It all began…

By: Kimberly Frimel

It all began….

When I drew this bunny with a simple face (Keeng). This was back in the mid-90s. At the time, it wasn't anything more than another drawing to me — I had no idea what "it" held, or why I kept it. It would take me another decade of life to finally recognize what I was feeling at that time. I was actually hurting, in a number of ways, and I didn't know it yet. All everyone else saw was anger even rage at times. I felt misunderstood in so many ways it's still to this day difficult for me to comprehend.

I've always had my own struggles with mental health and emotions — my own ups and downs. Over the years, I dealt with a wide variety of emotional, behavioral and mental health struggles, mostly within my own family: parents, extended family, my children. For a long time, I didn't even realize what was happening to me. I just learned to cope however I could, and the way I coped was the thing I loved doing — drawing.

Art was a developing outlet, but it didn't save me entirely from my environment. My battles were evident in my projection, my behaviors, my self-esteem. Untreated, dismissed, overlooked — it only grew into bigger things later: anxiety, depression, layers of anger, and more.

It was after completing my first few years of therapy that I started to realize something. Maybe the creative outlet that had helped me manage and cope with my own struggles could help someone else, too.

About 8 years ago, I found that drawing again — the one I'd done in the 90s, of the bunny. The look on his face took me right back to that time, to all those feelings. It sparked something in me. So I started sketching again — a whole series of faces, all types: angry, sad, scared. The main one, the one that really took hold, was the angry-face bunny.

He was received really well. People could relate to him. He was real, and that connection to their own reality was uplifting for them — almost a release. That's when I knew: I could reach people with this bunny.

He spoke for me when I couldn't find the words. And I think that's exactly why he's able to speak for other people too.

The Art Behind Him

I did have formal training — I studied foundation studies in all areas at the Institute of Art. But the style you see in Keeng is really more about my personality, and how I use and respect color. Or rather, the absence of it.

My style celebrates black and white. The contrast — black versus white — it is a dramatic play that doesn't just grab attention, it keeps it. It's clean, it's classy, it's simple, but it's also very "in your face" dramatic. Play those contrasts against each other while you tell a story, and they become powerful.

For a long time I thought of my fine art and my cartooning as two completely separate things. It's taken years of working on both to realize they actually share a lot — the color, and the emotion underneath it. As I've developed projects over time, those two worlds have slowly come together.

When I draw for The Emotional Me, I pour myself into every character and every scene — creatively and emotionally. That's how they come to life.

What I Hope Stays With You…

I think the characters appeal to adults and kids alike because they're cute, playful, whimsical. But I believe what makes them stay with people is realizing these characters are dealing with real experiences, real behaviors, real situations — the same ones their own children are dealing with, or will.

When a parent sees that, something shifts. We're not just guiding the child on how to better regulate, react, or deal with what they're feeling — we're guiding the parent too, on how to support them, react to them, and help them through it in a loving, caring way.

Give adults a few simple tools and a little support, and it goes a long way — especially with everything raising children today comes with. This is only the beginning. We hope to grow this brand to cover a lot of the different challenges families face, day to day.

—Kimberly Frimel, Ilustrator, Co-Founder