Our View: Libraries for Teens
Tapocketa speaking at Digital Book World, Nashville 2019
This is exciting stuff. We will be presenting our work and last year’s multi-award winner ebook ‘Galdo’s Gift: The Boovie’! We are also going to be showing an exclusive …the trailer for our next project ‘The Locksmith’.
The line up is impressive, and we are delighted (if not a little daunted!) to be part of this astonishing array of influencers from the digital book industry. It is the big event on the digital book calendar and we intend to make the most of it; soaking up the extensive knowledge on offer, connecting with some fantastic people and generally taking in the buzz of the industry. And of course, hopefully have time to find some great Nashville sights and sounds too!
To Affinity and beyond.....
We’re featured on the Affinity Spotlight ! Wo hoo!
So the ‘Affinity trinity’ is 3 programmes developed by Serif which are 1. fantastic, 2. very affordable and 3. a great alternative to some of the corresponding Adobe suite.
We use Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer as an integral part of our animation work flow and, to be honest, couldn’t do without them. The programmes have a very intuitive structure which makes using them a dream.
The tools are clear and placed for ease of use and there is plenty of help in the form of the Affinity community.
Affinity Publisher is the latest addition to the gang and promises to be very useful for our work to print and layout needs.
All in all, we love Affinity and, it turns out, Affinity love us and our work. What could be better?!
Follow this link to read the article on the Affinity Spotlight site.
Project diary - The Locksmith, Aug 2019
Initial rough sketch of mechanisms layout
We’re currently working our new project ‘The Locksmith’ and are making a trailer for it first; to let people in on the feel of it and to hint at the subject and the suspense involved….
So it does of course include some locks. Not quite your normal locks, oh no, this is a collection of intricately moving mechanisms that link and connect, latch and oscillate. It’s been fun working out the what and the how of it and I started by drawing out shapes that would move and nudge each other in an interesting way.
This involved quite a lot of trial and error as far as the specific shapes and mechanisms were concerned and I wanted to keep a hand drawn and asymmetrical feel to it rather than the clean strategic shapes of machined cogs and dials etc. After the initial sketches I launched straight into making a paper model, this being the best way to actually find out if the shapes could or would work together before taking into the computer to recreate each piece for animation.
In the video below I show you some of the sketches and paper models I made and how, by using pins bent and snipped as joints, I trialled some of the arrangements and sequence of motion that would give the desired result.
A brief glimpse of behind the scenes of our next project; paper mechanisms, and maquettes.
Creating an Animated Commercial: An Overview
Inspiration Trip: Banbury Mechanical Circus
NED: Love Machine, a mini-short
Tapocketa live at London Book Fair
Trevor Young, Eleanor Long & Bee Kapitan
Fireside Podcast
We had the pleasure to be asked to guest on the popular podcast VoiceFirst hosted by Bradley Metrock.
We have done radio interviews before but this was our first podcast. Just to add to the mix, it was live and it was the first live podcast at the London Book Fair.
We knew it was going to be at the new Fireside Podcast Stage but for some reason we had not expected there to be a fireplace but, as you can see, there was! We felt we should have been wearing smoking jackets and sitting in tall backed Chesterfield armchairs.
Virtual Assistants
Bradley’s podcasts focus on the fast developing world of voice technology, focusing mainly, but not exclusively on virtual assistants such as Alexa.
Virtual assistant advancements have slipped under the radar for many publishers, unaware just how fast growing this technology has become and how extensively it is being used by their existing/potential customer base.
But ignore it at your peril, publishers! Smart speakers, such as the Amazon Echo are a significant enough part of the home and the way people search for content that overlooking them is foolhardy.
Amazon Echo Show
Story Telling
For storytellers, it means also learning more about how virtual assistants can become additional consideration to the way stories are told. Of particular interest to us, as animators, is the development of the visual side of voice interaction. With smart speakers such as the Amazon Echo Show containing displays, our interest has been peaked by the possibilities that are now open to us.
Currently these small displays are largely used to display the graphical results of a search request, display album art whilst listening to a song, demonstrate how to cook up a particular recipe, or play your favourite TV series for instance. But the accessibility and immediacy of virtual assistant technology make it an attractive possibility for storytellers creating their own content. Add to this the ability to link the assistant to a separate speaker and lighting system in the home, and you can see the potential for creating atmospheric storytelling experiences is huge.
Future Hopes
The caveat is that the display is just not visually impressive enough at the moment. The Echo Show screen is small and still feels like a bit of an add-on. On the other end of the spectrum, smart TVs have the quality of display and the ability to accept voice commands but this is limited to the functionality of the TV itself and nowhere in the same league as smart speaker’s voice command technology.
It will be interesting to see the way technologies merge in the future to bring a truly smart audio-visual experience where visual storytelling can really fly.
Note: Smart speakers can be connected to your TV via your smart phone to control TV functions but this is not the same as using the tailored display you have on an Amazon Echo.
You can listen to the latest news in voice tech at VoiceFirst FM
We're in the March issue of Computer Arts!
We are really pleased to be featured in the latest March issue of Computer Arts detailing the work that went into creating the children’s interactive storybook, Galdo’s Gift.
Here’s a snippet of the content with a link at the end to where the complete article and magazine can be found. As well as a fantastic five page article on us :-) and the latest on the world of digital creators, there is invaluable information for anyone considering starting their own creative business.
From Computer Arts (March Issue 2019):
Genesis of Galdo
Eleanor Long and Trevor Young
Galdo’s Gift: The Boovie was the culmination of a style of illustration and animation we had been developing for a while. We had a story that originated from a short poem and it seemed the perfect vehicle to demonstrate and consolidate the skill sets of our new studio. As the story evolved we tested it with children aged five through to 11. This gave us invaluable feedback on the age of our readers, how they understood the story, what they found funny, their favourite bits and so on.
With regards to the story, it’s the tale of a frog, King Galdo, who sends four robust little heroes out to the far corners of Galdovia to bring back a very special gift for the reader. Only, he’s not quite ready for what they return with.
We were intrigued by the idea of a book that comes alive and talks directly to the reader, and keen to play with the possibilities of the digital storybook format. We knew it would work well with our playful style of animation.
Creating the characters and sets
Eleanor Long
Our personal interests and strengths often form the basis of what each of us does. Trevor has drawn figures throughout his life, so he drew and developed the characters, monsters and creatures. My interest has always been in landscapes and the environment, so I worked on the landscapes, seascapes and interior shots…
The cover image below takes you to a site where you can purchase your own copy of Computer Arts in either digital or print form…
End of Year Round Up
So it’s been quite a year to say the least, full of ups and downs.
The creative journey of bringing something out into the public sphere can feel a little like having someone shaking your hand whilst stealing your wallet. It’s also a little like being gently tickled then suddenly slapped. The tickling starts again but, understandably, you’re a bit more cautious this time. That’s ok. Everything seems to be fine … slap … aaand back to tickle. Optimism cautiously puts a crash helmet on and takes a deep breath…
This is the year we released our first interactive publication, Galdo’s Gift. It gave us a chance to really see what our respective skills could produce. Could we create a complete all-round product that would engage it’s audience? Would we be able to work creatively together without throwing our iMacs at each other? Would anyone notice what we’d done? Thankfully, mostly, yes.
Much to our relief, we found we could create and complete a unique interactive story and develop our own style and techniques whilst doing so. Something that we could carry forward to future projects. We learnt our respective roles, Eleanor creating the beautiful sets, with myself creating the character work.
An early storyboard for Galdo’s Gift
Getting noticed was, and still is, a monumental challenge. The traditional literary world can be a frosty place, especially when your work does not fit within the traditional bounds of printed literature. It took us a long while to realise that. There can be a mindset when it comes to books, and that mind is quite firmly set, in many cases, on print and the printed page. We get it, we understand. We love print books too. In a way Galdo’s Gift was a homage to print but we’ve learnt that we were maybe pushing our wares too much to the wrong crowd.
Our treasured copy signed by Keaton
In April there was a welcome refocus onto our first outside job for Tapocketa Studio; Welcome to Tallowmere. The challenge was to create an interactive webpage using the haunting artwork of Keaton Henson, a talented musician on the behalf of Faber Music Ltd. There is a lot that you discover about your abilities when you are set such a challenge. Our own artwork style is poles apart from Keaton’s. In fact it was hard to see just how Faber had made the mental leap from our work to his, but it was a chance to show how we could adapt. The result was a landing page that animated Keaton’s work into life and was a big part of a successful publicity campaign for his book; a collection of his artworks, poetry and music (the book has a headphone jack to enable you to listen to Keaton’s specially composed music). It was a joy to work on.
Over Summer we worked hard on expanding our contacts, creating content for our channels and meeting real people at a number of festival events.
The moment we found out we had won
Then came a monumental October. October was an eventful month with the wonderful surprise of finding out that we had been nominated for six Digital Book World Awards. Seeing our names alongside Disney and Netflix was a bit of a shock and we were delighted to go on to win four, including best book overall for Galdo’s Gift. The same month saw us pick up a gold medal in the enhanced ebook/app category at the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards. And, as if that wasn’t enough, sign with a big worldwide illustration/animation agency that, out of thousands of applications a month, picks ten -a year.
The Galdo’s Gift Guide Book
So was that the end of it for October? Nope (..really liked October). It was also the month that we linked up with someone who, as a developer of publication software with his sights firmly set on the future, offers really exciting opportunities for up-and-coming collaboration. Watch this space.
In November, we prepared Galdo’s Gift for the build up for Christmas with a mini printed companion guide to the digital storybook. Gifting digital presents can be a slightly impersonal process; essentially you are sending an email. With the printed guide the whole experience of gifting is enhanced, you get to send something tangible through the post. The guide has extra details about the book and it’s characters, things to spot that you might not have noticed and is even signed by the authors (I know, so cool, huh?). Oh, plus you get some cool free character stickers.
The very final part of the year has been all about preparation for the new one. Everything is aligning to make 2019 a year of exciting potential, innovation and collaboration. We look forward to sharing it with you.
Hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a truly wonderful New Year.
Trevor & Eleanor
xx
When Books Go Barmy
When we’ve showed off Galdo’s Gift at book fairs and the like we often get the comment ‘it must have been a lot of work’. Our most common response is ‘absolutely… actually, probably too much work’.
A double page spread from Galdo’s Gift
Galdo’s Gift, for those of you who are new here, is a Boovie. The fact that you have probably never heard of a Boovie demonstrates just how much work we put into a project such as this. I shall explain…
A ‘Boovie’ is our term for what Galdo’s Gift is. Neither a book or a movie, it is a unique blend of the two. A lovingly constructed hybrid that needed it’s own name to describe how much it is not an ebook. Well, ok, it is an ebook, although it pains me to say it. I’m sorry, ebook, you’re just a bit… well… boring. There, I’ve said it. You’re grey … mostly. Sure, there are times when you break out into colour, but mostly you are happy being grey.
So Galdo’s Gift is a Boovie®; a glorious technicoloured extravanganza of eccentric animation and wordplay in storybook form.
As animators, we wanted to play with the idea of an old tome magically springing to life. A welcoming book that talks directly to the child.
Our ethos was ‘no child left behind’; creating over 250 fun pop up definitions that are explained simply in the context of the story itself. A child can add their name in the ‘this book belongs to…’ label at the beginning to see it become part of the story. They can tap on King Galdo himself (voiced by veteran actor Brian Murphy) to hear him read the verse as the words highlight. They can find the numbers hidden within the animated movie illustrations to unlock a secret page.
And all this whilst listening to a beautiful soundtack too! Yep, it was a lot of work .. possibly too much work.
If you would like to find out more about how we created Galdo’s Gift and find out how you can get it for yourself or gift to another, join us over on galdosgift.com
The elaborate trailer for the elaborate Boovie
Another Galdo's Gift Gong!
Team spirit wins!
We are honoured to announce that we’ve only gone and won another award. At what point do you buy a special cabinet?
This time we’ve won gold for Best Enhanced Picture in the digital categories of the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards 2018. The Moonbeam Awards recognise ‘exemplary children’s books and their creators, and to celebrate children’s books and life-long reading’.
We couldn’t be happier. Thank you Moonbeam.
The Moonbeam Gold Medal
Tapocketa's 'Galdo's Gift' Wins Best Book at The Digital Book World Awards
Of course we haven’t let it go to our heads.
We are proud to announce that Tapocketa scooped four big awards at this year’s Digital Book World Awards. These awards recognise the ‘best of the best from across the wide world of publishing’ and Galdo’s Gift won Best Book (Overall), Best Book (Fiction), Best Book (Children’s) and Best Book (Interactive Fiction).
It matters greatly that indie publishers, such as ourselves are recognised alongside those who are more established in the industry.
As well as our first digital publication winning four awards, Tapocketa itself was a finalist, nominated for Publisher of the Year and Children’s Publisher of the Year on a list that included Disney, HarperCollins and Penguin Random House.
Because of our haul, Tapocketa and Galdo’s Gift gets special mention in the press release. We look forward to attending this prestigious event next year.
Make Your Own Exploding Business Card
A great way to add more images/details into your business card. Trevor takes you through how to create your own 'exploding' business card. Whether you hand it out to a select few clients or just use it as a compact portfolio is up to you!
A great way to fit more images or information into your business cards. Obviously, you would only hand out to a select few, as they take a little time to make but they create a bigger impact.
Children's Festivals Survival Guide Part 2: Performance
If you have written a children's book or are thinking of writing one, you will need to consider how you represent yourself and your book at children's book festivals. Here we give some tips on how to get the best out your reading performance; from audience interaction to ideas in addition to the reading itself...
10 key tips to help you when presenting your book at children's festivals. This part deals with the performance day itself! Link to activity sheet handout: https://goo.gl/NB6wak
Children's Festivals Survival Guide Part 1: Preparation
It's not enough to write a children's book, you need to get out there and let everybody know about it! But what are some of the things you need to consider when preparing for your event?
The next episode in our brand new Pixels and Paper episode is all about how to survive presenting a children's book at festivals.
Let us guide you through our top ten tips for preparation...
How to prepare for reading or performing your book at a children's festivals. We take you through our 10 key points when getting ready for the big day.
Storyboard to Screen: The Pitfalls
So, our first of regular weekly "Paper & Pixels" videos taking you through all aspects of animation and animated story production.
They will become more polished as we progress, so please except this is a little rough and ready to start!
Storyboard template: https://tinyurl.com/ybcsbaay We take you through some of the issues to look out for when creating your own storyboard and some of the steps we take to the final animated scene. We create animated ebooks but we hope that some of the tips detailed here will apply to many other types of animation.
The Art of the Landing Page - Welcome to Tallowmere
Tapocketa Studio is a new indie UK animation studio who were recently commissioned by Faber Music to work with them and Keaton Henson, a musician, visual artist and poet. The brief was to create a single webpage animating Keaton’s artwork in the lead up to the release of 'The Tallowmere Annual', a collection of his works. Here, Trevor Young, co-founder and animator at Tapocketa Studio details the process and reflects on how Welcome to Tallowmere shows how not all landing pages are, or should be, created equal.
A still from Welcome to Tallowmere
courtesy of Faber Music Ltd © Keaton Henson
The Tallowmere Album
A Long Way From Galdovia
Starting work on 'Welcome to Tallowmere' took quite a mental leap from our previous project, a children’s interactive book. In a brief period of time we’d gone from the colour and pomp of the land of Galdovia in Galdo’s Gift to the dark and haunting town of Tallowmere. The two places linked only by a tree swaying in the wind that caught the interpretative eye of Jack Halsey at Faber Music. He saw it as something that would work, albeit with very different styling, for the motion they wanted to bring to the artwork of Keaton Henson, a musician and talented artist whose ink wash images echo the dark melancholy of his music. One of these paintings would be animated to create an online page that would build curiosity for the release of a book of Keaton’s artworks, writings and music (the reader can plug their headphones into the book to hear a specially composed track that accompanies the words and imagery).
Keaton Henson
Where to begin
The tree animation was the starting point. As time went on, we added animation to various other elements. Heavy clouds began to roll across the sky, telegraph cables swayed in the wind, birds darted across distant skies. Elements of the painting could be orchestrated into action at various intervals in the lead up to the book’s release. The image could evolve and that was an exciting prospect.
A single cryptic social post from Keaton opened the doors to his many fans who curiously mulled over what they found, exchanging excited queries over what it all meant and puzzling over what was about to arrive.
Revisiting Tallowmere
Another post from Keaton and his followers would find something strange had happened to the windows in the image. Intermittently a window would light up and become a bright cutout (alluding to images in the book that also contain objects in the image that have been ‘cut out’ to leave blank shapes). Then after a short time the window would return to it’s original state. Something had changed. Clicking on one of these windows slowly reveals a panel with an image of a long abandoned object; a hint to a story yet to be told.
All this set against the eerie soundscape of Tallowmere; distant howling, the bleak wind through the abandoned streets. Stay a while and you’ll hear Keaton’s soulful piano music begin to play, a dark serenade to accompany your visit to Tallowmere.
A short section of animation from Tallowmere
Here, a single online page could evolve and adapt over time to build a pathway to the final reveal of the book. A page that showed itself to be organic; changing and growing, hinting and enticing, adaptive and responsive.
Although an unfolding precursor to the main event, it showed that something that was in essence a landing page could become something of an artwork in it’s own right…
Extra info: Early stages of 'Welcome to Tallowmere' allowed visitors to register to receive notification of the final reveal. When revealed to be a book, visitors could click through to be taken to a pre-order page or, as it is now, purchase The Tallowmere annual.
How to make a Boovie: part 1 overview
Ok, first things first, what's a Boovie?
It's our word for something that's not a book and is not a movie, it's a hybrid of both. Every page has an animated illustration, a short looping movie that brings rich and colourful images to life (basically a very enhanced ebook -but we are not keen on the word 'ebook').
One of the double page spreads from Galdo's Gift -The Boovie
We've developed various inventive techniques for creating an animating these illustrations and were asked recently about the process and how it could help children learn when producing our first Boovie, Galdo's Gift.
So we decided to make a short video to explain ourselves. It's one of our first, so please be kind.
Book Festival Fun: or 5 ways to cope with the crowd -2/5
2/5
Gusto
Wow, Gusto is a great guy. What do you mean you've never met him? Oh man, he's the best; gregarious, confident, nothing phases Gusto.
Gusto always looks at the upside of any predicament, never wavering in his focus to brighten up any situation. He's the master of his own destiny, king of confidence, duke of daring deeds, chancellor of cheer....you know what I mean, you get the idea.
Faced with a crowd of people, all staring at him, waiting anxiously for him to begin, he strides out before them like a demi-god, an unswervingly confident, lucky sod.
No hat too silly, no shirt too garish, always smiling, always swish. He dons his curly wigs with flair, he doesn't care about his hair.
You may know Gusto has a twin, though no one likes to mention him.
Oh dear, here comes Meeker now, come on Meeker take a bow.
He shuffles up to the plate, makes excuses why he's late.
Mumbles his lines, drops his script, over his laces he has tripped.
Getting up, he bangs his head, apologises, face turns red.
Stumbling back onto the stage, “what's my line?”, “where's my page?”
He clears his throat, he sounds quite hoarse, he's lost his audience now, of course.
Oh dear, why? Where did they go?
They've wandered off to see Gusto.
-Trevor Young, Tapocketa
We realised we needed Gusto for all our public appearance, and did our best to lose Meeker along the way. Worrying about making mistakes, we found, is more disabling than the mistakes themselves. Throwing yourself into your performance with gusto takes people along with you.
The odd mistake is all part of the show when done with flair of the Great Gusto.
