Overview
Prepare your animated story for publishing by doing the following
Order
Front Cover: Create a front cover using the template; this should be the most best looking of your book
First Page (half page on the right side): A title page with the title and different graphics from the cover page
Page Spread 2-3: Author section (your cartoon character and the text "Written and Illustrated by Your Full Name" on the left side and the dedication page on the right side
Page Spread 4-5: The opening scene that starts your story (scene 1)
The background scene should be on one side and adjust your backgrounds to cover the entire template. Add text, continuous background, and add additional elements from the story (e.g. tree, extra character, food) to the left or right side of the page (switch off and vary the position between text on the left and right side). The text should be large enough to read and clear, and over a solid color. It is recommended to add a stroke to the text to make the text more legible.
For any scenes that include you with a green screen, you may create a full body cartoon character of yourself to replace it or use a still photo of your character and cut out your character.
Page Spread 6-7: Scene 2 on one side of the page and text on the other
Continue your scenes until the end of your story.
Back Cover: Create a back cover and extend the scene from the front cover for your image background on the back. There should be no text on the back.
Preparing Files for Mixbook (option)
After talking with customer service of Mixbook, they told me the exact dimensions needed in Illustrator to export proper JPGs. The files need to be very big so the pictures will not be pixelated. Follow the directions below to create your own template:
1) To make the page spreads, create an Illustrator document with the following settings (make sure the 9400 x 3473 size is in pixels, RGB color mode, and 300 ppi).
2) Add a black box that is width 502 px and height 3459 px. Place it inside your template all the way to the right side. When you insert your page spread into mixbook and expand your page, the black box will disappear.
3) Add a vertical guide at 4455 px; this represents the middle of the page (binding).
4) Add guides around the borders of the page and binding at 200 pixels from the edges.
5) Copy your page layers to your new template you made
6) Export your page spread at maximum quality; the file size should be very large. Name the page spread page1_2, page3_4, page5_6, etc. Use this document setup to export your author/dedication page spread. Name this file goAuthorDedication
7) Use the following document settings for the front cover, first page (title), and back cover. Name them frontcover, frontpage, and thebackcover. 2816 (horizontal) x1800 px (vertical), 300 ppi, & RGB. Create guides to help you avoid placing text too close to the edge. No black rectangle is needed on the right side for these pages.
8) Upload your JPG files to your www.mixbook.com account and create your book. When you are finished, publish the book online and send me the link so that I can order it.
Upload to Mixbook
After you have designed all of the pages and saved them properly, go to https://www.mixbook.com and sign up for a new account using your classID information. Then go to http://www.mixbook.com/create and fill in the title text box with the title by your name (e.g. The Big Goat Conspiracy by Jason Lee). Add mouseflip@gmail.com as a contributor. Then click create.
Choose a landscape (hardcover) book for size, choose blank canvas in the general category for your theme, and click finish or start. Read the helpful hints if you desire.
You will see a layout of your book. Click add photos on the right sidebar and upload them from your computer to Mixbook. Then select the uploaded photo and drag it onto the appropriate page. Stretch the image so that it fills the entire page with no white space showing on the edges. When you are finished, click yellow Publish button at the top right and then click publish and share. Make sure that you choose the option "viewable by everyone" in the next step and click Publish Mixbook. You will now see a preview of your book, copy the web address and send it to mouseflip@gmail.com.
Prices
The price is $20 USD for 20 pages and 50 cents for each additional page. The estimated price is $23.49 (more if you have more than ten scenes in your original story) and add $6 for shipping. Turn in your money in class in Korean Won and I will submit your book for you. Delivery takes about 3-4 weeks.
Deadline
May 4 to turn submit online book
Submit
Directions
If you choose to submit online, you only need to prepare your book online at Mixbook.com to meet the deadline since it takes a few weeks in the mail. If you choose to print it on your own, then you need to submit the printed book on the day it is due.
Points
About 40 points for publishing your story that looks really good
Process & Deadlines if you do not print online
Printing
You must meet each of the deadlines. If you miss any of them, your bonus points will be reduced by 10 points for each deadline missed.
Email me the information to each of the bulleted deadlines below. In each of the emails, write the following subject heading: Published: describe what is due (e.g. Published: calculate pages)
If you are not going to print the book online, you have to complete the following:
Saving
> Save each cover and page spread as an Illustrator file and an RGB JPG at max quality
> Name the JPG files in the order they would appear in the book starting with the front cover, then front page, and then your pages. Name your files frontcover, frontpage, goAuthorDedication, page spread page1_2, page3_4, page5_6 etc.
> Zip all of the JPG files together and email them to your posterous
> Email your Illustrator files to posterous
> Also, save all files on your USB (bring to school) and on your computer (backup)