When our sea of ideas turned into a real adventure!

You know when a mum is expecting a baby? She has nine months to help the little one grow - but when the baby finally arrives, that’s when the real work begins! (Ask your parents, they’ll tell you!)

Well, that's where we found ourselves with Bubble Buddies. Chapter one covers the endless debates, the yummy ice cream, and how our first colourful crew came to life. But honestly, that was the tiny tip of the iceberg. What you see now are brilliant, bright, smiling sea creatures, but, blimey, we still have an absolute tonne of work ahead of us!

Meet the Brainy Crew

Debra is Dimitra the Octopus in human form; she can do eight things at once. The only slight snag is that, like a proper octopus, she sometimes gets her tentacles in a twist trying to do so much! We often find ourselves needing to untangle her from a project or two. Thankfully, it doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's an absolute hoot! Still, she's ever so clever, super kind, and knows everything about animation, cartoons, and patience (especially with me, Rosa).

James is the resident quiet chap in our noisy, female crew. But when he finally pipes up, we all listen because what he says is always spot on, funny, and worth its weight in gold.

Then there's Tricia, our eco-oracle. She knows every single thing about climate, ecology, and the planet. She gives us a proper eye-roll every time we moan about a 'cold' 20°C day! (I'm in sunny Italy, while Debra and James are in beautiful Greece, and Tamsin and Tricia live in the UK. It's not the warmest place, but it's lovely, all the same.)

Hard Work and Wacky Questions

It was a laugh, but it was still hard work! There was a moment when the five of us sat there, scratching our heads, thinking, "Right, what's next?"

Being a creative lot, our first instinct was to dream up more stories (and we did, jolly good fun it was too!). We soon realised we needed something a bit more robust: a proper structure and a bigger team. We had bucketloads of brilliant ideas but were short on cash, which, as you can imagine, is a tricky combination.

We got stuck into the big questions: How on earth do we reach the children? What's the real goal here? Naturally, a few silly ones snuck in: Should Sophia the Seahorse have sparkly fins? Could Dimitra the Octopus knit with all eight tentacles at once? Would a crab ever bother with sunglasses? (Carci would give it a go!)

We kept babbling, doodling, and mapping out our plans, reaching out to anyone who could give us a bit of guidance or a helping hand.

The POPIN Plunge

And then, a stroke of pure luck! A lovely lady in the UK was launching a brand-new children's magazine called POPIN, and she instantly thought our Bubble Buddies would be the perfect fit.

We decided to team up, and suddenly, everything had a proper purpose. For a good six months, we filled six cheerful pages of the magazine with our beloved marine friends and their wacky adventures. Seeing them in print, splashed across the pages, was a magical moment. It gave us a massive boost of new energy and the courage to dream even bigger.

As filmmakers at heart, our ultimate goal has always been to create an animated series. But, blimey, animation costs a lot, and we decided to take things nice and slowly.  We knew we wanted to build a platform where children could fall head over heels for our characters and, through them, fall in love with the ocean itself. 

Since then, we've created even more characters, made a few blunders (and learned from every single one!), and had more ideas. The Bubble Buddies universe keeps on expanding, one happy bubble at a time.

And that's where we'll finish up for today. Because every great adventure, even deep under the sea, needs a little breather before the next big splash!

After all that dreaming, drawing, and debating, it was finally time to make something real: our very first Activity Book and our shiny Bubble Buddies website. Sounds exciting, doesn't it? It was, but it felt a bit like trying to build a sandcastle when a big wave was coming in! It's fun, messy, and occasionally frustrating.

Come back soon for Episode 3: The Great Build Begins!

Rosa

Bubbles of Wisdom

🐙 Octopuses and multitaskers have one thing in common: many arms and not enough hands to hold the biscuits. 🍪
⛵The sea looks calm on the surface, but underneath it’s full of movement, like our Zoom meetings.🐦‍🔥

Return to The Wave Report and see what splashes next