App of the Week: Niko and the Sword of Light

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nikoTitle: Niko and the Sword of Light
Cost: Free download (first three chapters), 3.99 for full comic
Platform: iOS, Android, Kindle Fire

 

 

This fully animated comic stands on the line between comic book and cartoon. It tells the story of Niko, a young warrior, in an archetypal struggle between good and evil, portrayed in this world as light and dark. Niko has sworn to avenge his people by fighting the dark beasts and ridding the land of evil. Along journey he comes across strange creatures who help and hinder his progress. Read More →

Holiday App of the Week: Stop Motion Studio

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stop motion studio Title: Stop Motion Studio
Platform: iOS
Cost: Free

 

 

Happy Holidays from all of us here at the YALSAblog! I made this little video using Stop Motion Studio:

This eleven second video is comprised of 53 still images. I used about half of the 2013 World Book Encyclopedia in a stack as well as a little plastic iPhone stand as a tripod. Stop Motion Studio has options to add sound and special effects, and it’s easy to upload your videos to YouTube or Instagram. You can download it today on the iPad you just got for Christmas, or check it out later in the new year. This app will be a hit with teens who are into video production, from the casual creative type, to the serious filmmaker.

For more app recommendations visit the YALSA App of the Week Archive. If you have an app you think we should review, let us know!

YALSA App of the Week: DoInk

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Title: DoInk
Cost: $4.99
Platform: iPad running iOS 3.2 or later

Many teens, and probably quite a few librarians, will find DoInk an app that they could spend hours with. Why? Because it makes it possible to, through a fairly simple process, create animations on an iPad.

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App of the Week: Animation Creator

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Name: Animation Creator’ 

Platform: iOS 3.0 and later iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad

Cost: $ .99

Animation Creator is perfect for teens who like to draw and are into graphic design. I know teens at my Library who read Manga and watch anime; most every library has these teen patrons. From time to time they can be found sketching out drawings on the sides of binders and notebooks rendering their favorite characters in some crazy action pose. This app is also equally appealing to anyone who enjoys illustrating their own comics or zines. Read More →

Animation Station

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Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us I usually try not to brag on my library system too much here but I’m throwing that out the window today for this one. We have an animation station that is awesome and has so much amazing potential and we’re kicking it off for Teen Tech Week. It is a traveling station (sorry, just to branches within the system :)) created by John Lemmon (who should have a Wikipedia page-and no, he’s not the John Lemmon philosopher from Sheffield, UK) with GarageBand 3, I Can Animate, and iMovie. We’re creating a short informational video and will keep you posted on what teens create while using it.

Posted by Kelly Czarnecki