Comics News: Bluewater Productions & Authorly Get Innovated With First Animated, Interactive Comic Books

Bluewater Productions teams up with Authorly to develop first animated interactive comic books.   This week the first release in the partnership isFame: Jennifer Lawrence and will follow with the fiction title Dorian Gray later this month.

Fame: Jennifer Lawrence was turned into an app with Authorly, a tool that turns static content into interactive digital applications. Jennifer Lawrence fans can now engage and interact with the story. Click on "audio hotspots" to hear sound effects play and swipe to navigate through Lawrence's journey toward an Oscar. Authorly apps include features such as narration, word-by-word highlighted text, audio and video hotspots, basic animation and movements, sound effects and background music, and more!

Authorly is a tool that lets authors, illustrators, and publishers turn their visually driven stories into interactive storybook apps and directly publish them to iTunes, Google Play, and the Amazon App Store. These creators can use the do-it-yourself tool and no longer risk their time and money by relying on software developers.

“Not only is Authorly one of the first companies to focus on truly interactive storybook applications, but it is also unique in the sense that it gives authors, illustrators, and publishers a Do-It-Yourself tool to create and publish these high quality apps themselves,” said Bluewater publisher Darren G. Davis. “We always like to try new an unique things that pushes the boundaries of the comic book industry”

The comic book biography on the life of Academy Award winning actress Jennifer Lawrence. Lawrence, also recently nominated for Supporting Actress for her role in American Hustle, will be part of the popular Fame series.

May the odds be ever in Jennifer Lawrence's favor.  Bluewater Productions popular line of biography comic books continues with Fame: Jennifer Lawrence.  Join writer Michael Troy and artist Ben Eargle for an exploration of Jennifer's career from starring in successful X-men and Hunger Games franchises to winning a best actress Oscar for her celebrated role in Silver Lining's Playbook to her Oscar nomination in American Hustle.

The app is available on iTunes, Google Play, and the Amazon Appstore for $2.99.

"We've loved getting the chance to bring Bluewater's exciting stories to life with Authorly. Working on titles such as Katy Perry, One Direction, Jennifer Lawrence, Julia Child, and Dorian Gray has been fun and we can't wait for readers to enjoy these stories as interactive apps! It's been a real win-win situation...we've helped Bluewater create some really fun, engaging apps, Bluewater has helped us gain exposure, and the readers and fans will get great content that they can now enjoy on their smartphones and tablets!" said Chris Whitman, CEO, Authorly.

Upcoming titles in the animated interactive partnership include: Fame Katy Perry, Female Force: Julia Child, Fame: One Direction and fiction title Dorian Gray.

Review copies are available upon request.

About Authorly

Authorly is a digital publishing platform that enables anyone to turn their illustrated storybooks into interactive, cross-platform storybook applications.

Our proprietary technology takes care of the tedious aspects of app production, like adjusting each story to fit a multitude of smartphones and tablets and publishing the apps to iTunes, Google Play, and the Amazon Appstore. Authors can use drag-and-drop functionality to add basic animations, sound effects, embedded videos, automatically aligned word-by-word voice narration, panning and zooming, and animated hotspot technology to their apps.

Authorly allows authors and illustrators to bypass writing code and hiring expensive software developers. The result is the ability for children's book creators to easily and affordably build and publish beautiful, interactive storybook apps for iOS, Android, and Kindle.

In addition to using Authorly as Do-It-Yourself tool, authors & illustrators can also utilize Authorly's 'Production Services' where the Authorly in-house team will turn storybooks into apps for the authors & illustrators themselves.

To see more about Authorly click here: http://authorly.com

About Bluewater Productions Bluewater Productions Inc. is one of the top independent production studios of comic books, young adult books and graphic novels. Its extensive catalog of titles includes the bestsellers “10^th Muse” and “The Legend of Isis” ”Bluewater publishes comic books in partnership with entertainment icon William Shatner (“TekWar Chronicles”), legendary filmmaker Ray Harryhausen (“Wrath of the Titans,” “Sinbad: Rogue of Mars,” “Jason and the Argonauts,” et al) and celebrated actor Vincent Price (“Vincent Price Presents”).

Additionally, Bluewater publishes a highly successful line of biographical comics under the titles “Female Force” and “Political Power.” Bluewater aims to unite cutting-edge art and engaging stories produced by its stable of the publishing industry’s top artists and writers.

For more information, visit www.bluewaterprod.com

Comics News: Best Selling New York Time THE IRON KING Gets Digital Comic Miniseries From Bluewater Productions

The best-selling young adult novel “the Iron King” has been transformed into a new medium – a comic book series and now an interactive digital comic book.  Bluewater Productions has released the first two issues of the 4-issue mini series.   

Bluewater Productions has partnered with Piglion Studios in developing an animated comic book version, which is released this week on ITunes for $1.99.  The full-length interactive animated manga motion comic book app will also be released on the Android platforms later this month. 

Julie Kagawa, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Iron Fey and Blood of Eden series of books for young adults, to “My fans know that I am a huge comic, manga, and anime enthusiast, and I write in a very cinematic and visual manner in part due to my love of this medium”.   Julie’s new title in the Iron Fey series “The Iron Traitor” just hit bookstores.  

“My fans know that I am a huge comic, manga, and anime enthusiast, and I write in a very cinematic and visual manner in part due to my love of this medium,” Kagawa said.

The 4-issue “the Iron King” comic book series features the art of Lidia Chan, written by Julie Kagawa and Sara Gundell. 

The app on ITunes can be viewed here: http://bit.ly/1kGFuvL

"We believe giving subtle movements to make it dynamic and interactive at the same time will help augment the readers' imagination. Piglion Studio is excited to see the success of this partnership and the fans should be too!"  Melch Valimento from Piglion Studio.  

The Iron King is a young adult novel that was on the best-seller lists for the New York Times and USA Today while getting amazing reviews. The Iron King is the first book in the Iron Fey series, and follows the adventures of a girl named Meghan Chase. On her sixteenth birthday, Meghan discovers her little brother has been kidnapped by a faery race known as "the Fey" and even worse, replaced with an evil changeling and taken into the "Nevernever." Meghan bravely ventures into the faery realm to rescue him, and that's where an epic plot unfolds.

"The goal is to get people reading…simple.  I was a reluctant reader growing up and comic books helped my reading skills.  Comic books are not only for pop culture fun, but also can be used as a tool.  We are always trying to think outside the box to get people reading, this motion comic book will be another incentive", said Bluewater publisher Darren G. Davis.  

“Motion comic books have come along way since our 1^st one we did on Wrath of the Titans.  It is pretty amazing how the technology has advanced. I have watched the Iron King #1 over and over and still amazed at how polished it is”, added Davis.

More motion comic books are on the horizon at Bluewater with a partnership with Authorly.  In January, Female Force: Julia Child and Dorian Gray will be released as digital interactive comic books. 

Bluewater has previously worked with best-selling novelists such as John Saul, SE Hinton, William F. Nolan and William Shatner to develop novel-based comic book series.  

Interviews and PDF review copies are available upon request.

Bluewater Productions:  Bluewater is a full-service publishing and production company specializing in comic books, graphic novels and multimedia. Dedicated to pairing high-quality art with innovative storytelling, Bluewater creates a wide variety of intellectual properties that engage a growing readership and bridge the gap between comic books and the diverse multimedia marketplace. With more titles than ever, including smash hits such as the 10th Muse, VSS and The Legend of Isis; Bluewater has worked with many best selling novelists in developing comic book series. The company also has a line of biographical comics featuring The Beatles, Stephenie Meyer, JRR Tolkien, Justin Bieber, and etc.

About Julie Kagawa Julie Kagawa is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the award-winning Iron Fey and Blood of Eden series. Born in Sacramento, California, she moved to Hawaii at the age of nine. There she learned many things: how to body board, that teachers scream when you put centipedes in their desks and that writing stories in math class is a fantastic way to kill time. Her teachers were glad to see her graduate. Julie now lives near Louisville, Kentucky, with her husband and a plethora of pets. She still laughs whenever she sees a centipede. For more information on Julie visit JulieKagawa.com.

About Piglion Studio

Piglion Studio, based in Markham, Canada, is focused on creating Motion Panels+, an application that combines a standard comic book and animation with added interactivies. To exemplify this application, the team converted its flagship web comic, Coin & Flour, to Motion Panels+, which can be downloaded from app stores.