Update That Resume

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I was listening to a radio program this morning about the complexity of the employment market and how that continues to evolve during this depressed economy, and also how it is further complicated by the ongoing shift toward a service economy here in the US. Employers have been ratcheting up the requirements for jobseekers because, with a surplus of applicants for every position, they can ask for the moon and maybe get it. There is even a name for it now – “Super Candidate Syndrome”. The problem is that as they continue to pile proficiency and experience requirements onto a single job description they eventually reach critical mass – the point where no human could do the job as described. (And if there was such a candidate, what’s the chance they are unemployed?).

What I found interesting – particularly from an art licensing standpoint – is what skills and attributes they (and also savvy employers) think will be necessary for success in the future – many are quite the opposite of the old standards. Foremost is a “proven adaptability”, meaning the ability to adapt to and respond quickly to changes, both inside the company and outside in the marketplace. Others are: “hybrid skills”, meaning a combination of skills derived from a variety of sources and experiences; the ability to transcend multiple viewpoints; self motivation and self discipline so you can work without direct supervision; the ability to plan and maintain a “long term horizon” type of focus. And most surprising – multiple careers can now be a good thing on your resume because that will teach you much of the above.

Sound familiar? Could be a job description for an art licensing position, if there ever was such a thing. Think about the licensees or agencies as your employer, and your portfolio and presentations as your resume. They too are looking for “super candidates” in this market – thousands of artists from Indianapolis to India or Boston to Bejing can draw another snowman or jack-o-lantern, so what is going to make yours connect?

Get to work!

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Every year about this time we always look at each other and ask “Where did all the business go?” – and then remember that about now it always slows down. The flood eases somewhat, most of the fires are out and we can take a breath, look around the office and wonder what actually ended up at the bottom of those piles on our desks.

In other words – time to buckle down and get to work on next year.

It took us a few years to understand the rhythm of our market. January through July is busy with the various shows and our clients’ sourcing schedules. The late summer months are all about follow up, contracts, art changes and last minute projects. As we head into fall, many of our clients are busy putting their new releases to bed, traveling to overseas factories and finishing up final production details so their new product lines are ready for the January introductions. Since as designers much of our work is done at the front end, we can now turn to some of our own “big picture” work – assessing what we learned this year, what we have versus what we need to have, and what has to be done so we can be ready for that second week of January…when it all starts again.

For an artist, the trick is to use this time wisely. It’s an opportunity to fill in the holes in your portfolio, finish that collection or start a new one (perhaps several?), maybe do some research. Get in the habit of scheduling some studio time to synch with the ebb and flow of the market and you will have a much easier time keeping up once it’s off and running.

New article and product

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The question often comes up about what agents look for in an artist (even in our own offices…), I have a new article published on the subject on Kate Harper’s Greeting Card Designer blog – you can read it here. 
Also, Ronnie has some great new My Friend Ronnie product now out at Macy’s, you can see a bit more about it on her My Friend Ronnie blog here. 
 
Let me know what you think.
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I read an interesting article published in the NY Times about the declining market for children’s books. (You can read it here). One would expect that the troubled economy has had an effect on the demand, which it has, and my guess would have been the technology shift as the other big culprit – however they call out a third factor that I hadn’t really considered.

We have always alternated between being amused and horrified by that driving need so many parents feel to make sure their children are going to be above average and hugely successful, but I had not made the connection between that and the decline of picture books. Seems that they are being perceived as too simple and not challenging enough for little Ivy League bound offspring – you know, let’s get them going on War and Peace as soon as they can manage to hang on to it. Assuming of course there is time between ballet, lacrosse, music lessons, French, creative writing and math camp. Man it’s tough being a 4 year old nowadays.

I just hope that in 20 years the article will not be about the lack of creativity shown by 24 year old Harvard graduates…

You’ll have to call me….

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We had dinner last night with some good friends who also happen to be in the industry, and eventually talk turned to how people (artists in particular) are using blogs and social media in their careers. After a few war stories and the trading back and forth of a few favorite blogs to follow – nothing was really decided about the best way for an artist to make use of the various tools now available.

I was, however, happy to find at least one kindred soul in the group who, like me, does not feel the need to live their life in public on Facebook….

It did remind me of some rather shocking statistics that I read in some recent marketing book about the daily bombardment of media in today’s world:
Every day the average person is subjected to over 200 TV commercials, several to several hundred print ads, non-stop advertising on the street, bus, radio, highway and even in public bathrooms, several to one hundred or more emails, and then all the added noise from Twitter, Facebook, blogfeeds, texts, phones and internet advertising….
The result is what they call the “wallpaper effect” where most of it gets tuned out by the brain as a survival mechanism.

I think this is the potential trap of social media, particularly for those who think they are using it for their business but are doing so without any sort of filter on what they say or how often they say it. We monitor a couple of Twitter feeds just to be (regularly!) amazed by what and who they will tweet about – and we know some of their customers are reading them too. I am far from a digital Luddite but I don’t believe that it is necessary to know every detail and movement of every person I come in contact with, nor do I feel the need to tell them the same about me.

I guess I am just not interested in being part of the wallpaper.

So Where Did It Go?

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You slaved over the Call for Design submission, did everything according to the guidelines and after you sent it in…nothing. You check back in a few weeks and still…nothing. Two months later you check again and are told your designs were not selected, and no, they don’t have any further feedback for you. It is an enormously frustrating but common occurrence in this business as we shift more and more towards a “spec” type of work model. Spend a little time on any of the illustration and graphic design forums and in very short order you will see this subject pop up. Spec work has always been the bane of the traditional designer’s work model – everybody hates it, many refuse to do it, some get angry just talking about it.

If you want to be in the art licensing business, better get used to it.

The trick here is to understand why so much of art licensing is done this way. First, let’s acknowledge that not every company operates under this model, but a pretty fair number do, and a majority of the mass market suppliers will use this method for sourcing. The reason is that, particularly in mass, the retailers are now calling the shots at the manufacturing level. In reality they always have, but not quite so directly – many projects won’t go forward anymore without an actual order from a retailer in hand. The suppliers get these orders by presenting the designs they have collected to the retailers for review, often in a sort of “cattle call” of their own where they compete with other suppliers for the same order. (During these calls we have to monitor who was sent what to avoid having our artwork presented to the same retailer by more than one client – a potentially ugly situation that can easily cost you a customer.) The designs that are presented go through a variety of reviews, sometimes even focus groups, and then weeks or months later the retailer makes their selection.

The second trick is to recognize that this is partly a numbers game. The more times you submit to these calls the more likely the odds are that you will get something (making the assumption of course that your designs are well executed and appropriate subjects). We have artists that hit most every call for design, and some that rarely submit – and I’m sure you can guess who gets the work. Also, the larger your portfolio the easier it is to tailor a submission for the particular request, so again – that numbers game.

The consolation prize is that every new submission design can become a new portfolio piece – maybe not the desired result but definitely another step toward success.

At least that’s what we’ve been telling our artists….

Off to The Licensing Races

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Readers of this blog know that I talk a lot about how online technology has, and continues to, change the art licensing industry. There is an interesting confluence of defining factors right now, and I try not to spend an inordinate amount of time pondering this but it does bear closer inspection.
Consider:

1. The entry gate has been propped open by the net. Anyone with a computer can attempt to market their art (regardless of whether it is appropriate for licensing) to potential licensees without the traditional filters such as high overhead and/or agent representation.

2. A cottage industry selling how-to information about art licensing has popped up and is driving more competition into the field, but again w/o any filters. Some of the art is good, some very good, but unfortunately most is similar to what happens when you hand a ten year old a set of tools and ask him to fix your car – its just not going to work.

3. At the same time, the economy has tanked and the market of available outlets for all these new art licensors has contracted – the number of licensees, the amount of product produced and the time products are on market are all under pressure.

4. The “improvement cycle” has reached the speed of light (or let’s say fiber optic) as access to all this new art is instantaneous and worldwide. Chris Anderson of TED talks about how this works with video, but it applies equally to our business. New ideas, techniques, colorways, perspectives etc. are all immediately disseminated to artists everywhere and instantly improved upon – meaning that you need to continually be really good AND really creative to stay in front of the competition for more than a few minutes. It’s called “crowd accelerated innovation” and it is rocking our world.

So, when you throw all these together into the stew, what do we have? What is your reaction? A colleague of ours thinks Time magazine should run the cover story “Is Art Licensing Dead?” but I maintain that may be a bit extreme. Art licensing is still very alive and running fast, but the trick will be figuring out what direction.

Perhaps Yogi Berra said it best: “The future ain’t what it used to be”.

What a Great Idea!

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How often do you find yourself looking at a new product or design and wondering “how did they ever think of that? And how clever!” We do it all the time because – this is important – we are in the idea business. Fresh and new designs, products, colors, adaptations… pick one or all… these are what make our world of art licensing go ‘round.

There is an old saying in show biz, “It takes decades to become an overnight success”. Of course you don’t need to be an entertainer to understand that as it applies to pretty much everything we do. Another one of my favorites along those same lines: “Inspiration is freely granted to those who work hard”. It’s a rare case where a hot new product is the result of the first idea that just popped into someone’s head, instead they have gone through any number of transformations and redesigns, finally evolving into what we see as brand new on the market.

I was reading an interview with Leif Enger, the Minnesota born author of Peace Like a River, and others, and he was talking about the process of creating ideas. He says, “In the early stages all ideas look good and only through the daily work are the bad ones revealed…you have to plunge ahead with the faith that (the good idea) will emerge. If it doesn’t, you excise the problem (and start over).”

A couple other creative jots from the last couple weeks, the first from Don Draper in Mad Men:
“The best idea wins, and you’ll know it when you see it. It’s about banging your head against the wall until you get to it.”

And from an interview with Steve Smith, one of the creators (and Red himself) of The Red Green Show:
“The core message of the Red Green Show was that it will work, just keep trying. And if it doesn’t, well, quit doing it and do something else.”

These are several different ways of saying pretty much the same thing – that the best technique for generating more ideas is to actually work on the ones you have. This is also when you will realize if they are going anywhere, and if you are not sure, if you don’t feel the excitement coming through, then set it aside and start anew. The old stereotype of the writer surrounded by crumpled up pieces of paper (now they would be .docs…) comes from a place of truth. The recycling bins of all successful artists are overflowing with tried and discarded sketches, it’s really the only way to get there.

As the bulletin board says above Ronnie’s desk, “Dare to Suck”.

The Agent Myth

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I wish I could count how many times I have seen the comment on various art licensing groups that someone is “still searching for an agent”, or questions like “I have submitted to several agencies, how do I get an agent to sign me?” The belief seems to be that if you are willing to work hard, have a properly presented portfolio with the right combination of product mock-ups and can get signed with an agent then success is not far behind.

Well……maybe.

There is no question that an experienced agent with a working knowledge of the art licensing market can accomplish many things that most artists will have difficulty accomplishing on their own.
(Let me repeat a few very important words for those that are still looking: experienced, working knowledge, and ART licensing market.)
The stock and trade of a good agent is manifold – names, contacts and often personal relationships with licensees in a wide variety of categories; an understanding of current (and past) trends, colors and how those affect various clients; what clients work in which categories, what is their market share and what direction are they going; a broad “nuts and bolts” understanding of marketing and promotion, contracts, royalties, product design and manufacturing requirements; these are a few, the list goes on. But even given all of this, there is still no assurance that they can get you licensed. That is the myth part. As one agent puts it, “I can guarantee that I will get your art in front of the decision makers, but I cannot guarantee they will buy it.”

The following is from last year’s “Art of Reality” article:
“Licensing agents make their living by representing art that can be sold (licensed) and they will usually snap up anyone they think has significant potential. You may not be a fit for a particular agency for any number of reasons, but if you have shown your work to several agents and they all have passed, it is likely time for a reality check.”

This has not changed. Generally we agents have neither the time nor inclination to train an artist from scratch, but I am here to tell you that if the work is extraordinary, we will make the investment. If your work is just ordinary, or ill suited for product licensing, we will not – some things just can’t be fixed, and no agent can help you become a success if your work is not of licensable quality or style.

This does not necessarily mean that you need to toss your dream and head for employment at Starbucks, but face the fact that if experienced art licensing professionals keep turning you down you are probably not ready to enter the art licensing business. I know one very successful artist who, the first time she showed her art to a manufacturer was told (in a nice supportive way) to get some more training and come back sometime in the future with about one hundred additional designs. She did both, has now has been licensing for years and is responsible for designing well over a thousand licensed products thus far in her career.
Fall down seven times, get up eight is a great philosophy as long as you aren’t tripping over the same root. If it’s not working get some feedback, fix it if you can, and then go back out and see what happens.

Work on You

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There is a short article on Inc.com titled “The Six Traits of a Successful Business Owner”; you can find it here. If you read my posts you already know that I keep harping about how you need to understand that art licensing is a business, and in order to succeed at it I believe you need to not only hone your art skills, but also your business skills, your attitude and perhaps some personality characteristics as well.

Hone your personality characteristics? What kind of nonsense is that? No, I don’t mean you need to turn into Donald Trump (hey, ever see my combover?) but it is time well spent to learn about and recognize what characteristics can help a person be successful, and then work on bringing those to the surface when you need them. There has been a lot of research done on what makes some businesses (and people) successful while others fail, and when you read up on it you will soon notice that many of the same basic traits keep coming through again and again regardless of the type of business.

Three of my favorites from the article and how they can relate to art licensing:

1. The ability to collaborate. This is absolutely Essential with a capitol E. Art licensing is not a take it or leave it type of business – on most occasions you will be working hand in hand with your clients to make your designs fit their needs.

2. Curiosity. You must be curious – about your market, about your clients, about what is the next big thing, about every aspect of art licensing. Not that you need to be an expert at all things, or trying to chase trends, but you need to know how it all fits together.

3. Action oriented. From the article: “Successful founders are proactive and always differentiating themselves from their competitors”. Couldn’t say it better – every day the art licensing business becomes more crowded with hopeful artists and you need to find your key to standing out. What makes you different? How will you be unique?

Continued success in any business endeavor requires a process of honest evaluation, and then adjustment, for everything you are bringing to the market – including you!