Illustrations by Jesuso Ortiz and Dannyboy, two artists represented by art licensing and design company The London Studio, have been licensed for new greeting card collections launching next year from Woodmansterne Publications.
Based in Spain, Jesuso Ortiz combines his own drawings with various household objects, food and flora to produce minimalistic artifacts in a distinctive and highly original way. A watermelon, for example, becomes a skirt, a rose can be an umbrella, and a ball of yarn turns into a balloon.
It’s an original approach that has already inspired five published books of art by Jesuso Ortiz. It has also appeared in a collection of watches designed for Swatch that were showcased on the billboards of New York’s Times Square.
The other range, called Wisecrack, features a new collection of humorous designs by cartoonist and illustrator Dannyboy, displaying his fondness – and talent – for hand-drawn cartoons. Dannyboy has illustrated several books, carried out a number of private commissions, and regularly works as a freelance cartoonist for a wide variety of clients.
He has also published witty, design-led humour cards since 2013 under his Cardinky brand. However, for this partnership he has designed a bespoke range of cards and licensed them exclusively to Woodmansterne for the UK market.
The two complete card ranges will be available from January 2024 through all independent sales channels. Selected cards will be available in Woodmansterne’s key national accounts from February 2024. Further launches for the Occasions and Relations cards categories will be available to independent retailers via Woodmansterne’s dedicated sales team throughout the rest of 2024.
“Yet again the London Studio has partnered with artists who can boast an exciting and distinctive vision that will have a strong appeal to card buyers across the UK,” commented Ian Blake, art director at Woodmansterne. “We’re thrilled to be highlighting the work of Jesuso Ortiz and Dannyboy and looking forward to bringing both of them to a wide UK audience.”
Soula Zavacopoulos, founder and director at The London Studio, continued: “We quickly saw the potential of both Jesuso Ortiz and Dannyboy in the greeting card market and were delighted to support both of these talented artists, whose work will, we are certain, be enormously popular with the UK’s card buyers.”
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