ALLA welcomes Teresa Woo-Murray! Surface designer and illustrator, Teresa Woo-Murray of Woo Hoo Design Studio joins forces with fellow LA artists. She has licensed artwork on many products such as fabric, rugs, greeting cards, gift bags and wrap that can be found at Target, JoAnn’s Fabrics, The Container Store, Bristol Farms and online retailers.

Woo Hoo Design Studio recently signed a licensing contract with Oklahoma Embroidery Supply and Design (OESD) for her Cupid and Floral Collection, a grouping of 25 designs for machine embroidery for release in January 2014. For more information, visit http://woohoodesignstudio.com/Home.html

ALLA also introduces Bella Caronia, a brand new art created by Amanda Caronia. Bella Caronia is a surface pattern design brand created for those who love nature and color. Designer and creator Amanda Caronia has a strong artistic eye and specializes in hand paintings and drawings. Her designs are a mixture of vintage inspirations and a unique modern sketch style. With a BA in studio art from Colorado College, she also earned a certificate in textile design from Otis College of Art and Design. Working on her artwork collections since 2008, she is proud to join Art Licensing LA and share her favorite designs with others and debut at Surtex 2014. For more information, visit http://www.bellacaronia.com/

The Art Licensing LA agency participated as first-time exhibitors at Surtex 2013 in booths #734 & 736. Our planning for the show took 10 months but was well worth the effort. Set up was a breeze completed in less than 3 hours. The show was a great success with 50+ manufacturers visiting our booth to select artwork for consideration.

More than an art resource, the ALLA artists are partners with each manufacturer for success: building brands, designing innovative product lines and growing sales and categories. Our vast combined experience includes art direction, branding, graphic design and production, character art, fine art, package design, design of style guides and point of purchase. All five of us are Los Angeles design professionals, and are all extremely knowledgeable about printing and manufacturing techniques, as well as experts in digital artwork file preparation. 

With a combined library of over 2000 images, ALLA effectively applies our creative talents to give each client an edge within each market. We currently offer popular licensing themes: florals, nature, wildlife, beach, food, wine, coffee, holidays, travel, pet, home, garden, baby, children, paisley, novelty, inspiration, humor and more.

We can develop custom themed collections upon request to meet the demands of current trends. We understand consumer trends and provide strategic direction for product line development to manufacturers.

Watch our promotional video which was featured on the Surtex website just a couple of weeks before the show: 

Inspired by the art licensing community grown out my art licensing seminars, I came up with the idea of launching a new type of collaborative agency of independent artists. Serving as the mentor of the group, I am pleased to announce the formation of Art Licensing LA established on January 1, 2013. The founding members include: Sara Berrenson, Ginger 17, Jeanetta Gonzales, LuAnn Roberto and Debra Valencia. The group of 5 Los Angeles-based artists include a diverse blend of art directors, painters, printmakers, illustrators and graphic designers. 

Art Licensing LA specializes in artists based in the cultural melting pot of Southern California. Inspired by the California lifestyle: progressive, modern, colorful, confident, bold, non-traditional — we have a sense of style that translates across all markets and regions. We are especially passionate about creating a wide variety of fine art, surface design, illustration and graphic design suitable for licensing to manufacturers in the stationery, gift, home décor and craft industries. 

Our mission for 2013 was to exhibit as an agency at Surtex. We meet in person for monthly dinners at a restaurant and also communicate by email and phone regularly. Like a virtual studio, in lieu of a physical space, we provide peer support with professional opinions and feedback on in-progress collections; an advisory board of sorts. As colleagues, we cooperate together as a group to share marketing, publicity and sales tasks. The jobs are divided up by website, booth design, press releases, marketing collateral, video direction, client outreach, research, etc. It is also really helpful to bounce ideas off each other and get the point of view of another designer. Once artwork is selected by a licensee, contracts and client communication are the responsibility of each individual artist. For example, two of our artists are currently licensed with the same manufacturer for ceramics but with very different artwork. For more details, visit our website:  http://artlicensingla.com/

Based in Los Angeles and seeking education on the topic of the business aspects of art licensing, I could not find anything locally. From 2003 to 2005, each year I flew to New York and walked both Surtex and the National Stationery Show. I attended as many seminars as my budget could handle. In 2007, I officially launched the Debra Valencia™ brand and transitioned my career from graphic designer to licensed artist.

I saw a need for an art licensing community in Los Angeles as well as accessible business education about art licensing on the West Coast. I began with teaching small seminars on the licensing basics and launching a Facebook networking group for local artists, designers, illustrators and photographers interested in learning about how to enter the field. If you would like to follow my postings about art licensing, visit this link:https://www.facebook.com/ArtLicensingProfessionalsLA?ref=hl

I proposed this topic as a continuing education course for professional artists to Otis College of Art. In Spring 2013, I taught “Licensing Your Art and Earning Royalties” for the first time. I took the content from my beginner and advanced seminars and greatly expanded the content to 10 week course with a total of 30 hours of class time. This extended course really gave me the time to go into detail about portfolios, product categories, contracts, making submissions to manufacturers, marketing and other ways of making money from art.  I’m pleased to announce I’ve been invited back and will be repeating the course in Fall 2013 with updated content! For more information, visit: http://www.otis.edu/

I exhibited again this year for my 6th consecutive year in the Craft & Hobby Winter Show hosted by CHA (Craft & Hobby Association), January 12–15, 2013
, Anaheim Convention Center,
Anaheim, California

CHA has a small licensing & design section which is the only show on the West Coast. It is combined with the Designer’s Showcase which features artists who both provide creative craft services as well as some licensing.

This is my display for the Designer's Showcase to present my designs for licensing to the craft product manufacturers: scrapbook papers, ribbons, buttons, stickers and more. I decided to do something a little different this year for my display rather than the typical banners. My son, an art student, made many of the paper items. My sister Cheyanne flew in from Montana to help out too. She made the hoop skirt for the mannequin. It was a family affair which took two days to create in my living room. We then took it all apart and rebuilt it at the convention center on set up day. The show ran for 3 days and we had a lot of fun networking with other crafters and artists as well as talking to many craft manufacturers about art licensing, craft project opportunities and even talked to a publisher about doing a sewing project book featuring my fabrics with my sister’s sewing creations. I got to see a lot of old friends including Joanne Fink, Laura Kelly, Jen Goode, Carla Schauer, Teresa Woo-Murray and my IP attorney, Tammy Browning-Smith. It was a great show!

DecalGirl (DG):  You have a number of artists in your family.  What kind of influence and support did they provide you as your career as an artist developed?

Debra Valencia (DV):  My grandmother was the most influential person in my life, not only inspiring me as an artist, but I shared her passions for cooking, sewing, traveling and fashion. She was an amateur fine artist, painting scenes and still life oils. She never sold a painting—as this was her hobby.  My parents really did not support my desire to pursue art as a career because they just didn’t think it was practical or a real job—they only thought of it as a hobby.

So instead of heading off to fashion design school as I wanted, I entered my local community college with no particular major in mind. I took all the general academic courses and considered various career paths such as linguistics and biology but nothing got me excited.

In my second year, I took a drawing class just as a fun elective and my art teacher was surprised that I wasn’t majoring in art. She suggested I try the Visual Communications, department which I did. The next semester I took a class called Introduction to Advertising Design and from there I knew design was for me. I completed my two-year degree in Advertising Design and landed a job as a designer at an ad agency. I spent one year working full-time and it was great experience.

By then, my parents could see that it was possible to earn a living with my artistic talents, so I then pursued my BFA in Graphic Design at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. I’m happy to say that my son is following in my footsteps and is an Illustration major at California College of Art in San Francisco.

DG:  Your art is featured on a variety of products.  Are there any particular types of products that you enjoy designing for, more than others?  Are there any that are more challenging to design for than others?

DV:  My favorite product to design is fabric for quilting. Quilting collections typically have 6 to 12 coordinating designs of different scales and colors. So it is fun to design because it’s somewhat like coming up with a collage of prints. There is a new generation of crafters who take the quilt fabrics and make creative projects such as messenger bags and aprons in addition to quilts. I sewed a lot as a young girl and teenager so I understand sewing. Although I don’t have time to sew any longer, I really enjoy seeing what people make with my fabrics. I love designing it all to be honest: dinnerware, jewelry, tech cases and more. I hope to someday have an entire home décor line including rugs, upholstery fabrics and wallpaper as well as personal accessories such as cosmetic bags, handbags and apparel.

DG:  What media do you work in?  Is there any medium that you prefer over others?

DV:  My favorite medium is watercolor but I use it in a nontraditional way. I draw out my designs in pencil very accurately and figure out my repeat patterns. I paint the designs using a very strong intensity of liquid watercolors. So my style is not the loose, washy style that most people think of as watercolors. It’s my graphic design training that, forces me to work precisely. I also work a lot on the computer because it is faster and I like to work fast and furiously. I design many of my geometric and ethnic-inspired prints in vector art but coordinate some of these with my hand painted motifs,  which I retouch in Photoshop

DG:  What artist or artists do you feel have had the greatest influence on your style?

DV:  My main influences are ethnic craftsman traditions from around the world including textile arts and architectural ornamentation. I’ve traveled a lot and spent many days shopping in markets in Morocco, Thailand, India, Japan, Italy, Mexico and more places than I can name here and shot a lot of photos of buildings, tiles and even doorknobs. I also love fashion so other influences also include designers like Pucci and specific eras like the hippie 60s, and even rock ‘n roll clothing.

DG:  You are quite active in working with art students and various community organizations.  What is the most satisfying aspect of being involved with these groups?

DV:  I love teaching and working with art students and collaboration in general. I taught part-time for 13 years at Otis College of Art & Design in the graphic design department. I am currently a guest lecturer at Art Center College of Design. I am also teaching seminars on the Business of Art Licensing to other fine artists, illustrators, graphic designers and photographers.

DG:  Your bio says that you “find solace” in yoga, walking on the beach, and hikes through the mountains. Do these activities provide you with ideas and inspiration, or do they serve more to clear your mind and help you focus on current projects?

DV:  My main goal is to keep healthy and stay in shape. I think it is important to feel good both physically and mentally and to take care of the body. I’m a bit of a health nut—at least 80% of the time. It makes me feel strong and gives me a lot of energy. I really use the exercise time to clear my head and not think about work. It’s good to get out of the studio, get fresh air and move my limbs. Then when I do get back to work, I can really hit it hard, sometimes working for 12 hours straight.

DG:  How did you get connected to DecalGirl?  What skins do you currently have on your devices?

DV:  My artwork is currently licensed with approximately 25 companies for products including fabric, greeting cards, stationery, ceramic gifts, back to school supplies, jewelry and more. I’m always looking to expand into new categories so I contacted Decal Girl via the artist submissions link on the website. Lucky for me, Linda Castillon, SVP  of Licensing was already familiar with my work! She personally owns two Joolz Hayworth bracelets and was a fan of the jewelry line.

I currently have a Mia skin on my laptop, the Kyoto skin on my iPad and the Bombay skin on my iPhone.

DG:  Suppose the DecalGirl staff decides to take a vacation at your home in Costa Rica.  What should we be sure to do while we are there?

DV:  Well, I hope you all do! Let’s go for a creative brainstorming retreat. For all first time visitors to Costa Rica, I highly recommend a visit to the Arenal Volcano which is in a pristine rainforest area with fabulous hot springs, zip lines and a beautiful lake. Then hit the beach where my house is. Must-do activities: a daily swim, surfing lessons, catamaran sailing/snorkeling trip, yoga at the beach, cocktails at sunset at any of many restaurants along the beach and of course, lots of R&R.