The Gang of Five

The Land Before Time => LBT Projects => Topic started by: landbeforetimelover on May 14, 2007, 01:22:44 AM

Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 14, 2007, 01:22:44 AM
Hello.  I may make this the beginning of my lbt comic.  I just want to know if it is a lame idea.  I have made four comic pages so far.  Here are the download links.  They only take up like 100k each (about 1/10 of a megabyte)

page 1:

http://www.yousendit.com/download/UW16S3dqY1NvQUkwTVE9PQ (http://www.yousendit.com/download/UW16S3dqY1NvQUkwTVE9PQ)


page 2:

http://www.yousendit.com/download/UW16S3dnUzhCTWswTVE9PQ (http://www.yousendit.com/download/UW16S3dnUzhCTWswTVE9PQ)


page 3:

http://www.yousendit.com/download/UW16S3dnUzhiR0kwTVE9PQ (http://www.yousendit.com/download/UW16S3dnUzhiR0kwTVE9PQ)


page 4:

http://www.yousendit.com/download/UW16S3dtSytUME0wTVE9PQ (http://www.yousendit.com/download/UW16S3dtSytUME0wTVE9PQ)




I just need to know if it is a good idea or not.  I don't want to complete a 100+ page comic and then be told it was complete crap.  I would much rather be fed bad news when I have only invested around 1 hour into it rather than after investing 300 hours into it.  What do you think so far (not about the story but about the animation.  I will most likely make up a new beginning)?
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: Malte279 on May 14, 2007, 03:20:56 AM
I think the basic idea is quite interesting.  :yes
If you are going to make that comic there are several suggestions I have to possibly improve your work. If you are working with grass you should make sure that for every change of place the size of the grass in relationship with the characters remains the same. Also you might want to make the background more interesting by putting in some Rocks, branches etc. Among Christian's fanart in his gallery (http://www.lbt-gallery.de.vu/) you will find a number of pictures in which modelling grass was used (might be an option for you too in case you want to show grass which is very low in relation to the characters) along with rocks, blue cloth, and film. Maybe you can build up little landscapes in your garden (or where ever you took the pictures for the comic) and take pictures from different angles and perspectives. Sand, mud, and different colors of dirt add countless further possibilities. Perhaps grass can be used even more realistic if you uses stones (or whatever) to press it down on those spots where the characters are to stand (they wouldn't stand on an upright blade of grass), and photoshop may (I don't know photoshop well, so that is a question to be passed on to the experts) allow for the grass to be "darkened" in spots to create shadows of the characters. But that depends of course on how much care and effort you want to take.
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 14, 2007, 03:40:51 AM
Like this?  I know it's crap.  I did it in like 30 seconds and would never use it but is this the general idea?


http://www.yousendit.com/download/UW16S3dnTXZtMEkwTVE9PQ (http://www.yousendit.com/download/UW16S3dnTXZtMEkwTVE9PQ)


I guess it all comes down to if I want to make an LBT story or do I want to create a piece of art.  I do agree about how lame it looks to have the characters standing on a blade of grass.  What do you think?  Should I have like 50 pages of really good artwork and have a short story or should I have just okay artwork and have like 200 pages?  By the way, I didn't take this background picture.  I found it on the internet.  Great idea though!  I should try that!  If only my camera wasn't 12 megapixals.  Each photo is like 20MB.  That is pretty hard to make into a 100k image.  Will anyone be willing to take pictures of grass for me or tell me places to find grass pictures?  I could really use some help.  This is not an easy task to say the least.  I probably spend 99% of the time doing the amination and the rest of the time developing the story.  The only thing I really need help on is the stupid backgrounds.  I suck at backgrounds.  The worst part of it is you have to add the background last so you don't know what you're dealing with until you have it done.  It's almost like you have to do it twice.  Really maddening.
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 14, 2007, 04:44:40 AM
wow.  I took some of your suggestions into account and it ended up taking me nearly 30 minutes!  Please tell me if I did the shadows right and if I need to put any more.  That was hard and confusing!  I'm sure it will get easier in time though.  Here's the link to the new image:


 http://www.yousendit.com/download/UW14TXRYQVMwZ2swTVE9PQ (http://www.yousendit.com/download/UW14TXRYQVMwZ2swTVE9PQ)


I simply made shadows.  Should I also cut off their feet like in my previous message or should I just make shadows and darken their standing area?  I know Cera's shadow isn't as good al Littlefoot's.  I also have not yet figured out how to get the shadows to blend with the grass (so it doesn't look like there is just a black character following the characters).  I will though.  I got this program about a week ago and I just installed it today so I'm not an expert yet.  I am however very good at using programs I have never used before.  I know that by the end of the week, I'll know most if not all of the program features.  The more imput I get from you guys the better the images will become.  Keep that critisism coming!
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 14, 2007, 06:12:49 AM
I think I finally got it.  Ha!  What do you think.  I think the shadows should be a little lighter don't you?  Please give me your opinion!


http://www.yousendit.com/download/UW14TXRVdVU4NVUwTVE9PQ (http://www.yousendit.com/download/UW14TXRVdVU4NVUwTVE9PQ)

Any other ideas or am I ready to start the comic for real?  I can apply this same effect on rocks and other similar objects as well.  Do you think it would be a good idea if I had some other sort of objects like Malte said or not?  I tried adding a couple of real rocks to the image and it just looked stupid.  Maybe I should try animated rocks instead.  What do you think?
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: Malte279 on May 14, 2007, 02:42:44 PM
The shadows in the second picture are looking really good. Don't give up on real rocks too quickly ;)
Sometimes it is amazing how a close look at a simply rock reveals a whole "landscape" of cracks, lines, tracks of weathering etc. There are stones which can do for a whole landscape if a good picture is taken of them. If you consider including animated rocks, would it not be easier to animate the entire background if the inclusion of animation was necessary anyway?
One thing I realize especially about the Littlefoot in your pictures is that apparently he was "thinned" that the original relation of width and height was changed. I think this is something that should be avoided if possible.
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 14, 2007, 06:08:10 PM
I assure you I kept the height and width the same in all of the characters.  Perhaps it's the angle that makes it seem this way to you.  I certainly didn't notice it before and I still don't.  You want to see a picture of the rock on the background?  It looked really lame even with shadowing and blending effects.  Maybe I should try a tree next.  What do you think?
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 14, 2007, 07:26:22 PM
I think these are a lot nicer than any of the previous one's.  What do you think?


http://www.yousendit.com/download/UW15akl0RkVwM2swTVE9PQ (http://www.yousendit.com/download/UW15akl0RkVwM2swTVE9PQ)


 http://www.yousendit.com/download/UW15aklwMHczMWswTVE9PQ (http://www.yousendit.com/download/UW15aklwMHczMWswTVE9PQ)
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 15, 2007, 12:31:46 AM
Here are three more:


(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa146/tlordame/newcomicpage3.jpg)

(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa146/tlordame/newcomicpage4.jpg)

(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa146/tlordame/newcomicpage5.jpg)
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 15, 2007, 12:34:36 AM
And here's number six:


(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa146/tlordame/newcomicpage6.jpg)
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 15, 2007, 12:37:34 AM
I can edit images 3-6 in any way.  Please tell me if there can be impromrments.  I couldn't find any except the treestar mound sucks pretty bad.  It was taken from a badly degraded AVI file (lbt 7).  Anyway, the images are probably full of errors and I just can't see them.  I have been up over 60 hours straight trying to fix my quota of computers so I am not at my best.  I know I sort of dozed off while modifying one of the images so I don't know how good it is.  Please give me some imput so I may improve the images and/or story.
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 15, 2007, 02:24:56 PM
Okay.  Got another one:


(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa146/tlordame/newcomicpage7.jpg)
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: novaflare on May 15, 2007, 06:10:11 PM
I think you have a very workable idea here. I see some left overs from your cut outs of the original seens like some green around little foots head in one picture for example. But it looks quite good. On thing you will need to do is come up with a good caption bubble and make sure that what you have the chars saying fits their typical movie/series personalities.

But the idea is very very workable.
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 15, 2007, 07:08:47 PM
Sorry about the characters not being cut perfectly.  Pages 3-7 are fully editable.  I am just trying to get the pages out as fast as possible.  I will fix the minor errors later.  As for the caption bubbles, I really don't know how to do that but I'll think of something.  I could for example make a white circle covering the text and then move it back so it's behind it.  I don't know if I can make a curved arrow thing leading to the characters mouths.  The arrow thing would have to be straight.  Now I'm just going to watch all of the lbt video's and take potentially useful screenshots.  One difficult thing about taking characters directly from the movies is the fact that most of the time, part of them is covered.  On the last slide, Spike had no tail so I had to put him partially off the screen after rotating him horizontally.  Tough work getting all of the glitchs out but thanks for the imput.  Any other idea's?
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 16, 2007, 08:51:44 AM
Here's number 8:



(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa146/tlordame/newcomicpage8.jpg)



I know the mound of treestars looks horrible.  It's all I got though.
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 16, 2007, 08:57:38 AM
Do you like it with the caption bubbles better?



(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa146/tlordame/newcomicpage8captions.jpg)
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: novaflare on May 16, 2007, 09:31:52 AM
Quote from: landbeforetimelover,May 15 2007 on  07:08 PM
Sorry about the characters not being cut perfectly.  Pages 3-7 are fully editable.  I am just trying to get the pages out as fast as possible.  I will fix the minor errors later.  As for the caption bubbles, I really don't know how to do that but I'll think of something.  I could for example make a white circle covering the text and then move it back so it's behind it.  I don't know if I can make a curved arrow thing leading to the characters mouths.  The arrow thing would have to be straight.  Now I'm just going to watch all of the lbt video's and take potentially useful screenshots.  One difficult thing about taking characters directly from the movies is the fact that most of the time, part of them is covered.  On the last slide, Spike had no tail so I had to put him partially off the screen after rotating him horizontally.  Tough work getting all of the glitchs out but thanks for the imput.  Any other idea's?
strait is fine on a caption bubble as is your sqaured bubbles them seles. Leave the rounded corners.
If you really want curved pointers most editors have a arc tool that lets you create curved elements. Im not in to 2d art so dont ask me wich ones ive seen various image editors that do it though.

Also dont think that the bubble needs to be directly over a chars head you can place above to right or left dependign on the direction a char is facing with a strait pointer towards the mouth.
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 16, 2007, 09:58:29 AM
I'll look into a way to improve the captions and will apply the improvments on the next page.  I have tried so many different methods to get the stupid arrow onto the caption!  It just won't work with the programs I have.  I will try to get a new program that will do this.  Thank you for your imput.  Please continue to give out critisim so I can improve the comic to the maximum extent and eventually have a nice piece of work here.
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: pokeplayer984 on May 16, 2007, 11:59:29 PM
Well, for the most part, in my humble opinion, you can have the worst graphics in the world when making a comic, but without a good storyline, you're just not gonna attract people.

So far, your storyline is pretty good.  However, I want to know why they wanted to surprise Littlefoot.  Is there a special occasion of some kind I don't know about?  Maybe his hatchday/starday or something? :)

You see, that's what I really care about.  The storyline.  So exactly what is the idea you have here?
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 17, 2007, 12:22:31 AM
I have no clue as of yet.  Truthfully, I was going to develop the story solely around the opinions of others.  I am creating my own unique story but I am open to any suggestions that you may have.  I can edit the pages created so far and I'm going to keep it that way so if you think I should cut a slide or alter it in any way please say so.  I am not easily offended and since I'm expecting a high amount of critisim, I am open to just about anything but something like adding human characters to LBT or having one of them die.  Please do not hold back any opinions or suggestions you may have.  I essentially want to make a story and have it modified to what all of you think it should be.  I find this method much better than creating the whole idea myself and then getting critisized for things I can no longer change.  All I want out of this experience is to have fun, create a great LBT story with the assistance of other LBT fans, and to contribute to LBT in any way I can.  I know that I am not the best at creating a story (though my first lbt fanfic had great reviews I still lack confidence) but since I have the programming knowledge, I think I could really come up with a great story with some imput from all of you.  If we work together, I'm sure we can create a great piece of work and add stories and ideas to the LBT community.  What could be more gradifying than that?
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 17, 2007, 02:30:50 AM
Here's number nine folks.


(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa146/tlordame/newcomicpage9.jpg)
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 17, 2007, 02:33:17 AM
OOPS!  You can see the water of the background image behind the cliff.  I took the background image of the ocean and a sailboat and the cliff thing directly from the movie.
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 18, 2007, 12:40:23 AM
I have been looking on the internet for hours and have only found 1 rock that looked okay on the background.  Would someone be willing to take a picture of a rock in their back yard or something for me?  It would really help.
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 21, 2007, 07:19:07 PM
Okay.  Number 10.  Sorry it took so long.  So busy with the lbt singing project and just life in general.

(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa146/tlordame/newcomicpage10.jpg)
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 30, 2007, 09:12:49 AM
Sorry it's been so long since my last pic.  My partner in a reasearch project came over and I left him alone to play my Wii while I helped my mom.  Instead, he got onto my computer and changed all of my previous slides into LBT porn scenes. :x It has taken me this long just to undo the damage.  He really screwed them up.  They are all fixed now though.  I have to go to shcool soon and I need some ideas on what the story should be about.  I don't really want crazy things happening like the gang meeting aliens or having them go to the future or anything but I really need some ideas.  You got any?
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: Tails_155 on May 30, 2007, 11:14:29 AM
well: do you think they'll ever be your partner again? :p

'cause it sounds like a trust issue, or broken trust rather
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on May 30, 2007, 06:26:28 PM
Quote
well: do you think they'll ever be your partner again?


Heck no!!!  After all the work I went through putting those things back together there is no way I'll ever be his partner again. :angry:
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on June 02, 2007, 04:29:21 PM
Hey all.  I'm perfectly willing to make more slides for my realistic lbt comic, I just need more ideas.  I need a story.  I may not have difficulty in creating the slides, but I'm a horrible story writer.  Any ideas for a story?
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: Malte279 on June 02, 2007, 05:22:43 PM
How about a story to get Chomper of the island? I have been thinking about a story opening with a flyer coming to the Great Valley, a popular sight as flyers often bring many tales of distant parts with them. This one however carries a "personal message" for Littlefoot. A rather uncommon thing. The flyer tells Littlefoot (far from the grownups) about being caught by a young sharptooth on an island. That young sharptooth (just who might it be ;)) let the flyer fly for the promise to head for the Great Valley and tell Littlefoot that he and his folks are trapped on the island and "food" is running out.

The story would be tricky though for the moral problem. Trying to help Chomper get of the island will mean putting other dinosaurs through everything Littlefoot has gone through in the first movie (as Cera might remind Littlefot). Ultimately I don't see how Littlefoot and the others could get Chomper and his parents of the island. A natural event (retreat of the water before a Tsunami for example) is more likely to do the trick and spare Littlefoot and the others the tough decision. I don't know if the plot is suitable for a comic.
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on June 02, 2007, 06:49:56 PM
It might just work!

The only thing is I need a picture of this flyer.

and many pictures of chomper and his folks.

I take these things directly from the movie and alter them.  I may be able to acquire the shots though, especially with the tv series spewing out a new episode every week.

A back story of how chomper got off the island huh?

I could have something happen that causes large plate movement making an underwater mountain come up, allowing chomper and his parents to go over it.  Then something could happen which seperates chomper from his parents and he goes to the great valley for help.

One question:

How would Chomper and his parents get seperated?
Title: Realistic LBT Comic
Post by: landbeforetimelover on June 03, 2007, 02:29:06 PM
I will have to use many pictures of Chomper from the tv series because of limited shots.  How different is his animation from that of the sequals?  Will you be able to tell the difference between a chomper from the sequals and a chomper from the tv series?  

I was also thinking of adding for one of the slides another sharptooth friend for chomper.  After all, should we assume that all the time since lbt 5 that he's had no friends?  I could just take a picture of chomper and screw around with the color, brightness, contrast, and so on.  What do you think?

basically I have the story go like this:

chomper is playing with his sharptooth friend.  His sharptooth friend leaves at the end of the day after playing and then chomper is depressed and misses littlefoot and the gang.  His parents try to cheer him up.  It doesn't work.  Next morning, there's and earthshake and a mountain rises out of the water, connecting the 2 land masses.  Chomper discovers this and he and his parents go across it.  They run into the sharptooth that was knocked off of the ledge in lbt 5 and presumably died.  He survived though and got to the other side.  He wants to take revenge on chomper an his parents.  They battle.  Chomper runs and is seperated from his grandparents.  He goes to the great valley for help.  Along the way, he encounters things like the tiny sharpteeth in lbt 3, but evades them and gets to the valley.

any suggestions?