Business idea: Artist-drawn illustrations of your kids as cartoon characters

[CustomCartoonBakery]

Hi mums, I'm a mum of two who recently left work to look after the kids. But my fingers have been getting itchy, and I've been thinking of a new idea I'd love to test with you.

The idea is a company where you submit a photo of your child, choose a cartoon style (could be anything - princesses, superheroes, Anime etc), and an artist will draw your child in any style you wish. The cartoon will then be printed onto posters or canvases and sent to you.

I'd love to test to see if there's any interest in this idea? Of having your kid turned into their favourite cartoon characters?

What would you use this for? For room decorations? What if you could have the cartoon printed on cakes etc for a themed birthday party? E.g., Laura as Dora the Explorer birthday?

Any thoughts - however harsh or encouraging - would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

I think it's a great idea. My DS is really into mario, he would love to have a picture done of himself as his hero. Go for it.

Sounds a great idea. Being completely honest, it's not something I would do as I'm not a fan of well-known cartoon characters, but I did something similar for my daughter's naming day. We wanted unique invites so I sent photos to an artist and she drew my baby daughter in the style of Mabel Lucy Atwell, really old-fashioned drawings, with rosy cheeks and huge blue eyes and it was absolutely wonderful. We used the image as the invite for the day, and as a thank you afterwards, and the original is now in a frame in her bedroom.

You could offer to send a PDF for people to print for b'day invites or thank you cards, and then they receive the original that they could frame?

Good luck!

Thanks so much to both of you for your encouragement and wonderful ideas!!

Wouldn't there be copyright issues if you used real characters (Disney etc)? I think it's lovely if they'd just be a generic "princess" or whatever, but I think you'd be in trouble if you actually did a kid as Mario or whoever.

Hi AHardDaysWrite, totally agree and really great point. We'd absolute stay clear of anything which is close to 'real' characters, but more generally capture the essence (e..g, princess, superhero etc). Thanks!

Yes copyright would be a huge hurdle for you, and there are various places you can go online to get actual photos put onto characters and have them printed off for not a lot of money. Have you thought about how much you will charge for your services and had a look at all aspects of the competition?

I think you would either need to have lots and lots of different things and be really diverse, or have one really great idea and really, really push it and advertise and promote everywhere, but in all honesty people tend to want a name and a picture of something like Dora or Hello Kitty rather than a personalised picture ime, which brings it back to the copyright again.

I set up my art based business a couple of years ago, and it was very hard going, you need to convince people they need your product, because it is a luxury, which isn't easy, and it is relentless to begin with, for very little gain (actually no gain at all for the first year).

Feel free to PM me if I can be of any help.

If you have a look on pinterest you'll see lots of ideas under themed birthday parties.

I think its a great idea.

Definitely worth chatting to a specialist legal person about how close you can get to registered/ recognisable characters without trademark/ copyright issues i.e. Superman style caped image with a G for George or C for Carl.

At Alton towers with the DC this week it was £20 for a colour caricature/ cartoon type image. I think it was £15 b &w, but I can't remember. It was pulling a steady trade.

I don't know what I'd pay or how I'd want the image if I'd paid i.e. as a jpeg, as a ready printed poster/ room plaque etc.

Don't expect the artist to be cheap unless it's yourself. Otherwise it sounds like a neat idea and I would also suggest setting up a stall at comic cons and bagging obsessive comics fans and their kids who will appreciate the artwork greatly (although yes, beware copyright).

There are people offering a sort of similar service on fiverr, pay per hourlie - turn yourself into a Simpson etc. I'm not sure if this might cloud peoples expectations of what they would be prepared to pay for your service when it's so cheap online (although may not be same quality etc)

Thanks everyone for all the wonderful tips and challenges. Hopefully I can come back here and share progress with you all!