We are welcoming back Brooklyn, NY based designer Maayan Alper-Swan to the Textile Design Lab this September 23rd at 1pm Eastern to discuss her near decade journey with art and pattern licensing. Maayan presented in 2023 on designing for womenswear and we introduced her on our blog in this article. She has collaborated with clients like Macy’s, Cynthia Rowley, Planned Parenthood, and Zara. Maayan enjoys using drawing, ink, and watercolors in her creative process, as well as Photoshop for editing hand painted motifs and creating repeats.
What are the things about licensing that you think there are a lot of misconceptions about and what is your advice for surface designers starting out in licensing?
The biggest misconception about licensing in my opinion, is that it’s easy money and that it’s totally passive income. Especially in the last few years, there have been a lot of courses popping up online that make big promises about artists’ earning potential via licensing – including some that claim you don’t even need to know how to draw in order to succeed. Needless to say, that is quite misleading and to my mind deceptive. Licensing can indeed be quite lucrative but it takes work to get to that point.
I also think a lot of artists and designers don’t understand that licensing works best when you have a portfolio of art that clients are seeking you out for, a consistent brand voice and unique art that stands out in this saturated marketplace. This can seem counterintuitive if you are used to working in-house or freelancing based on briefs and commissions, in which case you have probably always been told you have to be a Jack or Jill of all design trades. And finally, licensing is hardly a get rich quick scenario. It’s a long game. Curate a portfolio of work that you are proud of and get it in front of as many people as you can. There is no secret formula, just great art and consistency.
How do you find new licensing opportunities? Do you get approached or do you pitch yourself?
I was quite lucky early on and kind of fell into licensing. I was approached by Casetify to add my designs to their artist program and the great success of that really opened my eyes to the potential of licensing my work. I think this early luck also gave me the mistaken impression that such opportunities will just come my way. Some have and I do get approached with licensing opportunities on social media – a little less these days – or through my website. At the same time, my licensing business really found its footing when I learned the importance of pitching my work strategically, putting my work in front of art directors and potential licensees on a regular basis and building relationships. Pitching is a lot of work but when done well it bears fruit.
How do you balance personal work and your artist brand with commercial/client considerations?
I think it’s an interesting balance that is possibly always a bit of a push and pull. Your art obviously needs to have commercial appeal in order to be successful but like I eluded to before, it’s also really important that your work has a point of view. It doesn’t mean you can’t create artwork around popular themes like florals, paisleys, novelty or holiday – in fact that would be commercially smart when you are building a portfolio – it just means you have to make such themes and designs your own and find your original take on them. The work that has been the most commercially and financially successful for me in licensing has been some of my most personal artwork that stemmed from and reflected my unique interests and sensibility, and I don’t think that’s an accident. My personal work was unlike other things that were on the market so it struck a cord.
What do you think are the pros and cons of licensing? (in contrast to manufacturing products yourself or artwork buyouts).
The biggest pro of licensing as opposed to artwork buyouts is of course retaining the rights to your art and the great potential of making money from the same artwork again and again. The biggest con is probably that it could take a long time for a licensed design to end up on the market and depending on payment terms, you may not see any profits from it for a year or more. Like I said, it’s a long game.
The biggest pro of licensing as opposed to manufacturing your own products is that you don’t have to incur any of the product development and manufacturing costs which can be quite high when you are just starting out. The biggest con in that context is that depending on your contract, you may not have a say on the quality, color accuracy or final features of the product your artwork is licensed on, when manufacturing your own product you can have more control over all of those things.
How do you navigate shifts in the market and the natural ups and downs of an art and licensing business? What advice do you have for weathering those challenges?
Diversifying your art business is really important for weathering the ups + downs of this industry. Because things can take so long to be produced and become profitable, I try to always have a bunch of projects {licensing + commissions} in the works and never to rest on my laurels. That way when one aspect of my business or one source of income slows down, I can lean on or focus more effort on another that is still going well.
When things are slow, you should stay busy updating your portfolio, researching new product categories you’re interesting in licensing in, pitching your work and doing outreach to art directors or licensees you have relationships with. That’s why being self directed is really important when you work for yourself. You need to stay focused and productive even – perhaps especially – when things are slow.
Do you create work in seasonal or themed collections? Do you make work with specific product categories in mind?
I don’t usually create work in collections. My portfolio has some recurring themes and color palettes that can be easily curated into collections at the request of a client but I have never really done them in the traditional sense. I often find that clients who license an artwork will then commissioned me to design secondary prints to round it out into a collection so I like to focus on the hero prints and build them into collections if called for. I do sometimes create work with a specific product category in mind if there is a specific client I want to work with or category where I am in pursuit of a licensing partner, otherwise I let the muse guide me.
Can you give us a quick preview into what you will be presenting to our Textile Design Lab members? What can people expect to learn?
There is so much that goes into licensing from portfolio building, balancing your artistic voice with commercial considerations, market positioning and of course pitching and getting clients. In my presentation I will be touching on all of those things as well as sharing some of my journey in licensing. I hope to present a realistic picture of the world of licensing and share some best practices on portfolios, pitches, contracts and more. Join us in the Textile Design Lab September 23rd at 1pm Eastern.
