Artists Questions Answered

How Do I Send You My Artwork?

You can send images by email (preferred option) or by post and we are happy to receive samples in whatever form is easiest for you. i.e. digital, prints, photographs or colour photocopies. A CD or flash drive is also fine to send.

We prefer to see at least 12-15 examples of your art. If you do send us your art digitally, please format your images to JPEG or PDF file formats.

What Style of Art is Whistlefish Art Licensing Looking For?

We are looking for a wide selection of art in a variety of mediums in a two-dimensional format (not three-dimensional sculpture). Market drive trending themes and colour are important, but we also see the lasting value in traditional concepts as these have proven their success repeatedly across the years. In addition to what we know is in the marketplace, we are always interested in seeing varied styles and subject matter.

What Medium Reproduces The Best?

Mediums with dense colour product the best reproduction such as oils and acrylics; however, we have also been very successful with watercolour, pastels and coloured pencils/markers and digital art.

Whilst we are talking about digital art we would like to expand slightly more on this. Digital art has made a huge presence in the marketplace, with it’s popularity only increasing by the availability of software to edit and experiment with images from vast online sources. We welcome creativity and the use of the computer as a tool to achieve inventive ideas. However, incorporating recognisable imagery is artwork we can’t really license. Our emphasis is on originality and we crave skilfully created art that shows emphasises the style of an individual. The following are examples of art that we discourage against.

  • Imagery that is not your own and is not public domain status
  • Incorporation of logos, icons and/or copyright data that is not your own
  • Imagery that has been used/published elsewhere
  • Imagery that has been manipulated with generic software filters

What Size Art Should I Paint/Create?

We love art in all sizes but for licensing the larger the better! Digitally, large files have more capabilities of licensing for various projects. Although your original artwork may be a smaller format, it can be reproduced by a professional scanner or photographer to obtain successful digital image at a larger proportion. Please keep in mind that we emphasise the quality of a file. In most cases, a digital file that is already prepared small, should not be enlarged to meet our purposes When in doubt, create larger pieces, as many of the products we license are large.

Am I Required To Send Every Original To Whistlefish Art Licensing? 

No, you always have control over where each piece of your art work is sent, as it should be! However, we are always interested in what you are working on and will forever be pleased to receive updates from you. We are also willing to provide feedback on any pieces you want to share with us, even if you do not end up listing them with us to license.

Do you provide briefs?

We are more than happy to and do provide briefs to our artists who request more direction on what to create. However, we are here to help you make money from your artistic style, not pressure you into changing your work to fit our requirements.

Is there a cost associated with sending originals to you for scanning?

As scanning, photographing and creating digital files from your imagery can be quite costly, we do charge a small fee for this service. We charge £25 for small picture (up to 450mm x 450mm square and 460mm x 590mm rectangle) and £35 for anything larger. For this price, we will scan your original and create high resolution digital files, that will be used for licensing your work out to clients but you will also receive a copy of the digital high resolution file of your work. The cost is also inclusive of us returning your work to you via a courier. Should you send us more than 1 original, all additional pieces sent at the same time will be scanned and sent as detailed above at an additional cost of £5 per small picture and £10 per large picture.

Is my original insured whilst it is with you?

We do not insure your work as standard, however for an additional fee of £6 per image, we can insure your work for a value of up to £3,000.