Posts Tagged ‘Editing’

How We Make our Customizable Books: Photoshop Layers

Friday, September 11th, 2009

 

Lucky you, it’s time for a peek under the hood into what powers our customizable kids books.  I’ve already shared our dirty secret about using Photoshop to edit our images, but it has an even more important job, it actually stores each different possible combination of hair color, skin tone, eye color etc. into ONE FILE.

 

screen shot

 

Instead of having 1000 different versions of the same page (one with green eyes/brown hair, another with blue eyes/blonde hair etc.), we put each different option into a layer that can be turned on and off with the click of a mouse!

 

When all of the layers are “off” we have a blank page, but when we select “Tan Skin” layer, we get this.

 

FOREIGN LANDS

 

That’s a little creepy, so let’s give her hair and hazel eyes by turning on the “Black Hair” and “Hazel Eyes” layers.

 

FOREIGN LANDS 2

 

That’s better, but we still need some clothes.  We turn on the “Girl Clothes” layer and the “Thought Bubble” layer (since both the boys and girls wear the same clothes in the thought bubble).

 

FOREIGN LANDS 3

 

Next we turn on the background layer.

 

FOREIGN LANDS 4

 

And finally add your customized text.

 

FOREIGN LANDS Final

 

And there’s your one-of-a-kind child in her very own book! 

 

Now this is only one page.  Imagine having to turn on and off all the layers on all the pages!   Luckily, there is another Adobe program that can do that for you.  It’s called InDesign, and we use it to link all the “Brown Hair”  etc. layers on all the pages together so that one click will turn on or off that layer on every page of the book.  Pretty nifty, huh?!

 

Now, if only we could find a program that was completely hands free and could take the data from our customers’ orders and toggle the proper layers for us, Matt wouldn’t spend all those late nights manually constructing everyone’s orders!  

 

If you know of a program, or are a reasonably priced programmer, DROP US A LINE!!! 

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SUBTRACTIVE EDITING: Cut and Run

Saturday, July 11th, 2009

 

In my previous post How To Write a Children’s Book,  I listed editing as the last (but not least) step.  I’ve recently been reminded of the genius that blooms when we prune our overgrown phrases to let the content breathe.  It came from an unlikely place, the Garfield comic strip.

 

Actually, it was Garfield minus Garfield by Dan Walsh.  He found a way to make the chronically unfunny Garfield strip hilarious and poignant… remove Garfield.

 

G-G ball of string

G-G carrot

G-G polka

 

By removing the distraction of Garfield, Mr. Walsh is able to “reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle.”  It’s an obvious move in hindsight, one that makes you wonder how good Fred Basset might be… no, it’d still be terrible.

 

fred basset

 

I thought I’d share an example of how I think editing gives me a chance to reassess my first drafts and communicate my intentions more clearly.

 

I thought I’d share Here is an example of how I think editing gives me a chance helps me to reassess my first drafts and communicate my intentions write more clearly.

 

Editing helps me write more clearly.

 

Editing = Clarity

 

E = C

 

OK, so you can go too far, but it’s a fun exercise to try, especially in Children’s writing when every word counts though you may be surprised how much improvement you’ll find when you apply it elsewhere.

 

OK, so you can go too far, but it’s a fun exercise to TRY , especially in Children’s writing when every word counts though you may be surprised how much improvement you’ll find when you apply IT! elsewhere.

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