Squaredy Cats style guide covers

This post is a bit late, but I saved the link to archive here.

These are pictures Karen posted of the Squaredy Cats style guide covers she did for us.

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not squared to blog it

 From the Squaredy Cats™ blog.

 From the Squaredy Cats™ Facebook page. 

We finally started a blog and a Facebook fan page for the Squaredy Cats. There's tons of content to be added, so watch for it. The news for Squaredy Cats should be picking up too, so watch for that to increase as well.

We'll be posting cats on the blog along with anecdotes about what we were thinking when they were individually designed.

Check out the Squaredy Cats Blog

Check out the Squaredy Cats Facebook fan page

We'll keep the fan feed in the sidebar to the right as well.

Please design (X) for free

As illustrators and designers, we've all bee through this. Simply put: Potential doesn't pay my mortgage.

But for a more colorful version of this scenario (which comes up all too often for those of us who wield a pencil and mouse for a living), please to enjoy:

An amusing correspondence from 27b/6™ regarding designing for the possibility of payment.

:P

Another one!

Our first license went to A&A Global who distributes to vending machine companies. Please comment on their blog, and let them know how much you LOVE Squaredy Cats :)

GO HERE!

:)

Squaredy Cats stickers for sale

Elaine just found this link for gumball machine vendors offering Squaredy Cats stickers for sale in bulk at Gumballs.com. If you know someone who owns vending machines or works at a vending machine company, please forward it to them.

Paperoni hit the shelves

Elaine shows off a find of some of her Paperoni work.

Elaine and I were visiting my parents upstate, NY, and made our ritual visit to Wal-Mart. We found a large display of Spin Master's Paperoni in the toy section. These are some of the crafts that Elaine designed :)
She worked out 3-D mock-ups for most of these Paperoni characters.

We just discovered they finally have an official paperoni site :)

Bitzy Motion Test

Our friend Liz Van Verth has done a motion test in animating Bitzy, the Squarey Monster. We are so happy with the way she looks bouncing around on the screen :)

Can't you just see the Squarey Monsters bouncing around on Nickelodeon?

Bitzy from Liz Van Verth on Vimeo.

Beer Pong

INI's "I've Never… Beer Pong."

One of my clients just updated their website to reflect all the new merchandise INI is offering. Their signature game, "I've Never…" has been updated, and Monkey Doodle Dandy has helped in the branding by designing so much of their merchandise, and developing other games with INI based on the "I've Never…" concept.
Their latest… "I've Never… Beer Pong."

Check out their other games. They make great gifts :)

And, don't forget to check out the children's version of "I've Never…" which we also designed :)

Dora Links Doll

The new Dora Links Doll will being unveiled today on The View. Set your DVRs and TIVOs, or watch live.

Elaine played a role in the design and development of the Dora doll and her clothing. She did a ton of graphics for the site connected to the doll, and I contributed with some illustrations.

Go to doralinks.com when you buy the doll or just check it out now.

Sorry, we can't post a picture of the doll until it's officially announced, but I'll throw something up later.

Squaredy Cats style guide

It's finally finished. The Squaredy Cats Style Guide has been through a lot to get to this point. Despite already having signed a licensing agreement, we still hadn't sent out the teaser guides to anyone yet. We have 5 full guides and 15 teaser guides that we had Karen's Monsters make plush covers for.
We finished printing and binding all the books, and added CDs, postcards and pins. We're sending the guides to our agents at Redasign Studio, and are hoping for the best.

The pages are to be kept secret at this point. There are several never-before-seen cats that will probably debut as stickers in December.

PS:
Yesterday I was wearing a Squaredy Cats t-shirt, and I saw at least one girl craning her neck to see it :)

Bitzy turnaround

Bitzy is alive! It's alive. It's alive. It's alive, it's alive, , it's alive , it's ALIVE!





Thank you, Liz Van Verth. This is exciting :)

16 New Squaredy Cats pins and magnets

We've uploaded 16 new pins (in two sizes) and magnets to our Cafe Press shop. We hope to see you strolling around town with your new Squaredy Cats pin. Maybe you need more magnets on your fridge ;)
Send one as a gift today, and help spread the news Squaredy Cats are here!

SEE THE NEW PINS!

:)

Bitzy begins the robot revolution

Bitzy, of the Squarey Monsters.

Bitzy front view

Bitzy 3/4 view

Bitzy side view

Bitzy top view

Elaine and I are VERY excited. Our friend Liz Van Verth is working on an animation with Bitzy of the Squarey Monsters. We are talking with Liz about how she will move, and are thrilled seeing our character come to life, and can't wait to see what she comes up with.

Visit Liz Van Verth's site.

Visit Bitzy

Bitzy is a Witzy-wonk, a robotic monster from Wonky Island. She spends her days spiffing up and her nights programming. If you have a gadget on the fritz, chances are she can fix it.

Pins and Magnets available

We set up a logo pin at our Cafe Press Store to place on the plushy Style Guide Teasers. The artwork is still attached to the store in the Squaredy Cats Section, and we applied it to 3.5" pins, 2.25" pins and 2.25" magnets.

If you are interested in purchasing pins or magnets please visit this link. And thanks for your support. These are going to be collectors' items ;)

Squaredy Cats have style

After several versions, revisions, additions, and redesigns we've finally settled on the Squaredy Cats first edition Style Guide. The full version still has to be printed, and we're working with Karen of Karen's Monsters who made some of our Licensing Expo plush samples. She's making cute plushy covers for our first guides, and the teaser guides.

We got our first teaser guide sample back (without Karen's extra touch), and we are so pleased with how it looks! I like to think we are making the job easy for our agents at Redasign Studio ;)

Pitches begin soon. Wish us luck!

PS A reminder for Facebook users: Why not send a Squaredy Cats Gift today? It's free!

Interviewed by Ruby Winkle

Meghan Killeen of Ruby Winkle interviewed me about Monkey Doodle Dandy this week.
I was a little late in sending images, so I hope she can still insert what I sent today. We are always so busy, and of course, working on this beautiful Saturday.

What a great feeling to know that what you might have to say is important to someone other than yourself!

Read the interview here.

Thanks for finding us, Meghan :)

Not squared to go green

We've been very busy developing our Squaredy Cats style guide for licensees. Many pitches are planned, but it looks like we may have our first licensing deal very soon (details to come). Since we were so busy we forgot to mention we signed our licensing agreement deal with our agents for Squaredy Cats and Squarey Monsters. Seems fairly anticlimactic after a few months of negotiations, but we're ecstatic about being represented.

Here's a little bit about our representation:
Redasign Studio is a branding and design studio specializing in building successful brands through licensing. With a combined 40 years experience in marketing, licensing and design, its team members, Robert Reda and Kim Winkeleer, have been instrumental in the development of multi-million dollar licensing and brand extension programs for properties such as baby Gund, She’s Charmed and Dangerous, the Teletubbies and Eloise at the Plaza.

To celebrate we popped a bottle of champagne. We hope you'll celebrate with a reusable stainless steel SIGG water bottle from our Cafe Press store.


Here's a perma-link to our store in case merchandise is moved in the future.

Party Favors

Mini-Foosball, Skee Ball and Mad Libs party favors.

This was sent by a friend a while ago. It's a cell phone photo - a little chopped off, but it's three party favor games that we had our hands on in designing for Tara Toy. We did a revised Foosball field and Mad Libs accordion fold fun-books. Much of it is restricted by the rules of style guides, but some fun was had in designing the Skeeball board.

Skee Ball design and mock-up.

I've Never, but Justine has

Click the image above to go to the online Justine Magazine.

Still catching up on news. A client of ours who markets the game I've Never receives press for his items, but I believe this was the first press his I've Never… received for the teen version that we designed. It was featured on page 36 of their April/May issue.

Click the image above to go to the grown-up version of I've Never…
at the Barnes & Noble's online store.

I couldn't find a link to the teen version on the Barnes & Noble website, but it's in stores. The above image is the adult version of the game. I did the illustration for that package a couple of years ago.

Tara games

I finally got around to posting these pictures. I designed the logos and cards for a number of games for Tara Toy in 2008. Games is a fairly new category for them, so I am happy to see that of the seven or so games I worked on, these three went through to production, and can be found in stores.

Product logos and illustrations are the most fun part of this job.

I feel like Steve Martin

Remember in The Jerk when Steve Martin found his name in the phone book, and cried out that he was famous? I feel a little like that when I post this, but as much as a mention of our studio in passing should really be no big deal, we feel it's a compliment to have been mentioned at all in a marketing guru's blog along with two other known brands.

After all, you may know who Cookie Jar is, but everyone knows Ugly Dolls. Well, Monkey Doodle Dandy was mentioned in the same sentence in this post in Jason Manwaring's blog talking about Licensing Expo.

It should seem like no big deal, especially considering the sentence was not all that positive (really not negative regarding our studio either). But, hey. We got noticed.
We're famous! ;)

Fisher Price badge

The day before we left for Licensing Expo in Vegas, we were invited by Fisher Price to their Vendor Fair. There, we got to have face time with some of the people we do work for; and we also get to meet new people for potential work. We had a portfolio, promotional material, and a table to greet Fisher Price designers and project managers.

I joked about their security at the time. We had to sign waivers promising not to discuss anything we saw (so, mum's the word), and we got badges on which we were to write our names. Only today, about two weeks later did I see the extent of their seriousness in their security when I found the badge in my bag. A time exposed ink "appeared" on my badge. Cool.

Not squared to send Facebook gifts

If you are on Facebook, get the new Squaredy Cats Facebook Gift app, and send some to friends. When you install it you will only see a few, but more unlock each day.
Click the "become a fan" button when you get there, and you will be notified when we upload more images. The Squaredy Cats you see here are not necessarily exclusive, but you'll find some here you'll never see anywhere else!
Wear your anxiety on your Facebook wall and own it!

Click here to get it!

Paperoni - pasta, present, future

The original Paper'oni logo we created.

Our apartment was filled with these Paper'oni boxes and jars while Elaine was developing uses for the craft product.

Elaine at the Happy Hands booth, Toy Fair 2008. Paper'oni was their featured product. Elaine designed all the packaging and banners.

It's always nice to see the fruits of your efforts drop to the earth so that the seeds plant new trees that grow before your eyes. Sometimes we miss the scope of what we've contributed to particular products, and sometimes we just have to patiently wait to see what comes up.
A few of years ago Elaine met a new client at Toy Fair. He hired Monkey Doodle Dandy to develop a new craft concept with him. We even provided a list of creative titles for the product, and Raymond Suskin, the inventor chose a name we brainstormed: Paper'oni. We knew immediately, based on his idea, and how we felt about the name that Raymond had a hit.

I designed the logo, and Elaine did most of the development; presentation boards, product illustrations, packaging, etc. We were both very proud when Raymond at Happy Hands told us his Paper'oni was doing well in other countries.

It seemed like it happened over night. One day last year, Elaine got a call from an unrelated client who hired her to develop their new license… Paper'oni! The product caught the eye of Spin Master, and coincidentally, Elaine helped develop the license for new product. More illustrations, and a slight change in the name (Paperoni without the apostrophe), and Spin Master has finally released Paperoni to market… and we can finally show it.

This Amazon link might not last forever so images are below.

Spin Master's first Paperoni item.
Elaine and I sketched and rendered concepts for the machine, and Elaine designed the 2-D and 3-D animals. This was one of the projects our friend, Nancy Sampson helped with.

See Nancy Sampson's website.

Monday is fun day

The monkeys are back in the new studio trying to catch up on emails. Then we have to sort everything out that we learned at Licensing Expo. The show was a success for us. We came home with a stack of business cards as big as an Uno deck. Now comes the follow-through.

We are very excited about it all. We'll likely sign with our licensing agent for the US and UK this week or next, then they'll take some of our leads and make things happen.

*fingers crossed*

First Day at first Expo

Elaine and Kurt in the Monkey Doodle Dandy booth at our first Licensing Expo.

Kurt and the Squarey Monsters banner.

Elaine and the Wudjadoo banner.

The Jitterbutter banner and Betty Bones' skateboard concept.

The Squarey Monsters display.

Our first day of Licensing Expo went very well… even better than either of us had expected it could. We met manufacturers and producers from all over the world. Sometimes inventors had a product they thought would work well with our images. Sometimes an agency wanted to know what was available. There seems to be pretty even interest among all four of our properties, Jitterbutter GirlMonsters, Wudjadoo, Squarey Monsters and Squaredy Cats.

Today is the second day, and we don't know what to expect. We hope it can go half as well as it has already. I can't wait to see what the end result will be, and how these new connections will affect Monkey Doodle Dandy. 

We haven't figured out if our ad in Art of Licensing has sent anyone in our direction. It's possible, when everyone browses their papers from the show they can find us then. Not like we had many free moments yesterday. It seemed like someone was always stopping at our booth, and we're thankful for that! Even the heads of Tara Toy stopped by to say hello.

This booth is made for stompin'

Elaine and Kurt stand in the empty booth 1873 at their first Licensing Expo.

First order of business… hang the Monkey Doodle Dandy Banner!

Elaine and Stephanie assembling our shelves. Not sure where everything goes yet.

Elaine and Stephanie. All the banners are up.

Now we know where the Squarey Monsters are going, cut stickers for packets.

Last minute concept mock-ups to assemble.

Squarey Monsters await fame while Elaine goes through last minute portfolio changes.

We're pretty much finished setting up the booth for Licensing Expo. Booth 1873. We'll post more pictures showing the entire booth tomorrow when the union gets all the skids out of the way and the carpet is down. 

Also, great to note:

A google alert made me aware that our Exhibitor profile has been published at TMCnet.com.

Here's how it reads:

Company: Monkey Doodle Dandy Booth: 1873 Media Contact: Elaine de la Mata Phone: 718-398-2338/917-450-2483 E-mail: studio@monkeydoodledandy.com Web: monkeydoodledandy.com   Since 1998, Monkey Doodle Dandy, Inc. has developed properties for major companies including Scholastic, Nickelodeon, Fisher Price and Mattel. The Brooklyn-based art and design company is now expanding as a licensor, introducing its own brands Squarey Monsters, Squaredy Cats, Wudjadoo and GirlMonsters. Whether they're furry, fanged, or four-sided, these endearing creatures allow young consumers to express themselves with an individuality that resonates with their age group but still meets the approval of parents. For more information, visit www.monkeydoodledandy.com.

Donk, Bitzy and Clup are GO!

Kurt wearing Donk's Eyes.

Clup, Bitzy and Donk as plushies!

Terry cloth Squarey Monster, Bitzy… she's a bath buddy!

Terry cloth Squarey Monster, Donk… he's a bath buddy!

Plush Squarey Monster, Donk trying to use Kurt's mouse.

We are so excited to fly to Las Vegas for the Licensing Expo Sunday morning. We worked in the studio today for some last minute finishes. A few product mock-ups, labels and details for… YES! THREE MORE plush Squarey Monsters!
My brother-in-law has a tuxedo shop, and we hired his seamstress to work up Bitzy and Clup as pocket mouthed bath buddies and Donk as a plush pillow. I made simple patterns for reference, and Maria did a great job interpreting my mess :)
We printed some eyes on board to simulate plastic, and set up some labels for a mini-shampoo, soap bar, etc. to go in the mouths of the bath buddies.