tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51153812262256660452024-02-22T16:09:15.747+00:00Chantal's illustration & design blogThis is the blog of Chantal Marie Bourgonje (C for Design), illustrator and designer with a passion for picture books and obedient servant to two whippets. This blog is about illustration, art, design and picture books .Chantal Bourgonjehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16626149501052950885noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115381226225666045.post-20066042341356389382023-06-27T11:55:00.001+01:002023-06-27T11:55:40.053+01:00Searching for Home - Cover Reveal<iframe width="480" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/bKGNmF8n8Ho" frameborder="0"></iframe>Chantal Bourgonjehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16626149501052950885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115381226225666045.post-17752517312861286822017-09-24T18:18:00.000+01:002017-09-24T18:18:07.840+01:00Silverpoint<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">A
little while back I went to see the <a href="http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/raphael/">Raphael exhibition in the Ashmolean</a> in
Oxford. Next to it being a wonderful exhibition, it also reminded me of the
ancient renaissance technique of silverpoint, that I used to enjoy
experimenting with. It seems to be a bit of a forgotten technique nowadays, but
for those of you who like experimenting with different materials, here a little
tutorial on how to make your own silverpoint illustration / artwork.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">I used
a sketch for the picture book I'm currently working on, where Momo and Noush are sliding over an icy river, as the base for this step by step guide to silverpoint.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
materials you need are:</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">- a
piece of silver (I use 0.5 mm jewellery making silver) </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">- an
empty mechanical pencil that holds 0.5 mm leads</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">- zinc
white gouache and/or chinese white watercolour paint</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">-
strong but smooth paper (I use Fabriano Classico 5) streched up on a board</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">- your
sketch<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHbAsG4MCwKlUTnspT4ksT64esQajzBgmezw4Oxd_M4S7MIopna0sdIuq__rhIX26iIq-8Gv4WdA0J8zpll2wGsTeWtaHhQQEIWIK__cp-pY_8CRLIzBDVt_qnc7SOfWnKpVzqoYzxaInH/s1600/CB1_1143.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="1600" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHbAsG4MCwKlUTnspT4ksT64esQajzBgmezw4Oxd_M4S7MIopna0sdIuq__rhIX26iIq-8Gv4WdA0J8zpll2wGsTeWtaHhQQEIWIK__cp-pY_8CRLIzBDVt_qnc7SOfWnKpVzqoYzxaInH/s640/CB1_1143.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><span id="goog_1971927094"></span><span id="goog_1971927095"></span><br /></o:p></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">You
stretch up your paper, as you would normally stretch watercolour paper. Then
you cover the whole paper with a thin layer of zinc white gouache or Chinese
white watercolour paint diluted with water. Or a combination of the 2 paints with water. Let it dry and apply
another layer, making sure that the whole surface is well covered with the
gouache and/or watercolour.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">This
is important as the silver will create a chemical reaction with the zinc white
and the Chinese white. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Guided
by your sketch, you now paint in your background. You can use different types
of paints, watercolour, gouaches, acrylics, as long as you blend in a bit of
zinc white or Chinese white as you go along. Or, if you don’t want a coloured
background, you can just work on the white.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihnnXjdyar4JeyQrwHPXHXOUTB_uhZ0gUZvK-Xnj4b66uJOkdo5jt2UIr5cgHVAi75bvnM5fKFDY-Hk2hxJH5bsZxcC2A0fVxbnORtt45OAWjDX3ZMq9lUO_-LIbNw7wDgG1dO8kaLDWK1/s1600/CB1_1146.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="1600" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihnnXjdyar4JeyQrwHPXHXOUTB_uhZ0gUZvK-Xnj4b66uJOkdo5jt2UIr5cgHVAi75bvnM5fKFDY-Hk2hxJH5bsZxcC2A0fVxbnORtt45OAWjDX3ZMq9lUO_-LIbNw7wDgG1dO8kaLDWK1/s640/CB1_1146.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Make
sure your background is dry.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Once
it is dry you can start drawing with your silver on the background. I tend to cut the paper off the board at this stage, as I find that works easier. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM4dkxzKhQ2XU2FfWbvgGa2Y5-hxJbnHVcBMAgrFkyuel_Cy2zBB8cqVzyKjMPvL5eIPEtwclXU_QpwmCQblBtvgWKZ3kPZyGwbvpgNVfBorkvpxrNgFbGea54yjpF5GhaNQ_a3f4uCtV4/s1600/CB1_1149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="1600" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM4dkxzKhQ2XU2FfWbvgGa2Y5-hxJbnHVcBMAgrFkyuel_Cy2zBB8cqVzyKjMPvL5eIPEtwclXU_QpwmCQblBtvgWKZ3kPZyGwbvpgNVfBorkvpxrNgFbGea54yjpF5GhaNQ_a3f4uCtV4/s640/CB1_1149.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">One note
though, once the silver has made a mark, you can’t erase it. It’s there as the
chemical reaction between the silver and the zinc has taken place. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">After
you have drawn your characters or scene, you can paint in your artwork and hey
presto! You have a silverpoint illustration.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">A note
for the painting. If you have used gouache in your background, it will start
blending somewhat with any watercolour or other wet paints, as that is what
gouache does. I like that effect. But it does mean you do have to plan your
drawing well when you put the base together.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">So why
would you go through all this hassle, when you could just use a pencil?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">I like
how you can work really finely and delicately with the silver, apart from
printing techniques like etching, I don’t know many materials that you can work
so finely with. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
The other advantage is that you can work on top of a background. With a pencil
you cannot always draw easily on a painted background. However, the silver will
just draw on the background, whether it is textured or not.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Interestingly the silver will continue to work with the
zinc in the paint and grow darker over the years. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 18px;">The work is still "living".</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 18px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">For me that makes it a
meaningful medium, if that idea fits with a story.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;">And last, but not least, there is something nice about keeping an old technique alive.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span>Chantal Bourgonjehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16626149501052950885noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115381226225666045.post-89278232223648161962016-09-14T15:14:00.003+01:002017-09-24T09:38:29.544+01:00Sketchbooking<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">For me the best way to start a new character and discover his or her story is to sketch them and see what they end up doing, what environment sits comfortably with the character and what friends appear? What adventures will the pencil take them on? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">And then there are those naughty characters, like little piglet Kay, that impatiently just pop up whenever they want. Even when it isn't her turn yet!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">It looks like little Momo has a big bear friend. And I think it is cold where they are, but somehow I think that they would much prefer a warm place with soft grass and flowers. But it isn't anywhere near them. Hmmm. Maybe a little journey might be in order? We'll see. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I love sketch books and sketching, doodling, playing, thinking, drawing. And there is of course enormous joy in viewing others' sketch books. I recently bought <a href="http://www.shauntan.net/books/Bird%20King.html">"The Bird King" by Shaun Tan</a>, and what a joy to view page after page of delicious sketches. And then there is the wonderful Sara Midda's sketchbook <a href="https://www.workman.com/products/sara-middas-south-of-france">"The South of France, a sketchbook".</a> And if you really want to get me drooling there is <a href="http://www.oliverjeffers.com/projects/sketchbook">Oliver Jeffer's Sketchbook</a>. These are some of my favourite sketchbooks. I would love to find out what yours are. It will be such a delight to find more artists' sketchbooks to enjoy and get inspired by!</span><br />
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Chantal Bourgonjehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16626149501052950885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115381226225666045.post-13545370039151938412016-06-22T17:55:00.000+01:002016-06-22T17:55:32.881+01:00New picture book?<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">A few months ago I put a little doodle I made on Facebook and for some reason he made a lot of people comment, despite being just a little doodle. Here he is, the little fellow.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZF_wB4OPLT8e_PqrNCgdOJCNM0ZC-CejnjXswe7GEotfLOKSQ5rJ95eZEWtYKheDyaM3a_mJfkBKgNB27bdIsd2mGNftr210CfbmI8ojYs5waBuW0SmTF4bm7B2grcpfq9o-Tp_Go7h4/s1600/Momo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZF_wB4OPLT8e_PqrNCgdOJCNM0ZC-CejnjXswe7GEotfLOKSQ5rJ95eZEWtYKheDyaM3a_mJfkBKgNB27bdIsd2mGNftr210CfbmI8ojYs5waBuW0SmTF4bm7B2grcpfq9o-Tp_Go7h4/s320/Momo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">You see, there isn't much of him, but somehow people liked him and he also kept haunting my mind. So it's probably best that he gets a story. His name is Momo. That much is clear. But rather than just making up a story for him, I would like to discover first who he is and from there see what is happening in his life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">If you'd like to follow an adventure in picture book making, I thought I'd use this blog to record the progress of discovering Momo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Chantal Bourgonjehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16626149501052950885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115381226225666045.post-28213571721442532612014-07-01T11:52:00.002+01:002016-03-15T16:19:19.527+00:00Horace and Nim<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">It's been a while since you've heard from me, but our first Horace and Nim story, "The Rainbow's End" is currently out in "<a href="http://www.redan.co.uk/Friends.asp">Fun to learn Friends</a>" magazine (issue 294, 26 June 2014), published by Redan. If you would like to read it, you can find the magazine in most major supermarkets and news agents and any other shops that sell children's magazines here in the UK. "Friends" magazine is one of the UK's largest pre-school age children's magazines with almost 70,000 copies sold of each issue.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Our next 2 adventures, "The Yo-Yo bug and "The Lucky, Lucky Leaf" will be published in issues 296 and 298, out respectively the 24th of July and the 21st of August. If you'd like a little preview of the stories (all written by David Hoskins) and the illustrations, have a look at the "stories" page of our brand new <a href="http://horaceandnim.co.uk/">Horace and Nim</a> website.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Licensing Biz Daily wrote a little article about us, you can read it <a href="http://www.licensing.biz/news/read/horace-and-nim-secures-publishing-trial-with-redan/040356">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Hope you enjoy Horace and Nim's adventures and am curious to find out what you make of them!</span></div>
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Chantal Bourgonjehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16626149501052950885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115381226225666045.post-54035525882108513472013-12-28T18:27:00.000+00:002013-12-28T18:27:51.221+00:00Hurrah for the Mud Monster! And some thoughts on picture book apps<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In my last blog post I wrote about my latest children's picture book app, "T<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/the-mud-monster/id680381438?ls=1&mt=8">he Mud Monster</a>". To my great delight it was recently listed in <a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/issue/best-of-2013/section/book-apps/">Kirkus' best book apps of 2013</a> ('</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>A story that is as happy as a clam at high tide')</i></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">. I am tickled pink and still blushing with pride!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">what will our 3 friends find in this giant sea shell?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Looking back at <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/the-mud-monster/id680381438?ls=1&mt=8">The Mud Monster</a>, it makes me think about picture book apps in general. I was recently interviewed for BBC Wiltshire regarding picture book apps and one question that keeps on following me, is whether book apps are good for children and would it give them the same experience as a printed book?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I think there will always be a place for printed picture books. They are beautiful, a real joy and I am an avid collector. They make lovely gifts and are a treasure to have. But I also think there is a valid place for picture book apps. Most of all because it is about the <i>story</i>. Whether this story is on an iPad or other tablet or on paper, does not matter so much. What matters that it is a <i>good</i> story. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Then there are the illustrations, how do they enhance the story, what delights do they bring? I think the same thing applies there, it does not matter whether they are on a printed page, or whether they are on a tablet, what matters is that they are good, enjoyable illustrations that can be explored by the children and parents together. What is important about a picture book or app is that it engages children and that parents and children can interact with it and enjoy it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In all my picture book apps (and I think in most book apps) there is the option to switch of the reading voice so that parent can read the story to their children, or so the children can read the stories themselves. T</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">he same way they can from a printed book.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Any music and sounds can be switched off (or on) through a touch on the screen. You can go backward and forward or jump around in the story as much as you wish. All the same as in a printed book.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But the nice thing about a picture book app is that you can do more! You can touch the illustrations and things will happen! How exciting is that! You can blow in your tablet to create storms (as in <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/finns-paper-hat-hd/id438028726?mt=8">Finn's Paper Hat</a>), you can shake your iPad and a mouse will swing from a tree (as in <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fierce-grey-mouse-hd/id434228179?mt=8">Fierce Grey Mouse</a>), and you can make plenty of bubbles when 3 animal friends are having a bath in "<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/the-mud-monster/id680381438?ls=1&mt=8">The Mud Monster</a>". And </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">to help early readers learn reading, there is word highlighting, where the words enlarge and highlight along with the reading voice. Again a function that can be switched off and on as you please.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">will you make some more bubbles for our 3 friends?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Last, but not least, there is also the matter of price. Often a picture book app is less than a quarter (or even a tenth) of the price of a printed book. An opportunity to get many, many stories and hours of fun reading or being read to!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">our 3 friends from The Mud Monster on their way to buy a book? Or will they find a boat and roam the sea and go fishing instead?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now of course I am biased in my views, as 3 of my children's picture books have been published by </span><a href="http://apps.tizio.eu/apps_new" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Tizio BV</a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> as interactive picture book apps. </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What do you think about this topic? I'm really curious what your thoughts are around picture books and picture book apps.</span></div>
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Chantal Bourgonjehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16626149501052950885noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115381226225666045.post-84955783433220791342013-08-22T10:04:00.000+01:002013-08-22T10:04:06.693+01:00Picture Book Apps and Mud Monsters<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I am delighted to tell you that this week my new picture book app, "The Mud Monster", published by <a href="http://apps.tizio.eu/apps_new">Tizio Publishing BV</a>, has come out in <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/the-mud-monster/id680381438?ls=1&mt=8">iTunes</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm really proud of this new app and the first reviews that have come in have made me very happy:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"> "<i>I just love your books, they really touch my heart</i>." and </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">"<i>Wow - what a beautiful app. - Chantal's artwork and stories are so lovely</i>." and </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"><i>I just don’t know what to say, other than, they have done it again. The Mud Monsters is beautiful. I love this complete package, including the narration, illustrations and the music."</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">For the first full review you can <a href="http://theappyladies.com/the-mud-monster">click here</a>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">As always it was great fun working with the wizards at Tizio. They take my picture books and with their magic make them come alive. It is such a pleasure to see every page become more fun every time I receive test versions. And now with the full app ready, I am as pleased as punch.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Mud Monster is a circular story, about 3 animal friends who go on a little fishing expedition after their daily bath. They fish up a giant shell and are curious what is inside, so they rap, tap and knock on the shell. They pull it open and then....! Well, for that you need to read the story yourself. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And to make that easier, I have a few promo-codes to give away. If you would like a chance to win a promo code for a free Mud Monster Picture Book App, just leave a comment on this blog before Tuesday the 27th of August 2013. I will then put all the names in a hat and draw 3 winners that I will notify through this blog on the same day.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">For more information about "The Mud Monster" <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/the-mud-monster/id680381438?ls=1&mt=8">click here</a>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Looking forward to seeing your comments and in the mean time... Keep clean!</span></span><br />
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Chantal Bourgonjehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16626149501052950885noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115381226225666045.post-4306190677788917732012-04-17T16:19:00.000+01:002012-04-17T16:19:10.932+01:00Conference<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Last Saturday the 14th of April, I had the pleasure of attending the national conference of the <a href="http://www.fcbg.org.uk/general-information/">Federation for Children's Book Groups</a>. I presented 2 seminars on the topic of Children's book apps at the conference, but also had the opportunity to attend other speakers' sessions and visit all the publishers' stands. Needless to say, it was a fantastic day!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The first treat of the day was a session with Axel Scheffler in conversation with Eileen Browne. It was very interesting to hear him talk about his work and it was great to see him in action, drawing us a giant <a href="http://www.gruffalo.com/">Gruffalo</a>! He made it look so easy! After Axel Scheffler, <a href="http://authors.simonandschuster.co.uk/Nick-Lake/62647477">Nick Lake</a> spoke to us about his latest teen novel, "<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jan/20/in-darkness-nick-lake-review">In Darkness</a>" an interesting talk, touching on how our mind can mix reality with dreams and how this was used in his novel.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmHjMeHQ7eHHb4Jl4NLkGXMPHZWqHC9Lmp0igaO-kpVbaxGNfe4MmTq5bP9fs0bbehSVeXxd6z9qzZFEEgaO4vD4ntpCAw3ObgUn9OChnkb4EgZesr2xNrLTE7I1S4s-DJ1n6tQkQkpgpI/s1600/zwaaiMuis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmHjMeHQ7eHHb4Jl4NLkGXMPHZWqHC9Lmp0igaO-kpVbaxGNfe4MmTq5bP9fs0bbehSVeXxd6z9qzZFEEgaO4vD4ntpCAw3ObgUn9OChnkb4EgZesr2xNrLTE7I1S4s-DJ1n6tQkQkpgpI/s1600/zwaaiMuis.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The break came along with coffee, tea and the most delicious hand baked cookies. And whilst the next talk was on, I set up the seminar room for my own talk. I thoroughly enjoyed delivering the talk, especially as the audience was truly interested in the topic and had lots of interesting questions. I started the talk with explaining how we made the <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/app/fierce-grey-mouse/id412152237?mt=8">Fierce Grey Mouse app</a> which you can also read in my <a href="http://chantalmarieillustration.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/fierce-grey-mouse-how-picture-book.html">blog post from a few months back</a>. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW4nq1i_zf6kDs0YFzaSGtZcTZYuGNl201HusJBPA_RxvuRnsEqCXJbVwXixXMgM-pQoqBKmZ-3SUNkRZK5TNQch8-HrL3_YXE2j346Ykh-GYcEOXubToZafI-BeV7M4oWb2qtD9qQeYzz/s1600/mouseAttack0009.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW4nq1i_zf6kDs0YFzaSGtZcTZYuGNl201HusJBPA_RxvuRnsEqCXJbVwXixXMgM-pQoqBKmZ-3SUNkRZK5TNQch8-HrL3_YXE2j346Ykh-GYcEOXubToZafI-BeV7M4oWb2qtD9qQeYzz/s200/mouseAttack0009.png" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I then moved on to talk about the difficulties and opportunities there are with marketing an app book or buying an app book if you are a customer. There are thousands of book apps about, how do you know what is a good book and how do you as a publisher get people to notice your book apps?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I finished the talk by letting people play with the available iPhones and Ipads to give them a sense of how much fun children's book apps can be!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">For me the most inspiring talk of the day was by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Dickinson">Matt Dickinson</a> about his expedition leading a film crew up Everest and the books he wrote as a result. His latest book is <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/mar/05/review-mortal-chaos-matt-dickinson">"Mortal Chaos"</a> and is the first in a new trilogy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Next I decided to visit all the publishers' stands, which was a great idea. So many wonderful new and old books to see! From beautifully illustrated picture books to exciting new YA books, the whole range was presented. And best of all, they happily gave proof copies away for free for us to take home. Their generosity was overwhelming. I came home with 3 bags full of the most fantastic books and am enjoying reading them all and sharing them with friends and family.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNHaFESOIaygvwhXCrAStVC9cVCrGIxd2xGcE50W8SdtCozE8zrJrkFSaBbkbwqTih7iK8eCpi_h-1omrpygSFMdqDP4H2Kt5K_2FpN1CcrjSshK_FNg3qL151rFbVOe1Eqcggn11mQuYq/s1600/losseBig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNHaFESOIaygvwhXCrAStVC9cVCrGIxd2xGcE50W8SdtCozE8zrJrkFSaBbkbwqTih7iK8eCpi_h-1omrpygSFMdqDP4H2Kt5K_2FpN1CcrjSshK_FNg3qL151rFbVOe1Eqcggn11mQuYq/s200/losseBig.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Receiving the proof copies gave me an interesting insight in what publishers use to advertise new books to book sellers and what as an aspiring author you might want to be aware of. On the backs of the proofs it listed things like: author available for talks, extensive social media marketing (twitter, blogs, FB), 1st in a series of books, author has previously sold x amount of books and comparisons of the book with well known classics.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">More coffee, tea and cookies was had and after a thoroughly enjoyable day it was time to go home again and go back full of inspiration to writing and illustrating my own books and <a href="http://fiercegreymouse.blogspot.co.uk/">cartoons</a>!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>Chantal Bourgonjehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16626149501052950885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115381226225666045.post-92072819496691942572012-01-06T11:19:00.000+00:002012-01-06T11:19:35.074+00:00Children's picture books and Children's picture book apps<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3jqG-oakkORqjvrZ-wa1OgfjjjEinjMuOWpp9K0pFby0KEA8TOS2SE6qNxNtWFCP0_bSbiy-_UEOiSRc67FU-RnHtI-Sg4KLawhsW-WaAxlpCju0BAv0fxVyqn8ZgNitkbMYz6ToKfwC3/s1600/icoonNieuw3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3jqG-oakkORqjvrZ-wa1OgfjjjEinjMuOWpp9K0pFby0KEA8TOS2SE6qNxNtWFCP0_bSbiy-_UEOiSRc67FU-RnHtI-Sg4KLawhsW-WaAxlpCju0BAv0fxVyqn8ZgNitkbMYz6ToKfwC3/s200/icoonNieuw3.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This week I read a very interesting article in <a href="http://www.digitalbookworld.com/">Digital Book World</a> called "<a href="http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2011/are-childrens-e-books-really-terrible-for-your-children/">Are children's e-books really terrible for children?</a>" and a blog response from the <a href="http://www.curatingbookappmom.com/p/my-background.html">Curating Book App Mom</a> called "<a href="http://www.curatingbookappmom.com/2011/10/part-ii-of-forget-discussion-on-book.html">Ignore the discussion on book apps versus print apps</a>". Both are well worth a read and express a lot of concepts that I have been thinking a lot about lately (ever since my first book apps <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fierce-grey-mouse-hd/id434228179?mt=8">Fierce Grey Mouse</a> and <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/finns-paper-hat-hd/id438028726?mt=8">Finn's Paper Hat</a> came out and of course now also with our app <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id472418739?mt=8">No-dogs allowed</a>, which I illustrated and was written by Phil Fryer).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO5pXVXUlAI26cSY194LO9kp7OjmoYdIypUEkngPFLmAnEeXsHycXqpPG0NsFWnCpyJGx0XgwC6RKiVneM5a_dt9wNdjDkUQiSJchmkX-b29zaYPL9UOuxXiyUUJYGy2E09T-Tz6xCz55X/s1600/finnProfile.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO5pXVXUlAI26cSY194LO9kp7OjmoYdIypUEkngPFLmAnEeXsHycXqpPG0NsFWnCpyJGx0XgwC6RKiVneM5a_dt9wNdjDkUQiSJchmkX-b29zaYPL9UOuxXiyUUJYGy2E09T-Tz6xCz55X/s200/finnProfile.gif" width="166" /></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">When I talk to people about the apps, it is seems they don't really understand what they are. People tell me about the loveliness of a printed picture book and how it could never be replaced. The feel and smell of the pages, reading it together with children, the lovely hand drawn / painted illustrations, etc. And I agree with all that. I love books, I love the feel, smell, look and everything about them. In fact my house is full of books. But there is a bit of extra magic that we give in the app books. And it is not until I show people the apps on my iPad that they finally understand. They are often surprised to see that the stories are illustrated by hand and have the same look and feel as a printed book. They are surprised to see that they are "proper" stories that you can read with your child together. They also thoroughly enjoy the magic when they can make things move, add pictures, shake the iPad for effects, make stars appear, hear funny sounds that make the characters come to life, etc. Often by the end of the story I need to make sure they don't run off with the iPad, they get so enthusiastic about the whole thing!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Then there seems to be some prejudice against books on iPads, that they somehow should be bad for kids. That the iPad becomes some sort of "babysitter"for lazy parents. I personally don't think it becomes any more a 'babysitter' than a tv or computer game does. But there is a totally different side to this too. You can sit together with your child, switch off the narration and read it yourself and explore the interactivity together. There is an extra layer of play and fun that you can enjoy together with your kids when reading a story on your iPad or iPhone. And yes, on long journeys or visiting your grown up friends, or if you are sometimes terribly busy, children can play with the app book on their own and listen to the narration and play with the extra's that most publishers give with the story.You can upload your iPad with lots of story book apps and still only need to take one device along on your trip, not a heavy mountain of books!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkd7HxhYOcp5N6Np4uDSgU62RhJhPcPfUQ4SkWfxJ0um87A1Xqb-SN28TEH9sY1x4hiK9IJakVOcU-mKhXJfuDJd7I3D5n8Efh3AjfPXCBc3eti_HoJBEzuncLOA8KTtJ2oeIYYphGpuoJ/s1600/FinnPointLeft.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkd7HxhYOcp5N6Np4uDSgU62RhJhPcPfUQ4SkWfxJ0um87A1Xqb-SN28TEH9sY1x4hiK9IJakVOcU-mKhXJfuDJd7I3D5n8Efh3AjfPXCBc3eti_HoJBEzuncLOA8KTtJ2oeIYYphGpuoJ/s200/FinnPointLeft.png" width="178" /></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This brings me to another point, you get so much value for your money! Most, if not all, app books are cheaper than the printed books and usually you get extra games or colouring in pictures on top of the storybook! Still there are a lot of people out there that seem to think that apps should be free or cost next to nothing. How do they think we can continue to make the apps if we give everything away? Writers, illustrators, animators, developers and publishers are all humans and need to eat too! A lot of time and effort goes in the creation of the app books.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Maybe I am somewhat biased as my children's books have been published as apps. But I am truly proud of them and I think that together with <a href="http://apps.tizio.eu/toddler_books_ipad">Tizio BV</a> we made something really special. There are such lovely children's app books about and so many truly creative people making an effort to create something wonderful and full of magic with every app book they make. </span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNHaFESOIaygvwhXCrAStVC9cVCrGIxd2xGcE50W8SdtCozE8zrJrkFSaBbkbwqTih7iK8eCpi_h-1omrpygSFMdqDP4H2Kt5K_2FpN1CcrjSshK_FNg3qL151rFbVOe1Eqcggn11mQuYq/s1600/losseBig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNHaFESOIaygvwhXCrAStVC9cVCrGIxd2xGcE50W8SdtCozE8zrJrkFSaBbkbwqTih7iK8eCpi_h-1omrpygSFMdqDP4H2Kt5K_2FpN1CcrjSshK_FNg3qL151rFbVOe1Eqcggn11mQuYq/s200/losseBig.jpg" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Well, I get off my soap box now. I'm done with my rant. Thank you so much for listening (or rather, reading). Both "<a href="http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2011/are-childrens-e-books-really-terrible-for-your-children/">Are children's e-books really terrible for children?</a>" and "<a href="http://www.curatingbookappmom.com/2011/10/part-ii-of-forget-discussion-on-book.html">Ignore the discussion on book apps versus print apps</a>"phrase it all a lot better than I have in this blog, but this has been on my mind a long time and reading the article earlier this week made me realise I had to get it off my chest!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9PAMDBpKmeCr7DyQwmBXTIjx15epQ6uTx4-iHlG_h_aSvya9apUIiZMQCXUYLmLt2rB-jnCXBCMyt_d8zVgjfE8XNppkerH2E69ogmMjccbKh8t2EV5McDw24kjq6dkXVxYl9ClEFZAGk/s1600/mouseAttack0012.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9PAMDBpKmeCr7DyQwmBXTIjx15epQ6uTx4-iHlG_h_aSvya9apUIiZMQCXUYLmLt2rB-jnCXBCMyt_d8zVgjfE8XNppkerH2E69ogmMjccbKh8t2EV5McDw24kjq6dkXVxYl9ClEFZAGk/s200/mouseAttack0012.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">And if after all this you would like some light hearted reading to recover from my rant, have a look at <a href="http://fiercegreymouse.blogspot.com/">Fierce Grey Mouse's Uncle Horace's vintage book of great wisdom</a>, my new<a href="http://fiercegreymouse.blogspot.com/"> cartoon blog.</a></span><br />Chantal Bourgonjehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16626149501052950885noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115381226225666045.post-85290184799112360842011-03-28T16:41:00.000+01:002011-03-28T16:41:15.123+01:00Fierce Grey Mouse; how a picture book became a fully interactive App!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Finally the promised blog post about Fierce Grey Mouse and how he became an App for iPad, iPod and iPhone. He is almost ready for itunes now and the geniuses at <a href="http://apps.tizio.eu/">Tizio</a> are working on their last bits of magic to finish him so he can be sent off into the weird and wonderful world of Apple Apps. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxC2GurmHPcv_Fgx_3B6isjqbXu8bUfgNmarpHwE9SgWZt2k8-od3GohdXSujn3lIl_8f459JHN9aHLd1_xbTBMd7UqnKXgmUQ5SLyW_bLdw0dQVQ9mJ1YNMVDorAUv5n0ghZG2xY8mB0E/s1600/mouseBlog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxC2GurmHPcv_Fgx_3B6isjqbXu8bUfgNmarpHwE9SgWZt2k8-od3GohdXSujn3lIl_8f459JHN9aHLd1_xbTBMd7UqnKXgmUQ5SLyW_bLdw0dQVQ9mJ1YNMVDorAUv5n0ghZG2xY8mB0E/s400/mouseBlog.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Creating the animations and amending the art work to fit an App rather than a book was a challenge and a lot of work, but also a lot of fun! So how did it all start? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The first thing we did was brainstorm ideas for each page. What can be done with each picture in the book? Can we animate pieces? And what should it do if it is animated? Does it need sounds? Is it suitable for a mini-game? When we had a full list ready, we also came up with some ideas of extra things we could offer. We decided to go for a memory game at 2 levels (an open and a closed one) and 2 colouring in pictures that you can save. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So then we had a long list of ideas and a paper based picture book. Hmmmm, yes.......</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We started with separating Little Grey Mouse and his friends Edie and Kay out from the background and fix those backgrounds. This was necessary, so we could animate them without there being white holes in the background. Sounds strange? Well, because the pictures were hand-painted and scanned in, they ended up as bitmaps. Therefore, if for example the mouse would move his arm up, in the space that his arm was before, you would find a white gap in the background. And indeed on the mouse himself! This is what that looks like:</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7JYgc5vqxFDt3BrtPJLuLY2eNwGeqz1utrUl_W2YFQcyCDLeeDIibKPVfccO6FbdESa6y_2Ykx5f-UAdkz4SSqbSCVqS96HaJtGLDxEFe1R8nBj5Vcm8cG2AFdgHsZ3SA52-B_A6kS1So/s1600/sample1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7JYgc5vqxFDt3BrtPJLuLY2eNwGeqz1utrUl_W2YFQcyCDLeeDIibKPVfccO6FbdESa6y_2Ykx5f-UAdkz4SSqbSCVqS96HaJtGLDxEFe1R8nBj5Vcm8cG2AFdgHsZ3SA52-B_A6kS1So/s320/sample1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">before moving the arm</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7JYgc5vqxFDt3BrtPJLuLY2eNwGeqz1utrUl_W2YFQcyCDLeeDIibKPVfccO6FbdESa6y_2Ykx5f-UAdkz4SSqbSCVqS96HaJtGLDxEFe1R8nBj5Vcm8cG2AFdgHsZ3SA52-B_A6kS1So/s1600/sample1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIQfBDTP4lV8h1Oq9b6js2V0RpaQ_JeUnmidZmMLMvIfS8-CE_X4UpgqejyLusqdD1clt-EOXSd_FpasLKDBn8jW96Xcpj7jG_10vAonQubN6LUqCQHchViIk91m_RYJu6numbDQVftiTP/s1600/sample2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIQfBDTP4lV8h1Oq9b6js2V0RpaQ_JeUnmidZmMLMvIfS8-CE_X4UpgqejyLusqdD1clt-EOXSd_FpasLKDBn8jW96Xcpj7jG_10vAonQubN6LUqCQHchViIk91m_RYJu6numbDQVftiTP/s320/sample2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">after moving Little Grey Mouse's arm</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The lucky thing is that Photoshop CS5 has a wonderful new function, you can fill an area "content aware". To do this you select the area that needs filling, then choose <b>edit > fill > content aware > ok</b>. This function saved us a lot of time!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7JYgc5vqxFDt3BrtPJLuLY2eNwGeqz1utrUl_W2YFQcyCDLeeDIibKPVfccO6FbdESa6y_2Ykx5f-UAdkz4SSqbSCVqS96HaJtGLDxEFe1R8nBj5Vcm8cG2AFdgHsZ3SA52-B_A6kS1So/s1600/sample1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">After the backgrounds were fixed time had come to animate the mouse and his friends. I started with a little hand drawn animation test to see how I could make him move.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now, that was not the cleverest way of doing things as it would mean drawing and painting every single bit of movement and all the movements in between. Eg. if he would raise his arm, it would take 4 or 5 different drawings and paintings that needed to be exactly the same apart from the position of the arm. Which is virtually impossible. A cleverer way had to be thought of. The solution came through Adobe Photoshop and Flash.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">First I dissected each mouse in photoshop (don't worry, no cartoon or real animals were hurt for the making of Fierce Grey Mouse). And fixed his bits that got missing in the dissecting process:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">1 dissected<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsKLKFbTGs58hI0jHLxdJfub-DxUwaNoceKLlmILevLqKvrnSEff47V0TzaIodeMsnRJTIGN_V8IYxKbTuq2KK7R55CDZGDtZ7bLdT_XWbnP4iYNwG51pOuto7BgnXXCTMF8NxNd_UoVGd/s1600/aanvallendeMuis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="126" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsKLKFbTGs58hI0jHLxdJfub-DxUwaNoceKLlmILevLqKvrnSEff47V0TzaIodeMsnRJTIGN_V8IYxKbTuq2KK7R55CDZGDtZ7bLdT_XWbnP4iYNwG51pOuto7BgnXXCTMF8NxNd_UoVGd/s200/aanvallendeMuis.jpg" width="200" /></a> 2 all fixed!</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSpkTk-qcbWdqh9fRUDMiMvo9XHb689AW_ShwGhcWwm7m5Rda1dacs5LkpHGI2P12BcQm8bw8vdB0ltg7VlE-zzFLEAeJP1xFofmfMT4kT30ef7Oc2A255ksHrmlNx7_kGiEv4h6uXxSp0/s1600/aanvallendeMuisHEaled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSpkTk-qcbWdqh9fRUDMiMvo9XHb689AW_ShwGhcWwm7m5Rda1dacs5LkpHGI2P12BcQm8bw8vdB0ltg7VlE-zzFLEAeJP1xFofmfMT4kT30ef7Oc2A255ksHrmlNx7_kGiEv4h6uXxSp0/s200/aanvallendeMuisHEaled.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Then I imported all Little Grey Mouse's body parts into Flash, each limb on a separate layer, so that I could move each body part individually. The nice thing about Flash is that you do not have to fill in all the bits in between one state and the next. It does that for you through "tweening". Next to making it a lot easier and faster to do, it also makes it really smooth and even.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFOitCSHenfZeDrFFlr7y2oyjviumZr6P_SqO86biPjjQ3D01-o9KM619QuJa56MR1pC0_q4Vav_Sn7fx_0b1BnoYuToKatvZE6eJ5jzUGmqr3VKmMpA7fn90xrf7_YuEIg5ZIRxg-4jJU/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-03-28+at+14.35.37.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFOitCSHenfZeDrFFlr7y2oyjviumZr6P_SqO86biPjjQ3D01-o9KM619QuJa56MR1pC0_q4Vav_Sn7fx_0b1BnoYuToKatvZE6eJ5jzUGmqr3VKmMpA7fn90xrf7_YuEIg5ZIRxg-4jJU/s640/Screen+shot+2011-03-28+at+14.35.37.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">To check that I animated it all correctly I could export it as a .swf and see the animation. However, because Apple does not allow Flash, I had to export the Flash file into a series of .png's that the wizards at <a href="http://www.tizio.eu/">Tizio</a> could use for recreating the animations for the App in the right format. You end up with series and series of this kind of thing (12 pictures to make an arm go down and a foot go forward):</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But we were still not completely there yet! Because we wanted to give the same cut out collage feel to the app as the picture book has, we needed to put the white edge back around each mouse.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">And put him back in his home, the right way round.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now that the mouse and all his friends were animated, the story needed to be read. We thought it would be nice to have the story read in a variety of local English accents. We were lucky to find some lovely British English (a mother and child team), American English, Australian English, Irish English and New Zealand English readers (Thank you Jane, Daisy, Victor, Martin, Jim and Mark!). And we translated the story in Dutch (thank you Sieneke, Tine and Marga!) and Spanish (thank you Lenore!). We found some lovely readers for those languages too (thank you Tine and Lenore!). </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Then Pascal from Tizio suggested that the animals needed their own noises too and could I possibly make some animal noises...... Well, an afternoon practising my best mouse, duck, pig, squirrel, rabbit, chicken and hedgehog noises in between giggling fits, resulted in sounds being there for each little animation. I am especially proud of my <a href="http://cfordesign.co.uk/FGM/kip1.wav">chicken noise</a> (only the brave should click that link ; 0) I have to admit I was very happy that the neighbours were out when I practised and recorded all those sounds! I know the dogs both had worried looks on their faces that day...</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">With all the animations done, there were a few other things that needed doing. Menu and Options and Games pages needed to be designed and an icon created. Colouring in pictures needed drawing and the memory game needed cards. We designed all the menu and option pages in the same style as the mouse story. Also we used the characters from the story in the memory game and the colouring pages.This way we kept a consistent style throughout the app.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2UxDTzkVwPHJKF7w3FPOJxRXeXe2J34f_eO03xOt4Ox2HgjmJ2sYc-U5uoAwZa7Stw3lm_PHugt3c_EKk_EJ35YLa8jiJbn_GtgNVGdhqqYZwQ9m6cw3qMrR5kjVuLrS-rjfYtJDbcxA/s1600/memoryBackside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2UxDTzkVwPHJKF7w3FPOJxRXeXe2J34f_eO03xOt4Ox2HgjmJ2sYc-U5uoAwZa7Stw3lm_PHugt3c_EKk_EJ35YLa8jiJbn_GtgNVGdhqqYZwQ9m6cw3qMrR5kjVuLrS-rjfYtJDbcxA/s320/memoryBackside.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">back side of the memory game</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA5qGigFilu85cCxkOJpY5FvX0nBt3BZ8XPJFympjyoVT1cRqW05jfDs__1C3ikd-vhPFnobmqLpmgoqGG1KSsN3xeyIzFVk5oY3h84vcA3EmloQb3_gtmquVefnfc0XyCOj-W8noyZonk/s1600/memory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA5qGigFilu85cCxkOJpY5FvX0nBt3BZ8XPJFympjyoVT1cRqW05jfDs__1C3ikd-vhPFnobmqLpmgoqGG1KSsN3xeyIzFVk5oY3h84vcA3EmloQb3_gtmquVefnfc0XyCOj-W8noyZonk/s320/memory.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">you cannot cheat with this picture ; 0) - the memory game is shuffled each time you play it!</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">With all these ingredients: the designs, the drawings, the animations, all languages read and animal noises made, the guys at <a href="http://apps.tizio.eu/">Tizio</a> are creating true magic. They are finishing the final bits and pieces for the app at the moment and it should be available in the itunes store very soon. Of course I will let you know when it is available to download, so that you can find out what happens when Little Grey Mouse decides to be FIERCE for a day!</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In the mean time, if there is anything you would like to know about Fierce Grey Mouse, you can leave a comment in the comment box and I'll tell you all about it!</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Till the next blog!</span></div><br />
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</span></div>Chantal Bourgonjehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16626149501052950885noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115381226225666045.post-75095981473909564012011-02-24T13:04:00.000+00:002011-02-24T13:04:09.384+00:00Welcome!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Blog posts will start this week!</span>Chantal Bourgonjehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16626149501052950885noreply@blogger.com0