The online presence of the big head, large eyed girls making up the Lilz brand brought both success and headaches to their creator Joel Adams. The Internet fed the popularity of Adams’s images in signature tags at MySpace and other social networking sites. The flip side is that Adams faced the same dilemma as others in creative fields what to do about those who use his work without permission. The hijacking of his work resulted in his writing what he admitted were “angry, nasty” letters to members of signature tag user groups at Yahoo! and MSN. “It’s hard,” Adams said. “I’m an individual person doing it. I don’t have big money behind me.” Later, Adams changed his approach to educating users about the theft of his images to the point where they came around to his view. The sassy, edgy and provocative look of the Lilz in their skimpy outfits was what caught the eye of online users but their monetary value to Adams came from a new model used in the fight against illegal use of those drawings. Adams is among the more than 100 artists represented by Creative Image Licensing and Management to license his work. The user pays a fee and in return receives permission to use Adams’s images in the way they want within reason, of course. “I’m doing very well with that,” Joel Adams said. “I’ve developed something that I like and other people like as well.” The Lilz, however, is just the side job for when Adams isn’t managing Burbank-based Transcontinuity Studios. That’s the west coast operation for Continuity Studios, a New York animation and commercial art firm owned and operated by his father, noted comic book artist Neal Adams. Son Joel always had a penchant for drawing beautiful girls and the feminine figure, which sparked discussions about when he would grow out of it, Neal Adams said. Creating the Lilz follows in the tradition of other great artists through the centuries who focused on the female form in their work, he said. “I didn’t necessarily think one of my sons would become one of those guys, but Joel has not only done it but has made a living out of it,” he added. The style of the Lilz with their slightly oversized heads attached to trim, athletic bodies was not one that Adams would have pursued had the characters not become popular on the web. His resume shows a career based on comic books and more traditional animation, including stints as a character designer for “King of the Hill” and Fox Kids. The Lilz particularly took off with high school students and women ranging in ages from their 20s into their 50s. While characters with big heads and extremely large eyes have been done time and again, Adams played around with the idea by turning them into fairies, mermaids, pirates and horror movie monsters. While comparisons have been made between Lilz and the Bratz dolls coveted by young girls, as far as Adams is concerned the similarities end with the letter “z.” “It’s not for kids, but on the other hand I have haven’t done anything that crosses any borders,” Joel Adams said. When Anthony Guerra started Creative Image Licensing in Huntington Beach 18 months ago, one of the first artists he called was Joel Adams, who was then contracted to another licensing company. Once the other contract was up, Adams joined forces with Creative Image where his Lilz characters are among the most requested licenses. “Any time he draws anything their look is very consistent but he gives them enough of a personality where every one of them is different,” Guerra said. Prints, portfolios, and sketchbooks of Lilz characters are available through Adams’s website. Future plans for the girls are to take them out of the virtual world and into brick-and-mortar retail shops with t-shirts and other merchandise. Adams concedes that the look of the retail Lilz would need to change to appeal to the broader market. He and his agent are in discussions with a manufacturer of shirts that could sell in a major chain like Target.
