The Key to Selling More Art: Finding Your Perfect Product Fit
When you’re creating art with the goal of selling it, whether through licensing or on your own products, there’s one factor that can really make your work stand out. 👇🏼
Making sure it’s a good fit for the products it might live on.
In this post, you’ll learn how to think strategically to create and present work with massive selling power for art licensing.
As artists, it’s easy to fall into a ✨ no thoughts, just vibes ✨ approach to creating. And honestly, there’s value in that. Inspiration matters, and sometimes you just need to follow whatever idea excites you in the moment.
The tricky part is when that’s the only way you create. Over time, you may end up with a portfolio that feels scattered or inconsistent, which can make it harder for art directors or customers to see how your work translates into products.
Here’s an example of a collection I designed specifically for Kitchen & Tabletop products. More on that below! 😊
Why Product Fit Matters
Can’t you just design what you want and pitch it to brands? Technically, yes.
But it’s a lot easier for an art director to say “yes” if they can immediately imagine your artwork on their products.
Think about it from their perspective. Imagine you’re pitching to a company whose art director is planning their 2026/2027 stationery launch. If they open your pitch and see a collection of your illustrations mocked up on planners or notebooks, it clicks right away.
They can immediately picture your art on shelves, and that makes their job easier. Compare that to sending over a page of patterns with no context. Cute, yes, but harder for them to make the connection right away.
That’s the difference product fit makes: you’re not just showing your art, you’re showing how it works.
Research What’s Popular in Your Categories
One of the best ways to start thinking strategically is to research the categories you want to design for and start to build your portfolio strategically around those categories. Take some time to make a list of products you would love to see your art on. You can pick as many as you want, but it can help to have a narrower focus to start.
I know a lot of you are probably thinking, “But I want my art on every product!” And that’s totally fine, too! You can always expand, but I’d encourage you to start by brainstorming a few different products or categories to keep things simple. (And I’ll share more about how to make artwork that appeals to a broad range of products later on).
Once you’ve got your list, it’s time to do some research. Start browsing stores in person or online to see what kinds of artwork is on the products that you want your art on. Then start to notice the patterns you see. (Not surface design patterns, but similarities in themes, color, etc.) Here are a couple of examples:
Kids’ products often feature cute motifs and rounded shapes. Baby items tend to feature pastel color palettes, while older kids lean into bold colors and playful designs.
Teens’ products might highlight quirky icons or trends from pop culture.
Wallpaper tends to stay more muted, sophisticated, and calming.
When you start paying attention to these patterns, you’ll notice themes across different categories that can guide your own creative process. This will help you make art that is more appealing to buyers in the categories you’re targeting.
Designing With Products in Mind
When you’re creating new artwork, it can be helpful to have a product in mind when you start designing. This can spark inspiration and give you a good guide for how to start designing your collection.
For example, if you’re designing for tabletop products, imagine how people will interact with them: hosting friends, celebrating holidays, or elevating everyday meals. That kind of perspective helps you design with function and context in mind.
You can also reverse-engineer this. I once got some feedback from my agents that one of the product categories that I was missing out on was kitchen and tabletop items. So I set out to pull artwork from my existing portfolio into collections that worked well on those products. I kept the same things in mind (how the products would be used) and let that guide me as I pulled the collections together. My Product Collections Deck includes lots of seasonal items since I know that those tend to sell well in the tabletop space!
Artwork With Broad Product Appeal
Of course, not every piece you create has to be tied to a product from the get-go. Some designs naturally have broad appeal and can work across many categories.
Take my retro sun design, for example.
It’s been one of my top sellers for a few years now. It’s been licensed on everything from T-shirts to wall art to throw pillows to purses to car air fresheners. I originally designed it for a baby shower invitation for my sister-in-law, but the sun motif and trendy color palette were generic enough that it can work on tons of different products without me needing to rework anything.
(And we’re all about working smarter, not harder, around here! 😉)
So, while it is important to design with an end product in mind, the goal isn’t to pigeonhole yourself into one niche or create products that are so specific that they can’t have multiple uses.
But you do want to strike a balance to give your work a strategic edge.
Create with specific products in mind and leave room for designs that can stretch across categories.
What Products Might Your Existing Artwork Fit?
You don’t have to start from scratch every time.
Sometimes it’s about looking at your existing portfolio with fresh eyes and asking, “Where could this live?”
That floral pattern you painted for fun could be perfect for stationery. A playful fruit motif might look right at home on a kitchen tea towel.
Even if you didn’t design with a product in mind originally, your work can still find a natural fit once you start strategizing about what kinds of motifs work on certain products.
Presenting Your Collections
When it comes time to pitch, presentation matters.
You want to make it as easy as possible for an art director to see your work on their products.
I like to include a mix of standalone artwork and mockups in my decks. If I’m pitching to a stationery brand, I’ll include mockups of my art on planners, notebooks, or journals. If the company makes a wide range of products, I might lean more on standalone collections with a handful of mockups sprinkled in.
There isn’t one “right” formula here. It really depends on your audience. What matters most is showing your art in a way that feels marketable and product-ready.
Want to see the exact collections my agents are pitching right now?
I’m pulling back the curtain and showing you the exact way I present my own collections so you can get inspiration for your own decks!
The Takeaway
At the end of the day, creating art that sells isn’t about restricting yourself or chasing trends that you don’t care about. It’s about thinking strategically.
When you consider how your work fits into different product categories and present it in a way that helps art directors and buyers connect the dots, you’re setting yourself up for more opportunities.
The balance is in creating from a place of joy and strategy.
Do the work that lights you up, but also give yourself the space to think about where that art might live in the world. That’s when your portfolio starts to click, and when your art begins to truly stand out.