My #1 Secret for a Standout Art Licensing Portfolio

One of the hardest things about breaking into the art licensing world is finding where your little corner is. It was for me, at least! It can seem so overwhelming trying to figure out what your signature style is, what colors you like to use, even what subjects you like to focus on. Then add in the “trends trends trends” that you hear a LOT about, all of the seasonal and holidays that everyone says are SO important to focus on, and suddenly it’s like, well where the heck do I even start?

What should the priority be when creating your art licensing portfolio?

I started my art licensing journey in early 2023, so it has been just over two years now for me. I am really proud to say that in those two years I have achieved a LOT of success (hello dream clients like Anthropologie and West Elm), and I think that one of the biggest factors in my supercharged first few years was that my portfolio did a really good job of bridging the gap between have a unique look and feel, and still being very trend-forward and marketable.

I think that one of the biggest pitfalls that artists fall into, whether they are looking to get into art licensing or are already established, is looking too much at what everyone else is doing. Just speaking from my own experience, I see so many artists who copy art made by others and just tweak it a little bit. Or artists who see that bows are trending so they make bows that look JUST like everyone else’s

Yes, it’s important to incorporate these trends into your portfolio, but it’s more than that. You have to be able to put your own spin on them, to make them your own.

So, what is my #1 secret for creating a standout art licensing portfolio?

You have to BE DIFFERENT.

The easiest way that I can demonstrate this is to show you from my own art. Here are three examples where I took a trend, or season, and put my own spin on it.

In this piece, I took the very popular Dolce Vita trend and added my own spin on it - dogs!

I love creating patriotic art, and I also love PUNS! Here I took the very popular matchbook motif but made it USA themed, and added in really fun puns. Also, the 250th birthday of America is coming up next year, so this is also a very hot trend.

You have probably seen these bows before, and a lot of others that look JUST like them. However, when I made these bows back in late 2023 they were really unique and took off (hello 100k likes on Instagram). This pattern alone has made me tens of thousands of dollars, and all I did was take a rising trend, and made it my own.

I have to imagine that its not only refreshing for art directors when they see a new take on a trend, but it’s something that very much needed. If every brand and company is trying to meet the demand for a certain motif, and you can create art that fills that need but ALSO is not the same as everyone else, well then you are definitely a step ahead!

Now, I totally get that some of this is easier said than done, I know! It’s hard to put your own spin on a trend if you don’t know what your signature style is, and you might not be there yet. But, I hope that you can at least keep this in your mind as you go forward and build your art licensing portfolio!