Welcome to Ninja Sparks! This is the first issue of what used to be the Brush Ninja newsletter. Over the past few months, I’ve been busy exploring creative projects, experimenting with tools, and figuring out how to share them in a way that inspires and excites you.

One big update: Ninja Sparks now has its own website! It’s a dedicated space where I’ll gather all the apps, tools, and resources I feature. Think of it as a growing hub of creativity—a mix of recommendations, personal insights, and handy resources to spark your imagination.

Recently, I’ve been juggling a few projects, and one of the most exciting is a game-making library. With my background in gaming, I’ve always wanted to get back into making games, but I also wanted a faster way to bring ideas to life. This library is my solution—a tool to help create retro-styled games with a modern twist. If you’re curious, you can check out some screenshots of my progress on Bluesky.

This issue is a bit of an experiment as I settle on a format, but I hope you’ll enjoy what I’ve put together. Inside, you’ll find a fun tool for making music (even if you’re as musically challenged as I am), a video about tiny living that got me thinking about storage solutions, and a few musings on creativity. I’d love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to hit reply and let me know what you think or what you’d like to see in future issues.

Hi there, welcome to December!

With the Christmas holidays rushing toward us at full speed, this is not only the last newsletter of the year but perhaps the last Brush Ninja newsletter... at least in its current form!

Introducing Ninja Sparks

Starting in the new year, I’m rebranding the newsletter as Ninja Sparks—a fresh, bi-weekly dose of creative inspiration.

Hi there - I hope things are well for you!

I'll be honest, I've been putting off writing this newsletter. I tend to do that with things that I find hard. I've not been sure what to say, and it's been a feeling I've had for a few months now. I don't like the idea of sending newsletters that don't provide anything of interest or value but I now have a plan to address this.

New Newsletter Format

I am planning to rebrand the Brush Ninja newsletter. It will still cover Brush Ninja news, but it's also going to have a focus on creative technology.

Hello there,

Hope you're doing well! As I mentioned in last month's email, I've been thinking about what I want to do with Brush Ninja this year, and I've got some exciting plans for the next few months.

First off, I'll be taking care of the usual bug fixes and improvements—keeping things running smoothly is always a top priority.

I'm also planning to do a bit of work on my art app, Paint Ninja, adding a couple of new features. More news will come as I make some progress!

Hi - welcome back to Brush Ninja!

My son is now back at school and things are starting to settle down again, so I want to start thinking about Brush Ninja once more. I had a great summer break - travelling, seeing family, and going on lots of day trips with my son and wife.

In that time I also started thinking about another project that has been on my mind for years. A system for making simple videogames in a web browser, and I even started working on it. Brush Ninja is still the priority for me, but this will be my side project for the time being.

So back to the little ninja app.

Hi there - welcome to another edition of the Brush Ninja newsletter!

Today is election day in the UK. It's all a bit nervous and I'm struggling to focus. I hope we, as a country, make the right choice today!

Whatever happens I'm going to keep trying my hardest to make the best creative websites I can.

This last month has been one of mostly bug fixes and small improvements. My wife is still finding errors with the app, and I'm fixing them as fast as I can. Also I now have a Chromebook to test on, I know a lot of schools use these but I've not used one before so it's been really interesting using Brush Ninja on it.

Hi, welcome to a new month of creative fun.

I spent the last week on holiday, it was the half term break last week in the UK and we have 6(ish) more weeks before the summer holidays.

Every month I try to think about what I have done and I can never remember anything, so I check the changelog and realise that actually I worked on a lot more than I realised.

As I mentioned last month my wife is now helping with the social media (Facebook and Instagram) and because of this she's finding all sorts of bugs with the apps. I don't intentionally leave these problems in but having a second pair of eyes definitely helps me to find and fix them.

May the 4th be with you!

If you follow Brush Ninja on Instagram then you may have noticed I like to make animations for things like Star Wars Day, and Mario Day, and Pokemon Day. I'm a geek through and through, but also it's something to have fun with. I made Brush Ninja so that I could make animations, and I enjoy making animations about the things I enjoy.

Anyway - I also worked on a few other things last month.

Hey There - happy Easter to everyone who celebrates, and if you don't then I hope you had a great month!

Here in the UK the weather has been poor over the last week but it's the Easter holidays so my son is home from school and we've spent the last few days doing Easter trails. 9 of them so far, and probably more to come. My son is very full of chocolate!

Last month was busy as ever with all sorts of updates and changes made, plus, I was on my first ed-tech podcast!

Classroom Dynamics Podcast

Hi there

I nearly forgot this months newsletter. I was too busy making a little meditation app. I often find things like this that I want to do but can't and end up making my own version. Too many apps are overly complicated.

In this case I'm making a simple meditation app. I feel it might help with reducing stress, but all the apps on the phone app stores seem to be paid (at least after 5 minutes of searching), so I'm making a very simple one I can stick on a website.

I basically just want a timer, but I'm adding a cute little blobby character that breathes in time to the meditation. I'll let you know when it's ready.

Hey there - happy February

We're only a month into 2024 and already there's a half term holiday approaching. We are heading off for a week away to get some rest and see some sights.

I will be taking my laptop though - so will still be noodling away on my projects while I'm there. I tend to do these things in the evening when my son is in bed, it gives me some uninterrupted time - I can't work during the day if he's at home because he is incredibly inquisitive - and we generally end up doing something totally unrelated. I love it, but it's not great when you're trying to focus.

Anyway - this last month I have mostly been working on a whole new website, and the new Brush Ninja Drawing App.

Hey there,

Happy New Year! Welcome to another month (year) of creative fun.

To kick off the new year, I've rolled out a fresh release for the Brush Ninja animation editor and introduced a new app in the drawing department.

Animation Editor

Hey Brush Ninja enthusiasts!

Wishing you all joy and creativity this holiday season! 🌟 This is the last newsletter of the year, and I've got some exciting updates to share:

New App in the Works

I am excited to announce a brand-new project - a bitmap drawing and editing app! You will be able to draw and paint with a variety of brushes, and save your images to edit later. Think of it as a fusion of the iPad's Procreate app and the nostalgic charm of Microsoft Paint, but with more freedom and right in your web browser. Currently, it's in Beta, accessible exclusively through a link included in this newsletter.

Hi there - I'm sending this on what is Bonfire Night in the UK.

Bonfire Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Night, is a British tradition celebrated on November 5th. It commemorates the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605 when Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament. People mark the occasion with bonfires, fireworks, and the burning of effigies of Guy Fawkes. It's a time for gatherings, enjoying firework displays, and indulging in hotdogs and hot chocolate. It's very close to Halloween so the two often get combined with people dressing up for the fireworks displays.

Updated Website Design

As I mentioned last month, I spent some time this month improving the Brush Ninja website design. I have rejigged the site header and navigation to make apps easier to find, and shifted the animation maker to its own page. I tried to make it nice and easy to find from the homepage and once you're there it's all the same as it was before. A nice side effect is that the number of people trying my other apps has increased. Code Ninja in particular is a lot more popular than it was!

Hi there, welcome to a new issue of the Brush Ninja newsletter.

It's now been 1 year since I launched Brush Ninja members accounts. These premium accounts allow customers to get access to additional features in Brush Ninja apps. Over the year since I have added the premium members accounts I have also worked on new features to bring even more value to the accounts.

The two big features I have added are sound effects, and video export. These are both things I have thought about for ages and always assumed I wouldn't be able to add, but they are now there and working well.

The sound effects are selected from a list of sounds, many of which are available for free users to use as well. Paid members get access to more, and I plan to allow paid members to use there own songs in a future update too.

Hi, welcome back to a new educational year.

Now that the summer holidays are over, it's time for me to start focusing on Brush Ninja once again.

Over the past few weeks, I've mostly been spending time with my wife and son, so progress on Brush Ninja has been slow. However, I still have many things I want to work on.

What's Changed Recently?

Hello Brush Ninja community!

I hope everyone is having a fantastic summer break, filled with fun and memorable moments! As for me, I recently returned from a relaxing summer holiday with my family. We explored museums, wandered through castles, and enjoyed quality time together.

A Creative Journey with my 7-year-old

One of the highlights of the summer break is working on a video game project with my 7-year-old. He's decided he wants to work in video games when he is an adult, and since I worked at a games company for 11 years I thought we could attempt a small project together.

Hello Brush Ninja enthusiasts!

I hope this newsletter finds you well. It's been an incredibly productive month for me, as I've been working tirelessly to bring you some fantastic additions to Brush Ninja. So let's dive right in and explore what's been happening!

Stickers and Sound Effects in the GIF Editor!

This month I added some brand new stickers and sound effects for members to make their animations even more unique. The sound effects can of course be used with the new video export feature, to make your animations really come to life.

Welcome to this months Brush Ninja newsletter!

This month there have been two main new features. The animations glossary, and video export!

New Animation Terms Glossary

I am excited to announce the release of the new animation terms glossary! This comprehensive guide includes over 140 terms, from basic concepts like "frame" and "keyframe" to more advanced topics like "tweening" and "rendering." Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned animator, this glossary is a valuable resource for learning the language of animation.

Hi there!

As a child of the 80s, Star Wars is a film series that I was raised on. George Lucas is responsible for a lot of my love of science fiction, fantasy, and creative development. One of my goals when I went to university was to work for ILM - the special effects house started by George Lucas for the Star Wars movies.

For what it's worth, my other goals were to work for either Pixar or Nintendo.

Anyway, since it's Star Wars day, I have updated the images included in the Brush Ninja images tool to feature a lightsaber and two blades.

Hi there

This last month has been one of my most productive months for Brush Ninja ever. Not only have I put loads of new content on the Youtube channel, but I have got made more that is not yet available, and I have made a page where you can view all the videos on the Brush Ninja site itself.

And it's not just Brush Ninja, there's been loads of actual updates as well. Below are the highlights, you can see the full list on the changelog.

• Code Ninja improvements (a new button and more samples)
• Add a new background setting for Gif Maker that resets the animation background to the default (a common request).
• Add lots of new stickers to the Animated Gif Creator.
• Add new feature to Comic maker to allow multiple pages to be uploaded at once.
• Gif Maker Image Loader can now load, draw, and recolour svgs (Members only).

Hi there, hope you’re well.

I have been super busy this last month. It’s funny, I always feel like I haven’t done anything but I was looking through the code changes I have made recently and there’s been a LOT of updates.

The best place to see the changes is the Changelog but this is pretty high level and there’s been many other changes that are too small to list.

Most of the improvements have been to the animated gif maker and hopefully contribute toward making the animation experience smoother and more enjoyable.

Hi!

Hope you had as productive a January as I did. In last months email I mentioned that I had new 2 projects planned for this year, and that has already changed.

I started January in my code editor, working on project number 1. My idea was to create something akin to the old programming language Logo. Logo is a programming language that can be used to draw shapes and images, and was commonly used as a way to teach the basics of programming to beginners.

I wanted to make a 3d version, but I've not done anything like this before and so I thought I would make a simpler 2d version that I could then update to do everything I want. Originally it was going to be a stepping stone into the full version that I wouldn't release; but I think this version will be good enough that I can publish this and then work on the 3d version after.

Hi there - I hope you had a good Christmas break.

I spent the first few days of 2023 away with the family, but my son went back to school this week so it's back to work for me.

I didn't do much development on Brush Ninja over the holidays (apart from one thing) but I did think a lot about what I want to work on in 2023.

I currently have ideas for 2 projects, and I'd like to get a first draft of both of them online this year. Unlike the emoji art, comic, and photo montage apps these new apps will be much closer to the "Animated Gif" app in terms of complexity and features.

Howdy - I hope everyone is well.

I have been very busy this month. What with Twitter going wrong and Brush Ninja memberships I’ve had a lot on my plate.

The Gallery

Ever since Elon Musk took over Twitter and sacked a large chunk of the staff I have been concerned about the direction the platform is heading in.

Happy (slightly late) Halloween!

Last week was half term here in the UK, so I went on holiday with my wife and son - we had a great time going to museums and the beach and playing in the arcades.

The week before that I launched Brush Ninja Memberships.

It’s interesting to me that when I started Brush Ninja I didn’t know how I would make it earn money so I can work on it full time. I didn’t want to sell peoples data, I wanted to treat the people who use my website in the way I would like to be treated. Too many websites take peoples information and sell it to the highest bidder, generally through behavioural advertising - I really dislike that.

Hi there - you may have noticed I took a couple of months break from the newsletter over the summer holidays.

I took this time off while my son was off school so that we could spend some quality time doing fun things. But he's back at school now so I can't use him as an excuse not to write the newsletter 😄 Of course I actually quite like writing the newsletter. It gives me a chance to look back at the things I have been working on and get feedback from the Brush Ninja users (you can reply to this email to contact me if you wish).

Whilst I haven't been sending the newsletter I have still been woring on things with Brush Ninja. There's been a few minor bug fixes, but mostly I've been working on the new memberships system that I hope to be launching in the next few weeks.

As I mentioned previously, Brush Ninja memberships are entirely optional. All user accounts will be paid, but if you want to use Brush Ninja for free then it will be exactly the same as it is at the moment.

Hi there - thanks for your patience with this months newsletter.

It’s a few days late but hopefully the new feature I’ve been building will make it worthwhile. You might be able to guess from the email subject but there are actually 2 things I’ve been working on.

Memberships/ User Accounts

Possibly not the feature you were expecting me to lead with but I have been working on user accounts for Brush Ninja. These accounts will be paid, and entirely optional. All existing features of Brush Ninja will work exactly as they do now for both free and paid users.

Hi there - hope this finds you well.

This month has found me considering Brush Ninja quite a bit and trying to decide what I want to do with it in the future. I also added a new feature.

Since it’s the Queens Platinum Jubilee over here in England I also spent a couple of days making a little papercraft crown.

The future

Hi

In the UK it was a bank holiday this weekend - I'm not entirely sure why. There's probably a reason but what it means for me is I get to spend an extra day with my son. So we did some shopping, and some gardening, and watched a film. He even did a science experiment, mixing vinegar and bicarbonate of soda to make foamy eruptions. It's great seeing a young person grow and develop, and that's why I love making Brush Ninja and giving it away for free.

As mentioned last month I've started writing some Brush Ninja tips. I'm not ready to share them yet but I'm going to be turning them into an ebook that I will sell. I'd like to make some money out of this project so that I can spend more time working on it, but I still plan to share many of the tips in this newsletter, and will be putting the entire thing on Patreon.

So far I've written about a dozen pages, but I need to do some illustrations to go with it else it won't be entirely clear what I'm talking about. All going well I will share the first (of many) tip in next months newsletter.

title: '#12: Bug Fixes and the Gallery'

Hello!

Last month I said I was going to be working on the Brush Ninja gallery, and that's exactly what I have done.

Hi there,

February was a busy month for me. I managed to finish the three new apps I've been mentioning over the last few newsletters and get them released. Finishing the apps is one thing, but I was expecting the documentation and website changes to take a lot longer so I am really pleased it went as smoothly as it did.

Richard Byrne from FreeTech4Teachers has made an awesome demo video showing how to use all of the new apps. Thanks Richard!

Hi! The first email of the year is finally here!

Sorry but I totally missed last months email - I forgot all about it until we were too far into the month and it just felt too late to send something. On the plus side, this means I have many more things to mention this month.

As I mentioned last time I have been working on a new "Comic Creator" app, but since then inspiration has struck and I've beed working on two more apps!

App no. 1: Comic Creator

Happy Holidays!

This will be the last newsletter this year, and what a strange year it's been.

Here in the UK everything is starting to slow down (at least in my house) and we focus on staying warm, eating and giving (and receiving) presents. I normally take as much time off as I can in December. For me it's a time for family, and relaxing. Before I had a child I would spend a lot of time playing video games, and working on side projects and doing things I had no time for the rest of the year. Now I'm a Dad there's a lot more preparing for a proper Christmas, and entertaining a 5 year old - which is a different type of fun.

This year I hope to spend some of my free time working on Brush Ninja - specifically working on something brand new. I have started making a little app for making small magazines. The magazines will be 8 page booklets that you print on a single piece of paper and then, with a single scissor cut and some folding, turn into a comic/ magazine/ book/ leaflet/ whatever you like.

Hello - hows things going?

I was going to write this on Monday but my internet stopped working. That's one of the problems with working digitally, we're at the mercy of things that we can't control. It's working at the moment though so I'm going to finish it off.

I've been a bit slow with new features and functionality recently. Sometimes I feel bad about this, like I should be pumping out new features all the time, but Brush Ninja isn't my job - I need to do other work to earn money to provide for my wife and son (BTW big thank you to my awesome Patrons who continue to support me!). Plus I just need to do other things for my own mental health.

However I've recently been getting the Brush Ninja itch again and so I am now building out some new features for the app.

Hi there - I hope you've had a wonderful summer break!

I normally write the Brush Ninja newsletter on the first day of the month but you may (or may not) have noticed that last months was missing. I'm going to say this is because it's the summer holidays and I was taking some time off, but actually I just forgot. Sorry.

But at the same time, I did enjoy some time off. I haven't worked on Brush Ninja for a month or so, but I have a list of things I want to work on (including things I have have mentioned in previous newsletters) so I hope to start on them in the not too distant future.

Privacy

Hi there - I hope things are going well.

The educational year is winding down now. I believe it's mostly stopped in the US, and here in the UK the summer holidays will begin in about 3 weeks. As such I'm preparing for the summer break and looking back at what I've done over the last year.

Last month I launched the Eraser brush on Brush Ninja, and it seems to have gone really well. There were a couple of bugs, but they weren't major ones, and overall the improvement has been well worth the wait (I think at least).

The birth of Brush Ninja

Hey there - hope you're well.

You may have guessed from the subject line but this month I discovered how to add an eraser to Brush Ninja.

Eraser!!!!

I say discovered, it's a feature that was recently added to the graphics library I use. It's all very new so it's likely to change, but I have an early version working.

Hey hey - I hope this email finds you well!

I’ve been taking a bit of time off from building Brush Ninja this month. I make Brush Ninja for free, and so I have to do other “real” work as well in order to earn a living.

As such there’s no significant development updates but there have been some smaller bug fixes and improvements which are always satisfying to publish.

I’ve also been thinking about what I can do with Brush Ninja in the future.

Hey there - can you believe we're already a quarter of the way through the year?

When I set the schedule for this newsletter I didn't consider I would be sending it out on April Fools. Fortunately I don't join in so there's no tricks in here.

https://twitter.com/BinaryMoon/status/1377714985502138371

New Stuff

Hey there - I hope everyone is doing well.

Here in the UK we're getting ready for schools to reopen next week. They were closed at Christmas because of a spike in Covid cases over the holidays.

However, homeschooling my 5 year old hasn't stopped me from working on Brush Ninja.

Over the last few weeks I've made quite a few tweaks and improvements to the app and they are currently being tested by the Brush Ninja patrons (join my Patreon to get access to the beta).

Hi there, welcome to my brand new newsletter! 😃

This is the first issue of the Brush Ninja newsletter so I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has signed up. I wasn't sure if anybody would so it's fantastic to see that so many want to be kept updated!