Licensing FAQ
Useful answers before the first email.
Rights are confirmed for each commercial brief. These answers explain the studio’s standard licensing route.
How do I license Tobe Fonseca artwork?
Email Tate & Co Licensing with your product category, territory, estimated timing and any artwork or property of interest. Tate will confirm availability and guide the commercial conversation.
Which product categories are available?
The catalog is developed for apparel and t-shirts, tech accessories, wall art and home decor, jigsaw puzzles and games, stationery, magnets and buttons, calendars and paper goods, gift and digital applications. Availability depends on the artwork, category and territory.
Who handles agreements and rights clearance?
Tate & Co Licensing represents the studio for availability, clearance, commercial terms and agreements.
Can a license be exclusive?
Usually by product category and territory, not as a blanket exclusive. You can hold exclusive rights in your category while the artwork stays available in unrelated ones. Exact rights are confirmed for each brief.
Where can buyers review the full catalog?
What’s on this site is an introduction. The full, current catalog lives with Tate & Co, who open it up for qualified buyers.
Is the artwork human-made?
Yes. Every design in the catalog is drawn by the studio’s illustrators. That matters commercially as well as creatively: human authorship is what makes artwork copyrightable, and therefore licensable.
How much artwork is there to choose from?
The studio has produced more than 4,000 designs since 2007. The current licensable selection is curated by Tate & Co, who confirm what is available by category and territory.
What files does a licensee receive?
Whatever the production method needs. Most designs are held as layered files separated by color, ready for screen print, and all are available as high-resolution PNG with a transparent background or JPG. Everything is at least 300 DPI and prepared for print rather than screen. Tell the studio how it is being produced and you get the file that prints best.
Does the studio take on commissioned work?
Yes, though scope, timing and cost depend on the brief. Most partners start from the existing catalog, which is faster and cheaper than commissioning. If nothing fits, write to the studio at contact@tobefonseca.com with what you need and you’ll get a straight answer on whether it’s a good fit.
I only need one design for a small project. Who do I ask?
Write to the studio at contact@tobefonseca.com. Small one-off uses, local projects and single-design requests are handled directly rather than through Tate & Co, who work on product licensing programmes.
Can I buy the artwork on something?
We have a small online shop of our own, Nuggettees. If you would like to support the work, pick something up there for yourself or a friend. Designs are also available through Threadless and TeePublic. The studio’s business is licensing, not retail, so the shop stays deliberately small.
Illustration & Licensing
