Thursday, December 16, 2010

Stacey Williams-Ng

       My name is Stacey WIlliams-Ng, and I'm the author and illustrator of Astrojammiesan interactive book app designed for the iPad. It's been a very unique project, mostly because the story was not adapted for interactive formats, but specifically written and designed for the screen! The illustrations, however, were done in a very traditional way: using paint on board. The adaptations we had to make for interactivity were minimal, using techniques common to 2D animation (such as frame-by-frame paintings).
        At first I planned to paint all the images in oils, my favorite medium. However, the reflectiveness of the shiny oils combined with the slow drying times made it an impractical medium for this project. I switched to acrylics and ink on Crescent illustration board. It’s got a nice warm white tone to the board, and it’s as flat as flat can be. The other secret weapon I discovered was a gel medium by Liquitex that makes the paint ultra-matte.
       This is a screen shot of the final scene, which is actually a composite of two paintings: Jimmy (top layer), flying above a space scene that was painted separately as a background.
       If you're interested in learning more about the behind-the-scenes creation of a digital book app, I'd encourage you to visit!
       Stacey Williams-Ng is a Milwaukee-based painter and writer. This is her first interactive book app. To see more of Stacey and "Astrojammies," come to the Apple Store in Mayfair Mall on December 30th, where she'll be doing an author visit at 6pm. Also be sure to tune into Fox6's "Real Milwaukee" on Tuesday, December 28th to see Stacey present "Astrojammies" and tell more about how the project began. For more information about Demibooks, please visit demibooks.com.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the information on illustrating for this up and coming picture book format. Your illustrations are so full of energy, which is just perfect for the I-Pad.

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  2. Stacy, I read with great interest your blog on the making on Astrojammies. I plan on being at the Apple store on Dec. 30th to meet you and see your book in person.
    Thank you for informative posts on your blog.
    I'm looking forward to interacting with your new book!

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