everything butt art

Draw Mitt Romney... Starting with a Butt

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 13:00:00 -0400

Leading up to the launch of our iPad app, we were working to get coverage from one of the big morning shows. Alexis created Butt Art caricatures of its entire cast, complete with step-by-step instructions.

At the same time, it was the height of the Republican primary. Newt versus Mitt was hot. We wanted the morning show to see that Butt Art could be used during just about any segment so, naturally, we put together drawing steps. They were never used. Rather than have Romney rot in a folder, we figured the day of the first 2012 Presidential Debate was a perfect time to share this GOP gold. Enjoy!

Building Creativity from the Bottom Up

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:00:00 -0500

Today, we are thrilled to announce that our first iPad app, Butt Art – Kids Learn to Draw Zoo Animals Step-by-Step, is live in the Apple App Store. The interactive iPad app teaches step-by-step drawing with a unique twist - drawings start with a butt shape (like a rounded, lowercase w).

The app’s release expands our existing product line which includes two printed books found on the shelves of Barnes & Noble and other retailers nationwide. Everything Butt Art at the Zoo was published May 1, 2011, followed by Everything Butt Art on the Farm, released September 1, 2011. Two more books are scheduled for May.

In creating Everything Butt Art, we set out to combine creativity, education, technology, and, most importantly, silliness, in a way that would be compelling for kids and their parents. With the creativity, education, and silliness pieces securely in place and finding their way into kids’ hands across the country, we’re excited to finally add the technology piece to the mix.

While there are lots of drawing apps, we can say with full confidence that Everything Butt Art is one-of-a-kind, not only from a brand/concept perspective but also from a features perspective.

The Basics (in most kids’ drawing apps)

Paintbrush, pencil, and eraser
Lots of colors
Stamps

Beyond Basics (in some kids’ drawing apps)

Zoom and move feature (ours has smart-centering when returning to 100%)
Color picker
Size adjustment for paintbrush, pencil, eraser, and stamps
Three layers: stamp - top, pencil - middle, paintbrush - bottom
Undo feature

Narrowing the Field (in just a few kids’ drawing apps)

15 animals available

Step-by-step instruction with tracing lines that can be turned on and off depending on an artist’s ability
In-app gallery of saved art

Standing Alone

Animation of animal drawing steps: watch before trying

Full e-book available: full-page color spreads, audio, and virtual page turning

Hidden shape game, Butt Hunt (naturally): Butt shapes are hidden throughout full-page illustrations. Try to find all of them. One page for each animal. A scoreboard keeps track of found versus hidden while jungle music plays in the background.

Account Creation and the Web

All of the above puts Everything Butt Art in a category of one but it’s our backend :) that really sets us apart. Creating an account using email or Facebook opens up a set of enhanced features:

Badges can be earned for drawing related accomplishments, like the Zookeeper badge for saving at least one drawing of each animal.

Creation of multiple profiles (big sister’s art is separated from little brother’s)
Drawings automatically save to an online gallery and can be set to public or private
Art is emailed as an embedded image in real-time
Drawings post to an online activity feed, tagged with the profile, date, and displaying swatches for the colors used

Parents can share art via Facebook and Twitter or directly email (without having to upload an attachment)
Featured Art is curated daily and posted on the homepage
Gallery visitors can “smile” at drawings that make them happy

Popular drawings rise in the gallery based on a combination of Facebook likes, Tweets, comments, views, and smiles

Pricing

For a limited time, Butt Art is free to download. It includes three animals for free with the remaining twelve available as in-app purchases for $0.99 per pack of six. Account creation and enhanced features are free.

What’s Next

We have a ton of awesome content ready to add to the next version of the app. Drop a line if you’re interested in joining our team: info@everythingbuttart.com

If you have questions, feedback, or requests, please direct them to info@everythingbuttart.com or use the Feedback tab on everythingbuttart.com.

Investors can find us on AngelList.

2011 Everything Butt Art Roundup. What a Year!

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:33:53 -0500

We knew 2011 was going to be exciting - we were about to share our crazy idea with the world. While we thought we were on to something pretty cool, it’s easy to think that from inside the protective cocoon of close friends and family. We didn’t know what to expect upon showing our baby to the world.

Fortunately, the reception from kids, parents, educators, journalists, bloggers, retailers, and the startup world has been amazing, and at times, even a bit overwhelming. We’re proud of our accomplishments and psyched for 2012.

Here’s the roundup, along with a preview:

Books

Everything Butt Art at the ZOO - published May 1, 2011

Everything Butt Art on the FARM - published September 1, 2011

Press - Features

How Do You Get Kids To Learn? Have Them Draw Butts On The iPad - MG Siegler, TechCrunch

Just ‘Abutt’ the Coolest New Way to Color - Justin Davidson, Patch

Publisher has posterior motives - Noman Khanani, Worcester Telegram & Gazette

3 Tech Start-ups and a Dream - The Daily

Events

TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2011 - video

TechCrunch Founder Office Hours with Chris Dixon and Josh Kopelman - video

Columbia University Teachers College EdLab - video

Boston University - A Call to Arts - video

Wilco Solid Sound Festival at MASS MoCA - pictures

Explore Charter School - ABC Day - pictures

Press/Blogs - Mentions

The most exciting moments of 2011 from NYC’s best new startups - Courtney Boyd Myers, The Next Web

Raise Cache NYC Teams With Turntable.fm: Crowley, Wilson & Weissman In The House - Jason Kincaid, TechCrunch

DANCE BATTLE: Fred Wilson v. Dennis Crowley GraFight For Raise Cache [Video] - Nitasha Tiku, Betabeat

Epic Collaboration for Raise Cache - Dave Chenell, GraFighters blog

Crowley vs Wilson at Raise Cache - Raise Cache blog

Turntable.fm Guest DJs - Raise Cache blog

50 Grove Connections: Flicker Filmworks & Everything Butt Art - Wistia blog

Everything Butt Art Cake! - Tashi & Bobo blog

What a Night! - John Gribbin, Building Pictures

Blogs - Reviews

Butt Art that isn’t raunchy, promise - Eva, Cool Mom Picks

Book Review | Everything Butt Art at the Zoo - Maureen, Simply Stacie

Everything Butt Art at the ZOO Activity Book - Review - Kathryn, Mommy Kat and Kids

Step by Step Drawing Activities: Everything Butt Art at the Zoo - Kimberly, A Novel Mind

Wild Rumpus - Elissa Gershowitz, Out of the Box

Teach Your Kids to Draw with ‘Butt Art’ - Zoe Simone, Near Say

Phew! It’s been a busy year and we’re incredibly grateful for that. If our hard work continues to pay off, 2012 will be even busier.

Here are a few things we expect:

Our iPad app will finally go live! It’s been in private beta for several weeks. We recently submitted it to Apple for their review. It’s close.

Four more books:

Everything Butt Art in the CITY - due April 1, 2012

Everything Butt Art under the SEA - due April 1, 2012

Two more books TBD - due September 1, 2012

Thank you again for all your wonderful support. Please don’t hesitate to reach out and let us know what you’d like to see in 2012.

Happy New Year!

Fun Video for a Good Cause - Raise Cache, graFighters, and Everything Butt Art Collaborate

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:16:08 -0400

Some months back, Rebecca Zhou told me about an epic fundraising event she was organizing to benefit hackNY, an organization that aims to bring the best student-technologists in the country to NYC. We have every intention of building our company in New York so supporting an organization that brings awesome talent here made perfect sense. The event is called Raise Cache.

Fast forward. Our first contribution to the event came from Alexis Moniello. She designed custom Turntable.fm avatars for each of the folks that will be DJing the live event. When the DJs and avatars were announced, Dennis Crowley, the founder of Foursquare, and Fred Wilson, of Union Square Ventures, started talking smack on Twitter.

I knew there was only one way to settle it. I called Dave Chenell of graFighters, our brethren in drawing, and asked if they’d help Raise Cache by facilitating an avatar showdown in advance of the event. Dave and his partner in crime, Eric Cleckner, were in.

And, quick shameless shout-out, Everything Butt Art, Foursquare, and graFighters were all created by Syracuse University alumni. Go Orange!

Check out the battle and then come join us at Raise Cache! More back story from Raise Cache and graFighters.

It's iPad Time! Sign up for our Beta.

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:50:29 -0400

We’re finally ready to release our iPad app and website into the wild (see preview below). We’ll select a limited number of users that will get early access. We hope you’ll give us feedback, point out bugs, and suggest new features/functionality.

To be considered please email info@everythingbuttart.com or go to everythingbuttart.com and submit your email address in the “Sign up for our beta!” field (if you’ve already signed up for the beta - no need to re-submit - we’ll reach out to you).

To increase your chance of selection, do one (or all) of the following:

Tweet that you signed up with hashtag #ebabeta and a link to everythingbuttart.com
Follow us on Twitter
“like” our Facebook page and share it with others
Email info@everythingbuttart.com and tell us why you want early access

If selected we will send instructions on how to access the app and get the most out of your experience.

Thank you for your support and patience! This is going to be fun.

******************************************************************

Everything Butt Art iPad app preview:

Home Screen

Learn to draw step-by-step or draw freestyle. Decorate drawings with fun, colorful stamps.

Unlock badges through drawing-related accomplishments.

Read Everything Butt Art at the ZOO with virtual page turning and audio.

Find all the hidden butt shapes in Butt Hunt.

View an online feed of app activity as it happens.

Save, organize, and share digital creations forever in an online gallery for each of your profiles.

Receive real-time email alerts with new art - optimized for mobile viewing.

Madeline (4), our most consistent tester, screams when something doesn’t work. Please use a more constructive approach to pass along feedback :)

The Impractical Pursuit of Perfection

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:00:00 -0400

This is my first startup. With it comes countless lessons. If I’m fortunate and sensible, mistakes I’ve made this time around I will avoid with startups two, three, four, etc.

Lesson I’ve learned: Perfection is envious but impractical.

Throughout this process I’ve wanted everything to be perfect – our books, our website, our iPad app, the buttons in the app, the location of certain text, a color, a texture, and on and on. It has become abundantly clear to me that even if perfection is possible, it’s certainly not practical. Perfection as a goal seems like it could make sense. Why wouldn’t you want your product, user experience, interface, etc. to be perfect? For one, perfection is in the eye of the beholder. Further, the likelihood that you nail it the first time is near zero. Continuous improvement makes so much more sense. It’s a mantra in the land of tech startups: build quickly, release early, get feedback, iterate, and repeat often.

This all seems so logical now but it took experiencing the process for me to arrive here. Reading about it is not a substitute for doing it and learning firsthand. Recently, I’ve found it easier to say things like, “We’ll tackle that in version two.” or “It’s good enough for now. Let’s see what users think.” I wish I had gotten here sooner but arriving here at all gives me optimism about my own continuous improvement.

I’ve come to terms with the fact that our products won’t be perfect, not when we first release them, not ever. We will just keep improving and hopefully that leads to happy users.

Now, off to perfect a few things in our iPad app before we release it ;)

Brian

graFighters - Our Brethren in Drawing

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 10:00:00 -0400

We are huge fans of graFighters - both the concept and the people behind it (follow them on Twitter - @graFighters). In their words, the ultimate goal of graFighters is “to be able to bring any drawing to life exactly how you’ve imagined it aka: Dragons breathing fire, Robots behaving like machines, and unicorns harnessing their magical powers to shoot laser beams of happiness…”

While our approaches are quite different, (drawing using a butt shape versus sketches fighting each other) a number of our beliefs are aligned:

1. Drawing is cool – Neither our team nor theirs would be putting the time, effort, or money into our ambitious projects if we didn’t fundamentally believe in the power of drawing. We are each taking risks to build something we think can delight on a large scale.

2. Drawing is for everyone – We each say as much in our respective “About” sections. graFighters: “It doesn’t matter if you’re an artist, designer, doodler, kid in a classroom or retired person in Florida. If you have a pencil and an imagination we’ve got an arsenal of characters waiting to be challenged.” Us: “Everything Butt Art makes it easy for anyone to be an artist regardless of age or skill-level. Whether you’re 3 or 103, EBA will unleash your creativity.”

3. We want to inspire creativity - Turning a butt shape into an artistic masterpiece, sketching a character that’s fit for battle, or combining the two, can’t be done without exercising creativity. While our applications of creativity are -arguably - specific in nature, the regular exercise of creativity has implications across countless spectra.

4. Technology is the hub – We both believe that through creative uses of technology we can take something as old as time (drawing) and enrich the experience around it.

We’re rooting for graFighters and are thrilled to have connected with such a talented team.

Here’s the Everything Butt Art Ostrich from the graFighters gallery of test characters. Thanks for including us, guys.

The EBA Kangaroo looks ready, too. See more of the graFighters test gallery.

Also, don’t miss graFighter’s amazing trailer:

Grafighters Trailer - 2010 from Grafighters on Vimeo.

Kick-butt Combo: WILCO, Everything Butt Art, and MASS MoCA

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 14:07:39 -0400

The Everything Butt Art ostrich took some time out to jam with Wilco.

In the wake of our high from being part of TechCrunch Disrupt we’re announcing something that couldn’t be more different but is equally exciting. We’ll be calling the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) our home from June 24 – 26 as participants in the 2011 Solid Sound Festival – A Music and Arts Festival curated by WILCO.

The entrance to MASS MoCA.

The New York Times called last year’s festival “a jubilant success.” More than 5,000 people attended the Wilco production.

I’m not sure there’s a better venue anywhere for this type of festival. If you’ve never been to MASS MoCA you should make plans immediately (there are still tickets available for Solid Sound). It is situated in the picturesque Berkshires - nestled in the mountains - in a converted factory campus. The Berkshires is ripe with art, music, film, and theater housing gems like Tanglewood, the Clark Art Institute, and the Williamstown Theater and Film Festivals. However, in my mind, MASS MoCA is its crown jewel.

What a venue! We’re lucky.

I was disappointed to miss last year’s festival because of a conflict but couldn’t have anticipated that this year’s attendance would be as a participant. We’ll be in a tent on the concert field. Based upon the success of the 2010 festival this year’s attendance is expected to be around 6,000 revelers. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to share Everything Butt Art with a crowd that has great appreciation for art and fun.

Oh, and wait until you see the surprise we have in store for the band!

Thank you to Joe Thompson, Sue Killam, and Wilco for inviting us to be a part of what promises to be an exceptional weekend.

Multiple stages throughout the MASS MoCA campus.

So cool.

This is going to be quite the weekend. Grab a ticket and join in the fun.

How The Heck Did Everything Butt Art Get Into TechCrunch Disrupt? – or – Positioning Yourself For Luck

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 11:22:00 -0400

Photo from TechCrunch article - How Do You Get Kids To Learn? Have Them Draw Butts On The iPad

In February, after months of locking myself to a desk while collaborating with my fantastic Co-founders Dave Markle (@DaveMarkle) and Alexis Moniello (@AlexisFaye) I felt like I was finally in position to get out and meet people in New York’s thriving tech/startup scene (which was completely foreign to me). If I had it to do over again I would have started sooner – but no regrets.

After some digging I came across the New York Tech Meetup (NYTM). As I understand it, the largest of all Meetups hosted through www.meetup.com. Around the same time I finally signed up for Twitter (@briansny). The February 8^th NYTM was my first. I was floored by the energy in NYU’s Skirball Center that evening. I met great people and left more motivated than ever before. In particular, I was impressed by demeanor and energy with which Nate Westheimer (@innonate) facilitated the meeting. Naturally, I asked myself “I wonder what the deal is with this dude?”

Using the internet J I learned all about Nate. What fascinated me most was a project he was tackling using his newly-learned coding chops called ohours.org. Ohours enables one to share “Open Hours with Interesting People.” That is quite an understatement based on my experience as an Ohours power-user. I’ve met outstanding people. One such person is Reece Pacheco (@reecepacheco). I met him at Ohours on February 27^th. We hit it off immediately (both being from MA didn’t hurt the situation). He understands what we are trying to accomplish with Everything Butt Art. Reece and I have stayed in touch since. He has made valuable intros and shared lots of startup wisdom.

Reece also gave me a window into TechStars. TechStars is arguably the most well-regarded startup accelerator in the world. The program culminates with Demo Day in front of friends, family, and lots of potential investors. Given that Reece and his team were going to be presenting their startup, Shelby.tv, (social, individualized TV channels) to the world I definitely wanted to attend.

Turns out, one of my best buds from grad school, Eric Carlstrom (@EverTrueEric), and his team had recently been accepted into the Boston TechStars program with their startup EverTrue (mobile tech enabling alumni relations). Eric offered to get me a ticket to the Webster Hall event.

TechStars Demo Day was flawlessly executed and inspiring. That night, Aol Ventures hosted an after-party. As the party came to a close I found myself looking for the exit with TechCrunch Co-Editor, Erick Schonfeld (@erickschonfeld). I hadn’t met him previously but recognized him. We left the party and chatted about our favorite startups of the day. I’m not one to force my startup story on someone but if asked I’m more than happy to share. As we were about to part ways, Erick asked “so, what do you do?” I briefly explained Everything Butt Art. He asked if I had applied to Disrupt. When I told him I hadn’t because I didn’t think we fit the mold of a traditional tech startup he replied that I should apply for exactly that reason – we didn’t fit the mold. We set up a meeting at Aol Headquarters for the following day. Erick said “I just hope you don’t show up tomorrow with a bunch of stuff you drew.” I laughed and assured him that wouldn’t be the case.

The next day I showed Erick our iPad app and first book, “Everything Butt Art at the ZOO.” He was into it. After talking for 20 minutes or so he said “I’m going to introduce you to our CEO, Heather.” I went through the pitch with Heather, demoed the app, and sent her home with a book. She told me later the idea that resonated most with her was that through our platform we’re merging print and digital by digitizing children’s art from the physical world and combining it with digital art via our iPad app - creating a lifetime repository for a child’s creativity.

Heather similarly encouraged me to apply to Disrupt. They both understood it’s not really about butts.

The Wednesday after my meeting I received a midnight email from Erick with the subject line “Look at what you’ve done.” I had given him a copy of the book and his email said “My 6 year old is already drawing butt art.” The drawing he sent was silly to say the least but importantly, Erick witnessed first-hand how Everything Butt Art immediately engages children. In my humble opinion, engagement is everything when it comes to education.

I submitted our application and shortly thereafter we were informed that we had been selected as a Battlefield Finalist.

Luck found us… and we do feel lucky to have been part of TechCrunch Disrupt, meeting and being among amazing people. We weren’t seeking Disrupt but by building something creative and unique with an important mission behind it, we put ourselves in a position to make strong connections that led to our inclusion.

Before attending that fateful New York Tech Meetup I may have had one or two friends in the startup world. Now, four months later, I couldn’t feel more at home in this community. Go New York tech!

Scenes from the Launch Party (the evening portion)

Tue, 03 May 2011 21:50:00 -0400

The awesome cake done by Tashi and Bobo. Now you know who to call if you need something similarly special.

Packed house at The SoHo Gallery for Digital Art. Thank you all for coming out to support EBA.

Guests were not shy about showing off their Butt Art skills. Some nice freestyle mixed in, too.

Making new friends.

My beautiful wife and me along with the tallest member of our family. Gator and Ostrich were done by Go Graphix.

Time to Celebrate

Sat, 30 Apr 2011 00:14:46 -0400

Where has the time gone!?! In a sense this feels like the end of a journey. Our book will finally find its way into kids’ hands - that’s exciting and took lots of effort and teamwork. Job complete! Well, not exactly. As I sit here looking at a small pile of “Everything Butt Art on the FARM” samples, I know our journey is just beginning.

Please join us in celebrating the start:

Saturday 4/30 2pm - 5pm

The SoHo Gallery for Digital Art

138 Sullivan Street (btwn Houston and Prince)

Hope to see you there.

Uh oh! Where's that going to go?

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 11:39:00 -0400

1,000 copies of Everything Butt Art at the ZOO - arriving at our already-jammed Brooklyn apartment this week. The rest of the books go to our distributor’s (IPG) warehouse in Chicago.

And my wife thinks we need a bigger place…

Miranda Rocked It!

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 16:34:00 -0400

Last Saturday I had the great pleasure of working with Miranda to record audio for the Everything Butt Art iPad app (so the book can be read to you when you push a button). She was professional well beyond her 8 years. Matt, our engineer at The Cutting Room Studios in NoHo, was similarly impressed. In fact, we didn’t need more than two takes of any line. Thank you to Miranda (her little bro Spencer) and her parents Matthew and Christina for supporting EBA. Also, thanks to Matt Craig (with his unwavering patience) and The Cutting Room for their great work.

Fun & Free Launch Event

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:33:00 -0400

This will be a great event for all but especially for kids - Giant cutout characters (the ostrich is 6’7”), snacks, drawing, reading, iPads to try, balloon animals, lots of art to view, and books for purchase the day before they hit store shelves (signed if you’d like).

everythingbuttart.com – 1.0

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 10:30:42 -0400

Like everything, getting our version 1.0 website up and running has taken a focused team effort. It’s exciting to go live but there’s so much more to come.

Over the next month we’ll put finishing touches on version 1.1. Our goal is to launch 1.1 on May 1^st, the day Everything Butt Art at the ZOO hits store shelves nationwide.

Here are few of the expected enhancements:

-Account and profile creation using EBA specific sign-in or with Facebook or Twitter

-Hosting of artwork via upload to an account/profile

-Private galleries

-Ability to post drawings to public gallery

-Social layer to public gallery – share images, favorite images, “like” images, comment

-Activity stream, not unlike a Facebook News Feed

We’ll look forward to sharing more progress soon.

Launch Party - April 30th

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:51:00 -0400

Alexis decided to get cute with our launch space. It’s neat to think that our public gallery opening will actually look very much like this image. Come say hi.

What: Everything Butt Art Launch

Where: The SoHo Gallery for Digital Art

138 Sullivan Street, New York, NY 10012

When: Saturday, April 30th from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Clicking the Print Button

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 23:40:00 -0400

If only it were that simple. Unfortunately, in the world of printed books there is a bit more complexity. Today, after months of working with my distributor (IPG), printer (Monroe Litho), and superstar Illustrator and Creative Director (Alexis Moniello) we sent our final file to print. We’ll receive a proof of Everything Butt Art at the ZOO sometime next week. Once we approve the proof, the printing press will get started cranking out 8,500 books.

My feelings this evening range from euphoria to panic. I’m thrilled that our efforts have led to a final product that makes us proud. It’s a true milestone; something that began as just an idea has evolved into something tangible and real. At the same time, my excitement is tempered by anxiety – did we print too many books initially? Too few? Was environmentally responsible, domestic production the right choice or should we have focused on margin? Time will tell. In the meantime, I can rest assured knowing that we stayed true to our values and worked our butts off to get to this point.

I’m looking forward to seeing the finished book. Maybe they do just click the print button.