Rounding out the Wee Team

This post applauds the efforts of three artists who have left their own indelible marks on the birth and future of One Wee World.

First, Angela Roberson, an animator whose considerable beauty is equaled by her talent and enthusiasm. This year, Angela made history by being the first contestant of African-American descent to compete in the Miss Los Angeles Chinatown AND winning the Third Princess crown!

We met Angela by way of Bruce (good people know good people!) who suggested her as a possible artist to sketch out Ambassador Kiki for us. We'd put the call out to several people we knew who all submitted ideas to us. But as soon as we saw Angela's rendition, we knew she was the one to go with. Angela has been such a pleasure to work with. I couldn't imagine a better "mom" for Kiki!

And if Kiki's "mom" is Angela, then Kiki's "dad" would be Ben Bardens of Bark Animation. Ben is a friend and former neighbor of the Taylors who teaches animation here in Los Angeles and currently works for the L.A. Lakers doing graphics for their games at the Staples Center. So in addition to animating Kiki wonderfully for us, he's also responsible for creating our beautiful title and vocabulary slides. Ben's really been there for us throughout our journey, giving generously of his talent, support, and willingness to help. We really look forward to Ben's future with us, as soon as we can afford to snag him as an art director, HE'S OURS!!!

Last, but far, far from least, Lance Landiak of Ditty Base and the Decibel Collective. I spent a lot of time looking for the right partner to help us with our music. Days and days and days of listening to music production libraries and submissions from various sources. I was starting to get pretty worried because either I didn't like the music, or the sources were out of our budget.

All the research on the internet paid off though when I stumbled across the treasure that is Lance. From the very first conversation I had with him, Lance has been acommodating, supportive, and gracious. And the music they create ROCKS!!!

I just love what they've done for us. And what really tickles me is both that we've never met in person and also the truly global scale upon which we're working together. Lance lives in B.C. in Canada. The artist, Ged, who wrote the music to our theme song and sang it is an Irish man who lives in London. And the artist, Mo Shang, who has just written the Japanese version of our theme song lives in Singapore. How amazing is that?

We seriously could NOT have produced our first DVD to our exacting standards in so short a time without Lance's help. I am thrilled to think of all of the fantastic music we'll be working on together for our next programs.

Angela, Lance, and Ben, good times behind us, good times before us! We're so happy to be working with all of you!