The Licensing Nook

Posted by: Lesley

In this post I thought I would show you a bit how I work from sketch to finished art.1. Here’s my sketch

2. Next I lay down the foundation colors and start to fill in different elements of the art.

3. Once the initial art colors and characters are painted, I like to bring the art into Photoshop where I add lots of the details, textures and patterns. I have a large library of textures and patterns that I have created on paper using paints and scratchboard and pen and ink, etc. I have also been known to scan fabrics, newspapers, buttons, really what ever I think I can use in my art. It’s a lot of fun creating those different textures and patterns and once I scan it into the computer I can use it multiple times because it’s now a computer file.

4. And here is the final art with all the details, textures and patterns added in in place. But wait, there’s one more addition to this piece!

5. I decided to add a border all around it. This was a border I created by hand and scanned/manipulated in the computer. Hope you had fun seeing a bit of my working process!

Posted by Lesley

Steve and I recently received our first advance copy of Illustrating Children’s Picture Books from Roto Vision in the UK. It was great to finally see it in print and to hold it in our hands. It’s a nice square shape and size and is well designed. It will be available in December but you can place pre-orders on Amazon.com already. Here a few sneek peaks!

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.

Posted by Liz

Yes! I finally managed to get up to Brimfield for the fall show. If you’re not from these parts, it’s a simply gigantic antique show that sets up 3 times a year. Sprawling. Hundreds and hundreds of dealers. If you’re into vintage, retro, etc. you WILL find something interesting here. I did not come home empty-handed!

I saw this cute guy on patrol in his owner’s booth at the beginning of the day. Sure enough, he was still there when we headed to our car at the end of the day!

First thing I found was this wooden/paper litho target game. LOVE it. Vintage games from this era are a big favorite of mine.

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Posted by Lesley

©Lesley Breen Withrow

What a beautiful day it is again here in New England! Here’s some art I created for a greeting card that reminds me of the wonderful weather we are having. I hope it stays like this for a little while longer.

Posted By: Lesley

Today is my daughter’s 4th birthday! We had a wonderful birthday party for her yesterday and she got all the Smurfs and My Little Ponies that she had been dreaming of! (Including Papa Smurf and Smurfette). It’s funny, because those are the same gifts I dreamed of getting back in the day. Gotta love retro!

©Lesley Breen Withrow

Posted by Monica

I found these Barbie note cards From Graphic De France, had to have them! Not because they are Barbie (talk about an enduring license) but because this is the type of fashion drawing that I am drawn too. Maybe because I grew up staring at my mother’s Vogue Patterns. I am am always inspired by this type of art. I feel like I just stepped out of a Doris Day movie! I created this bride for a wedding invitations that I am working on, I didn’t use too much color on her, I didn’t want her to overpower the invite it self but I could sketch all day like this.

Posted By Lesley

I’ve been busy creating greeting cards and so I thought I’d show a sampling of them. They are filled with my painterly textures and patterns. So much fun to make! (To see a close-up please visit Lesley’s blog)

©Lesley Breen Withrow

Posted by Lesley

Hey, I recently saw a note card set that I illustrated of these cute little snails at my local Papyrus store! It was great to see it along with all of the other fabulous gift products they have. I love the boutique quality of their stores and products. So beautiful and inspirational.

Posted by Liz

I love hunting around at thrift stores, yard sales, and places like Savers because you never know what will turn up. Here are a couple of pieces that I think are particularly nice.

This chick jar, made in West Germany, has a great simplicity in design and color. Love it!

The mug with the houses comes from England. Great graphics, Batman! Not afraid of color, are they?
I keep these two pieces near each other because I think they have a similar (awesome) vibe!