Nugent Art

My talk at App Camp

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Fri, 25 May 2012 02:44:00 +0000

Can a 57-year-old artist learn to code?

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 17:42:00 +0000

Now that I'm interested in creating apps, I find I cannot get past the art creation and design stage to actually publish one if I'm not competent in coding in a relevant computer language. I would need to hire someone to do so, but I don't even have the competency to decide who is competent enough to program my design of a children's app. Alternatively, I would need to enrol with one to the DIY companies that offer templates for you to plug in your art and interactions. (My favourite of these is Kwiksher.)

Enter Bill Martin, a fellow Vancouverite I met at Dust or Magic's App Camp. He is willing to team up with me on the creation and publication of my design for The King Has Goat Ears, based on the wonderful book by Katarina Jovanovich and Philippe Beha.

But all this hunting around for the means and knowledge to publish an app has made me realize that I need to have at least a passing acquaintance with the subject of coding. A search for a format (book, course, online tutorial?) that my brain will take in has led me back, unsurprisingly, to lynda.com and Simon Allardice's Foundations of Programming video course. I am actually understanding his teaching, surprising because, to quote Adrian Mole, "I'm an intellectual, but I'm not very bright." Or, like most people, I'm smart in some ways, but thick in others.

But to return to the clever and amiable Bill Martin: he's started a Vancouver meetup for anyone interested in children's apps, and that includes parents, librarians, illustrators, authors, programmers, publishers, designers, teachers - anyone interested in this topic. The first meet and greet is scheduled for April 26, 2012. So check out Northwest Apps for Kids if you'd like to join the discussion.

Why Kids should learn to code

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 17:24:00 +0000

Today's guardian online has a stunningly well-written article on why kids should learn to code, and the key concepts they should understand.

" if they don't have a deeper understanding of this stuff then they will effectively be intellectually crippled. They will grow up as passive consumers of closed devices and services, leading lives that are increasingly circumscribed by technologies created by elites working for huge corporations such as Google, Facebook and the like. We will, in effect, be breeding generations of hamsters for the glittering wheels of cages built by Mark Zuckerberg [creator of Facebook] and his kind."

I am not surprised that this has come up in the British press first. When I was creating my show of mechanical interactive fairy tale art for the Burnaby Art Gallery

and was trying to learn basic mechanical concepts, I discovered that British schools include the technology of how to make simple machines in their art courses. Sheesh! I could have used that.

oh no, George! trailer

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:30:00 +0000

I am a children's book trailer nut. I just saw this on the Guardian online and love it. The music, the slow rhythmic pacing, colour, humour, delayed punchline. Totally adorable for all ages and perfect for the target audience. A complete delight!

Animation is by fraterfilms.com and I'm-hugging-myself-with-joy sounds and music by Matt Wand. You can listen to the whole music track here. I just downloaded it and am going to listen to it all day long.

Picturebook app resources

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:53:00 +0000

I've been giving talks on picturebook apps and decided it was high time I posted some useful links for people interested in learning more.

As a children’s book author and illustrator, and now academic, I’ve been seeking out information on apps and the possibility of making picturebook apps myself. I believe the best ones are uncluttered and have actions, interactions, and sounds that not only support the narrative but add dimensions of meaning through these additional modes. The best one I’ve seen to date is, apart from a couple of design errors, The Heart and the Bottle based on the print book by Oliver Jeffers. Unfortunately, HarperCollins has not offered any updates to fix the bugs in this wonderful app, and hasn’t replied to my emails.

Here’s a youtube preview of the app. And here's a very nicely written review

A good article introducing picturebook apps as a genre by New York Librarian Elizabeth Bird on School Library Journal

Speaking of Reviews. There are a lot of reviewers but not a lot of thoughtful, intelligent reviews by people who understand picturebooks and early literacy.

Kirkus reviews are okay - descriptive, rather than enlightening. I find their ratings unreliable. http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ipad/

Digital storytime http://digital-storytime.com - lists everything, but has very little to say except praising apps for being bright, busy and selling lots

Children's Technology Review editor Warren Buckleitner, a PhD in Educational Psychology and the founder of the Dust or Magic Institute is a wonderful writer on the children’s digital space. He doesn’t mince words and calls digital products evil if they have in-app selling. He has written extensively and brilliantly on what constitutes a great app and hosts the wonderful Children’s Technical Review youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/childrenstech

However, he doesn’t seem to have a lot of interest in picturebook apps.

The august Horn Book online doesn’t have a separate app review section, but mixes them in with books and other children’s materials in their Out of the Box section.

Touch and Go on Library School Journal site

touch and Go’s top apps of 2011

The Guardian online has arguably the best children’s book section in any paper anywhere. It is absolutely fabulous. Wonderful articles and multimedia features on all children's materials.

Children's App Awards

The indispensable and indefatigable Warren Buckleitner is also behind the KAPi (The Kids at Play Interactive ) award

The other award for children's digital materials is the Bologna Ragazzi Digital Award given out at the Bologna Children's Book Fair.

Major developers (aside from Disney)

Vancouver's own Loud Crow - responsible for Pop out! The Tale of Peter Rabbit and the delightful Sandra Boynton books such as Moo Ba La La La

Nosy Crow - London's book and app publisher of Cinderella and The Three Little Pigs. Very exciting company who know their kidlit.

Zinc Roe is the developer of the apps for Marie Louise Gay's Stella and Sam books. They use the voices and art from the TV cartoon. I love Sam but I think they've turned imaginative kidlet Stella into a knowing mom figure which really offends me on a number of levels.

Toca Boca - brilliant Swedish company. Their Robot Lab is huge in Saudi Arabia. Is there a reason for this? Speak up, Saudi fans.

HarperCollins - Book publisher and responsible for commissioning the app of the Heart and the Bottle. Why oh why can't they fix the bugs? I'm begging, please.

OceanHouse Media - massive output of apps of limited interactivity geared to teach reading. Oceanhouse has acquired the rights to Dr. Seuss, Dave McKee's Elmer, and Mercer Mayer's Little Critter books.

Moonbot - started by an old lady children's literature academic (like me!), famous illustrator, and a tv producer. Responsible for the animation-heavy The Fantastic Flying Books of Mister Morris Lessmore

Making your own picturebook app

I confess that I’ve only been labouring on the design of an app for Tradewind Books since September and haven’t made one yet. But I’ve been researching, reading the blogs of other author/illustrators and following their experiences with do-it-yourself software. I’ve been going to seminars, webinars, and online chats, as well as learning how to animate with Anime Studio Pro which seems particularly good for making cut-out animation from existing illustrations.

So if that's where you want to go too, first look at this brilliant slideshow by Dutch team, Visser and Verplancke.

Okay, now that you’ve looked at it, you’ve seen how many steps and different kinds of expertise are involved in making apps. Developers usually have teams of people working on them. However, there are a few people developing software for people who don’t know how to write computer code and who want to make their on apps. Many of them are free but then charge you a bundle to publish the app. The one I like best so far is Kwiksher, a plug-in for photoshop CS5. The interactivity is limited but the big news is that they are working on putting in physics - code that imitates falling, slingshots and sliders, amongst other mechanics. If you don't know what those things are, here are a couple of little demo videos:

For following authors and illustrators who are working on creating ebooks and apps of their books, the best blogs to follow are e is for book and Brooke Jones. Both these blogs are amazingly generous with information and tips. A very interesting community!

Research into Children and Digital Media

A year ago there weren’t many articles written by scholars on children and the ipad (it only came out in 2010!) but more is being written all the time. Unfortunately, you need to be searching Google Scholar while logged into a library site to be able to see the complete text of articles published in scholarly journals if you’re not a subscriber.

However, there are several wonderful organizations doing serious studies on digital media and children and the troubling amount of time kids are spending glued to a screen of some sort.

You can download very reliable and recent studies from The Sesame Street Workshop's Joan Ganz Cooney Center, and from Commonsense Media.

Forays into animation

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:14:00 +0000

Working for Tradewind Books on iPad storybook app design for The King has Goat Ears by Katarina Jovanovic and Philippe Beha required that I be able to create small videos as well as image files. After deliberating over whether to buy Toon Boom or Anime Studio Pro, I went for the latter because it seemed better for cut-out animation - I knew I'd be animating picture book illustration rather than traditional frame-by-frame drawing. The first thing I created was the video invite for I Want to Go to the Moon. Then Mike Katz at Tradewinds gave me the job of creating a trailer for their new chapter book Nutz! by Virginia Frances Schwartz and illustrated by Christina Leist. I got the scans of the illustrations from designer Elisa Gutierrez and proceeded to storyboard and create this 35-second video. RascalMedia is my new company for trailers and storybook app design.

Publishers, please take note, Rascal Media is here!

Silken Laumann's kids loved Mr. Got to Go

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:05:00 +0000

Very interesting and gratifying video by the extremely articulate Olympic rower Silken Laumann on her children as readers and their love of Mister Got to Go.

Moon chosen!

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:10:00 +0000

Wonderful news from the association of Vancouver elementary school principals and vice-principals that Moon has been chosen as this year's book to be given to every school library in Vancouver.

"the book committee [met] last night and everyone absolutely LOVES your book, those of us that have also listened to the CD are absolutely sold on it!"

Amazingly, I had the honour of also being chosen for my last book, Fred and Pete at the Beach,and posted about the wonderful ceremony and children's art on the Fred and Pete blog.

Moon Launch Performances

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:22:00 +0000

A video collage of some of the wonderful songs and poems performed at the launch by my talented and generous friends. What a wonderful night! I am so lucky to know so many kind and brilliant people!

Vancouver Book Launch

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:24:00 +0000

Here's the video invitation for the Vancouver launch of I Want to Go to the Moon by Tom Saunders and illustrated by yours truly. There will be children's activities, refreshments, book sales and a moon stage for performances featuring the word "moon".
All stage hams are requested to contact me to get your name on the lineup.

Great lift-off at White Rock Moon Launch!

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:07:00 +0000

The launch of I Want to Go to the Moon in White Rock was very well attended with great book sales thanks to Tom's loyal and loving fan base. Tom's long musical career may be taking a turn into the world of children's music and books. I certainly hope so - he's a natural!

Canadian D&Q graphic novel publisher goes digital

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:52:00 +0000

There's a fascinating article in today's Publisher's Weekly online about Canadian graphic novel publisher, Drawn and Quarterly. They have a well-respected international reputation, publishing authors like Lynda Barry.

Long hailed as one of the best literary graphic novel publishers today, Drawn & Quarterly has not rushed into announcing a digital strategy for its list of highly regarded graphic titles. Now the publisher has teamed with Kobo to make its entry into digital delivery. D&Q/Kobo will release Chester Brown’s 2006 Harvey award-winning work of graphic nonfiction, Louise Riel: A Comic Strip Biography, a fictionalized biography of the 19th Century champion of French Canadian aboriginal people; and the controversial 2011, Paying For It: A Comic Strip Memoir About Being a John, a nonfiction account of his experiences with prostitutes. D&Q print titles are distributed by Farrar Straus Giroux.

I was fascinated to read about their publishing contract and that they are influenced by the Writers' Union recommendations. I've found in contract discussions that publishers flap their hands dismissively when you mention TWUC recommendations, so was really pleased to read the following.

D&Q publisher and editor-in-chief Chris Oliveros said that e-book proceeds will be split 50/50 between its authors and the publisher, citing rights recommendations from the Writers Union of Canada. “D+Q has always been an author-centric company, it is this ethos that has shaped us into who we are today,” Oliveros, “it only seemed natural to offer the fairest proposition to our authors.”

Vancouver launch January 13, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:04:00 +0000

I am delighted to have found a lovely venue for the Vancouver launch of I Want to Go to the Moon. It will be held at the Scottish Cultural Centre at 6 - 9 pm on January 13, 2012. There will be a reading of the story especially geared to children at 6pm, followed by an open stage, book sales and signing. The books are $17 (regrettably, we'll only be able to handle cash sales).

If you're interested in playing a song or reciting a poem that has the word moon in it, please email me: jump8999 [at] yahoo.ca

First of two book launches

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 19:27:00 +0000

My new picturebook (with CD of the song!), I want to Go to the Moon, with my uke pal author/singer/songwriter Tom Saunders will be launched this Saturday in White Rock.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

2:00 - 4:00 pm

Coast Capital Playhouse

1532 Johnston Road

White Rock, BC

Come hear Tom perform the song!

Refreshments, book sale and signing

($17 - cash only pls)

We'll also be selling books at the Vancouver Ukulele Circle on Dec 20 and there be a Vancouver launch at Our Town in the new year (date and time tba) which will include an open stage for songs containing the word "moon".

Books should be in all fine bookstores including Kidsbooks this week. Now available on online.

How exciting!

Douglas Coupland out-Grimms Grimm

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:15:00 +0000

Brilliant Douglas Coupland has produced an edgy picturebook satire. The themes are pure contemporary picture book. D. C. is so clever; I've read practically everything he's written. Excellent illustrations by Graham Roumieu!

Read Donald, the Incredibly Hostile Juice Box in its entirety in today's Guardian.

11-year pictorial diary of mental illness

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:10:00 +0000

Today's Guardian contains a wonderful video of Bobby Baker's sketchbook of watercolours made during an eleven-year struggle with mental illness. Wonderful to seeing the work, struggles and eventual recovery of a female artist my age.

Digital materials for children

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Mon, 09 May 2011 01:36:00 +0000

After completing two semesters of my MA in children's literature at UBC, I've finally decided to do my thesis on digital materials for children. Every conference you go to these days includes workshops on the new electronic face of publishing, so it's hard to miss this subject. I've become particularly interested in picture book apps for platforms like the ipad.

If you haven't had the opportunity to play with picture book apps, you can seach under picture books apps on youtube and there are a lot of very short wonderful demos. I think I expected picture book apps to be gimmicky, but Heart and the Bottle, especially, seems to me a very natural extension of illustration and what I'm trying to do as an illustrator anyway, e.g., make stars sparkle, waves rock, characters do doubletakes and travel on and off the page.

I'm thinking of trying to turn some of my picture books that have gone out of print into apps, so was thrilled to find a wonderful easy-to-understand slideshow on how a picture book app is made posted by generous team that created Timo and the Magical Book.

There has also been a lot of buzz about electronic self-publishing. Here's one such project: it's by three authors and isn't being released in print form but as three simultaneous digital applications: a daily comic, an app and a game. Their theme song is very good.

I found about this last one on the amazing Canadian illustration, animation and design blog Drawn. You'll find lots of posts on children's book illustration and animation there. For instance, I learned about the extremely appealing children's music and animation by indie band They Might be Giants there.

Mister Got to Go at the Sylvia Hotel

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 02:40:00 +0000

The lovely Janine Fitkall and her wonderful students came for a day at the beach and a reading at the Sylvia of the yet-to-find-a-publisher Mister Got to Go, Where Are You? by Lois Simmie. The heritage hotel is the setting for the Mister Got to Go books. Plaudits to owner Jill Davies and manager Ross Dyck for their support of these Vancouver picture books. They hosted the presentation and even made the children delicious and very cute Mr. Got to Go sugar cookies. It was an exceptional way to spend a beautiful spring day.

A little Masterpiece

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 02:15:00 +0000

This book trailer for Lemony Snickett's and Maira Kalman's "13 words" is pure genius all by itself.

I've chosen digital materials for children as my thesis subject and am hoping to create my own app using one of my books.

Blair School chooses Fred and Pete

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 05:46:00 +0000

Blagons: The Blair Book Dragons: Blair's Chocolate Lily Picture Book Award Winner!: "After weeks of reading and discussing the Chocolate Lily Picture Book Award nominees with all the primary classes, we did our big vote this ..."

Fred and Pete shortlisted!

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 18:15:00 +0000

I am thrilled that Fred and Pete at the Beach has been shortlisted for two children's choice awards:

The Chocolate Lily

And Saskatchewan's Shining Willow Award. Anyone can post comments and rate Fred and Pete on the Shining Willow website.

For videos, colouring pages and word puzzles, check out the Fred and Pete blog. Here's a picture of the clickable archive you'll find on the Fred and Pete Blog.

My book Mr. Got to Go and Arnie by Lois Simmie won the Shining Willow in 2003 which was pretty darn thrilling!

A wonderful school visit

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 18:02:00 +0000

My first year in the Children's Literature program at UBC has been brightened by invitations to present at schools. For me it's a real thrill to do quick portraits of children when demonstrating drawing and painting. Here's a lovely display that Judy Fung, teacher librarian par excellence, put up after my presentations at her school.

Teacher librarians are the cornerstone of literacy in our society. It is essential that the government restores funding so that every school can again have a full-time teacher librarian.

Books cancelled

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:49:00 +0000

It's been a tough year: one of financial and health struggles, sobering realizations and transitions.

My Bully by Laura Langston has been cancelled by Fitzhenry and Whiteside. Last year the company fired its publisher and editor and hired new people who decided My Bully wasn't the right book for them. It had been a massive project for me and the final line drawings and text and layout design completed when the book was put on hold and finally dropped.

I did manage to finish Fred and Pete at the Beach, I want to Go to the Moon, and Somebody cared for a Flower in the last year and a half. I spent the last 6 months on the latter two, as well as working hard on developing the 3rd Mister Got to Go. I had to borrow

money to keep going because the advances were so low or delayed in coming. At the end of six months, I ended up in emergency with an inflamed neck disk from hunching over art and the computer, plus the stress of the deadlines, no money and Emma's kidney failure. My doctor and my physiotherapist said there was no way I could go back to working like I had been in order to complete Mister Got to Go Where Are You? by Sept 15, 2010. When I phoned Orca to tell them I couldn't finish by the deadline and wouldn't know for a month when my back would allow me to resume working, they cancelled the book. It's too bad - the roughs had just been approved. I think it was Lois Simmie's best Got to Go story. What's also hard is that Orca wants their advance back.

I started to realize last fall that I couldn't go on trying to complete illustrations to deadlines that were too demanding for me while not earning nearly enough to live on. So after some exploration, I've decided to go back to school and do a Masters of Children's Literature at UBC with the hope that I will be able to find a faculty position at a college. MACL at UBC has been very welcoming to me which has been such a pleasant surprise. I start this September.

So, fingers crossed.

My first Animation

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:09:00 +0000

My first attempt at animation. Watch for the dog's breathing at the very start.

To do this animation, I started off with a scanned image of one of my paintings that had a series of photos of dogs with painted wings collaged onto it. Then I used cut, paste, and cloning in photoshop to get a bunch of little dogs and a background empty of dogs to work with. I used the animation function in photoshop to move the dogs along their journey from the sleeping dog's brain to Sirius, the dog constellation. I saved this as a series of AVI files rather than have one gigantic file. I opened the AVI files in imovie where I spliced them together, and added music and titles.

This is kind of clunky but in doing it I learned a lot and think I can make the next one a lot smoother. I'd like to try to make an animation of my book, When Cats Go Wrong, next. With its accompanying song, flat backgrounds and simple figures, I think it's a good candidate for this method.

Very sad news

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Nugent) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:22:00 +0000

My beautiful, beautiful little Emma died on June 14, 2010. She had kidney failure and was on IV fluids at home for the last month. Emma was the model for Arnie in Mister Got to Go and Arnie. She was 13 years old.

She was an elegant, polite, and loving dog. Always gentle. When she could still hear, she was an excellent guard dog. She liked to chase squirrels and play with her toys. I took her to work every day for the 8 years I worked at the Botanical Gardens.

I am heartbroken to lose my loving companion.