Creating Book Illustrations Using 3D Renders & Digital Photographs
Photoshop and other image processing software can give transmedia creators tremendous flexibility when creating illustrations for their work. The use of 3D models in the creation of comic book and graphic novel art is becoming increasingly common as 3D software becomes more sophisticated and less expensive. The image was createdContinue Reading
Jackson Character Study Using Photoshop Filters & Actions
This image was created using Daz Studio to render a near-photorealistic image which was then processed in Photoshop with a set of actions and filters.Continue Reading
Model of Storyworlds, Stories, and Participant Interactions
Understanding the relationships between various elements of a transmedia narrative can sometimes be obscured by the sheer number of elements — characters, significant objects, settings, events, the storyworld, one or more stories, and multiple forms of media. This model is based on some sketches I put together a while backContinue Reading
MOOCs, Transmedia & Learning
Over the past couple of years we’ve seen a frenzy of hype focused on massively open online courses (MOOCs). Companies like Coursera, Udacity, and edX promised to revolutionize education; the New York Times declared 2012 to be “The Year of the MOOCs”. Venture capitalists rushed to pour millions into aContinue Reading
Who Is Watching Digital Video News?
Understanding the changes happening in the news industry can provide valuable insights into trends that are likely to impact fiction and non-fiction transmedia storytelling. A recent report from the Pew Research Center provides new information on what is happening with digital video and digital video news in the United States.Continue Reading
Storytelling and Engagement for Social Action
The magazine business is in the midst of a period of transition. Sales are slumping as readers — particularly younger readers — move from print to digital media. Cosmopolitan is looking for new strategies for engaging digital readers; storytelling is at the heart of those new strategies. This is notContinue Reading
Visual Storytelling Basics for Transmedia Narratives
Over the past few months I’ve been taking an in-depth look at visual storytelling using both still and moving images. I recently ran across an absolutely wonderful example of storytelling that uses many of the basic principles of visual storytelling. Davy and Kristin McGuire use intricate paper sets, sophisticated lighting techniques,Continue Reading
Storytelling to Communicate Technical Information
Although it is not transmedia, a recent TED talk is a great example of how storytelling can be used to communicate a highly technical subject. Hugh Herr, the head of MIT Media Lab’s Biomechatronics group, talks about the incredibly complex technology that he is working with. What makes this presentation standContinue Reading
Shaping the Future with Transmedia Storytelling
The emergence of transmedia storytelling presents a tremendous opportunity to those working professionally to shape visions of the future. Shaping the future means shaping popular perceptions of the future and transmedia storytelling can be a powerful tool for doing that. Over the past two decades I’ve used a lot of differentContinue Reading
Using Text, Images & Music for Transmedia Storytelling
While not technically a transmedia story — defined as one or more related stories told across two or more forms of media — a poem by Langston Hughes and graphics by Afua Richardson are a powerful example of the impact of integrating text, images, and music. Hughes’ poem The NegroContinue Reading