I can’t point you out to a site with that kind of information. I’ve never seen one.

Have you seen my other articles on creating a character bible at http://blog.media-freaks.com/character-bible-what-goes-into-it?

If you need help please feel free to ask.

Aldric

Please feel free to drop me an email at aldric@media-freaks.com for a discussion. Thanks.

Aldric

I agree with you regarding marketing and licensing of characters. They do need to be highly marketable, likable, mass-appealing, able to cross cultural boundaries, be cute, be wacky, and have cute catch phrases.

I think that’s probably why such characters as the ones from South Park and Simpsons are so popular and highly marketable. The characters from my series “Far Out Daddio” aren’t quite as risky as theirs, but I do believe they will appeal to boys and girls.

“Far Out Daddio” is a cute, family friendly series aimed toward mass marketing by using internet and cell phones. I’m discussing this series with a friend I met at a firm with a network of channels aimed toward cell phone users. He’s interested in seeing our first episode, and as this is great news for me and my team, I’d still like to know more about character licensing.

Would you be available to speak with me regarding the possibility of working with me and my team to license our characters? Please let me know at your earliest convenience if this is feasible. Thanks in advance and I hope to hear from you.

Tim

I’m currently attempting to put together a pitch package for this series and was wondering if you could offer suggestions regarding websites that have templates for how some pitch packages look?

I wish to make the one I’m working on as professional and eye catching as possible. It’s a great story concept with characters that are wacky. So if you could offer any input it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much and have a great week!!

Tim

Being born in China and having learnt their skills in China doesn’t automatically mean that they would become successful in the sport. Li Jiawei in particular came to Singapore when she was 14 and did not become a champion without a lot support and training in Singapore and a lot of hard work and sacrifice from her herself.

Both Feng Tianwei and Wang Yuegu were not earmarked to become champions in China either and were both languishing in the pro-circuits before Singapore decided to invite them and they decided to immigrate to Singapore.

A lot of effort, dedication, hard work and sacrifice is needed in the making of a successful athlete and it just isn’t cool to take the shine of winning a medal as difficult to win and as important to win as an Olympic medal. Why begrudge these players and those who’ve nurtured them, their moment of glory and joy?

I applaud these table tennis players. And I thank them for showing all Singaporeans what sports is about because I know a lot of Singaporean do not see the value in sports. For the many in Singapore who don’t care about sports, when these girls play, didn’t most of your cheer as one, didn’t some of you become a little teary when Li Jiawei cried, didn’t most of your hearts burst with pride when you saw our national flag hoisted high? This is sports. Sports is about passion. It’s about being the best. It’s about giving your all. It’s about proving to those who say you can’t, that you can. It’s about sheer guts and determination. All three of them were never meant to be this successful but now they are the ones with the silver around their necks. And I am proud of them. Congrats Li Jiawei, Wang Yuegu and Feng Tianwei. Congrats to the entire team, the coaches, the Singapore table tennis federation, to Ng Ser Miang and to all who dreamt and hoped for this moment.

Personally I think that your characters are a little under-developed to be licensed. Licensable characters are often more identifiable and should have a strong identity around them. Your mouse and cat in the HangMouse game are not readily identifiable and look just like any generic characters. The mouse is cute but unfortunately not unique enough.

Your Ed Mouse character is unique but in my opinion looks too educational and serious to be suitable for wide licensing purposes. He is not very expressive and cartoonic enough. OK, but these are just my opinions. It always hurts when somebody says negative things about your creations. Please check around for collective opinions but try not to ask your closest family and friends who may be afraid to hurt your feelings. Ask people off the streets or friends whom you know will be honest with you. Ask kids.

Saying all these I think you have good websites and I think you could do well if you work with companies with good characters or you hire good designers to come up with better looking characters.

Uniqueness and wide appeal are the keys to licensing success. Hope these help

BTW, I have created a Squidoo lens on character design at http://www.squidoo.com/anime-character-design. You might like to check it out.

Your article on licensing characters caught my eye. Think there would be any demand for Ed?

Also, on my http://www.vocabulary.co.il site, there’s the start of the development of a cat and mouse pair of characters in the HangMouse game. Thoughts on his value?

I agree with you that China needs more freedom of expression where art is concerned, but they do need to be open-minded too to accept influence from other countries and be humble and learn. Right now from my experience most Chinese animators are sound technically but lacking in creativity.

Even without political direction, I doubt at this moment they can do something as good as Kung Fu Panda. It is the culture and the lack of exposure to good working styles and international creativity.

When the government slowly opens up and allows them to see more foreign content and encourage collaboration with international partners, then perhaps they will start getting onto the real right track.

I’ve written an article to answer your question at http://blog.media-freaks.com/if-you-can-write-but-cannot-draw-or-animate