I am a big fan of the talented, adorable and slightly wacky author/illustrator/kidlit blogger/podcaster Katie Davis.

I am also a big fan of the slightly wacky, digital animation tool PowToon with its cool themes, props, animated characters and transitions.

So what happens to the equation when a popular picture book author/illustrator partners with digital, comic-based presentation/video maker platform?

That’s the question Katie Davis will answer at her upcoming webinar.

Here’s the problem.

We’ve been working hard at making business solutions work for kids’ creative projects. As cool as they are, these platforms weren’t really designed for us.   Although PowToon offers free, awesome style-libraries and animations, it’s not yet all that connected to the world of kids.  There are no little chickens.

The addition of a Katie Davis theme is likely to change that game and perhaps, start a trend.

I created a website and was trying to get kids to use my art to create social media.  But that was before drag and drop and it didn’t go anywhere.  It was too hard to keep up.  And I got busy doing other things.

The time is now ripe.

Katie was drawn to PowToon and to the enthusiasm of the very serious, white-jacket PowToon scientists behind the platform.  She pointed to their helpful short tutorials and how responsively they  solicit and accommodate users’ suggestions–how they let folks in on the progress of upcoming features.

She  is now excited about making tons of stuff for her new theme and that those  very serious scientists are going to make her stuff dragable, droppable and animatable.

So, what’s it going to look like?

Katie’s been listening for months, collecting ideas for just what to include in the new theme.

Readers helped to crowd-source a long PowtoonWishList.   Blog post comments revealed an interesting mix: requests for books, trophies, alligators riding skateboards, hopping cows, and students and teachers with a variety of facial expressions.  (Among the items definitely coming in an early packet is a little girl in a burka.)  

Big picture: Imagine what it might look like if more of our favorite illustrators contributed to improving more of our digital storytelling platforms.

Katie hopes that her contribution will pave the way and so do I!

Use this link to sign up for Katie’s free webinar scheduled for June 11 at 9:00 PM ET.  (Details to come after signup)