The Art of Daryl Slaton

Vampire Cats

Musings on Getting From Here to There

Art Licensing: The Road Slowly Traveled!

Candy Witches

Yes! We are very excited that our Halloween figurines finally reached the retail markets this month and can now be seen in stores and shop windows throughout the US. Yes, you can even see them on our driveway where the candy witches will sit with a bowl of candy on her lap because our front sidewalk will be torn up this week and our wee friends can’t even get to our porch! Yes, we are gratified that money is starting to come in!

We got a nice check in the mail this week from RAZ Imports who licensed some of my images to make into figurines. But Wow! This process sure takes a long time!

We met Ken Row from the holiday and home décor manufacturer RAZ when he came to our booth at the National Stationery Show in New York in May 2012.  He was wildly enthusiastic about our concepts for Santas for every state, each with state symbols like bird, motto, tree and flower embedded in their illustration. We love it when people like Ken really “get” the whimsy of my work and we love Ken’s support of it. In further exploring my images, he found my Halloween collections and loved them, too. http://www.tailsofwhimsy.com/holiday/halloween

Original art

I worked feverishly to produce Halloween and Holiday images for RAZ that were created into models and molds last Fall. After a whole lot of tweaking,  Halloween “dolls” were launched to buyers last January at the RAZ showrooms in Atlanta and other markets. Then add the time for showroom and catalogue sales and packing and shipping to retailers in this third quarter of the year. The process from concept-to-delivery takes awhile. 

Art licensing is not for the faint of heart. It has been a big investment in time and energy to get to this point with the help of Louise who handles my marketing and contract negotiations. But, we feel like we are finally IN BUSINESS and making a name for the Art of Daryl Slaton and Tails of Whimsy.

We are so glad we took the BIG LEAP and changed from selling greeting cards and prints to licensing art to manufacturers who produce fabulous “stuff” that you see every day in stores from Nordstrom to Target to Wal-Mart and all over Amazon. That means I can just keep doing the art I love and let others produce the products for the marketplace.

We are having fun and learning patience. For now, that’s an ample reward and cash flow will certainly follow.