Making a Halloween costume? Seedling Comic Studio app creates a digital version
This Halloween, kids can make their own costumes — and design a matching digital version as well.
Recognizing the large amounts of time kids today spend on mobile devices, toy- and craftsmaker Seedling USA Inc. released this week a comic-book creation app that will complement its physical kits to make superhero masks and other items.
“No character or plot is off-limits,” Seedling said about the free iOS app, which enables users to edit and arrange photos, text and graphics on digital comic strips. The goal is to have kids “fall in love with visual storytelling.”
The Los Angeles start-up’s Seedling Comic Studio app was the 16th most-downloaded iPhone app for kids on Thursday in the U.S., and ranked even better in 15 countries, according to tracking firm App Annie.
Seedling charges 99 cents each for extra batches of content.
In an interview earlier this year at its expansive new headquarters in downtown Los Angeles’ Arts District, Seedling Chief Executive Phoebe Hayman said apps had become “natural space” for children to play.
“And it should be a natural space for us,” she said. “We’re not prepared to ignore a huge chunk of their lives. We want to figure it out and be in there with them.”
The new app is Seedling’s first.
Investors in Seedling include Google Ventures, Upfront Ventures and Greycroft Partners. The company’s toy and crafts business, founded in 2007, has been profitable and revenue has grown about 50% annually.
Other traditional toymakers, including Walt Disney Co., The Lego Group and Mattel Inc., also are experimenting with ways to make money from the time children are spending on tablets and computers watching videos and playing games.
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