The Wonderful Wizard of Oz iPad App

So the reason I haven't been able to post a lot of stuff I've done this semester because I've been so busy working on my app! It's been my own little side project that I've been working on with a few really talented people. I didn't want to post anything in progress until it was ready and Friday it was officially released on the iTunes store.

Discover a new kind of interactive story app for a new year! Inspired by Frank L. Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” this app contains revised text and all-new illustrations, along with the next generation of interactions that expand the possibilities of iPad storytelling.

Watch as this classic tale comes to life when Dorothy is whisked away from her flat, gray Kansas world into the colorful Land of Oz. When the images change from beautiful line drawings to breathtaking paper-cut illustrations early in the story, delightful animations and sounds will also appear. You can experience the magical Land of Oz along with Dorothy by tilting and shaking your iPad, or touching, pushing, and dragging objects around the page.

This is a truly immersive app, in which you become the storyteller by triggering interactions that further the story. With innovative interactions that take full advantage of the iPad’s capabilities, this app pushes the boundaries of what interactive storytelling can be!

Features:
• A 45-page app, with 35 pages of innovative interactions
• Revised story with newly written text
• All-new illustrations in two styles: 7 pages of masterful line artwork, and over 35 pages of full-color, paper-cut illustrations
• Interactions that relate to the plot, so that you further the story
• Illustrations with complex animations not previously seen in other iPad apps
• An array of fun sound effects to immerse you in Dorothy’s world

(Line drawings by Laura West)

Usually, I don't like to toot my own horn, but please check it out, download and rate it!

I've also shot some footage of the app and am getting it edited together for a short video. I'll post it soon.

Landscape Paintings 2

So the second half of the semester was more sporadic than the first in terms of landscape painting. I wound up going to North Carolina to visit my boyfriend for Thanksgiving and did some paintings out there. It was a thousand times harder than painting in California. It was super cold out and the landscape is just dense forest. I mean, DENSE forest or just open flat land. The fall color palette was beautiful, but because there was so much saturated color from the leaves it was hard to see the accurate values. Here are two paintings I did on the spot that turned out ok.



Towards the end of the class we were asked to take what we learned from landscape painting and do some stylizations. I wound up two paper sculptures.

Moonshine

I totally forgot to post about this when it came out! During my summer internship at DreamWorks I was volunteered by boss, Angela Lepito to help out Christophe Lautrette and Pierre-Olivier Vincent (POV). They had wanted me to adjust the cover of their book, Moonshine. They had some elements they wanted to delete and others they wanted to add or move around. This all sounded relatively do-able until I opened the files and found out they were flattened. I was so nervous about potentially not coming through for them that I immediately jumped into the project. Within an hour or two I contacted them to come check my work. POV came to look at it and expressed his surprise that I completed it so fast. The next day they only had a few minor changes. But it now appears as the final cover on the Moonshine book and if you look closely in the back you'll see my name mentioned in the special thanks section by Angela Lepito.

I also got do a some promo stuff for the book, like the postcard below. If you haven't checked out the book, definitely do.