From a "Potato Sack" to the World's Biggest Collection. It all started with a very confused three-year-old.
I'll never forget watching my wife try to draw a horse mask for our son. Now, kids have incredible imaginations, but this drawing was testing the limits. If my lad had asked for a mask that looked like a potato sack with four holes in it, he'd have been thrilled. But he wanted a horse - and the puzzled look on his face told me he wasn't convinced.
As a graphic designer by trade, that look got me thinking. I realised there must be thousands of parents and teachers out there who - despite their best intentions - were artistically "challenged." Our kids were getting a raw deal on the mask front!
So a few days later, when I was working the boring nightshift at the printers I worked at, I sat down with a pencil and started doodling some animal masks.
What started as 20 hand-drawn animal masks grew into a passion project. I bought the domain, built the first site, and 15 years later, Masketeers has grown into the largest collection of printable masks on the internet.
We live in an amazing age of technology. Kids are wizards with apps and games, but often those gadgets just teach them to follow a set of rules: click here, do that. I believe that to develop a truly free-thinking, innovative mind, kids need fewer instructions and more imagination.
Mask-making is a return to basics. There are no levels to beat or buttons to mash. When a child puts on a mask, they aren't just playing; they are developing their own unique perspective of the world. They get to be whoever (or whatever) they want to be.
Every single one of the 400+ masks in our library started as a hand-drawn sketch. I've tried to make them so that they are easy to cut, cute, and - most importantly - actually look like the animals or characters they're supposed to be! (No potato sacks here, I promise.)
I hope you and your children have as much fun using these masks as I've had creating them over the last 15 years.
Let's get back to basics.
All the best,
Ian Nicholls