Hey First name / friends!

 

Over the years, I’ve built ongoing relationships with lots of brands and companies who license my art. And I’ve gotten to the point where those brands are familiar with my style and know that my art is a good fit for their audience. But sometimes they’re looking for something super specific that I don’t already have in my portfolio, so they'll request that I create brand new artwork for an upcoming collab. Usually these requests are for hot trends or a specific thing a client needs in order to coordinate with existing artwork.

 

I just finished whipping up some brand new watercolor illustrations that a client requested, and I’ve been thinking about how helpful it is to get prompts like this.

 

But you don’t have to wait for a an art director to request a certain illustration in order to tap into this strategy. You can prompt yourself to create strong-selling pieces all on your own! Here are three ways I do that: 

 

I just had a request for watercolor illustrations of an Aperol Spritz cocktail and an Espresso Martini. These are currently suuuuuuuuper trendy cocktails, so it makes sense that my client wanted them for an upcoming collaboration! Trends that are considered “hot” are ones that have a huge spike in popularity, but not as much staying power. Whereas evergreen trends (like florals) are ones that are always popular. Capitalizing on these hot trends is always a win if you can time it right. Companies will always be interested in trend-focused artwork because, simply put, trends sell well!

 

 

Lots of brands are looking for artwork that tells a story. They’re excited to feature the artist behind the work since that gives a more personal touch to the item they’re selling. If you can create artwork around your own personal experiences, it can be much easier to get brands to say “yes” to licensing it!

 

 

Last but not least, pay attention to what’s working in your portfolio. What pieces are your best sellers? What gets picked up for licensing over and over again? What illustrations do your social media followers engage with the most? Put together a short list of these pieces, and then brainstorm how you can make coordinating pieces to go with them. 

 

For example, my Retro Sunshine illustration is one of my top sellers and most licensed pieces. I decided to create a coordinating moon illustration that could be sold alongside it. After all, when people buy decor and prints, they’re often looking for multiple pieces that go together. Once I added the moon illustration alongside the sun, the two started to get picked up for licensing and sold together! (I took it a step further and added two more coordinating designs, but that's not a requirement!)

 

 

I hope those tips help spark your creativity so you can keep building a portfolio filled with top-sellers!

 

And, as always, you can count on my weekly #CreateWithCatCoq prompts for trend-forward inspo! 😉

 

In honor of my sun and moon example, this week’s challenge is to create a moon-themed illustration or pattern

 

We did a sunshine prompt a few weeks ago, so if you participated in that challenge, I’d encourage you to make your moon illustration coordinate with the sun you illustrated.

 

Another bonus for this motif – celestial themes are trendy right now! Your moon illustration can stand on its own as a current, trendy piece of artwork!

 

I can’t wait to see what you make! Share your moon illustration on Instagram with the hashtag #CreateWithCatCoq and tag me @catcoq for a chance to be featured in this newsletter!

Last week's challenge was to illustrate black cats. It was so fun to see everyone's cute black kitty illustrations! They were all so different and fun!

Have a fabulous week!