Naomi’s Ninjas

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

Naomi's Ninjas by Amy Crook

Naomi Dunford of Ittybiz has ninjas. That’s right, she’s cooler than all of us, and you don’t even know why yet. A while back, I drew up these little weeble ninjas for the exclusive* use of her Ninjas, who have helped me out several times without having to call in Naomi herself.

Today’s Naomi’s birthday! Well, March 8, who knows when you’re reading this.

As a little gift from the internet, we’re all supposed to be posting about how awesome Naomi is, and how she’s helped us along our path to Ittybiz awesomeness.

I’m in a slightly different position than most of the people she’s helped — my day job was already working at home, already freelance. What happened to me was that the recession hurt my biggest client, and that hurt my ability to pay the rent, and then I discovered Naomi and learned a whole lot about marketing in a short period of time. I’d been spoiled by my early success (I went freelance in 1998 and have had steady work from my biggest client the whole time), and having to suddenly market in order to get work was an unpleasant wakeup.

Naomi made that suck a lot less.

She encouraged me to find in-person ways to network. She answered questions, did SpeakEasy lessons on the things that baffled me, and even helped me plan the art sale that paid for me to attend my Mom’s wedding last year. She’s got a no-bullshit attitude about getting off your ass and getting things done, and without her, I’m not sure I’d have stopped making excuses and started up the site you’re reading this on right now.

Happy Birthday, Naomi. Thank you.

*That means they’re not available under Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution, all rights are reserved for the Ninjas.

Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: all rights reserved, copic marker, do not steal the ninjas, nfs, ninjas, pen and ink, they will come for you, weeble
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