Licensing Your Artwork and Designs
- Licensing lets a company use your design on its products in return for a fee or royalty.
- You keep the copyright and can license the same design to other companies for different uses.
- Common licensed products include fabric, greeting cards, wallpaper, stationery, and home goods.
- Royalties for independent artists usually range from 3% to 10%, often based on wholesale price.
- Sites like Spoonflower offer a simple way to start earning royalties from pattern designs.
Many crafters create designs that would look good on products they could never make themselves. A floral watercolour could suit a set of greeting cards. A hand-drawn pattern repeat could suit fabric or wallpaper. Licensing lets a manufacturer produce and sell those products while you earn from each sale or receive a set fee.
How Art Licensing Works
A licence is an agreement that gives a company permission to use your artwork in specific ways. You do not sell the artwork itself. You rent out the right to use it, under terms you agree on together.
The agreement sets out which products the company may use the design on, where they may sell them, and for how long. It also states how you get paid. When the licence ends, the rights return to you.
How Licensing Differs From Selling Your Designs
With print on demand, you upload designs and earn a margin on each item sold through a platform. Our guide on print on demand for crafters covers that model.
With licensing, a company takes on the production, distribution, and marketing. Its products may reach shops and catalogues you could not reach yourself. Your share per item is smaller, but the volume can be much larger.
Licensing is also different from selling your copyright outright. In a copyright sale, also called a buyout, the company owns the design permanently. Licensing keeps ownership with you, so the same design can earn from several licences over time.
Ways Artists Get Paid
Royalties
A royalty is a percentage of sales. Industry benchmarks put royalties for independent artists at about 3% to 10%. Mass-market products tend to sit at the lower end, and specialty products at the higher end. Royalties are often calculated on the wholesale price, which is the price the company charges shops, not the shop price.
Advances
Some companies pay an advance when you sign. An advance is an early payment against future royalties. You start receiving further royalty payments once your earned royalties pass the amount of the advance.
Flat fees
A company may offer a single payment for a set use instead of royalties. For example, a flat fee for using a design on one line of cards for one year. Flat fees give certain income, but you do not share in extra sales if the product does well.
Products That Use Licensed Art
- Fabric for quilting, sewing, and home décor uses pattern repeats.
- Greeting cards and gift wrap use illustrations, lettering, and seasonal designs.
- Wallpaper uses large-scale repeats and botanical or geometric patterns.
- Stationery such as notebooks, planners, and calendars uses illustrations and patterns.
- Home goods such as mugs, tea towels, cushions, and kitchen items use a wide range of styles.
- Craft supplies such as scrapbook paper, stickers, and stamps often use licensed artwork.
Building a Licensing Portfolio
Create collections, not single designs
Companies usually look for groups of designs that work together. A collection might include one main design, two or three smaller coordinating patterns, and a simple blender or texture. Collections make it easier for a company to build a whole product line.
Learn pattern repeats
Fabric, wallpaper, and gift wrap need designs that repeat without visible joins. Common repeat types include basic, half-drop, and mirror repeats. Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer, and Procreate all support repeat pattern work.
Keep files flexible
Work at high resolution and keep each element on its own layer. Companies often ask for colour changes or adjustments to fit a product. Vector files and layered artwork make those changes quick.
Show designs on products
Mockups help companies picture your work on their products. Show a collection on fabric, a mug, or a card. Keep the mockups simple so the artwork stays the focus.
Spoonflower: A Simple Way to Start
Spoonflower is an online marketplace that prints fabric, wallpaper, and home décor on demand. You upload pattern designs and list them for sale. Buyers choose your design on the product they want, and Spoonflower prints and ships it.
Designers earn 10% on each sale, based on what the customer pays after any discount. Designers with high monthly sales earn bonus rates of up to 15%. Spoonflower pays royalties to PayPal every 14 days, once your balance passes $10.
Ordering a small test swatch is a good way to check how colours print before you promote a design. Spoonflower also runs regular design challenges, which can help new designers get noticed.
Finding Companies to License Your Work
Research brands that fit your style
Look at products in shops you like and note the brands. Check their websites for artist submission guidelines. Many fabric, card, and stationery companies accept submissions from independent artists.
Send a short, focused pitch
Send a brief email with a link to your portfolio or a small PDF of relevant designs. Show only work that suits the company’s products. Follow each company’s submission rules exactly, as many ignore pitches that do not.
Consider a licensing agent
Licensing agents represent artists and pitch their work to manufacturers. They have contacts and know how to negotiate terms. In return, agents take a share of your licensing income, set out in the agent agreement. Compare what you would earn after the agent’s share before you sign.
Trade shows
Trade shows bring artists, agents, and manufacturers together. Licensing Expo in Las Vegas is one of the largest. Walking a show first, before exhibiting, helps you understand how the industry works.
Understanding Licence Agreements
Read every agreement carefully before signing. These are the main points to check:
- Products lists exactly which items the company may use your design on.
- Territory states the countries or regions where the products may be sold.
- Term sets how long the licence lasts, such as one year or five years.
- Exclusivity states whether you may license the same design to other companies.
- Payment sets out the royalty rate, what it is calculated on, any advance, and when you get paid.
- Reporting explains how and how often the company will report sales to you.
A narrow licence, such as one design on greeting cards in one country for a year, leaves you free to license the design elsewhere. A broad, exclusive, worldwide licence ties the design up for longer, so it should pay more. If a contract is complex, it helps to have it reviewed by a lawyer who works with creative businesses.
Protecting Your Work
You own the copyright in original work as soon as you create it. In the US, registering your work with the US Copyright Office is optional, but you need registration before you can file a lawsuit for infringement. Registration also strengthens your position if a dispute arises.
Keep dated copies of your original files and sketches. Add your name and a copyright notice to the designs you share online. Only use fonts, images, and elements that you created or hold a commercial licence for.
Realistic Income Expectations
Licensing income builds slowly. Contracts can take months to agree, and products may take a year or more to reach shops. Royalties then arrive in regular payments as the products sell.
A single licence rarely brings a large income on its own. Artists who earn steadily from licensing usually hold many licences across different products and companies. Each new design adds another chance to earn, and a strong design can be licensed again once a contract ends.
Assemble and Earn covers practical ways to earn from creative skills at home. Browse the Work From Home section for more income ideas that fit alongside your crafting.
