Picklet.net
By Ben Hutchings, Arran McKenna and Jase Harper
This is the 5-panel preview as it will appear in the Picklet Store within the Picklets app on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. The full picklet consists of 23 panels.
I’m back in Melbourne and starting a final development push to finish the iPad ‘Picklets’ app.
5-panel Preview
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About the Artists
The 'Picklet Review' slide in Hamburg
I was in Hamburg for a few days this week as a guest of Joachim Knappe who acted as my host, tour guide and event organiser for two picklet workshops at Atalier Amaldi on Monday evening. Thanks, Joachim and everyone!
I presented the Picklet Platform slides, handed around an iPad with the beta version of the Picklets app, showed ‘The 3 Baddest Bandits’ picklet, then demonstrated the Picklet Builder workflow and helped a few people set up their laptops. Total time for each session was about two hours.
So now there are 30 more German illustrators who know what picklets are. At least some of them are quite excited about self-publishing digital picture books.
If you know a group of illustrators who would be interested in a live demonstration of the picklet project please get in touch. I’ve had such a good time in Germany I am planning to go on the road with picklets again early next year.
Understanding Picklets Hamburg edition
I also had printed a new set of Understanding Picklets (pale green cover, Hamburg edition) in English and German. Joachim has kept some to distribute at the next Hamburg Illustratoren Stammtisch so look for him there, or you can read it online.
Now it’s holidays for me until I’m back in Melbourne in a week or so, in time for spring!
I’ve just sent a first beta of ‘Picklets’ for iPad to five testers!
It’s really rough around the edges, and perhaps shouldn’t have been released into the wild in its present state, but tomorrow I leave Berlin for a Swedish road trip holiday before heading home to Melbourne. So, I’ll be taking a break from development for a while and wanted to have something to show for the Berlin phase of Picklets development.
Thanks to Ive, Judi, Mic, Paolo and Charles for volunteering to beta test.
The iPhone version is even less ready than the iPad, so I haven’t sent it out this time.
If you have an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad and would like to get in on the next beta, simply visit this link from your device to register;
https://testflightapp.com/join/efda1b2bb04e65b9a8294e3bd619f389-MjI4Mg/
Cheers, Berliners. It’s been a blast!
Open-air cinema in Kreuzberg
I won’t mention the weather. #disappointing
This is what the whooshing sound of July’s deadline for the Picklets iPad app sounded like;
Development-related
Through July I worked a couple of days a week at a coworking space called Co.up in Berlin Kreuzberg. Excellent environment for my style of quiet, self-driven software development.
During one of these days I was shadowed by Ann Danilkiw who is documenting the lifestyles of mobile digital professionals. Ann’s intention is to produce approximately three-minute-long documentaries of each of her subjects. Hoping to see mine sometime in September.
I also attended a couple of evening events as a result of meeting people at the coworking space. Japan-based developer/translator Jed Schmidt who presented ‘Around the world in 50 cafés’ at Pecha Kucha Berlin, and the July meetup of BerlinJS (for javascript developers) hosted by Jan Lenhardt in the Co.up offices.
- Jed Schmidt at Pecha Kucha Berlin
- Jan Lenhardt at BerlinJS via Co.up
- Ann Danylkiw
Punchcard-reading weaving machinery at the Deutsches Technikmuseum
Business Development
I was fortunate to meet a couple of Berlin-based illustrators at a Stammtisch in Kreuzberg a couple of weeks ago. I took a stack of my mini-comic ‘Understanding Picklets’ (in German) and passed them around. The following week I gave a demonstration of the picklet project to a group of 12 or so locals, in the Co.up meeting room.
The week after that I spent a few hours with some of those participants getting them set up with Picklet Builder accounts and a bit more familiar with the workflow.
I’m quite excited about the ideas these illustrators are bringing to the picklet platform.
Just last night I went to a meetup of Berlin-based comics and ‘zine folks at Renate Comics in Mitte, with the few remaining copies of Understanding Picklets. Chatted with a few interesting folk there too. Hopeful of some follow-up.
R Stevie Moore and Tropical Ooze at West Germany, Kreuzberg
Musics
I did also get out and see some touring musicians during July, which was pretty sweet.
- Ned Collette at Junction Bar
- J Mascis at Kreuzberg Festsaal
- R Stevie Moore at West Germany (with Tropical Ooze)
Mainstream Cultural
And then I did some touristy museum visits (some with visiting friends) as well, because it’s Good For Me.
I’m in Berlin for two more weeks which will be packed solid with coding. Coding, coding, coding.
You’re welcome.
Sometimes there’s a man
This week being my last in Berlin (for now) I have some technical goals I’m determined to hit.
At the end of this week I’ll send out the first beta of the Picklets app to any testers who’ve registered their device here;
https://testflightapp.com/join/efda1b2bb04e65b9a8294e3bd619f389-MjI4Mg/
So if you have an iPad (or iPhone, or iPod touch) and want to see what I’ve been doing these last 12 months, sign up and you’ll soon know.
I’ll be giving a demonstration of the picklet project in Hamburg later in August and I will have my iPad with a functional Picklets app, picklet store and content to demonstrate. This is what I’ve been working towards for the last two months.
For posterity here’s some technical detail about specifically what I’ll be working on this week. These are things that I’ve started but don’t have working properly yet;
That’s still quite a list but getting the bandits picklet readable is the goal.
The Dude abides. I take comfort in that.