Concept 3: Ninja baby!

When my daughter Sarah was a small toddler, I was amused and amazed at how she bounded around the room. She seemed to have an almost supernatural speed sometimes; I'd look away for a moment and she'd dashed off to some other part of the house without a sound. Trying to keep up with her, I joked to myself that she was almost Ninja-like, and that sparked the idea for a character.

I thought it'd be alot of fun to have a baby defending her crib (and household) against menaces using her stealth and skills. I decided on having a ghostly spirit guiding her, inspired by Sarah's Grandfather Alan. At first I figured the concept might work as a children's book, but over time, developed it as a potential comic book.

Ninja Baby is a good example of a potentially fun concept that could work for all-ages. Kids would be thrilled to see a young heroine overcoming danger, and parents should chuckle at a pint-sized crime-fighter. I always thought that the art style for the strip chosen would be critical, as it is for any concept.

I hired Grant Perkins (an excellent artist from the UK, more on him in a future blog) to take a stab at it. He produced a few pages which were interesting, but I wasn't sure they fit my vision. I started coloring his work to see if I felt better about it. Here are his first pencilled pages that I worked on and adapted as a potential webcomic.

Although his pages are very fun, I felt that a softer, less stylized approach might be better. Next blog will discuss how I proceeded with this concept.