?
what's in it for you
e pay £400 for the exclusive world rights to
a design as a greeting card image for a
period of 3 years and we negotiate a higher fee for
work that is of a more complex nature i.e. an
advent calendar or a poster design. You retain the
copyright at all times and therefore the right to sell
the image to, for example, a textile manufacture
under a separate licence. However, you may not
resell the design or anything identifiably similar to
another card publisher during the period of our
licence. The physical artwork remains your
property at all times and you may ask for it to be
returned to you once we have printed the image
although we usually like to retain it for the term of
the contract in case we need to rescan the image
for whatever reason. If we were to take a design to
use as a card, a postcard and a giftwrap/tag we
would issue you with 3 separate licences and pay
you 3 x £400, a total of £1,200. You will also
receive at least five free sample copies of each of
your designs.
W
We always credit the artist and occasionally
feature successful artists in our
marketing literature and on our
website – with your
permission
of course!
I hope this answers many of your questions. We
must stress that neither rejection nor acceptance is
an indication of excellence. We have rejected some
truly beautiful work from some very fine artistic
talent including Royal Academicians, it is simply
that sometimes a work that has the power to
absorb and move you as it hangs in its own space
with all its variety of textures and detail does not
translate well into a one-dimensional reduced card
image. Conversely, as mentioned before, some of
our most successful designs have been created by
unpublished, unsung, unhung amateurs. That’s
what makes it all so exciting.
We wish you artistic success with whatever you
do,
Robin Bradley
Creative & Marketing Director
Artwork should be submitted to:
Artist Submissions
Fiona Ross - Creative & Marketing Department
Phoenix Trading
Unit 6, 307-309 Merton Road
LONDON SW18 5JS
hn
o
hank you for your interest in joining our
Phoenix Trading team of talented artists.
Currently, our full product range represents the
collective works of 72 artists. Some have one
design featured whilst our most successful
and prolific artist has contributed 200 designs
over the course of 4 years. Regardless of
volume, they are all making a vital contribution
to the eclectic mix that defines our range and
have helped Phoenix Trading to become one
of the most successful card companies in the
UK today.
T
We estimate that we have assessed nearly
40,000 pieces of artwork over the past 12
months. In 2008 we welcomed 11 new artists
into the Phoenix-fold and between them they
have contributed 25% of the year’s total
designs. We are keen to keep this healthy
balance of new and established artistic talent
as it keeps things fresh and interesting.
or email [email protected]
4.
1.
submitting your work
what we are and are not
looking for.....
A
lthough we accept that we have no one
defining style we do feel that what we offer is
distinct from many of the ranges to be found in
the High Street chains as each of our artists has
an individual style. You will see from our current
range that our designs are a mix of fun,
contemporary and fine art.
If we have one absolute rule, it is this: no
computer generated images or work that has
been substantially computer ‘enhanced’. Much
of the work that you see in the high street retail
outlets has an homogenous, computermanipulated style that could have been done by
anyone with a software package. We are after a
contemporary, fresh, hand drawn/ painted look.
Sorry if the following list seems relentlessly
negative but to save your time as well as ours, it is
as well to note that generally we are not interested
in: Work based on licensed characters (Disney,
Barbie, Snoopy or any other brand names).
Horoscopes or other irreligious imagery; conversely
no overtly religious images or texts (the exception
being Christmas); fantasy Celtic worlds of the type
that graced rock albums of the 70s; cyberspace
babes; Manga; surrealism; abstract work;
children’s drawings; erotica; nude studies; crude
humour; exotic locations; local culture or national
costumes; cartoon styles that are reminiscent of
South Park; portraits of specific people or animals
however beautifully and lovingly drawn; realistic
depictions of non-native wild animals; architectural
drawings of buildings and cities; landscapes
generally do not sell for us although seascapes sell
better; monotone etchings; anything black and
white and pen/ pencil/ charcoal sketches are very
interesting but a little too arty for us; photography
(we will make an announcement when we decide
2.
to launch a photography range); food, especially
fruit and fish!; handmade cards with any element of
self assembly; decoupage; embroidery; collage
effect designs. We may well consider it one day
but we have no plans in this direction for the
foreseeable future. And please don’t think that
yours will be the exception – it won’t! We do not
feel that they reproduce well as flat, one
dimensional images.
Fortunately, there are card publishers who
specialise in most of the above so do not read this
list as a blueprint for all card publishers. We have
come to this conclusion based on our 10 years of
experience in the greeting card market employing
the time honoured ‘suck it and see’ method of
marketing our wares and we know what does and
doesn’t work for us. If you think your mackerel and
pear still life is the perfect card design you may well
be right but all the same, please don’t send it in to
us. There are thousands of other publishers who
could possibly agree with you.
Artists’ media in order of popularity, as
indicated by sales:
Watercolours and coloured inks
Acrylics and gouache
Oils
Pastels
Colour pencils
(We have never had a colour pencil design that has
sold well for us although mixed media images do
sell well where watercolours/ inks are the dominant
medium).
bestselling subjects:
Fairies
Football
Animals
(especially cats and dogs)
Flowers
It is worth noting that there are
limitations when it comes to
colour reproduction. Colours
which look luminous and subtle
in their water colour originals
can look dull and sludgy when
translated into four-colour print.
This is particularly true of greys,
browns and sage greens. Large
areas of dark shadows will kill a
floral card design. Acid colours
and fluorescents do not
reproduce well and oranges
and pinks are particularly hard
to match to the original. We tell
you this so that you can cast a
more informed eye over your
work before you make your
submission.
Finally, if your designs feature a
number of people, especially
groups of children, we need the
cultural/ ethnic mix to be
representative of the general
population. We are very keen to
reflect the rich ethnic diversity
of our nation.
All submissions must be your
own and not copied from
another artist’s work.
We receive over 200 submissions a month (ten times this at Christmas)
and it takes us some time to get through everything. What tends to
happen is that if work is obviously not suitable, we will return it
immediately. If we identify something, style or content, that we like, we
will add it to the pending file and in time we will assess it for suitability
for forthcoming ranges. Please be patient as it is not possible to give
all artists an instant assessment and often, if your submission falls at
the wrong time of year, you may not hear from us for several months.
But, we do look at everything very carefully and, wherever possible, we
will give you ideas for other possibilities for your work.
Please do not mount your work to show us mock ups of how you think
we should publish it – that’s our job! Do not stick it on coloured
backing paper, bright or funky borders, or add computer generated
words or anything else that might restrict its appeal. The best work
comes with no frills and no serving suggestions!
PleAse do Not seNd oriGiNAl Artwork oN sPeC - we don’t have the
space and we don’t want the insurance complications. Once we have
approved your artwork for publication, we usually require the original
work or a professional transparency for origination purposes.
In the first instance, we would ask that you submit your work as a
colour photocopy. CDs are fine as long as you also send a contact
sheet, showing the images. Email attachments (preferably jpegs) are
brilliant, if you have the technology! We do understand the limitations
of each of these presentations and therefore appreciate that you may
feel that the photocopy does not do justice to your work as it fails to
capture the vivacity/ subtlety of colour. Trust us, we can still tell
whether a piece might be suitable. It’s the overall style and
professionalism that we are looking for. If we like what we see, we will
usually ask you to submit the original before making the final decision
to accept the piece.
Whatever method you use to send your work, if you would like it
returned, you will need to include a stamped addressed envelope and
a registered label if it is valuable. However, please do not send a
recorded delivery label as we are unable to process this. And, although
this probably sounds self evident, could you please label each
individual piece of work and ensure that the return envelope is the
same size and has the same postage value as the submission
envelope. Finally, can you please ensure that you place the correct
postage on your submission envelope or it might not reach us!
3.