should take a peek through their huge selection or if you just want to see what what I did for them look here. Now you have no excuse for not sending a card out to a girlfriend, niece, sister or loved one.

Website Makeover!

Monica Lee — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:50:57 +0000

Oh happy day! My marvelous webmaster, Tom the Rockstar, completed my website redesign! Do take peek, we worked and worked to make this easy to navigate, full of art, reading and puppies. Maggie, my border collie, has not seen it yet. She didn’t make the site, too busy playing frisbee. When she heads in for the winter, she may notice that she is not in any pictures but HEY! if all you do is hang out in backyard with a frisbee in your mouth, you miss out on some things! the pic above is how the front page looks now! What a difference! We loaded up lots of editorial art and a couple licensing collections with a bit of copy on how I create them. Here is my site MonicaLeeStudios.com. Not that I am asking for comments but the rockstar husband deserves some kudos, don’t you think?

ALSO! Here is a teaser!! Check back tomorrow for some exciting news!!!

A Christmas Pattern in Spring?

Lesley Breen Withrow — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:52:58 +0000

posted by: Lesley

©Lesley Breen Withrow
I’ve been illustrating a lot of Christmas/Holiday cards lately. Here’s a pattern I used on part of a card. ‘Tis the time of year to make holiday art, so it can be printed and on the shelves in time! ho, ho, ho!

New High Five Magazine Art

Liz Goulet Dubois — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:53:03 +0000

Posted by Liz

I did the recipe art for January’s Highlight’s High Five magazine.
I feel certain that you will never think of Mac and Cheese Muffins the same way, ever again.

AND, then… for February, here’s Banana Dippers!
I say dip it. Dip it good.

My Greeting Card Collection – Sharing the Faith

Lesley Breen Withrow — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:12:22 +0000

Posted by: Lesley

©Gartner Greetings

I illustrated and planned the subject matter for this religious greeting card collection called ‘Sharing the Faith’ from Gartner Greetings (an imprint of Gartner Studios ). It’s a beautiful collection that has a soft natural look, lots of textures and patterns and art that ties in nicely with its up-lifting verses. It’s a 40 card collection that I shared with another fabulous illustrator and was a joy to work on.

Crafting Ornaments and a Blog Give-away!

Barbara Johansen Newman — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:45:27 +0000

I’m revisiting some soft tree ornaments I made years ago when I was a full tine doll artist. They’re hand painted, then sewn and embroidiered–even machine quilted a little. Take a peek and leave a comment. You might win a signed book or a giclee print from Tex and Sugar!

http://johansennewman.typepad.com/designrocket/2009/11/holiday-blog-hop-crafting-and-holiday-giveaway-.html

Are you ready?

Monica Lee — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:02:21 +0000

How close is Christmas?

I went in to a salon yesterday and they were putting up a Christmas tree! OMI! Is it that close?Thanksgiving is not even on my radar screen! I have been creating Christmas art since July so I have no real sense of time (holiday wise). This sassy girl was originally an ink stamp and I created several years ago and I have played with her using her in all sorts of forms. I thought this would be cute on a holiday shopping bag! (maybe for a lingerie store!)

Boden Catalog

Monica Lee — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:43:33 +0000

So I got a Boden catalog yesterday and I saw that they have a few (only these 3 actually) illustrations. I was thrilled! Hooray! I feel like more and more advertisers are returning to illustration as a way to set themselves apart. I don’t know who did these fashion illustrations, if you recognize this artists style, let me know. I am a Boden shopper, I am really into the “reviews” section on their website. It cracks me up to read the reviews from England….”My hubby loved this on me so much I bought another in a different color.” Funny, not sure I could get away with that…

RISD Student & Alumni Craft Show

Mary Beth Cryan — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:26:17 +0000

Posted by Mary Beth Cryan

The RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) student and alumni craft show last weekend was the BEST I have ever attended. It spanned 3 blocks and was packed with amazing art. Here are the beautiful objects that I acquired at the show. Fellow Licensing Nook artists Laura Fry and Liz Dubois were also in attendance.