Be Persistent to Achieve Your Goal

Having an issue with achieving your goals? Take a tip from Sophia. Try... try and try again until you succeed. Oh... and notice, no complaining along the way.

Developing an iPad App: Step Two

I completed the draft of the storyboard for The Prisoner of Carrot Castle and sent it to Nur (developer) for comment. Once we are settled on the storyboard, I'll send it on to Kate (illustrator) so she can get started on the scene art and come up with an estimate of her time involved.

My first video conference with Kate took place on January 11th via Skype. It was great to meet her and even see sketches she made of Aiden and the castle people. We both got very excited as we anticipate our creations coming to life on the iPad.

Step Two: Complete Storyboard
The storyboard for the app comprises dividing the picture book manuscript into scene/pages similar to a spread in a picture book. Each scene consists of narration of the story, art notes for illustrating the scene and any spot illustrations used in animation, animation notes and sound. Below is an example of one of the scenes from the storyboard:

(Narrator) A loud, scruffy voice came from outside the cell, “Hey! What’s going on in there?” Aiden froze. What am I going to do? I’ve got to get out of here!

(Art Notes) Aiden with a frightened look staring at the cell door with hatch, chains to restrain prisoner hanging from cell wall

(Animation Notes) Touch hatch to hear “Hey! What’s going on in there?” Touch Aiden to see different pose, touch chains to make them shake and rattle

(Sound) “Hey! What’s going on in there?” Chains rattling

Eventually our storyboard will include the art/illustration for each scene.

We are forging ahead on our project. I hope you are enjoying following along. Keep tuning in to see The Prisoner of Carrot Castle coming to life.

Leave a comment to tell me what kind of things you like in an iPad children's app.

Developing an iPad App: Step One

I am marching forward with my plans to make my picture book, The Prisoner of Carrot Castle, into an iPad app. The team consists of developer, Nur Monson, and illustrator, Kate Jeong, writer and project coordinator, moi. We are just getting started.

Tomorrow is my first Skype video chat with Kate to get the project started. Kate lives in Toronto, Canada and Nur lives in the Bay Area 100 miles west so we will be using technology to coordinate the project. I have done a lot of research on how to put this all together so I thought there might be some readers of this blog that find following the project helpful. In this era of changing modes of publishing, an author has many options for being published.

Step One: Assemble the Team
Identify a developer for the iPad programming. You can do a Google search for iPad developers. There are many to choose from. I chose my uber talented programmer son, Nur.

Next, I needed an illustrator. At the last regional SCBWI conference I attended, I picked up a couple of business cards for illustrators I liked. After perusing each of their websites, I contacted Kate and asked if she would like to be a part of our team. Happily she agreed. We still have details to work out on the payment, which will be nailed down once we have the storyboard finalized.

Last, I completed the manuscript for The Prisoner of Carrot Castle and have begun the storyboard process. I will organize and manage the project.

I'm looking forward to moving ahead on this project and seeing our first page come to life! We have a great team for the project. Is there an iPad app you thought would be interesting to develop?

Dog's Are Awesome

The tenacity of these animals is amazing! Hope it gives you a little motivation in the New Year! ...and of course, some good laughs. The weightless dog is hilarious! Enjoy!