Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'design'.
Found 75 results
-
[Help] Car Design
Block_Smarts Lego Technic posted a topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling
I am working on a sports car and I can never get shapes just right. Like Crowkillers vampire gt is perfect even though its not based off of a car. Also, Jeroen Ottens Mistresshas wavy lines I cannot get in my cars. So what I'm asking for is techniques to shape body's for cars and get shapes right. Thanks! -
I am thrilled to know that my entry to the Ani-Com & Games Hong Kong 2015 LEGO Competition was shortlisted! This year, the topic is "Ideal Home (Interior Design)" (weird title with the confusing brackets, I know!), and since I like building houses, I thought I might give it a try this year. The show ended two days ago and while my submission did not get into the top three, I still got 4th in the judge scoring and I am already happy to be on the stage this year with the other awesome builders! My build is called "S Villa" (previously named Box iN during submission), which is my dream home in the brick city. The design is based on the concept of a garden. To me, home should be a place separated from the hustle and bustle of the city. Instead of being trapped inside another building, the occupants probably want to have their own personal outdoor space, meaning a garden. Therefore, the concept is a central garden with rooms arranged around it. Above is the program of the house, with different rooms arranged around the garden. Here is the final look of it, showing its front facade: The center garden is here, with some pebbles forming a loop path: The arrangement of rooms start from the living room, which is directly facing the garden. It is first place I enter when I arrive home, and I want this to be a relaxing place without TV to distract me. Further in is the kitchen and dining area, the latter which extends out to share the same garden view: The opposite side of dining room is the corridor leading to guest toilets and back door, where you can reach the garage. The staircase forms right above the main entrance, and I refuse to use a stacking type of staircase so that the staircase is like a room itself, creating a middle platform as a buffer to the upper private rooms. The black box, which is my studio, is located at the first stop of the staircase. Inside there are my desk and personal theater. Now this is the place I enjoy TV shows and movies. Going further up is the bedroom and lavatory. If you see closely, you will see I put the rooms that require quiet space, ie dining room and bedroom, away from the street, using the staircase circulation as the buffer separation to kill any noise from outside. The bedroom is a simple one, with an extended balcony next to it. My concept of monochrome design comes from the idea that a building can be simple and neutral-colored so that people focus on its form and shapes. All the colors then come from the inside, where people live, because life is colorful. Without us, there can be no color. We, are the colors. The space underneath the black box is recessed in as a garage. I also made a little extention behind it to put the tools for the garage. S Villa is the house for me and my wife, and the name contains the first letters of our names. Originally it was named "Box iN" during the submission since the idea is about the inner garden. With this design, I hope to inspire people that a house can be simple in geometry, and also functional in use. Hope you enjoy this building and its architectural concepts! More photos at:
-
This is my build for Tower Phase 2 in Age of Mitgardia. Battles occured throughout the North, as the Algus continued their relentless push into Mitgardia. A Nordheim watchtower had spotted a group of Algus for the village itself, and what warriors the town had left were quickly gathered to try and hold off the icy foes. The men were led by Anar, a veteran warrior famous for his dragon forged spear. Much to the men's relief, the Algus didn't seem capable of freezing the Mitgardians as they charged into battle: In fact, Anar even managed to slay one of the fearsome beasts: Upon which the other Algus made an organized retreat This gave the warriors new hope, as it seemed that the Algus weren't invincible after all. I tried a new wooden wall design utilizing sideways plates and tiles to give a planking effect. And credit for the roof design goes to Siercon and Coral.
-
Hey people, I've just finished logo for my own CS pseudo-subtheme Techtroners (I was trying to somewhat remain within the limits of the "GreatOldOnes" yet incorporating some fresh visual ideas): the middle golden object should remind you several things like letter "T" (ehm, as for "Techtroners", right? ), also stylized Michelangelo's "person" with widely stretched out hands, maybe high voltage pylon too (as Techtroners are mainly technicians... ) + in background there is a blue planet (although not Earth still evoking it by the water color) and the rocket from the 80's CS logo this time making circles not around the planet itself but the middle "T" object instead - what do you think, hm? BTW somewhere in the middle of the process there was a brief moment when it almost look like the old WWII german eagle holding the sw...ika so I rather immediately changed/redesigned it avoiding any misunderstanding ...but I had to admit purely as a design it was perfect tho . Anyway I am hoping you will like the final "product" so please let me know your opinions in the comment section if you will... Colors of the bricks are used in the way I am using it within the Techtroners subtheme...yellow, white, black, trans dark blue.
-
My finished collab with LittleJohn. This is our largest build to date, with a base size of 66x98, and weighing in at 30.2 pounds. There are 70 minifigures in the city, including quite a few familiar sigfigs, see how many you can spot We constructed it over a 6 week period. Every building has a full interior, and every floor is accesible via stairs or ladder. There are four moving features: the windmill, the potter's wheel, the hidden trapdoor in the city hall, and the bell; see them in action here: The city buildings include: windmill, tower, gatehouse, potter's shop, tailor's shop, city hall, noble's house, palace guesthouse, and palace. Windmill module: link Gatehouse module: link Market module: link City hall module: link Gardens module: link Palace module: link The city of Katoren is growing quickly and has already become a prominent city in Kaliphlin. It is well known for it's thriving marketplace, and elegant palace. See lots more pictures here: link Well we hope you've enjoyed our efforts, we certainly had fun creating this slice of Katoren
-
Hi everyone! I got this interesting idea of a fire station some time ago, and built this in two weeks, the fastest building I have done so far. I have no intention to get the now-expensive 10197 Fire Brigade, which doesn't really appeal to me. However, I am thinking, if I am to build a fire station, what design should it be? All fire stations have the distinctive feature of the big gates for fire trucks and the walls that separate them, no matter what the buildings look like. I took that idea, and thought about extending these bays to the second storey. At the same time, what if the interior walls grow so big that they grow outside of the facade walls? And so I turned the sketches into real thing. I choose dark red as it is less prominent than bright red, giving a more sophisticated color scheme for the city. Inside, you have everything a normal fire station would have: parking bays and equipment racks on the ground floor: Captain talking to the staff... On the second floor, there are pantry, resting room and toilet on the top. There is even a ping-pong table for the firemen! "Hey why are you two playing table tennis on the street, huh?" One of the play features here is the light. I put the red light brick at the corner and so when there is alarm, you can light it up and the firemen will be ready to go! I hope you like this modern building design, thanks!
-
My build for Round 6 of The Tourney at MOCpages. I chose to build a section of the city Harfleur, with Henry V making his triumphant entry after the town's surrender. The city's walls, towers, and houses, have all sustained damage from the siege. The only buildings set square to the base are the red house, and two small sections of the wall. Both houses have full interiors and working doors. See all the details here: link Thanks for looking
-
Hey everyone. I've submitted a design on Threadless with a Lego minifig with its head attached to its leg, with the text saying 'This...is NOT funny'. I will be the happiest man on the planet if you have time to go vote for my design. Threadless will each week review the submitted designs and pick the favorites among the community. This will give me the chance to earn some money, and you could end up wearing my print. So go visit https://www.threadle...gns/exasperated and you will become...awesome. (You will have to log in before you can give a score, but you can easily do that with your facebook account.) And remember to spread the word. From the bottom of my heart... Thank you.
-
Since two days i'm working on my latest project...a Modular City Square... or, a square for my modulars.....it is a rather large surface, so i had to do a few bricklink orders...but this is what i started with..updates will follow!!.
-
I've been searching for some nice bench-designs, which i can place on my WIP Modular City Square... recently i saw a really nice bench, designed by a EB-member with a somewhat italian name... I simply cannot find it anywhere here on EB, and i'm sure he posted pictures.. The legs were made of black parts, that is the only thing i remember... and i remember that i liked it a lot! Is there anyone who knows what i mean, and better, can post the pictures of the bench again... ?? It had a kind of victorian style..... Hope to hear from anyone soon!
-
This took me one week to build, and I wanted to use it for Inn Phase 3, so I held off on posting here until I could build a Phase 2 MOC. It was inspired by this building in Skyrim: link Anyways I hope you enjoy, this is my favorite build yet The Green Goblet is the largest and most popular inn in Daydelon. More pictures: link And if you're curious how I managed the corners of the roof, there's an explanation here: http://www.brickbuilt.org/?p=368 C&C always appreciated
-
Do you want to own functional, durable, handsome and unique lego versions of real-life guns? Than you will be interested in Lego Gun Instructions! Link removed [Edit by WhiteFang] Find us on eBay! If you order for more than $5.00 you get 1 pistol instructions for FREE!
-
A Piece of Art by Adeel Zubair, on Flickr This MOC started with the Piet Mondrian art piece on a small scale but then I realised it wasn't worthy by itself so I also built a small easel to got with it. It's a piece of art. Fun Fact: This MOC was created with just a small selection of pieces I had lying around and I didn't purchase specific pieces therefore the design of the back leg is covered with brown pieces because it has green Technic pieces to hold the leg at that angle. Thoughts and comments are appreciated. Adeel
-
Highlighting the best LEGO architecture models (by architecture style)
henrysunset posted a topic in Special LEGO Themes
I wanted to share a project I've been working on for a few months to find the very best LEGO Architecture models by LEGO Artists around the world. I found many of the models in my collection by reviewing the great resources here in the "Special Themes" forum on Eurobricks. (I think I've skimmed through all 142 pages of posts!) The result is several collections of the best LEGO Architecture, which I've sorted by Architectural style. LINK: http://tomalphin.com/2014/07/best-lego-architecture.html The following is just a teaser of the 100's of great LEGO models I've found. I'm sure some of these are models by members of this board, and I hope you are happy to see your work featured below! (I've tried to make sure each entry is meticulously labeled to give credit to the original artist and link directly to their galleries on Flickr, Mocpages and other sites. If you see a mistake, please let me know. Did I miss your favorite LEGO Architecture model? Tell me about your favorite LEGO Architecture models by replying to this thread or my blog post and I'll add more great LEGO buildings to my Pinterest boards. Sincerely, ---tom -
I finally managed to complete this amazing project, which is to build my own studio. Behold, this is not just another modular building exercise. As an architect (not a LEGO architect but real architect, haha), I want to put what I learnt in school and work to the brick city. I went through the typical architectural process, from sketching to form study to actual building it, and it was fun! The idea comes from the basic LEGO bricks. If we can use the bricks for form study in architectural model, what if it grows and becomes the building? Also, during brick building, we actually just do two basic operations: addition and subtraction. Through these operations, spaces and voids are formed and make openings and skylights. This is what this studio is presenting. The new studio is not just a landmark in the city, but a milestone. It does not just create a building for functions and sit in the brick city, but it sets a new path and inject design culture into the town. Now let's take a look at the contemporary architecture style! (here I use the typical architectural presentation style, please enjoy!) I hope all of you enjoy this architectural project! Thanks! EDITED: My LEGO studio is finally up on LEGO Ideas, and please help and vote for it. Once it has 10000 votes, it will be assessed by LEGO to see if it can be a real product. Support me now, thanks!!! https://ideas.lego.com/projects/67217
-
Those who wait for something good...had to wait a long time it seems. But FINALLY, after a lot of planning and preparations we can reveal the 2014 Eurobricks Digital Design Contest. Three categories are available: 1) Free build, 2) Microscale and 3) Rendering - something to suit every taste.The theme this time is Build your dream home! So use your imagination and find your angle on this topic Sounds like fun? Ready to trim up your skills in LDD or Ldraw? C'mon and join us in the Digital Design Forum. We offer a great contest with plenty of good prizes.
-
LEGO special edition set - Show Off Your Design Skills!
johnma1943 posted a topic in General LEGO Discussion
Found all these interesting photos posted by Tom Alphin --- LEGO Architecture Studio 21050 Over 1200 LEGO bricks. Elegant design for LEGO adult fans Guidebook with 272 pages of tips and techniques Build your dream house With the trees Harmony design Sculpture Building Towers Build your own city Bedroom / Furniture With the minifigures design your own castle show off your design skills Perfect for designers, architects and anyone who wants to build their own creations! -
Questions about Tank-building
z3_2drive posted a topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling
For my next build I am planning to make a high-speed RC offroad tank with 4 buggy motors, similar in design to a Ripsaw. This will be my topic for any questions/discussion that may come up during the build. My recent BL orders have yet to come, so for now I only have one question. Are drive motors located at only one end of the vehicle? Or can they be placed at both 'axles'? It would seem simpler to have only the rear end driven, or would it be better to evenly distribute torque and avoid stress at one end? -
New Half-axles for Lego Trial Trucks - Tatra T813 4x4 RC Trial Truck V
The Ghost Racer posted a topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling
New Half-axles for Lego Trial Trucks - Tatra T813 4x4 RC Trial Truck V4 I accidentally reversed the gears of the portal hubs of this pic. For Lego Tatra T813 4x4 RC Trial Truck V4 I decided to make new half-axles, more resistant than they already were the previous ones, so as to transmit the maximum torque ratio possible from wheels to ground. The photo of the axle shafts made with Lego bricks will be available by early next week. Project Starting from my previous axles, which had little resistance in the attack for wheels, I added the portal hubs from Lego set 8110 Mercedes-Benz Unimog U400, made specifically for this use. In the portal hubs I put gear reductions for a total gear ratio of, together with other gear reductions in the transmission, 9:1, then, nine complete revolutions of the pinion of the motor, the wheel it will perform a complete one. Lego Tatra T813 4x4 RC Trial Truck V4 My new axles shafts will be used by Lego Tatra T813 4x4 RC Trial Truck V4; thanks to them will greatly improve its performance and by the end of July will publish a new article and a new video dedicated to Lego Tatra T813 V4. -
Am I the only person who thinks that LEGO needs to make some new armor pieces? Like in the episode Breakout, Rocka and Splitface have an armor piece (Rocka has 2) that has a axle hole on it. I really wish that LEGO would make something like that. What are your thoughts on LEGO making new armor pieces?
-
To celebrate the upcoming release of the Iron Man 3 movie, I created minifig designs for every film suit. (If I left any out, let me know.) Comments and criticism are very much appreciated. This is the official minifig design, with an improved minigun. For those interested, it's made out of a neck bracket, one 1x1 clip, a space gun, and some binoculars. I've got a version that has missiles too; expect pictures soon. For some reason, the helmet angle makes this guy. I also liked the leg detailing on the film version, so I tried to pull out the details there and Lego-fy them. Doing this guy was fun. I'm not sure what he does in the movie, but his repulsor looks like a Roman collar. I imagine him as the chaplain of the Iron Legion. ;) The official Extremis armor, with gold arms. (The three actual minifigs of these that I own have gold arms, so I went with that for the CG version.) Identical to the official minifig. Identical to the official minifig. This was probably the hardest to design in terms of torso detailing, but the end result looks official. I'm not 100% satisfied with this guy, but it's recognizable. This is basically a recolored Mark III with rivets slapped on. This one is easily my favorite. This is a slight redesign of the official LEGO version. This was the longest one to design, especially with the complex torso plating. I actually just finished a Gemini suit render for Solid Brix Studios, but this is a separate design that fits my own tastes a bit better. Whew! I hope you enjoyed them!
-
Hi guys, I can't find some PF Tracks in Bricksmith / LDraw inventory list. Parts should be: Flexible Segment Curve Double Crossover Straight Left Switch Right Switch Bricksmith has only the Flexible Segment. I know that 9V Curved and Straight tracks should be ok, so I can use them. But I can't find double crossover and switches. Any suggestions? Thanks.
-
LegoIDEASforYou posted two YouTube videos for the Lego Pneumatic fans out there: -- "Building Guide 1: Lego Front Wheel Drive With Pneumatic Steering": "This is a simple design for a front wheel drive axle with steering (the pneumatic steering is optional, it can be easily changed into normal steering). It is mainly designed for lego- trucks or trial wehicles. Features: tough, high-angle steering. Parts: 4 x TECHNIC ANG. BEAM 4X2 90 DEG - Black 4 x T-BEAM 3X3 W/HOLE Ø4.8 - Dark Stone Grey 8 x TECHNIC LEVER 3M - Black 1 x TECHNIC 5M HALF BEAM - Black 2 x TECHNIC 5M HALF BEAM - Medium Stone Grey 1 x TECHNIC 7M HALF BEAM - Black 4 x TRIANGLE - Black 2 x 1/2 BUSH - Medium Stone Grey 3 x 2M CROSS AXLE W. GROOVE - Black 10 x CONNECTOR PEG W. FRICTION - Black 12 x CROSS AXLE 3M - Medium Stone Grey 6 x BUSH FOR CROSS AXLE - Medium Stone Grey 2 x CONNECTOR PEG W. FRICTION 3M - Black 6 x CONNECTOR PEG W. FRICTION 3M - Bright Blue 1 x CROSS AXLE, EXTENSION, 2M - Medium Stone Grey 3 x CROSS AXLE 5M - Medium Stone Grey 4 x CROSS BLOCK 90° - Black 4 x ANGLE ELEMENT, 0 DEGREES [1] - Black 1 x BEAM 1X2 W/CROSS AND HOLE - Black 2 x CROSS AXLE 6M - Black 3 x DOUBLE CROSS BLOCK - Medium Stone Grey 1 x CROSS AXLE 5,5 WITH STOP 1M. - Black 1 x CROSS AXLE 9M - Medium Stone Grey 2 x UNIVERSAL JOINT - Medium Stone Grey 1 x TECHNIC CROSS BLOCK/FORK 2X2 - Black 1 x BEAM FRAME 5X7 Ø 4.85 - Medium Stone Grey 3 x CONICAL WHEEL Z12 - Medium Stone Grey 1 x DOUBLE CONICAL WHEEL Z20 1M - Black 1 x DIFFERENTIALE 3M Z 28 - Dark Stone Grey The portal axle mod for this one will come soon so stay tuned! You can use it as you wish but don't forget to sign where it came from when you make a video or picture of it. The lego digital designer save file can be downloaded from here: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B53TLXnACl-BSnN0eDdERTFGbTA If you have any questions or you just want help, please write." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * -- "Building Guide 2: Simple Rear Axle with Differential": "This is a simple design for a rear wheel drive axle. It is mainly designed for lego- trucks or cars. Features: tough, tolerate high pressure from the top. Parts: 4 x TECHNIC 3M BEAM - Black 4 x TECHNIC 7M BEAM - Black 4 x TECHNIC ANG. BEAM 4X2 90 DEG - Black 1 x TECHNIC 11M BEAM - Black 4 x TECHNIC ANG. BEAM 3X5 90 DEG. - Black 8 x TECHNIC LEVER 3M - Black 1 x TECHNIC 7M HALF BEAM - Black 6 x 1 1/2 M CONNECTING BUSH - Dark Stone Grey 2 x CONNECTOR PEG W. FRICTION - Black 12 x CROSS AXLE 3M - Medium Stone Grey 2 x BUSH FOR CROSS AXLE - Medium Stone Grey 10 x CROSS AXLE 4M - Black 12 x CONNECTOR PEG W. FRICTION 3M - Bright Blue 3 x CROSS AXLE, EXTENSION, 2M - Medium Stone Grey 2 x CROSSAXLE 3M WITH KNOB - Dark Stone Grey 2 x CROSS BLOCK 90° - Medium Stone Grey 2 x ANGLE ELEMENT, 0 DEGREES [1] - Black 2 x CROSS AXLE 7M - Medium Stone Grey 3 x DOUBLE CROSS BLOCK - Medium Stone Grey 1 x UNIVERSAL JOINT - Medium Stone Grey 2 x TECHNIC CROSS BLOCK/FORK 2X2 - Medium Stone Grey 2 x CROSS BLOCK 3X2 - Medium Stone Grey 2 x SHOCK ABSORBER - Bright Yellow,Black 1 x BEAM FRAME 5X7 O 4.85 - Medium Stone Grey 3 x CONICAL WHEEL Z12 - Medium Stone Grey 1 x DOUBLE CONICAL WHEEL Z20 1M - Black 1 x DIFFERENTIALE 3M Z 28 - Dark Stone Grey The brake mod for this one will come soon so stay tuned! You can use it as you wish but don't forget to sign where it came from when you make a video or picture of it. The lego digital designer save file can be downloaded from here: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B53TLXnACl-BeXd0VjlUODNoOEE If you have any questions or you just want help, please write." -
Tutorial: Adding Comic Book Elements to Images using Photoshop
XimenaPaulina posted a topic in Brick Flicks & Comics
So you've taken the photographs for your comics, made the necessary photo-adjustments/enhancements, and did the initial panel layouting, now it's time to put some elements in your images to give them a distinct "comic-book look/effect". This tutorial will teach you how to put various elements popularly found in comic book pages - "hand-drawn" panel borders, text boxes, comic fonts and sound texts - using Adobe Photoshop. For this tutorial, I'll be using the image below as the subject (640 x 732 pixels) and a plain white background for the comic layout. Click for higher resolution image Part I: Adding a "Hand-drawn" Border on the Image 1. Open both the image file and the background file in Adobe Photoshop. 2. Go to the image file > select all (CTRL+A) > copy (CTRL+C). Then go to the background file and paste (CTRL+V) the image. The image file will become a new layer (Layer 1) in the Background file. Rename it as Main Layer (renaming is optional, it's used only in this tutorial for easier reference). 3. Add another layer above the Main Layer by clicking on the Add Layer Icon at the bottom of the LAYERS pane. Name the Layer as Border. 4. Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) on the Tools Palette at the left. Make a rectangle selection by dragging the cursor from the top-left corner to the bottom right corner of the image. 5. Select Edit on the Function Menu at the top > choose Stroke > and set the following parameters: Width: 5 px / Color: Black / Position: Center > Click OK. The border will now be added on top of the image. 6. Deselect the current selection > go to Filter > Blur > Blur More. 7. Go to Filter > Distort > Ripple > set Amount: 20% and Size: Medium. 8. Go to Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen More. This will be the resulting image with a border resembling a hand-drawn border characteristic of comic books: Part II: Adding Text Boxes to the Image 1. Create another layer below the Border layer. Re-name it as Text Box 1. 2. Select the Rectangle Tool (U) on the Tools Palette. Make a rectangle on the top left corner of the image. a. To set the text box border: Right-click on the Text Box 1 layer > choose Blending Options > tick Stroke > set the following parameters: Size: 4 px / Position: Center / Color: Black > Click OK. b. To set the text box color: In the Tools Palette , set the foreground color to orange (#fdd515 in this example) and the background color to white. Right-click on the Text Box 1 layer > choose Blending Options > tick Gradient Overlay > set the following parameters: Blending Mode: Normal / Opacity: 100% / Gradient: Foreground to Background / Angle: 90 degrees > Click OK. TIP: Save these settings for faster and easier use the next time around. To do this, just double-click on text box layer > click New Style > Rename it (eg. Comic Book Text Box) > tick both Include Layer Effects and Include Blending Options > click OK. Next time you'll be creating a text box, just click on the particular icon in the STYLES pane and you'll instantly get the desired text box settings. 3. If the story narrative of the comics requires it, a second text box may be added to an image - with a different look to avoid visual redundancy. To create the second text box, add another layer above Text Box 1 and name it as Text Box 2. 4. In the Tools Palette, set the foreground color to white. Select the Rectangular Tool (U) and make a rectangle on the bottom of the image. Right-click on the Text Box 2 layer > choose Blending Options > tick Stroke > set the following parameters: Size: 4 px / Position: Center / Color: Black (NOTE: If the resulting text box still has the previous gradient overlay settings, just un-tick the Gradient Overlay box in the Blending Options and the text box will be filled with the white foreground color). This will be the resulting image with the two text boxes added: Part III: Adding Text Captions using Comic Book Fonts 1. To give your text captions the desired comic book effect, there are text fonts specially designed for comic books. Download the free font Digital Strip and install it in your computer. 2. Using the Horizontal Type Tool (T) in the Tools Palette, create a text caption over the orange text box. For this example I set the following settings in the Text Toolbar: Font: Digital Strip (Regular) / Color: Black / Text Size: 22 pt / Anti-aliasing: Strong / Left-align text. You may also emphasize certain words in the caption, in this example I made the "Lasso of Truth" Bold for emphasis. 3. Re-size the text box as needed by dragging the edges of the text box to the appropriate size. If the text caption goes over the orange text box, re-size the text box by: Single-click the Text Box 1 layer in the LAYERS pane > Go to Edit in the top function menu > choose Free Transform > drag the edges of the text box to the appropriate size > click the icon. 4. You could also highlight the first letter of the text caption to further give it a comic book look (which is usually done only at the start of the comics or certain parts/chapters). To do this: a. First go to the text caption layer, click and delete the first letter. You may need to put additional spaces in place of the deleted first letter and to provide space for the highlighted letter. b. Click on tool in the Tools Palette > type in the first letter > and set the following settings in the Text Toolbar: Font: Digital Strip (Regular) / Color: Red (#fd030f) / Text Size: 48 pt / Anti-aliasing: Strong c. To add effects on the first letter, right-click on the First Letter layer > tick Stroke > set the following settings: Size: 4 px / Position: Outside / Blend Mode: Normal / Opacity: 100% / Color: Black > Click OK. To give the letter a shadow effect: tick Drop Shadow > set the following settings: Blend Mode: Normal / Opacity: 100% / Angle: 120 degrees / Distance: 5 px / Spread: 75 px / Size: 5 px > Click OK. TIP: Save these settings for faster and easier use the next time around. To do this, just double-click on text box layer > click New Style > Rename it (eg. Comic Book First Letter) > tick both Include Layer Effects and Include Blending Options > click OK. 5. For the second text caption on the white text box, repeat step #2-3. The image with the text captions should look like this: Part IV: Adding Sound Texts Some images/panels may require the use of sound texts (like the classic KABOOM!, KA-POW!, etc.) or even exp<b></b>ressions of rage (screams), distress calls (HELP!, SAVE ME!), etc. These special text captions require more emphasis to stand-out inside the image panel. Here is an example on how to do this: 1. There are a lot of good comic book fonts for this particular use, but my personal preference is this BadaBoom BB font (by Nate Piekos, Blambot fonts). Download this free font and install in your computer. 2. Type in the sound text using in the Tools Palette. For this example I set the following settings for the text: Font: BadaBoom BB (Regular) / Color: Red (#fe0000) / Text Size: 100 pt / Anti-aliasing: Strong 3. To add stroke to the text: right-click on the layer > choose Blending Options > tick Stroke > set the following settings: Size: 4 px / Position: Outside / Blend Mode: Normal / Opacity: 100% / Color: Yellow (#f1f414) > Click OK. TIP: Save these settings for faster and easier use the next time around. To do this, just double-click on text box layer > click New Style > Rename it (eg. Comic Book Sound Tex) > tick both Include Layer Effects and Include Blending Options > click OK. 4. To add text warp, right-click on the layer > choose Warp Text > set the following settings: Style: Arc / Horizontal / Bend: +60% / Horizontal Distortion: +60% / Vertical Distortion: 0% > Click OK. 5. Re-size or re-orient the text caption to your liking by using the Free Transform (CTRL+T) function: Select the layer > Go to Edit in the top function menu > choose Free Transform > re-size, rotate, re-orient the text > click the icon. The finished image should look like this: Notice how I intentionally left the sound text caption slightly extend outside the border. This is just one form of 'creative leeway' that I exercised based on my personal preference (WW's aggressive personality and strong vindictive emotion 'breaking the barriers' of the image border). The same goes for the highlighted letter A in the top text box. You too could also exercise artistic freedom when adding these comic book elements in your images, based on your personal taste and liking (choice of font type, font color, text box color/design, border type, etc.). This tutorial just gives a basic background on how to add these comic book elements to your comic layout, but ultimately the specific choices would all depend on the comic material and the artistic taste of the comic maker. Other Examples Example 1: Pay Attention by darkdragon In this particular example, I played around using a lime-colored "hand-drawn" border in combination with a special "Slimy" font visualizing the zombie's brain appetite. Sources: 1. Give your Photos a Retro Comic Book Effect, by Enrique Flouret (www.photoshoproadmap.com) - majority of this tutorial is based on this. I just removed/added some elements/topics to make it fit for this particular use in BFCA. 2. www.dafont.com online source of useful fonts (the Digital Strip and BadaBoom BB comic book fonts downloaded from this site). -
DYNAMIC PANELING Thinking like a comic-stripper At its basest form, comics are just a series of boxes assembled on a page, but that’s much the same way that music can be said to be simply a series of notes. Those descriptions belie how complicated they both can be. Those boxes can be manipulated in countless ways, to change the way people read the work, how fast they take in the pace of the action, and the mood communicated. As this is tutorial is for Brick Comics, I doubt anyone here is aiming to win an Eisner award for their work, and if they were, they probably wouldn’t need my advice. All the same, consideration of how images are arranged can make your work look that much more exciting and fresh. Placing a series of photos online and calling it comic is all well and good, but it’s not making use of the screen, and not adding much for the reader. With a little effort, you can dramatically improve the quality of your brick comics. Pacing Comics have gone through a lot of shifts over 100 years. If you check out an old comic from the 30’s to the 60’s, each panel often represents a fair chunk of time, usually assisted by narration. (Click images to enlarge) Art by Steve Ditko Looking at that work now can often feel clunky and slow, not to mention shallow. Even the greatest artists of the past feel pretty dull by modern standards. These days, the trend is toward something called “decompressed story telling,” where scenes are spread out into multiple panels. Art by John Cassidy It’s generally more pleasant to read (in my opinion), but the result is that what used to be told in one page is now told in ten, and story arcs that used to be told in one or two issues are now told in six. Within these polar opposites of story telling, a tense moment can be blown up and magnified, so that a second seems to take a minute to occur. Art by Frank Miller It’s up to you and the story you’re telling as to how you choose to approach it. Ideally, you should want to be comfortable with a wide variety of techniques to suit your story, but not feel compelled to use them all. Comics have time built into them, and they convey it in different ways. After a series of medium shots, throwing in a long shot in a larger panel dramatically slows down the page. Conversely, having a number of smaller staccato close-up shots has a brisk rhythm. Generally, you’re going to want to have a somewhat consistent rhythm, except in places where you want to highlight something out of the ordinary. For example, a series of small panels are used to show Batman quickly tossing off batarangs and incapacitating a number of small time crooks, to emphasize his efficiency. Or the end of a heavy fight scene pulls out to a long shot with multiple subjects and their surrounds to let the reader take in the awesomeness of what has come before them. In comics, you can even have the subject in multiple places in one picture, and the reader reads it as time passing, rather than somebody being cloned. This sort of technique is used with the Flash all the time, but it could be used to show someone puttering around the house. With multiple mini-figs, the choice it yours. Art by Chris Ware Structure One thing that I strongly recommend is to start with a simple structure, maybe four to six panels a page, in a clear sequence, regardless of how ‘compressed’ your story is. There are a few reasons for this. The first is that this is the easiest way to tell a story clearly. The reason people have done it for 100 years is because it works. Crazy lay-outs can be mind-blowing, but they require a lot more thought from the reader to process, and can be tiring. The second is that the simple approach allows you to be mind-blowing when you want to be. If you always have big splashy images, then the end result is none of it is very splashy. Rather, keeping your images restrained allows you to have an effective punch when the time calls for it. Let’s imagine the panel is a video image, and we’ll rank the image from 1 (boring) to 10 (zany). 1 in this case is a static image, just the same image repeated, as if the camera was locked in place. 10 is a crazy, Men In Black-style flying around the room and between people’s legs camera. 5 is in the middle; your average movie, with close ups, establishing shots and the like. Enough camera changes to give the scene a mood, but not enough to make an octogenarian sick. In the 90’s, comics got splash page heavy (a splash page is a page with a single large panel), and the effect was that they had little effect. Rather, a splash should be saved for a big moment. A comic book like the Walking Dead is a great example of something which uses effective splash pages, with usually one per issue, always the most emotional moment of the issue. It hits you like a punch in the gut. If you’re creating an action sequence and you repeatedly have in-your-face images, the reader will be as numb as someone watching a Michael Bay film marathon. Rather, save it for the right time. Techniques like this should be used sparingly. In modern comics, there are lots of images overlaid on images. Whereas in the past, every panel had its own white space, now most artists layer panels on top of panels, like windows on a computer screen. This can be exciting, but the best artists are still showing the action in a fairly traditional way, where the order of the panels is never in doubt. Design should never overwhelm your page. Art by Frank Quitely Technique Okay, enough theory. Let’s put it into practice. This being a Brick Comic forum, there is a good chance of humor being used here, and all the stuff about drama and effect still holds true for comedy. Actually, keeping a straight face can be very important in humor, so utilizing these techniques can improve your comedy even more. Art by The Perry Bible Fellowship For my example comic page, I'm going to work with something already completed, since I'm not here to tell you about taking photos or even writing. The idea is to punch up and present something to the best of our abilities. I use Photoshop to throw things together, though for a simple project like this, other programs might do the job. I'm merely assembling pictures, not editing them or doing special effects on them. I've chosen to work on the four-photo zombie tale that Darkdragon has done recently (at the time of typing). Please go look at it now, I'll wait Pay Attention It's well-thought out and conceived. Not exactly as a comic strip, but as a story. If it were conceived of as a comic page in the first place, I would have done a few things differently, which I’ll mention after looking at the finished product. Anyway, there is a lot to work with. So, my first thing is to sketch it out. THIS DOES NOT REQUIRE TECHNICAL SKILL. Just a concept. My sketch was done on the back of scrap paper while I was 'working.' The point is to decide on the images you’ll need when taking photos, and have an idea of how they'll flow on the page. This can be changed of course, but it's a heck of a lot easier to draft it on paper than it is just to start with a blank computer screen. The key points I went for are these: -The first photo is broken down into two panels. The main one is a larger establishing panel, with a quieter one to establish the zombie danger. Essentially, it's now got two beats, despite being one cohesive scene, and also makes the happy face on the character even more natural, since there is no 'danger' in the first panel. -The second photo is broken up into two close up shots, and shown at Dutch angles. The original was a full body shot, but all that info wasn't necessary to the story. The key info is the fear on the human's face, and the violent action. The smaller panels done in close-up give it a faster pace, and the tilt on them make them a little more action-y. -The third photo donates an image to the violence mini-panels, though the whole of the main picture is used in the next panel, with a little cropping to fit the page. Because the first one is a close-up, you don’t even notice the image is used twice. I give it an enlarged border to give the image a stronger beat. This is a technique Calvin & Hobbes used a lot, and, sparingly, it's neat. -The final one is large panel, pulling back to shown the punchline/true scene. By making it larger, the characters can stay near the same size, helping keep the rhythm, but also slowing down for a dramatic final image. The rhythm of the page should go: Bum-da-da-da-DUM-duhhhhhhhh! Let's see how it turns out. I like it Love, no, but it's satisfying. If I were to change a few things with the original pictures, I would take a one more action pic to throw into the violence montage, like of the arm swinging. Also, in the final pic, I would change the expression of the main character to an "oops," as he realizes what’s happened, simply because the facial expression is repeated and it doesn't add new info to the page. Much like I took out the background in picture two, there is no reason to repeat info, unless it's for a purpose. Each panel should portray something, be it narrative or simply mood. These things are in order to create a comic page, as opposed to a critique of the original, which works as it is. As for what I might change with what I did, I like most of it, but the second-last panel could have had a colored border instead of a white one. Maybe something in red might give is more zazz. As well, I’m not deeply attached to the color of the page or the lettering, but those are not so related to the paneling. The three violence panels could have sharper borders, to get that action across more. But, overall, I think the page works, and has made the original story more readable. Now, how about you give it a try? Create something dramatic, something romantic, something gut-busting! It’s up to you. ASSIGNMENT For this lesson, you need to create a comic page (or even pages, if you like). Step 1: sketch out your idea. It doesn't need to be fancy, just get an idea of what you're going to do. Do you have a variety of panels? If not, why not? Is the information in each panel important to the mood or the story? Has anything superfluous been removed? Step 2: Build it, photograph it, use the other tutorials here. Step 3: Put it together, tweaking your original idea as you go along to see what works. Step 4: Explain it. A good comic stripper usually doesn't over-analyze their own work, or get very conscious about it when making it. But, after the fact, there are things that work and that don't, and part of being a competent artist is understanding why things work. So, much like I explained why I did my page the way I did, I'd like you to give some conscious thought to what you've done. In the future, you never need to do this again For this assignment, you need only show the finished product, and an explanation of it, though if you want some guidance early on, you may post your sketch. Please start a new thread to show your WIP strip. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Addendum These are some artists whose page designs I respect, just if you're curious, or want inspiration outside your sphere. Eiichiro Oda- artist on Japan's number one manga, One Piece. A vibrant, kinetic artist. I'm not a fan of manga, but his work stands out for its liveliness. Frank Quitely- A Scottish artist known for slowly-produced, but impeccable work. Mind-bendingly exciting work on Batman & Robin and All-Star Superman. He has a very flexible structure, but always clear story-telling. Bill Watterson- The creator of Calvin & Hobbes. He had a brilliant jazz-like page, especially in the later years. His Sunday strips put the rest of the comics page to shame. Chris Ware- In my opinion, the greatest comic artist alive. His page and panel design drastically overshoots what most on this site would aim for, but his stuff is simply the most complicated, intricately created comic work ever done. You don't have to love it (and a lot of people consider it overly depressing), but you need to respect it (like this bastard of a page that needs to be turned in all directions to read). He might be the only comic artist in the MOMA in New York. There are many others, but those are the artists which jump out at me when I think of exciting pages, you will likely have your own inspiration. Go for it!
