Sam Tannen’s passion for drawing, writing music, and making films runs deep. While in the Film program at Full Sail, he created his own comic book series, which he self-published the same week he graduated and moved to LA. As the years have drifted by, Tannen has spent his time illustrating, publishing strips in newsweeklies and independent papers, as well as doing quite a bit of art direction for small, low budget films.

But it wasn’t until he leapt into the world of mobile app development that all his talents started to perfectly snap together. “I’ve been drawing comics for years and have created a lot of cute illustrations, but they’ve always been for an adult audience,” says Sam. “Then I started teaching myself how to create games for mobile devices and discovered that there was this whole industry of people creating apps for kids. I realized I could basically do this already.”

So, Sam started creating interactive storybooks like The Magic Chicken and Animal Kablaminal using several self-taught software platforms and selling them through the iTunes App Store, Android Market, and Amazon for 99 cents. “If I’m really focused, I can get one done in a month or less,” says Sam, who has already put out three apps under his company Saturday Buffet.

One of the perks of this enterprise is the opportunity it affords Sam to write and record his own songs. His books, which are designed to be pretty quirky and goofy, are fully voiced and filled with his music. If he gets enough songs together, he’s even considering putting out an album on iTunes.

“For someone like me who has so many different creative interests, it’s incredible that I can create something all by myself and send it to Apple, Google or Amazon to sell it. They take a percentage, but it’s still such a huge opportunity for me,” shared Sam. “I’ve gotten a really good response. I’m really happy and think I’ll keep focusing on this.”

You can check out Sam’s work at: www.saturdaybuffet.com