Face To Face For The First Time

I'm typing this blog on the last leg of a trip my husband and I made to Vancouver B.C. via a cruise ship being repositioned from San Francisco to Vancouver.

After working over a year with Kate Jeong, the illustrator for Purple Carrot Books, I was determined to find a way to meet her in person. We had never met face to face. An email from Princess Cruises presented the perfect opportunity—take a cruise for two nights, spend a day with Kate and her family and fly back home.

The Jeong family (Kate, husband Don and their three boisterous boys, Steven, Danny and Harry) met us after we disembarked from the ship at the docks in Vancouver. It was like a reunion with a long-time friend. Up to that point Kate and I had only communicated via email and Skype video conferencing.

They took us to Granville Island where we browsed through the Public Market then had coffee and visited while the boys chased pigeons along the waterfront. Later we found a kids park where the boys played until they collapsed with hunger.

After lunch we checked into our hotel and rested until Don and Harry picked us up to deliver us to their home where Kate and Don put the finishing touches on a traditional Korean dinner with lots of vegetables served on a bed of rice. Delicious!

Today Kate and I spent two and a half hours working on our latest app, Goldilocks and The Three Bears. We worked through the storyboard and added all the animation, interaction and sound notes. Now Kate can begin producing the finished color scenes. Kids are going to love this app.

Have you had a relationship where you didn't meet the person face to face until some time later?

Have you seen The Prisoner of Carrot Castle iPad app with Kate's beautiful illustrations?
 

Developing an iPad App: Step Three

Meet Aiden—exuberant and full of imagination

We are one month into our project to make The Prisoner of Carrot Castle into an iPad app. If you're just joining us, you'll want to catch up by reading Step One: Assemble the Team and Step Two: Complete Storyboard.

Step Three: Meet the Characters
While I worked on the storyboard, Kate Jeong, armed with a copy of the manuscript, roughed out the characters so she could begin the scene sketches once the storyboard was complete. You might say this is actually Step Two B.

Our lively and exuberant protagonist, Aiden, appears alone at the dinner table. With disheveled hair and disinterest in finishing his veggies, his imagination launches him to a far away place. To his amazement, he finds himself alone in a prison cell. Aiden's exciting adventure begins!

Kate worked on several versions of the King of Carrot Castle to arrive at this larger-than-life, arrogant King... and his aloof Queen.

The ugly guard who frightens Aiden when he suddenly appears through the cell door hatch would scare anyone confronted with such an oaf.

Numerous guards and people of the court will be seen in various scenes as Aiden attempts to escape from Carrot Castle. Kate developed several versions of Castle people, who might be spotted in the throne room or passing through the courtyard as they search for the escaped prisoner. These are just two people that might be seen in the app.

Join us for the next step in our project.

What do you think of Aiden and his castle adversaries?