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Bright Art Licensing and The Art Group Collaborate on New Picture Book Inspired Card Range
last updated 24 January 2017
Bright Art Licensing, a division of the Bright Group agency, and the creative greeting card company The Art Group have collaborated to take inspiration from books published by Bright’s artists within the children’s picture book market, to make their first range of greetings cards called “The Bright Collective”.
The visuals on the card designs are extracted from book titles Grandad’s Island by Benji Davies (Simon & Schuster), I’m a Girl by Yasmeen Ismail (Bloomsbury), The Bear and the Piano by David Litchfield (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books) and Alan’s Big Scary Teeth by Jarvis (Walker):
Reggie Pugh, Creative Director of The Art Group said:
‘For as long as I can remember (even though my children are now adults!) I have been collecting beautiful children’s books and admiring the massive talent of the artists who create them. The Bright Agency do a fantastic job of developing some extremely gifted illustrators and authors. It never ceases to amaze me how many great styles and stories they offer. In The Art Group studio when we’re looking at the creation of cards and selecting new artworks, we are always drawn to the character development and skills of many of their artists’ book designs.’
‘After much discussion, lots of choice and a few tears when reading Grandad’s island (which Bright’s Senior Agent, Hannah Curtis, did warn me was a tear jerker) we made a final selection of illustrations from four of their award winning artists to go to launch with, and hope it gives the retailer a new range of cards with a great mix of beautiful artworks and fun characters. There is such great energy in Yasmeen Ismail’s characters from Specs for Rex and I’m a Girl, as well as Jarvis’s very snappy crocodile, Alan, in Alan’s Big Scary Teeth. The very touching relationship between Syd and his grandad from Benji Davis’ Grandad’s Island is so appealing and David Litchfield’s The Bear and the Piano has stunningly beautiful, atmospheric illustrations.’
‘We hope this joint project between the Bright agency and The Art Group will help to build awareness for both the illustrator and their books and give fans (both parents and children) an opportunity to send a card with their favourite characters. Our aim is to continue to expand the range and bring even more of the best, new and award winning talent that the Bright Agency have published.’
Senior Agent at Bright Art Licensing, Hannah Curtis, commented:
‘Working with Reggie and the talented team at The Art Group on a project this unique is very exciting. The emotional engagement that cards can inspire has been recognized in recent years with the increase of greetings card sales as evidence of their popularity. This is something the visuals from the books selected for this card range really focuses on.’
‘From a retail perspective, these books are much loved and already established so the cards will sit well beside them. But also as standalone cards, the designs in this range speak out to a customer who may have, say, never opened a David Litchfield book before; the imagery and sentiment captioned make it just as impactful. So marrying the selected picture book illustrations with the greetings cards market has proven a natural fit. We hope everyone enjoys looking at them as much as we have enjoyed making them!’
“The Bright Collective” will be launching at the NEC Spring Fair 2017 with a mix of general birthday designs and also a small collection of captioned cards.
To work with any of the artists featured here or with our licensing and publishing divisions please get in touch