Living the Brand

Since graduating from NKU in May, we've felt even more of a need to define ourselves and our brand. College was a time of growth and experimentation and now that we're in the real world, I've been feeling an ever-growing need to hone in on who were are and what we're all about. Since our work is such a large part of who we are it's very hard--actually, impossible--to separate our personal and business lives. We don't leave home to go to work everyday, so we can't leave it behind at the end of the day because truthfully, our work day never ends. Because of this, our styles are evolving--in the creative sense, social, and even fashion.

Flying Bulldog by MisNopalesArt

Robot Rides Triceratops by happyfamily

Bub on Ice by kidrobot

Too Shy Salmon T-Shirt by rosiemusic

I've never thought of myself as fashionable. Quite the farthest thing from it, actually. But lately I've been looking at things in a new light. Ever since we've taken on our art as full-time gigs, I've been thinking more creatively with my style. I feel like our brand needs to encompass every aspect of our lives. We need to live it through and through. It's almost like a transformation from Jennifer to Jenn Bot. Weird? Maybe.

Copper Fox Purse by tsurubride

Happy Times Wallet by Fred Flare

Gojira Zipper Pouch by kukubee

Custom Made Spotted Monster Gadget Case by BirdonaFernStudio

But one thing's for sure. I'm tired of blending in. I was never really one to go along with trends, so now that we have our own brand I'm finding it easier to choose things that reflect my personality and the vibe of our business: Quirky, cute, weird, and clever.

beep, boop, bop!

Jenn Bot

Toys For Big Boys...And Girls!

Inspiration can come at any time, in any shape, and can literally rock the foundation of your entire life. For Jennifer and I, one of our biggest inspirations stems from one of our biggest obsessions: blind boxed urban art toys.

These toys are genius in themselves representing many different things to the artists who create them and in turn many different things to the artists who collect them. For us, they have become our muse a literal manifestation of everything we strive for as a business. More importantly though, while our own toy is a long term goal, the toys that we currently own have completely changed our business approach in the short term.

Toy prototype created in Rhino

We have come to realize with every Dunny that we collect, with every Droplet that we buy, and with every Marshall that stalks our shelves, that our robots are not just a figure, but rather a canvas that is filled with infinite potential.

A small portion of our toy collection

With that said, originally our robots were created in a way that every one of them embodied the world around us. They were our pop culture figures, they partook in our hobbies, and they even exuded human-like emotions. Our personal belief which in turn became our business motto was that each of these robots should all be linked together in a way that would be instantly recognizable. In other words, every robot would be the same shape and more importantly, share the same traits such as their heart.

And while we have no plans to abandon this design, we have begun to grow not only as a business, but as artists ourselves. The toys that surround us have ultimately changed us. For instance, when we now look at our robots we don't always see Britney Spears or Harry Potter. Instead we see a theme, a message, a completely blank canvas waiting to be filled.

Toy design prototype

Overall, this approach has been a long time coming, one that we have discussed in length and at times begrudgingly accepted. As with anything in life, it is easier to be set in one's way and stay the course, while it is much harder to meet a challenge head on and ultimately accept change.

This change, however, has proven to be an explosion of creativity that has been unmatched during any of our artistic stints. It has pushed us harder, forced us to find our own style, and steered us in a direction that has proven that our art is different and special.

Jenn customizing a toy

Ultimately, as we have begun to see, while Jennifer shapes the clay that makes our robots, it has become the artists that we admire that has begun to shape us.

beep, boop, bop!

Tony Bot

Zoo Adventures

Tony and I always enjoy spending a nice day at the Cincinnati Zoo. For the past couple of years I've been lucky enough to have been gifted a zoo membership for my birthday so we try to go as often as possible. We always have such a fun time together and there's always something new to look at.

Whenever we go, I insist that our first stop be to the Children's Petting Zoo. In high school I spent two summers volunteering here. While scooping poop, feeding barn animals, and grooming goats certainly isn't a glamorous job, I was passionate about it and found it really rewarding.

They've drastically changed the petting zoo since I volunteered here, but most of the animals are still the same. I primarily worked with the goats so I always get a kick out of seeing them.

While I'm always more than willing to pet the goats and sheep, Tony is sometimes a bit more hesitant. He's not always as willing to get his hands and clothes covered in the general grit that comes with barnyard creatures. But he's really just a softie at heart, so sometimes he just can't resist.

Since they've updated the petting zoo, they added these new food dispensers to the goat area. I'm not sure who's idea this was, but I think the goats are pretty pleased with the additions.

Plus they've added a new chicken coop and free roaming chickens and hens to the area. This is a really different experience as you're able to feed these guys, too. I wasn't too keen on having chickens peck willy-nilly at my palms, but Tony didn't mind the challenge.

Personally, I think the chicken had plans of his own.

Exploring the zoo, there are always plenty of opportunities to see actual wildlife roaming the property as well. You never quite know what's around the corner or hiding in the woods stalking you.

Every once in a while it's nice to take a rest from our trek, but in his typical fashion, it's never too long before Tony has to break into a dance.

Tragically, Tony got really into the dancing and didn't actually leave the zoo with me that day.

Basically, the zoo is an escape for us. We go there to clear our minds, observe the animals and, well, act like animals ourselves. Sometimes there's nothing better than just being silly.

beep, boop, bop!

Jenn Bot

Easy as...

As the literal in-house photographer for itty bitties for you and bolts and bots I commonly get asked two questions: What kind of camera do you use and what photography classes did you take? The answer, which is often a surprise to those that inquire is: I use a $100 Kodak Easyshare (the only camera that I own) and I have absolutely no photography training whatsoever.

With that said, I would like to say that photography has always been a passion of mine and that I spent years honing my skills and sharpening my eyes to capture the perfect shot. However, the reality is, all photos prior to launching itty bitties for you were simply recreational and also few and far between. And while I always enjoyed photography and even contemplated taking some courses in college I was completely clueless as we opened itty bitties for you how I was going to take product shots.

And just as I expected, the early days of itty bitties for you were rough. I tried photos of Jennifer's products indoors and out. I took them in the shade and then again in direct light. And I even tried to enhance her products by adding additional props within the frame. The results: each product would encounter hundreds of pictures that I would tirelessly sift through attempting to find just four that I could potentially use for an Etsy listing. The hours ultimately became long, frustrating, and probably a direct cause of my hair thinning.

Your photos will be good...when pigs fly

The changing point for me, however, came on my birthday a year later when Jennifer bought me a light box. The light box which is used for the sole purpose of creating an evenly spread, perfectly lit atmosphere was a true game changer for my photography. Immediately I went from taking hundreds of photos to little more than 20 per piece. Even better, instead of sifting through hundreds of blitzed, out of focus shots, I was going through 20 perfectly focused pictures and choose which one suited my eye the best.

The Box

The box, in turn, fueled my creativity making me love photography again and pushed me to use my imagination to make Jennifer's pieces come to life.

We are the Knights who say...

Ultimately, my photos and my skills are minuscule when compared to the great photographers that are out there. But while many pour thousands upon thousands of dollars into their equipment to get what they believe to be the perfect shot, I sit here with my Easyshare in hand and refine my craft to the level that I desire. After all photography, just like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

beep, boop, bop!

Tony Bot

Love Bots

Some of my favorite customer experiences have been filled with love. Literally! Over the past few months I've had several couples ask me to create their wedding cake toppers. This in itself is a huge honor. I know how stressful planning a wedding can be and how special each detail means to the couple. Having the opportunity to connect with people on that kind of level means a lot because not only does it mean they trust me, but it's also really fun hearing their stories.

Take Amorae and Jonny for instance. This is one creative couple as they're not only getting married in a movie theater, but they're creating nearly everything for the wedding by themselves! These guys definitely have a style of their own and were tremendous helping me out with the design of the bots. Just by looking at the set you can see their amazing style through the color scheme of their wedding clothes and custom Chuck Taylor shoes. Also the fact that Amorae Bot is holding a Harry Potter wand and Jonny Bot a classic Nintendo controller means they're not afraid to show the world who they really are. That's so admirable and I couldn't be happier with how these bots turned out.

Jonny and Amorae Bots

And apparently they felt the same way!

Jonny and Amorae with their bots. They're so cute!

I've also created a more traditional wedding cake topper set. I love this set just as much as Amorae and Jonny's--although it's completely different--because it truly represents the bride and groom's style. They asked me to create a park bench for their bots because they love spending time in the park reading books with one another.

Wedding couple on park bench

Emily and Megan contacted me to help out with their big day as well. While they love the more detailed bots, they wanted their topper to be a bit more simplistic which was awesome.

Even without all the details, this duo turned out really well

Believe it or not, we've even helped love blossom! A customer of ours named Peter asked me to create bots to look like himself and his girlfriend in the costumes they were wearing when they first met. He then put an engagement ring on his bot and used them to propose to her. She said yes! I'm not going to take all the credit, but imagine where this couple would be if Peter hadn't have used our bots to propose! :)

Will you marry me?

Even though I've mentioned how hectic custom orders can be, they really are rewarding and that's the biggest reason I continue to do them. They allow me to hear the stories of our customers and there's something very special about that!

beep, boop, bop!
Jenn Bot

Geocaching

With new friends comes new interests, new hobbies, new stories, and plenty of new adventures. And while this statement is as cliche as they come, this fact couldn't be more true as Jennifer and I have recently found ourselves amongst a rag tag pack of "kids" better known as the MINja's. And while we are named for the media centric lives that we live, often letting hours upon hours drift by sitting in front of a computer screen, the reality is, as they have shown us, that the modern nerd has plenty of ways to geek out in today's world. Case and point...geocaching!

Geocaching, while nothing more than a bastardized treasure hunt, is not only a great way to bond with friends, but it is free. And while Jenn and I have known of these caches for years, it wasn't until we met Dan, the leader of the MINja's, that we discovered what we have been missing out on. Dan, while also new to the scene having a little more than 30 finds under his belt, took us under his GPS enabled wings and introduced us to the world of hidden treasures.

Dan FTW

It certainly didn't take us long to get the hang of what we were doing. In fact, I am going to go out on a limb and proclaim that the two of us were naturals. I was the first to find one and Jennifer wasn't far behind. Needless to say, we are hooked and have consistently craved the challenge of finding not only new caches, but ones that are considered more challenging.

Jenn celebrates another find

To date, Jenn, Dan, and I have found around 15 caches together that have ranged in size from a little medical tube all the way up to an ammo container. Some of our finds have been easy, some of them have been hard, and some of them are so well hidden that we still haven't found them. We have found these caches in parks, on the streets, in cemeteries, and even deep in the woods. And while each of these finds is as satisfying as the last, the reality is that somewhere along the lines we stopped finding just caches and started to find ourselves. What starts as a treasure hunt always seems to end with a story, with an anecdote, or with a memory that is uniquely ours.

Geocaching in a cemetery

Geocaching I'm sure represents many different things for many different people. For us though, it has become our excuse to hang out, have a good time, and escape from a world that can more often than not be hectic.

beep, boop, bop!

Tony Bot

my art is for me

Over the past couple of years I've found myself stuck in a major creative rut.

I'm not going to lie. Custom orders can get a little overwhelming at times. Ever since we opened up our first shop on Etsy, itty bitties for you, I've been churning out custom pet miniatures left and right. While these custom superhero pets stemmed from my adoration of dogs and I'm passionate about the idea, nothing drains your muse quicker than having people tell you exactly what to make down to the very last detail.

Super Baron Millo von Millano

And when we started selling on Etsy, custom orders were not my original intent.

For me, art is a very personal monster. And lately I've been trying very hard to come up with some original ideas. Between the hustle and bustle of school and cranking out more superhero pets than I can remember, it was all too easy to lose myself. And finally--finally--I think I'm finding my creative calling again.

Ever since we opened up our second Etsy shop, bolts & bots, little by little I've allowed myself to break free and create anything and everything I want. The bots have opened up a new world and because I created the character, I can literally do anything I please with them. And the best part? I can get away with it!

What, you've never seen a green mustached cat bot before?

And now that Tony left his job to became a full-time bot, I believe there's another creative evolution coming. I can feel the change upon me, the ideas have been flying left and right, and the creativity is electrifying.

The bots have definitely allowed me to go out on a limb and now it's time to take things one step further. I'm prepared to listen a bit closer to what my instinct is telling me and just go for it.

Looks like Trikky has plans of her own

Tony and I literally have a binder full of new plans and ideas. There will be a lot of collaborating between the two of us, and just as important, plenty of individual projects. I know he has many ideas up his sleeve and I'm really looking forward to seeing what he'll produce. As for myself, I'm going to continue to give it my all and really produce the best work that I possibly can. At the moment something is drawing me to customizing toys...and for the first time in a long time, I think I'm just going to ride the wave--no questions asked--and see where it takes me.

beep, boop, bop!
Jenn Bot