 | I recently did a video showcasing the iClassic production app. Today I have been able to get an interview with one of the lead creators, David G Forés, to discuss the project in more detail. |
When did the company start and what was the inspiration behind the idea?
iClassics was founded in 2014, but our first application (iPoe collection vol.1) was conceived two years earlier, when we were still a creative agency. At that time, we had just released an application called “Alice for iPad” which included Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", with vintage illustrations by John Tenniel. The idea fascinated us, but we thought that we had not taken full advantage of the possibilities of the device.
We decided to do a test and after doing a lot of research as well as work, we released the first volume dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe. iPoe collection was very well received and was awarded with the Publishing Innovation Award for the best fiction application. From there we planned to refound the company and thus iClassics was born.
How many people do you have on your team and how long, on average, does it take to create a book?
The process of creating an app is quite labour-intensive; from the choice of story, script, and illustration until completion, the process may take about 5 months. To carry it out we have several external illustrators and a team of musicians that compose the BSO. Internally, we have three animators/designers, two programmers and three more people working on marketing and communication.
At the moment, you are creating works from the likes such as Dickens, Doyle, H.P Lovecraft, and Poe. Are there any plans to add more authors to the roster in the future? And if so who?
We want to cover the maximum number of literary authors, but when adapting the works to this immersive reading format we find the - basically economic - limitation that we can’t adapt long novels, and we have focused on authors who stand out for their short stories. But in the future, we would love to adapt texts by Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Franz Kafka, ton ame a few. At the moment we are working on the second volume of iLovecraft, and next we have already illustrated a Conan story, the cimmerian hero created by Robert E. Howard.
Out of the current authors you do have, who is your personal favourite?
We like all the authors we've done so far, but we certainly have a special place in our hearts for Edgar Allan Poe.
Are you finding that this is appealing to people who have read the books years ago and are looking for a new way to experience the tales, or those that have perhaps never read the stories before in any fashion? Or is it a mix of both?
It is a mixture of both. We receive reviews and emails from people who barely read and thank us for this format, because it makes the experience much more attractive. We also receive many messages from literature teachers in particular, thanking us for our work, because the iClassics Collection makes their work much easier. But we also receive many messages from Poe, Lovecraft or Wilde aficionados, who have read their stories countless times and who love to revisit them under this interactive format.
Lots of the authors you do have wrote very Macabre tales. What would you say the creepiest tale you have is?
True, horror stories are our weakness, and they also work very well in this format. It's hard to decide which is the creepiest story, but if I have to keep one, I would say "The Hound" by H.P.Lovecraft. And I think the most terrifying is the one we're working on right now, another story from the genius of Providence: "The Color Out of Space".
Thank you very much for your time David!
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You can visit the iclassic website here and view the video overview I did here.
iClassics was founded in 2014, but our first application (iPoe collection vol.1) was conceived two years earlier, when we were still a creative agency. At that time, we had just released an application called “Alice for iPad” which included Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", with vintage illustrations by John Tenniel. The idea fascinated us, but we thought that we had not taken full advantage of the possibilities of the device.
We decided to do a test and after doing a lot of research as well as work, we released the first volume dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe. iPoe collection was very well received and was awarded with the Publishing Innovation Award for the best fiction application. From there we planned to refound the company and thus iClassics was born.
How many people do you have on your team and how long, on average, does it take to create a book?
The process of creating an app is quite labour-intensive; from the choice of story, script, and illustration until completion, the process may take about 5 months. To carry it out we have several external illustrators and a team of musicians that compose the BSO. Internally, we have three animators/designers, two programmers and three more people working on marketing and communication.
At the moment, you are creating works from the likes such as Dickens, Doyle, H.P Lovecraft, and Poe. Are there any plans to add more authors to the roster in the future? And if so who?
We want to cover the maximum number of literary authors, but when adapting the works to this immersive reading format we find the - basically economic - limitation that we can’t adapt long novels, and we have focused on authors who stand out for their short stories. But in the future, we would love to adapt texts by Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Franz Kafka, ton ame a few. At the moment we are working on the second volume of iLovecraft, and next we have already illustrated a Conan story, the cimmerian hero created by Robert E. Howard.
Out of the current authors you do have, who is your personal favourite?
We like all the authors we've done so far, but we certainly have a special place in our hearts for Edgar Allan Poe.
Are you finding that this is appealing to people who have read the books years ago and are looking for a new way to experience the tales, or those that have perhaps never read the stories before in any fashion? Or is it a mix of both?
It is a mixture of both. We receive reviews and emails from people who barely read and thank us for this format, because it makes the experience much more attractive. We also receive many messages from literature teachers in particular, thanking us for our work, because the iClassics Collection makes their work much easier. But we also receive many messages from Poe, Lovecraft or Wilde aficionados, who have read their stories countless times and who love to revisit them under this interactive format.
Lots of the authors you do have wrote very Macabre tales. What would you say the creepiest tale you have is?
True, horror stories are our weakness, and they also work very well in this format. It's hard to decide which is the creepiest story, but if I have to keep one, I would say "The Hound" by H.P.Lovecraft. And I think the most terrifying is the one we're working on right now, another story from the genius of Providence: "The Color Out of Space".
Thank you very much for your time David!
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You can visit the iclassic website here and view the video overview I did here.
