We Hope You Enjoy These Excerpts & Background Photos

Following is some fun background information on the real-life Leonberger dog behind "Inca Dink, The Great Houndini"(TM), as well as some sketches and excerpts from M. Nicole van Dam's book, "Inca Dink, The Great Houndini". More fun background information is available in the companion book also by M. Nicole van Dam, called "The Background Story of Inca Dink, The Great Houndini", We hope you enjoy each of them, and would love to hear your thoughts!



Photo of the Real-Life Leonberger Dog Inca


First, here is a photo of the real-life Leonberger dog Inca, dressed as Inca Dink, The Great Houndini"(TM) taken from M. Nicole van Dam's book, "The Background Story of "Inca Dink, The Great Houndini":

Real Life Leonberger dog Inca



Excerpts from the Children's Book "Inca Dink, The Great Houndini"(TM)

Here are some excerpts from M. Nicole van Dam's book, "Inca Dink, The Great Houndini":



Hilary Mouse settles down to lunch



Inca Dink suddenly appears



Oh no - the cheese is HUGE



Sketches from the Children's Book "Inca Dink, The Great Houndini"(TM)


Here is a starting sketch that shows some of the process of how a book is illustrated. You will find more information on the making of this children's book in M. Nicole van Dam's book, "The Background Story of "Inca Dink, The Great Houndini":

Starting sketch from Inca Dink, The Great Houndini



More background on the real-life Leonberger dog Inca:


The real-life Leonberger dog Inca, was an adorable puppy and a much-loved pet therapy dog at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, as shown here from photos taken from M. Nicole van Dam's book, "The Background Story of "Inca Dink, The Great Houndini":

Inca was an adorable puppy



Inca was a pet therapy dog



To purchase "Inca Dink, The Great Houndini" and "The Background Story of Inca Dink, The Great Houndini" please visit Butterflies.bz



"Inca Dink, The Great Houndini" and the Background Story of Inca Dink, The Great Houndini," including the characters, artworks, and storylines respectively therein, are by and TM & (c) 1999 - 2011 M. Nicole van Dam. All Rights Reserved.

To purchase "Inca Dink, The Great Houndini" and "The Background Story of Inca Dink, The Great Houndini" please visit Butterflies.bz

TM and (c) 1999-2011 M. Nicole van Dam. All Rights Reserved.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Happy Holidays from Inca Dink, The Great Houndini!

Here is a little animation I created for my family, wishing you a HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON AND NEW YEAR! After illustrating Inca Dink, The Great Houndini, it was fun to once again draw our Leonberger dog, as well as our Chihuahua-Pomeranian-Papillion-One-of-a-Kinder dog, and our 2 Bourke's Parrots for the holidays! I think I'll do more of these, it's FUN!

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Monday, December 20, 2010

"The Background Story of Inca DInk, The Great Houndini" ALMOST breaks into the top 10 best seller list!

I can't believe it myself, but my children's book "The Background Story of Inca Dink, The Great Houndini" has just been ranked as the 13th best and 16th best and 45th best selling book on the Amazon Kindle in its three categories!  Yippeeeeeee!  It has also been selling in hardcover, as has the original "Inca Dink, The Great Houndini, Magician in Training."  A dream come true!


Inca Dink's real life nephew Tango thinks that's great!

Here are links to the hard cover versions of the original story and Background story:



THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING MY WORK!
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Thursday, September 9, 2010

Inca Dink, The Great Houndini - Full Color Book now Available!



So fun to announce that...drumroll... "Inca Dink, The Great Houndini" is now available in a cheery, full color paperback via Amazon, as well as for sale at traditional bookstores. HURRAY! In a previous post, I mentioned that "Inca Dink, The Great Houndini" is available for the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch as a narrated, digital app, which is really fun.

Because "Inca Dink, The Great Houndini" is doing so well, I created a cute background book on the story, with real life photos of the Leonberger dog, Inca, that inspired the story, and of Inca's real life nephew, Tango. That background story is also available on Amazon! . This background story is available for the Kindle as well.
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Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Real Life Leonberger Dog

If you'd like to see a video of our Leonberger dog, a great nephew of the real Inca Dink, playing, here it is: Leonberger Dog Playing  Just imagine over one hundred pounds of happy bouncing Leonberger dog!  The little dog, which you can see if you look real closely at the video, is our other dog, a 10 pound Chihuahua Pomeranina Papillion one-of-a-kinder rescue dog.  What a pair!
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Friday, July 2, 2010

Inca Dink, The Great Houndini is now released!

"Inca Dink, The Great Houndini, Magician in Training," written and illustrated by M. Nicole van Dam, is now officially released for the iPhone and iPad at  Inca Dink for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch  !  The iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch versions are narrated by British voiceover superstar Dominic Byrne and by the author M. Nicole van Dam.

If you love Inca Dink and would like to buy a fun mug, clothing, doggie t-shirt, or other Inca Dink (TM)accessory, please visit the "Inca Dink, The Great Houndini" store at http://www.greathoundini.com/  and please email us pictures, we'd love to share them on this blog!  ENJOY!

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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Inca Dink, The Great Houndini Update

Exciting, exciting! Our first children's book publication is about to be released! Stay tuned for details!



Below is the real life Inca, a Leonberger, that inspired the book, in his Halloween costume, and an illustration from the book. The book, in sing-songy poetry, almost wrote itself - and was such a pleasure to write, to illustrate and... to narrate! As part of the book deal, I needed (and wanted!) to go into a professional voice over recording studio, where I learned that sensitive recording equipment picks up just about every noise! I also learned not to drink coffee beforehand (it dehydrates you) and not to eat dairy (it makes you a bit coughy sounding). Instead, I was told to drink oodles of small bottles of water leading into the process. I also learned to change my voice to and from character to narrator, and to in the future write words that are a lot easier to animate (i.e., avoid woweeeee, although poof actually did rather well!). With the emotional readings, I had to physically move away from the microphone, and in the delicate quieter parts move forward, so there was a tiny bit of athleticism involved - who knew!



I am not the only narrator for the book. Happily, a brilliant voice over talent from the UK, Dominic Byrne, did an INCERDIBLE narrated version, and it is a delight and honor to have his level of talent narrate my first children's book!

If you are interested in learning more about Inca Dink, The Great Houndini, please email us at Email Nicole.
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Inca Dink, The Great Houndini rubber stamps!

A manufacturer wants to create rubber stamps from our Inca Dink, The Great Houndini book! Stay tuned for details.

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