“Making his plush debut, it’s the cuddliest, cutest Little Moon God! He is an original character I created years ago based off an Inuit legend about the Sun and the Moon. In the Inuit legend, the moon is a male deity and chases the female deity of the sun all throughout the sky for eternity. The character has evolved over the years and I’ve now refined him into a super cute design fitting for a perfect, unique and exciting plush toy.”
Whenever I see an illustrator I follow get on the crowdfunding bandwagon and start up a Kickstarter, I have to jump on it. So when I saw that Kaitlin ‘Kit’ Reid had created a Kickstarter for her gorgeous Little Moon God Plush, I sent her an email straight away asking to showcase it and interview her. Thankfully for you all, she said yes!
I love LOVE Kit’s artwork and I think it’s every artists’ dream to see one of their creations created into something physical enough to cuddle. I’m so happy I give Kit’s Kickstarter a little push to enable her to meet her stretch goals and create more gorgeous pieces of art. That being said, let’s get on with the interview!
Kickstarter Interview: Kaitlin Reid
01. Where did the idea of the Little Moon God come from? How has his character evolved and why did you decide to make a plush out of him?
The idea for the Little Moon God came from a college assignment, actually. We were tasked with illustrating a folktale of our choosing. I chose a very interesting legend about the origins of the sun and moon, and created two characters to embody those themes. At first the Little Moon God was “moon man” and he stood upright on two legs, and had glowing teal tattoos all over his body. He has morphed into the little fellow we know and love over 5 years or so. I decided to try to make a plush out of him, specifically, because he has always been a character people are drawn to, plush I feel a certain connection to him as well having worked with the character for so long.
02. How did you go about defining your pledge levels and rewards? Your stretch goals?
It’s a lot of math, planning, and kind of hoping it pans out. I’m not going to lie, it was very stressful and I almost quit a few times. My wonderful boyfriend helped me through it and supported my horrible math skills by supplying his own. You need to factor in your taxes and shipping fees, and be willing to gamble with potentially spending money out of your own pocket. If I just hit the basic funding level, I’d still have to put money into the project. There is no such thing as free money!
03. What’s been your favorite part of the whole Kickstarter process?
The love and support of people that I both know and do not know! It’s been an incredible first few days. I never dreamed I’d hit my funding level within the first 24 hours. It’s incredibly validating to see so many people really excited for your work.
04. What’s been the hardest part of the process? How did you deal with it?
I believe the hardest part was the one I mentioned before. I did almost quit a few times because the numbers seemed so against me and almost impossible to make. I would never have imagined bringing in over $5,000 in pledges so quickly.
05. What advice would you give fellow illustrators and creatives who are looking at starting their own Kickstarter campaigns?
Research! Spread your social media networks! And most of all really do your accounting. I’m learning as I go, and it’s certainly the least fun part about the whole thing. You really need to budget everything and come up with multiple scenarios for how it might all go down. You can’t predict pledges, so budget for the worse case scenario so you don’t actually wind up in the red from the kickstarter! Research what it will require to package and ship all of your orders out as well, it gets expensive fast.
06. LAST QUESTION! What is… your favorite color?
Ahh, I have to say pink! Though right now I am SUPER obsessed with the mint color that’s been floating around this seasons fashion…I painted my studio in mint a few months ago!
Kaitlin Reid graduated MICA and currently works for a small animation studio in Baltimore. In her down time, she enjoys drawing fantasy critters and people, making costumes, and going to conventions.
You can find from Kaitlin on her website Sunset Dragon, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Etsy!