The relationship between children’s publishing and product licensing has developed over time since the latter part of the twentieth century. This is particularly evident as illustrated content increasingly transcends the printed page and enters the realm of product licensing. Picture books, once exclusive to the realm of literature and education, now increasingly represent a source of intellectual property that can be developed into interior and apparel products. In this context, the work of British illustrator and author Amanda Hall can be seen as a source of interest regarding the extension of an existing practice of illustration.

Hall’s entry into this area is closely linked to The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau, published in 2012 by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. While initially produced as a picture book, the imagery from this title later became the basis for a range of licensed applications. From around 2012 onward, the work generated ongoing professional inquiries related to reproduction rights and design adaptation. This pattern reflects a common trajectory in children’s publishing, where visually distinctive books attract interest beyond their original format, particularly when the imagery can be translated into repeatable or decorative forms.

However, adapting book imagery for merchandise may also entail changing how the images are structured. While this is often the case, some of Hall’s images, such as her endpaper design from The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau and other illustrations from that and other books, have been used unedited as stand-alone images for large-scale wall art. In general, images created for merchandise may need to function independently of a sequence, but Hall’s detailed, well-defined style allows elements like foliage, animals, and figures to retain continuity with the original illustrations even when rearranged or repurposed.

By 2016, this development led to the first successful licensing agreement in the United Kingdom based on imagery from The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau. In 2017, Hall was approached by Dussmann das KulturKaufhaus GmbH in Berlin to feature selected illustrations from the same work as large-scale decorative wall panels within its English-language children’s book section at Friedrichstraße 90. The installation was agreed for promotional purposes and reflects the use of her imagery in a high-profile retail setting.

This was followed by an international licensing agreement in 2023, indicating the broader geographic reach of her adapted designs, including applications within the Chinese market for sportswear and apparel products. In such agreements, Hall retains full copyright of her images, granting the licensee a limited license to use the imagery for specified products, within defined territories, and for a set period. This framework allows her work to be applied commercially while maintaining control over intellectual property, demonstrating how illustrated content can extend beyond the book format.

Hall’s increased presence in the licensing business was evident in the coverage given in License Global in October 2025. This article was related to the Brand Licensing Europe exhibition, which took place in London. This exhibition brings together publishers, designers, and manufacturers in a series of negotiations over licenses for intellectual property use. These exhibitions are a key part of the business, as they bring creative producers together with businesspeople.

Hall’s approach to applied design has developed alongside her work in merchandising and licensing, but it differs from the methods used in her picture book illustrations. Her earlier works, including The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau, were created primarily by hand as single, unified pieces that were scanned in their entirety. Digital layering may be added later in Photoshop, but the original spreads remain cohesive artworks. When these images are adapted for merchandise, they are either used in their entirety, as in large-scale prints or wall art, or individual elements are separated by designers for specific applications, such as apparel or other products. Recent repeat designs have been created with separate layers to facilitate commercial use, but this method is distinct from her traditional book illustration practice.

The expansion into licensing also reflects Hall’s long-standing relationships with publishers in the United Kingdom and the United States. In the UK, she has worked with Lion Children’s Books, Frances Lincoln, Dorling Kindersley, Barefoot Books, Pavilion Books, and Templar Publishing, and in the US with Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, Wisdom Tales, and Balzer and Bray. Earlier in her career, her UK publishers originally held both publishing and merchandising rights for the works she illustrated.

Over time, Hall invested considerable effort to have most of these rights reverted to her, allowing her to make independent use of her images for commercial purposes, although some rights remain with publishers, including two in-print titles with Barefoot Books. Through decades of experience, she has come to understand the importance of retaining merchandising rights from the outset, a point of relevance for contemporary illustrators negotiating contracts in the children’s publishing industry.

The transition from a collaborative agreement to a formal publishing agreement affects the licensing rights. In a collaborative agreement, the rights and ownership of the work are usually negotiated in a working agreement between the creative parties while the submission is being developed. In a formal publishing agreement, each illustrator and author signs a contract individually, in which the rights of reproduction, adaptation, and merchandising are clearly specified. Hall has worked in both collaborative and commissioned contexts. Her work has thus been developed through several frameworks before it is licensed, reflecting the different ways in which creative control and commercial use are defined at each stage.

The overall context for this development is a publishing industry where cross-platform potential is becoming increasingly important. Industry reports indicate that global licensing revenue across all sectors exceeded 300 billion US dollars in recent years. Character and entertainment properties were a significant portion of this revenue. While children’s books account for a relatively minor portion of this market, they are a steady source of visual content with potential for adaptation for commercial use. Hall’s work represents an example of how an individual illustrator’s work might be represented within this process with appropriate rights management and industry connections.

The involvement of Amanda Hall in surface design and licensing illustrates a significant shift in how illustration operates within contemporary publishing. It shows how illustrations designed for a narrative purpose can be adapted for applied design, thereby expanding their scope beyond the book form, and the significance of contractual structures, publisher relationships, and platforms in facilitating this process.