Timewaster's Guide Archive
General => Rants and Stuff => Topic started by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on January 28, 2005, 03:28:24 PM
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Ok, i've decided to try my hand at cartoons.
However, since I can't draw, they will feature my action figures.
In two hours I whipped up 5 comics (http://www.saintehlers.com/misc/images/GP), though I have to admit I already had the scripts planned for 4 of them.
Noteable problems: The photography is terrible in most of the shots. As you can see from panel 3 of the first two strips, and panels 1 and 2 of the third strip, I figured out how to get the lighting right and the focus/detail on them right. Most of the rest of the shots need to be retaken, so please don't say anything about how badly the shot came out.
Also, these aren't the funniest ideas I had, but they were quick and easy to set up, and they set the stage for a couple running jokes I have in mind. If you think they suck, please say it in a gentle way, okithx.
I also need to redo the text. PSP 9's text feature works for crap, apparently. I'm going to have to figure out a better way to letter them.
Finally, they're too small, I know. AFTER I made them I went and checked some of the others out there. PA is 750x415 (and sometimes larger) and PVP is 850x270. even the standard comic strip size for syndication on United Media is 600x205. Mine are 600x150. and that's part of why it looks cramped. I haven't decided on a final size, but I'm thinking of something like 700x250. I might go as high as 800x300. That will mean planning shots better, so I can get focus and not too much extraneous detail and still have big pictures. I may do them in doors too, since I can't always count on the weather not being wet. But I liked the dinosaurs in the snow thing, since y'know, that wouldn't ever happen.
so, any other things I need to work on specifically in terms of composition?
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The last text bubble of the last comic is a little tight to the figures, making it hard to really see what's going on, and the angle of the green dinosaur makes it hard to visualize quite what he is, though it might just be the lighting. But since you said you were planning on making it bigger, I'm assuming that problem would be taken care of just as the other tightness issues would be.
Good idea, SE. They're funny.
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probably the biggest problem with the green dinosaur, actually, is that the detail/focus is so bad you can't see who he is. Taking new shots should correct that.
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That works alot better than I initially thought it would. I especially liked the last one, (04). I'd keep reading them if there were more. In fact, it made me want to use my kids plastic animals and figures to do my own. I probably won't though.
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I'm enjoying it. I think you should try a font that is thinner, which will make it easier to read.
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I'd take a look at Irregular Webcomic (http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/), and maybe email the author for tips :)
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well, I've read all of the IWC archives and I keep up daily
but an email wouldn't be out of order, I think.
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I approve, SE. Number four is definitely the best.
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hay más, ahora (http://www.saintehlers.com/misc/images/GP)
I'm doing better on the focus, and the font change and new size really helps the text look better, though I need to work on it. I'm particularly unhappy with lower case "i" and exclamation points. There's no space and they look like one long line.
However, the focus still isn't where I want it. I need to figure out how to get this thing to let me manually focus. I'm not sure why it decided to focus on the foam background instead of on the figure in that last one. It's a complete mystery. The other difficulty was the one with the penguin. with four objects, the camera just couldn't choose, I guess.
I'm pleased with my production rate. Even though it wasn't till noon today that I uploaded, I uploaded 7 new comics, which would keep me in comics for a week and a half, almost. I have my eye on an automatic updating script, so I could do this, put in comments, and forget about it for a week.
This represented about 2 hours of work, aside from the photography, which I did Friday over the course of about an hour (including phone calls). Uploading all the raw files so I could work on it at home (which I didn't) took a long time to do, but it wouldn't fit on my flash drive. Which just means that not enough of you are buying me stuff off my wish list (http://www.saintehlers.com/cgi-bin/rpg/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=34&t=000008).
I'm narrating this because I want to track my development so I can see, after about a month, if I really want to build a site and go to the world. I provide the links so I can get criticism from you guys.
I recycled a lot of images. Call me cut and paste. I originally only had one Carnage versus Carnage strips planned, but I realized that sort of thing could be a running gag, so why not start it off with a bunch of insult trading? I think if I do go live I'd reverse the order and make the first CVC strip the last one, as if he's run out of good comebacks.
I also originally planned only one batman comic with the different costumes, but when I was putting them together the one where he's wondering about which to wear came to me suddenly. Which explains why it doesn't have it's own shots and has huge spaces between panels. It wasn't planned out in the shot, so I didn't really have a lot to fill the space with.
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"214" could have the dialog bubble be connected to all of them. I think that would present the gag a bit betterly.
What kind of camera is it? Digital I'm guessing, not a SLR though, eh? Getting manual focus on digital cameras is a pain. Oh yeah, friend just reminded me, use macro mode for that nightcrawler shot. That's what you need to figure out. Macro mode... how'd I forget about you sunshine.
Just work on that focus man, and I'll get you some shots of my fig's. Which includes hangable Spidey, Gimli, and Jack Skelington as well as Sally.
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That's a thought with the 214 strip. I even considered it originally. But I decided to do it as three different speech balloons because I wanted it to be sequential, hoping to play at least a little off the previous strip. I thought maybe people might think he was trying out different ways of saying it or looking in the mirror again. Now that I think about it, having the text in slightly different fonts would have helped with that effect.
I'll have to pull out the manual. It is digital, but I don't know if it has SLR or what. I'll look up macro mode too. Thanks for the help.
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SLR, Single-Lens Reflex, usually means that the camera has removable lenses. Most higher-end cameras do, since they cost upwards of $500. But macro mode on digital cameras is usually represented as a little flower. At least it is on my dad's Sony digital camera.
Anything else?
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oh, well, then I was using Macro mode. This is work's camera, not mine, so I'm still learning it. I'll have to check it for SLR.
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CVC didn't work for me because for a cartoon with no dialogue in the first two panels there needs to be some history. Putting it at the end like you said would fix that.
The trying on different batman costumes one would work better if we were seeing from the back as he's looking in a mirror. I laughed at it as is, just a suggestion.
As for the focus on the Joker one, try landscape mode. (usually lookes like a couple of mountains on the dial)
Dude, you could so totally achieve an ubergeek toy-story effect if you went with the subtext that all these toys are in your house and your house is their world in which they exist as the (delusional) super heroes we know and love so well.
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duuuuude. I like that idea. I like it especially because I have multiple copies of several characters. I have like, three Snake Eyes, two Storm Shadows, three Scarletts, three Batmans, two Spideys, two Carnages, etc. I could have them doing a little war. For the Spidey characters this is particularly interesting, what with the clone saga and everything.
Yeah, i can see the CvC needing back story though. Maybe a comic where they both try to fight spidey and Venom or something, and then they fight over which is the real one.
The only problem with the mirror (and I agree, it's a good idea) is that I'm at work, and have limited props. However, now that I think about it, I'm getting a new mechanic's mirror delivered soon, and it's very portable. I could use that in a remake of it.
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Most higher-end cameras have focus zones, which are usually little brackets in the viewfinder. If you can't figure out manual focus, and it's the kind that you push halfway down to focus, then all the way to take the picture, make sure when you push it halfway down the thing you want in focus is in a focus zone--for best luck, just put it right in the center. Then, before pushing all the way down, recompose so that it's cropped the way you want it, then take the picture without refocusing (i.e., lifting your finger).
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Holy crap. You're doing these at work? Wicked.
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ok, it's time to name it so I can start thinking of a logo, setting the domain, etc.
Possible names:
Gender Pie
Herb(ert) Lives
Palm Breeze Fiesta (Jam's recommendation)
The Kung Fu Magic Kingdom
Action Packed Action Figure Action Theater
Sideways
Shriner Bar-B-Q
Practice Rough Drafts
Cockaboodie
The Adventures of ... (fill in the blank)
I Should Really Be Working (new recommendation from Jeffe)
Any preferences?
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Herbert lives or The Kung Fu Magic Kingdom
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Herbert Lives on the Kung Fu Magic
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Action Packed Action Figure Action Theater
or, for short, APAFAT!
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I'm leaning to Kung-Fu Magic Kingdom. Which my friend made a logo (http://www.thelemur.net/kungfu.gif) for years ago.
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That also works with your website's theme, which by the way I've been recodeing from scratch over the past week.
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it's actually FROM the current design.
Now, I'll probably be migrating the site to a different server, Sprig. So, I'm really grateful you're coding it, but I hope that doesn't screw anything up. The new server will have PHP and Perl and SQL and everything, but I just want to make sure that's not going to screw you up.
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na, just let me know so I can do a database dump a head of time. Then we just need to re-upload everything.
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cool. I'm actually not sure how I'm going to do the migration. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that the only scripts I have on there that aren't on someone's computer are the UBB files, and I only use that for my wish list now, so it would be easy to recreate.
The problem with downloading to my own box with FTP and then uploading to another server is that every time I've tried a massive upload like that it's not transferred all the files in the right format. ie, some .cgi files or .pl files or whatever get transferred in binary instead of ASCII. Then there's the whole permissions thing.
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Kung-Fu Magic Kingdom
is a very cool name. And the logo you've got is very cool too.
I like.
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I'm rewrighting your pearl and cgi scripts in PHP so they work with the rest of the sight, so there's no real reasons to keep them.
The only one's I know about are the ones that randomly select text/images though.
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I have form submission oen somewhere too, but that's cake to do, and I haven't used it for real forever. So I think that's it.
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ya, any submission is easy, just like the contact page I did for you.
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More comics.
More comics.
More comics.
More comics.
More comics.
More comics.
More comics.
More comics.
More comics.
More comics.
Skar chants
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There will be more, this i swear. But i have to make sure I figure out what my pattern is gonna be. I just accepted a new job and have only 2 weeks at the old one. I may have to borrow a camera to do it. So, I promise to put them in the folder while I still have access to a camera, but in a couple months, well, i'll have to work out how that will happen.
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I'm trying to keep ahead of where I'd be if I were doing one comic a weekday (which explains the naming convention of the files), which means I have till wed morning to make a new comic. Preferably between 3 adn 8 of them so I get through the end of next week.
I'm running into a problem. If I make it more story oriented -- with a joke each day (I do this for the funny, not the story) -- which is what came into mind with Skar's recommendation, am I still safely in safe use/parody/satire territory? Or am I treading on copyright/trademark?
The idea is to introduce the story by having Venom, Carnage, other Carnage, Spider-Man, other Spider-Man, and The Scarlet Spider meet up. Carnage takes to fighting with other Carnage. The Spideys just all think the others are clones (they work together, then fight over which is the clone, which means none of them go home with Mary Jane, who starts dating the Punisher, only to later break up with him.
What do you think? Am I safe.
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Oh, yeah, until you start to make money in which case you're screwed.
Unless you have your characters wear little homemade masks so they're not REALLY them...if you know what I mean...
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I'd look into what 8-bit theatre (http://www.nuklearpower.com/) Brian C. did to protect himself. From a cursory glance it looks like the main thing is that the items for sale are original artwork, rather than Squaresoft's images.
So, since you're using the names Spiderman, etc. I think Skar's probably right. Blast.
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I fixed yer url there. No quotes needed.
Brian uses the same class names too: Black Mage, Fighter, etc. Which normally is generic enough, but combined with the images strengthens the relationship. The point of Brian's comic is clearly a parody of video RPGs. Between that and not selling Square's direct images as merchandise, he's clearly covered. The story I'm thinking of specifically does make fun of a specific Marvel story though. ANd will probably make fun of fans too. I'm thinking I'm going to make it anyway. Photos to be taken during lunch tomorrow.
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I didn't think I had quotes. . . .
However, it makes sense if I did since I've been doing a lot of html programming lately.
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soo.... I'm breaking my promise. I forgot that I don't have lunch today, because I have class instead. Hopefully I'll have something up soon though.
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There are 2 more comics up. One is double sized for your pleasure (that sounds dirty, don't it?) to make up for no comic yesterday. There would be a fourth, but the camera has to be beaten into submission. It either won't focus or it flashes. The problem with flash is that spidey and venom reflect far too much light. turning off the flash and enabling the settings that let me get it focussed on the characters instead of hte background leaves me with totally black pictures. It's something going on with the camera, because there's plenty of direct light on the figures, and I can't see ANYTHING in the file that it makes. Just black pixels across the board.
edit: I managed to beat the camera into submission. And I uploaded the third. Now I just need scripts for next weeks. I'm noticing that the better quality I get the pictures, the more time I spend on photography.
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I uploaded more stuff. If I were updating this daily, I'd have material for every weekday for a 4 week period. Plus 2 days. I think I can do it, and I'll be building a site and figuring out how to ensure my digital camera access after the job change.
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I always have loved your sensibility to not post the link to where things are at. Especially for those who do so enjoy not having to go through a thread again to find said link. But alas, you are as is.
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Didn't get the last one, with the bonk.
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the two carnages are bumping heads. Maybe I need to reshoot it from a slightly different angle. The main problem though (I think) is that I was trying to make the second frame a shot of Spidey and Venom fighting and have carnage's shoulder in the shot. Everything came out blurry though and I couldn't get it to focus on anything. Since I took the pictures on Friday, I thought of doing two from the exact same angle and doing a cut/paste to get both in focus. THat, however, would require a tripod, which I don't own, or else the angle will shift and there will be cuts. Maybe the rough copy/paste though would make more sense. That's why I post here, so I can get this sort of feedback. I obviously made the wrong decision on what method to use this time.
edit: for clarity.
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You know Gemm, there is such a thing as bookmarks.
Saint's Comics (http://saintehlers.com/misc/images/GP)
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I love #16, Saint, but my husband says that it's spelled Tirith. Or was that intentional?
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That was me not thinking, apparently. Because I'm pretty sure I already knew it was an "i," since "Tirath" doesn't look right.
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photos taken for two more comics. I'm worried there's too much flash, but the corner where I was working doesn't get as much light, especially when a big guy is standing near trying to take pictures. I suppose I could have moved them first, but that would have taken more work than I was prepared to give. Notes for the future, I guess.
I have a general idea of how the next one goes, but I don't have shots planned. And I want to do a fourth by tomorrow, but I'm not sure how to do it. I have a Hulk joke in mind, but I gotta script it. Just an FYI, folks. You'll probably see more comics in the afternoon.
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ok, be prepared!
I did not just four, but EIGHT new comics. I was able to draw the spidey story out and the Hulk one turned out to be four instead of just 2. Pretty sweet.
Anyway, for the link challenged, I updated the "bonk" one (http://saintehlers.com/misc/images/GP/20050221.png) as well. Hopefully it makes more sense. If not, well,.... it just isn't as good as I'd hoped.
Here are direct links to the new comics. Remember to look at hte root directory so you can see picture of my office. It gets torn down tomorrow, so I will be weeping over them.
http://saintehlers.com/misc/images/GP/20050302.png
http://saintehlers.com/misc/images/GP/20050303.png
http://saintehlers.com/misc/images/GP/20050304.png
http://saintehlers.com/misc/images/GP/20050307.png
http://saintehlers.com/misc/images/GP/20050308.png
http://saintehlers.com/misc/images/GP/20050309.png
http://saintehlers.com/misc/images/GP/20050310.png
btw, since there are pictures of all the action figures I have out of storage up there, anyone who wants to write a comic can feel free to give it to me. I won't pay, or promise that I'll use it, but I'll look at it and consider nicking the work from you. Note that I can easily get my hands on any recent Strawberry shortcake character or many Barbies if necessary too, as well as the original Star Wars cast (all of which my kids own).
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Dude, those were great. We should all pool some money and get you a camera of your own so you can set up a studio where you can get good lighting and props and stuff...
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As it turns out, the camera we have at work, a nikon Coolpix 5700, is the same model as the one my dad has, so I *might* be able to convince him to let me use it, now that I've trained, but he's very possessive of his camera, so i'm not sure about that.
once I have this going, any donations to the comic site are designated strictly for the site's usage: ie, more action figures, camera, camera accessories, possibly computer stuff.
I'd gladly accept a camera if people were willing to help me out, I just don't think there's enough people willing to contribute enough to get a camera. I need one with macro to do this, and a goodly amount of focus options, since even with this one (the best price I've found on it is $417 ) I have focus problems.
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SE, that font's suckiness is very distracting. I think the comics are very funny, but they'll be funnier with a better font.
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I agree with Ookla. I say we combine all our powers to get you an unsucky font.
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OK, i'm eager to hear suggestions. Seriously. I need to hear stuff like this so I can fix it. I'm going to try working with a couple different programs to see if they render the text better. I like a sans-serif font, any suggestions?
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First off, and this is what the font looks like to me, it seams you're typeing the font on the pictures before they're shrunk down. Unless you're useing a vector program that's a big no-no. If that's not the case, and you're typeing the font at that size, then just pick a clear font. No need to get fancy.
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actually, I do all the resizing/layout first. Then put on the text in a separate layer, and then last I place the balloons on a layer between. I wonder if it's just htat program. I'll redo a couple comics tonight with something else and see if that works any better
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what font are you useing so I can test it on my programs too.
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Lucida Console
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k. I'll test it later today. what size you useing too?
Also are you anti-alising the font? that would probaly help a lot.
edit: ok I just tried this font in Flash and aliasing it makes it a lot clearer.
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I've switched between anti-aliasing and not doing so, and I haven't noticed a difference. I'm using 10pt font, with the stroke width set to 0.2. The kearning is set to 89, but the leading and the tracking are both 0. It's created as vector lines.
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You can't be useing 10pt fonts, it's at least 15pt from the looks of your comics.
The aliased version of the font looks a lot like a default _sans font, it looses a lot of it's thickness. But this is against a white backgroup, and it could look different against a busier one.
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quick! I need ideas for a script! it's lunch time and about the last chance I'll have to make a comic!
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Spider-Man looks at a wall, his sense tingles. Enter Venom swinging down from a mouse, Carnage pulls Spidey out of the way and replaces with, Batman! Wham!
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anybody? Anyone at all?
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Batman runs by Carnage, Carnage looks dumbfounded. Replace last panel with DC and Marvel logos.
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actually, Batman HAS fought Carnage before. Spidey was taking on Joker at the same time.
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ok, I threw this (http://saintehlers.com/misc/images/GP/20050311.png) together. It's the result of all my toys being in boxes. I hope you enjoy it.
changing the font face to Tahoma didn't help. I'm thinking it's a software issue now.
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Spidey standing in front of a sink brushing teeth (could be on a sink in your work's bathroom), combing hair whatever. Another spidey swings in, fiddles in front of the mirror. Original spidey turns to look at him. New spidey finishes, goes away. Original spidey, looking in the direction the new spidey went thinks, "Who is that guy?"
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I like that. Maybe I'll find a way to make it at home. Or, if I get exceedingly bored, I'll reopen the box.
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and another thing...
I really need to name it and set up the domain alias so I can install software and test it.
I was leaning heavily to "The Kung Fu Magic Kingdom," but JP told me he doesn't like it. Of course, he ALSO told me the comic wasn't funny, so what does he know (note, I'm not bitter, seriously, I have to expect that people won't like it, but it just seems I should listen to the opinions of people who LIKE the comic when naming it).
So, since it had the most votes, and I like it, that's probably what I'll go with. The url will probably be http://kungfu.herbertlives.com or else http://kfmk.herbertlives.com. I think the first will be easier to remember.
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You may hate me for this, but the waterbottle and mouse thing is my favorite so far. That's hilarious.
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I don't hate you. It made me giggle when I thought of it. And since I had a lack of other ideas, I went ahead and did it.
Spidey standing in front of a sink brushing teeth (could be on a sink in your work's bathroom), combing hair whatever. Another spidey swings in, fiddles in front of the mirror. Original spidey turns to look at him. New spidey finishes, goes away. Original spidey, looking in the direction the new spidey went thinks, "Who is that guy?"
You know, I figured out EXACTLY how I'm going to do this. My kids have a Barbie sink. About fifty of them, actually. I can find a way to make the scale work. I just need to see if I can focus the camera my in-laws have.
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ok, so I'm almost done with your comic CMS and I have a few questions.
1) How do you want to handle rants (if any)? PA/S&F style? PvP style? MT style? Or one I'm not thinking of?
2) how would you like to post comics and have the program update them? I was planning on haveing you enter a date for them, but you can also have it check the comic name (and have that name be a date) or something else.
3) is there anything you want added specificaly that I may not of thought of? Basiclay I've got a rants/comic and a way to add other pages based of a template for extras or what ever. Not to many things there, just the basics.
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I want to put comments underneath. like Irregular Webcomic (http://www.irregularwebcomic.net) or Sam and Fuzzy (http://www.samandfuzzy)
I also want to be able to key word things for searches. Each character, storyline type. Look at Irregular Webcomic to see that in action. One final neat thing would be if I could enter the dialog so that could be searched to.
A calander showing days there are comics would be great.
And a way to select an avatar for a post would be kinda cool
Honestly, Kamikaze (http://www.nothsa.com/scripts.php) has all the functionality I want, and has an easy interface for uploading the comics. There's only one thing that it doesn't do that I'd like it to do, and that's show an entire week's worth of strips at a time, like Sluggy Freelance (http://sluggy.com) or much of Keenspot does. Here's a screen shot (http://www.nothsa.com/scripts/screenshots/kamikaze2/add_comic.gif) of the Kamikaze add comic interface. Edit is very similar, and the rest is easy to extrapolate.
edit: one other feature. I want to be able to upload several comics and have it automatically post them on the date they are supposed to run. I think Kamikaze does that, but I'm not sure.
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So, I tried one at home. I used Skar's script and some set design by Jeffe (he came over last night and while here he helped me make the Barbie furniture look to scale). I also used my in-law's camera, which is much more basic than the one at work and, surprisingly, I got the shots done quickly. I also used an older version of the program I was using at work.
I think it turned out pretty darn good. (http://www.saintehlers.com/misc/images/GP/20050314.png)
The old version of the program rendered the text MUCH better, and actually has more callot options.
The simpler camera convinces me that I won't have to buy one quite as expensive as I thought.
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What's "callot"?
Yeah, that text rendering is much better.
Personally I like comic fonts for comics. blambot.com has a ton of them that can be used for free in independent comics. If you like something with both upper and lowercase, Mighty Zeo is a good free one. (Manga Temple is the only free font I really hate, though I'm not too thrilled with ACME Secret Agent either.)
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I will take a look and see what i see.
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That latest comic turned out very well. Simpler must be better when it comes to camerawork of this nature.
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harder to do with a child knocking it over 20 times...
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yeah, Rachael was REALLY interested in either Strawberry Shortcake's use of the mirror or investigating Spider-Man. She's a cutie, but a meddling one.
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I think you could work it into the comic.
"CURSE YOU MEDDLING KIDS!"
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I have to make the decision as to whether I'm going to let any real people be in it. And if so, if those people will include ME or just others, like my daughter.
but I can think of a funny way to do it.
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Ya. it's weird that one version of the program reders text worse then the other. but it does look a lot better. Also I agree with Ookla, there are some nice fonts on that site.
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ok, whilst I'm looking at fonts, wanna help me decide what the navigation graphics should look like? I was thinking of two schemes, but I'm open to others.
Scheme 1: hands from 4 different action figures, two pointing left, for "First" and "Back 1 Day" and two pointing right for "Forward 1 Day" and "Most recent"
Then an action figure head for "home." All buttons would be parts from different figures. I'm unsure what I'd use for the remainder of the buttons, like "archive" or "links"
Scheme 2: An action figure is pictured, waist up, hands out to the sides. Left hand is back one, right hand is forward one, head is home/current, torso is first comic (maybe vice versa on those two). Navigation links would be different action figure parts or props.
Scheme 3 (of 2): hand written identifiers for link targets torn by hand from note cards (for rough edge look), that mouse over to be the same thing but from a different color note card.
What do you think?
I also need to choose a color scheme. I'm not sure I'll be using the logo I had earlier, so I need an idea for that too.
as for the camera, it looks like I'll have between 20-30 dollars mad money a month, which means I'll be buying a camera sometime this fall, even without donations. This would mean I could guarantee content every week day without fail, since I don't need access to someone else's equipment.
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What's "callot"?
realized I never answered that. "callot" is a mis-spelling of "call out," which is the bubbles that the text appears in.
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Scheme one is the more "traditional" webcomic scheme, but with funny icons so I'm voting for that one.
Because you dont' want readers to go "what the heck, i don't understand this navigation"
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I like none of them. Come up with better ones.
*Skar cracks whip
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I like scheme one
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I like none of them. Come up with better ones.
*Skar cracks whip
Uhm... scheme 4: i just put some little triangles pointing in there. Two triangles for beginning and most recent.
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Perhpaps if they were solid looking plastic triangles. As though they were made from the same material your actors are?
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I was joking about triangles. That's like a fall back, uncreative idea if nothing else seems to work for me. Though if i could find 3D plastic looking ones.... hrm...
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do an animated jenga tower where you have to pull at blocks to get the page to do something... and then have a report error block pull the whole thing down.
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FYI, I have NOT been ignoring my comic.
Though I did rename it which means i'll need to change my subdomain
I have made two styles of layouts, with various button color schemes. i'm still picking through them, and will probably end up just deciding on the one I like most, since all specific advice on most things (like the name of hte comic, what fonts to use) i have ignored, even after asking for opinions.
Though i did get a bunch of stuff from blambot and the Spectre Verde font (which appears on some of the buttons).
So, feel free to check out my designs (http://kungfu.herbertlives.com/comics), you'll need to have JavaScript enable to view all the functionality (the mouseovers preload). I'm sure there's another way to do it, but this I ahd already a template for so I used it. ALso, I'm noticing that I ignored file size while building it, so the "card" layouts have some large images. Beware.
finally, I think it only survived in one layout, but there is an alternate logo there. I have already rejected it.
So, feel free tocomment. Specific criticisms like minor problems with appearances of some of the graphics are the most helpful, though i've probably already seen most of what needs correction. Feel free to try me. I miss a lot.
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I would make the buttons a yellow that mathes the logo. I like the notecards buttons better, as buttons, but they don't really fit. I think you should go for a plastic feel. The arrow buttons nicely accomplish this, yet they are little too large.
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Okay, I do have a comment--the logo and the buttons in the red look bad with aliasing like that. It would be better to just alias them against a red background in each image individually instead of trying to use transparency. (What you really want is properly aliased transparent RGBA pngs but Explorer won't display those right, so you're screwed...)
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Yeah, the logo looks great when it's not on a background. when I put it in the page, I saw the ugly bits around it. That's the least professional looking part of the whole page, I think.
As for button color, matching yellows would be good. My problem is that I'm not good at manipulating color. Since I made those pictures out of a scan of a 3D object (trying to make the 3d-plastic object look tot he buttons that Skar suggested), it's hard for me to get the color right. I'm sure I could work with that if that's what i decide.
Obviously, too, I can swap existing colors around. And I have raw images of the scans (I actually have several colors of this ceramic tile available (http://kungfu.herbertlives.com/comics/green/green.png) to work with, so using the pale yellow one might help me approximate the same yellow one better.
Because I like to explain my process, hoping there will be someone who can show me a better way, this (http://kungfu.herbertlives.com/comics/green/bigarrowright.png) is what I made out of that green tile above, but cutting/pasting sections of the edges to form what i needed. At first I wanted to preserve that top shadow, since i thought it lended 3d credence, but I couldn't find a way to blend it well, so I ended up using only non-shadowed edges to form the shape. It looks really cool that size, I think. However, there's no way to preserve that entirely with it shrunk down that I know of. I could scan it again at a smaller size, though. That might improve the integrity when shrunk down.
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Hey SE, here's a action figure buying question for you. I can get the "ultimately" rare Ben Reilly figure for $40. My friend sold one to someone else for $60. So I'm getting a little discount. Think it's worth it?
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I'd need to see a picture. Is it one of the ones made by Toy Biz? Is he in the Scarlet Spider costume?