We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nikoteenie. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nikoteenie below.
Alright, Nikoteenie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?
It was an exciting and scary time when I first generated revenue from my creative work. It was the year 2020 and we all wore a specific accessory. All jokes aside, masks were a necessity and at the beginning of the pandemic they were hard to come by. I began to sell cloth masks that I sewed and embroidered with custom designs.
The pandemic freed up a lot of my time due to the closing of my employer. So, I decided to finally learn how to use the sewing machine I had previously purchased. I had found a cloth face mask pattern online and began sewing masks for my family and I. To add some flair to these uncomfortable accessories, I began adding embroidered designs using a Kantan needle. I posted about them on Instagram and soon everyone and their mothers were reaching out for their own custom masks. People requested my designs of turtles, sports mascots, unicorns, butterflies, personalized business logos and more. It made me happy to provide this necessary service and make it fun for people to wear this essential accessory. I ended up making a couple hundred custom masks for adults and children. The money I made from this business endeavor I was able to purchase my very first iPad, which led to the birth of Teenie Babiez.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am Nikoteenie and I am the mother of Teenie Babiez. I am a multi-dimensional creative, which means, I create in many different ways, such as illustration, animation, sculpture and code. I have a background in conceptual sculpture and drawing cartoons was something I never saw myself doing. I love to create in this style because it has allowed me the freedom to explore and learn any medium that interests me. In doing so, I am creating my own Teenie world that is accessible to any type of viewer.
The Teenie Babiez are “sassy, sweet and ready for the beach!”. They explore the concepts of self-love, exploration of self, positivity and girl power. They were born out of a mistake. I was sketching a logo for a friend’s business that included a feminine character. I drew these funky lips by accident and knew it did not work for this project but saved them just in case. Which lead to the making of Teenie Babiez.
You can find the Teenie Babiez at Urban Outfitters (poster designs), GIPHY (sticker animations), Instagram and TikTok. I am also currently coding a Teenie Babiez website for participants to interact with the characters and create their own versions of them. They are Teenie but with big intentions.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
A lesson I had to unlearn was that mistakes are bad or useless. If anything, a mistake in the midst of creation is enlightening. I believe mistakes are an effort of your subconscious to create something new and exciting. These “errors” allow for change, which is where innovation flourishes. You should not be scared of differing from what you intended, but you should embrace it.
During my undergraduate career I made 50+ casts of objects I created called, “Personal Resonators”. I was using dyed plaster to make the casts and, with the leftover plaster I had, I put it into a piece of formed aluminum I had lying around the studio. I thought nothing of it and basically discarded it. I had this random piece that I considered trash, sitting alongside my 50 other very intentional pieces. What did everyone notice and ask me about? The leftover plaster/aluminum piece. They brought it to my attention that the form was very interesting and stood out amongst the sea of my other designs. Which led to me to creating sculptural pieces in a similar fashion. From then on, I decided anything that seemed like a mistake or unintentional should be reconsidered.
As I had mentioned before, I began making the Teenie Babiez because of those lips that were generated by mistake. However, because of my previous experiences, I saw that this mistake had potential. Without those lips, the Teenie Babiez would not be who they are today. That is why I believe you should not be afraid to make mistakes in your creative process but instead embrace them.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
What drives my creative journey is learning. I constantly seek out new mediums, techniques and technologies. When producing work in new ways, I am pushing myself out of my comfort zone. One of my favorite sayings is “find comfort within the uncomfortable”. I believe a state of uncomfortability is where you can grow at an exponential rate. Once I have created a piece using this new method, the feeling of success is great. Whether the artwork came out just as I pictured it in my mind or was something I never imagined I could do. I strive to be forever learning, constantly creating.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://teenie-shops.netlify.app/
- Instagram: @nikoteenie
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolebrodkin/