Three Year Milestone for Ninjanimals Kidz!

Today is the 3 Year Anniversary of N-Kidz

Three years ago today I approached Peter Yim for the first time with the idea of getting some cartoon characters copyrighted and turned into cute t-shirt characters. Basically, I had been looking for “something” for a long time – something cute, something special, something amazing. It hadn’t occured to me six months before, that Pete might have that “something” when he showed me a proposal he had written for the bosses about a special children’s world filled with joy and innocence.

But on September 13, 2007 I had taken a 2-hour class about patenting inventions and had that “lightbulb moment”. And yes, those lightbulb moments definitely happen. Especially when you have been searching for a long time for something undefinable like I had been.

So on September 14^th – first thing in the morning – I could barely contain my enthusiasm (major understatement) when I approached (another understatement – overwhelmed, ambushed, kidnapped) Pete as he got off the elevator on his way into the offices. Pete of course was surprised by the sudden change from a co-worker he hadn’t known all that well. I was so excited and enthusiastic, so certain that we needed to copyright his characters, I truly didn’t know what I was getting into.

That evening, Pete and I talked for hours. I will always fondly remember the bench we sat on in front of the highrise Bethesda office. Pete wanted to form a partnership – a fair and loyal partnership. All I cared about was getting 6 cute cartoon characters made as quickly as possible. I didn’t care about stories, websites, or worlds.

We signed a partnership agreement, and within a few weeks we began working on character creation. Months and months of character development followed. Countless hours spent on deciding on characters, the animal species they were, talking about the worlds we were going to create, and the stories which took place. Pete showing me how characters are created in terms of personality and in terms of looks. Convincing me that story is critical – and not just the characters. I still have an extreme fondness for the characters on their own, over the stories, but realize that the characters need a vehicle to add dimension to who they are.

It’s hard to believe that from those early days, two separate characters sets and properties have been created and function separately.

It’s been a long three years for me, filled mainly with successes and real enjoyment. Hours upon hours spent playing with the characters and the website. Hours immersed in bright candy colors. Converting those colors to images and then transforming those images and color palettes into web pages.

There have been some struggles and challenges of course, such as learning how to maintain balance while things are happening. Learning to overcome various dryspells – be it financial, motivation, joy. Mainly I feel unbelievably enthusiastic and happy with being the creator of the Ninjanimals Kidz and so blessed to have found them.

I recently wrote to a friend, “The important thing is to keep standing.” And that is where I am at today. Not necessarily at a crossroads, but at a point of transformation. Trying to figure out how to make the websites and the Kidz widely known to many children. How to develop a fan base. How to make Ninjanimals Kidz self supporting. And how to make a living off what I love, instead of having it be my private obsession and treasure.

Three years ago I could never have imagined where I’d be today. It’s been a wonderful, magical, miraculous, creative journey that has changed my life in so many ways.

Happy Birthday Ninjanimals Kidz!

Love, Rachel