XimenaPaulina

Actually, I didn't know about the inside details of the Fox movies, all I know is most of their movies sucked a lot (2 FF movies, X3, DD, Wolverine) and I was really hoping that some way or another Marvel would get all their characters back or at the very least work out some "collaborative effort" with Fox and Sony since I really want to see some cross-overs or guest appearances in the Avengers (Spidey, Logan, FF). Though thanks for the info, I always learn a lot from your comic world knowledge def. With regards to Vision, of course I'd love to see him in Avengers as he's an integral part of the team in the comics. However, before him I prefer to see three characters make the team before him: Ant-man and Wasp (two founding members in the comics!) and Black Panther.

Isn't it because Fox still owns the Skrull mutant race by virtue of the Fantastic Four license? And that is why Marvel had to invent the Chitauri as replacement to the Skrull for the Avengers movie? Though if we're going by the same reasoning then a Thanos conflict for the Avengers sequel would feel 'incomplete' without having another FF (supporting) character, the Silver Surfer, who is one of the cosmic heroes (along with Adam Warlock) who could significantly help the Avengers defeat Thanos. (The Avengers would need any help they could get to stop an Infinity-Gauntlet-armed Thanos!). I hope by the time the sequel comes Marvel would've gotten back all its characters from Fox (F4, X-Men, SS, DD). I agree that the Avengers storyline have tons of great material, and I also do hope to see a Kree-Skrull conflict (with the intro of Captain Marvel/Mar-Vell to the team) and a Civil War story arc for subsequent Avengers movies. (even if it's thinking waaaay too ahead )

Nice to finally see how the Thorin minifig would look like. I actually don't find any problem with the printed braid. If you compare the other dwarves' more prominent beard pieces, Thorin's braids are significantly "thinner", to the point that it's actually not too noticeable (just look at deskp's comparison pics), so I'd say it doesn't warrant to be part of the hair mold IMO and printed braids are just fine.

Oooh, so you've caught the 'Dwight fever in LA' huh? Let's see how your new-look Lakers will do against my World Champs Heat. (sorry can't help it!)

After you've completed the principal photography (taking the necessary photographs and/or videos), and doing some initial post-editing work (image enhancements, addition of graphic effects), it's now time for the last phase of your brickfilm/movie project - the post-production process of compiling and putting together all the movie elements to come up with the final movie/video product. To do this you will be needing a video-editing program, there are several dedicated high-end video-editing software around but these are usually costly since they are primarily catered to professionals. Good thing for aspiring beginner film-makers there are some free video-editing programs like Windows Live Movie Maker - which can be found in almost all Microsoft-based computers as part of Microsoft's Windows Essentials software suite (You can download Movie Maker here for free). Windows Live Movie Maker may not be as sophisticated as other professional programs like Adobe Media Pro or Avid Media Composer, but it is a good tool to learn the basics of video-editing in film-making. This tutorial will introduce you to the different features of this program with respect to the various aspects of post-production video-editing. Hopefully, by the end of this tutorial you'll be able to apply these to complete your movie project. Pre-organizing Files Before proceeding with the main post-editing work it is considered best practice to organize all the necessary files you'll be using for your movie project. It is recommended that you do the following: Identify, sort, and save all the files you'll be using in a single file folder, preferably with separate sub-folders for images, videos, sound effects, music, etc. If possible, re-name the individual files according to the order of their use in the project (eg. Scene 1-A, Scene 1-B, ...Scene 2-A, etc.) When the files have already been imported to a Movie Maker Project file (*.wlmp), DO NOT move these files to other locations. DO NOT move the main file folder (and sub-folders) of the imported files in the project. Avoid re-naming imported files. Doing these will not only make searching/locating of files faster and easier, but these will also be especially crucial in properly maintaining all the imported files in the project files. Movie Maker 'remembers' the last known location of all the imported files - so any changes with the file locations, or even file names would lead to missing files in a project. Importing Files After all the necessary project files have been properly organized, it is now time to import them into the Windows Live Movie Maker. The pictures and video clips can be imported by clicking either of the two Add videos and photos button (one at the Home tab and the other at the storyboard) > locate the file folder(s) > select all the files to be used for the project > click Open > the files will be imported in the storyboard/timeline. Below is the view of the imported images in the storyboard. Note that you have the option to change the sizes of the images in the timeline depending on your liking. To do this, just click on View and choose the size you want (I personally prefer the Extra-small icons thumbnail size since I could view the overall storyboard better). If you are making a music video-type project, you should import the music file this early since the music will dictate how the images/videos will be edited in the timeline. To import the music file just click the Add Music icon (you have the option to add your music at the start of the project or at specific parts of the timeline) > locate the file folder > select the music file > click Open. The imported music file will appear as a bar above the images, with its duration visually depicted by the length of the bar: As a good practice, it is recommended to save the project file this early: click the File Menu icon at the top-left corner > select Save Project As > choose the folder location to be saved (the same folder for the project files is recommended) > type in the File Name > click Save. Moving/Editing the Files Moving Files in the Timeline Move the image and movie files according to the order of appearance in the movie by manually dragging the thumbnails left/right/up/down. You could also use the Cut-and-Paste shortcut command by selecting and cutting (Ctrl+X) an image or a video and pasting it (Ctrl+V) to the desired point in the timeline. Note that this is where the pre-organization of files will prove to be beneficial - if you re-named your files in chronological order then they will be imported and placed in the timeline in the same order - so no need to move and arrange them one-by-one. Editing Photos There is only one editing option for images in Movie Maker (but a very important one) - adjusting the time duration of the image in the timeline - which will dictate how long would a certain image appear in the movie. To edit the time duration of images: select a particular image, click Edit below Video Tools (highlighted in yellow) in the Function Menu above and set the desired time duration (in seconds) either by: a) choosing one of the pre-set time durations in the drop-down list; or b) type in the exact time duration (allowable time duration can be as low as 0.03 sec. up to 84,000.00 sec. = 1,400 mins. = 23.33 hours = almost a whole day! ) Editing Videos Considering Movie Maker is a video-editing program, video files have understandably more editing options. These can be found in Video Tools > Edit (same as in editing images). The video-editing features include: Audio Settings Adjustments: includes Video volume adjustment (no sound to full sound) and Fade in and Fade out speed selection (none, slow, medium, fast) Video Speed Adjustment: create dramatic "slow-mo" effects as slow as 0.125x or create "high-speed, fast-paced" action scenes with playback speeds as high as 64x Split Tool: enables you to split your video into two or more segments by moving the vertical bar to the specific point/time you'd like the video to be split and clicking the Split icon. Trim Tool: allows you to remove certain parts of the video and/or to specify the starting and end points of the video. You could do this by following either of these two methods: Manually move/drag the vertical bar to the specific point/time you'd like the video to start, then click on Set start point to trim the video at the specified point. Do the same to set the end point, clicking Set end point this time; or Click on the Trim Tool icon > a new sub-toolbar will appear > set the Start point and End point by typing in the exact times or clicking the up and down arrows > click Save Trim. Editing Music Music files have editing options similar with those of videos. These can be found on Music Tools (highlighted in green) beside the Video Tools. The music-editing options include: Audio Settings Adjustments: includes Music volume adjustment (no sound to full sound) and Fade in and Fade out speed selection (none, slow, medium, fast) Split Tool: enables you to split your music file into two or more segments by moving the vertical bar to the specific point/time you'd like the music file to be split and clicking the Split icon. Set start time: allows you to set the point in the timeline when you'd like the music to start playing. You could do this by either typing in the exact start time or clicking the up and down arrows. Another alternative method is to manually drag the music bar to the point in the timeline you'd like the music to start playing. Set start/end point: an exact equivalent of the Video Tools Trim Tool, this enables trimming of the selected music so it starts/ends at the specified point in the timeline, which could also be done in two ways: Manually move/drag the vertical bar to the specific point int the timeline where you'd like the music to start, then click on Set start point to trim the music at the specified point. Do the same to set the end point, clicking Set end point this time; or Set the Start point and End point by typing in the exact times or clicking the up and down arrows. Miscellaneous File Tools There are other tools and commands that you may find useful when moving/editing files in your project: Duplicating Files: you may copy images/videos/music files by simply selecting the thumbnail/item > click the Copy icon or press Ctrl+C > paste it on the specified point in the timeline. Note that the copied file will have the same added effects (transitions, pan & zoom, etc.) as the original file. Removing Files: just select the file(s) you'd like to remove and click the Remove icon or simply press the Delete key. Selecting Files: you may select a single file (clicking on a thumbnail/item), multiple files (batch selection using Ctrl+mouse click or Shift+arrow keys), or all files (clicking the Select all icon or pressing Ctrl+A. Rotating Images/Videos: click on the Rotate Left or Rotate Right icon to change the orientation of your images or videos (useful if proper re-orientation of images was overlooked prior to post-editing in Movie Maker). Adding Animations & Visual Effects Movie Maker comes with several sets of special animation and visual effects that you could use to add more 'spice/flavor' to your movie. These include transition effects, pan and zoom effects, visual effects, and pre-set AutoMovie themes. Transition Effects Transition effects allow you to give a distinctive special effect on how your movie plays from one video clip or picture to the next. You can add a transition between two pictures or video clips in any combination on the storyboard/timeline. To do this: Transitions are added at the start of images/videos, so click on the particular item where you'd like the transition to start (i.e. the second of two images should be selected to add a transition between them) Click on the Animations tab > click the drop-down button > hover the cursor over the thumbnails to see the preview of each transition in the preview screen > select your chosen transition effect. Set the time duration of the transition either by typing in the exact time or choosing from the pre-set time durations (from as fast as 0.25 seconds to as slow as 2.00 seconds). An opaque triangle will appear on the side of the item thumbnail indicating the transition effect has been successfully applied Playback and review the transition effect in the preview screen. Adjust the time duration as needed. If you intend to use the exact same transition for all your pictures and video clips, just click the Apply to all icon to apply the selected transition to all images and videos in the timeline. If you want to only apply a certain transition effect to a select number of pictures and video clips, you can use the Ctrl+arrow key or Ctrl+Shift to batch select the items and then click the transition you'd like to use and set the time duration. The transition effect will be applied to all selected items in the timeline. To change or remove transitions, simply click on the image or video and choose No Transition or choose other transitions. REMINDERS: While adding transitions can be exciting in giving your movie a distinct professional look, bear in mind that these effects should be used wisely so as not to risk overdoing it. Use transition effects only when the change in scenes calls for it. For stop-motion films, obviously it does not make sense to apply transitions between small changes in action poses. The number and type of transitions to be used would depend on the type of project you're doing. For example, romantic music slide shows may require slow dramatic transitions (like Fade, Overlap, Blur) between images while an intense action-packed video with fast and abrupt changes in scenes might not require transitions at all. Timing is very important so transitions would have to be in-sync with the background music or sound effect (a slow 2 second transition would not go well with a fast-paced change in music). Complete set of transition effects: Pan & Zoom Effects Pan and zoom effects refer to the movement of the image or video within the viewing screen. Pan effects include movement in the horizontal (left/right), vertical (up/down), diagonal or even rotational directions, while Zoom effects are zooming in or zooming out of the screen (in combination with pan effects). To add these effects to your project: Select the picture or video clip you'd like to add an effect on. Click on the Animations tab > click the drop-down button > hover the cursor over the thumbnails to see the preview of each effect in the preview screen > select your chosen pan & zoom effect. A four-square icon will appear on the upper-left corner of the item thumbnail indicating the pan and zoom effect has been successfully applied Playback and review the zoom effect in the preview screen. Change or removeeffects if needed (click on the image or video and choose No pan and zoom or choose other effects). If you intend to use the exact same pan and zoom effect for all your pictures and video clips, just click the Apply to all icon to apply the selected effect to all images and videos in the timeline. If you want to only apply a certain pan and zoom effect to a select number of pictures and video clips, you can use the Ctrl+arrow key or Ctrl+Shift to batch select the items and then click the effect you'd like to use. The particular pan and zoom effect will be applied to all selected items in the timeline. REMINDERS: Much like with adding transitions, pan and zoom effects should also be used appropriately to yield good results for your project. Use pan and zoom effects only when they're applicable to the scene(s). Since the pre-set pan and zoom effects is not customizable (directions, speed cannot be changed), its use can be limited to music slide-shows or select portions within a movie project. In cases where pan and zoom effects are applicable to use, the number and type of effect to be chosen would depend on the type of project, but generally for music slide show videos it is recommended to use a 'good number' of pan and zoom effects - not sticking to one type to avoid visual redundancy nor too many effects to prevent an overdone look. Like transition effects, timing is also important and the pan and zoom effect should be in-sync with the background music or any accompanying sound effect. Complete set of pan & zoom effects: Visual Effects Movie Maker also has a host of visual effects that you could apply to your pictures and images to give them a distinct feel or atmospheric look - from a classic grey-scale monotone to artistic touches like posterize and threshold. Take a look and explore the various visual effects available and test what effect will they give your images and videos. While these are not commonly utilized, these can be extremely useful for special scenes where their effects are tailor-fitted for, like black and white for vintage scenes/flashbacks or spectrum colors for disco-type scenes. To use these effects: Select the image/video you'd like to give a visual effect > click the Visual Effects tab > choose your desired effect. There is also a brightness adjustment setting you could use for your images/videos. Like with the transitions and pan and zoom effects, you have the option to apply a certain visual effect to all of your images/videos by clicking the Apply to all button. There is also a special option where you could combine two or more visual effects together. You could access this by clicking the drop-down list > go to the bottom of the list > click on Multiple effects > select the visual effects you'd like to combine from the list of Available effects on the left to the list of Displayed effects on the right > click Add > click Apply. The resulting combined effects will depend on the chosen effects - some may work well together, some will result in one effect overpowering the other(s), etc. It would be up to you to explore and decide what's best for your movie. Much like the other animation effects, visual effects should only be used when they're deemed appropriate or depending on the artistic taste of the film-maker. Complete set of visual effects: AutoMovie Themes Movie Maker also offers AutoMovie themes which you could use to instantly give your project the necessary movie elements in just one-click of a button! Each AutoMovie theme comes with its own pre-defined set of animations and visual effects that serves as a guide/suggestion on what you could do with your set of images and video clips in your timeline. The AutoMovie themes can be accessed under the Home tab, and by clicking on a selected theme, its pre-defined animations and visual effects will automatically be applied to your images and video clips in your storyboard. You have the option to adjust your images and videos to fit the theme or adjust the theme settings to fit your set of images and videos. The AutoMovie themes are perfect for quick 'fun movie projects', but for more serious projects it is recommended to take the more tedious but more customizable route of post-editing individual movie elements. Adding Titles, Captions, Credits Text can also be added in your movie project in the form of titles, captions, and credits. These three differ in their locations within the timeline: titles are added at the start of the movie, captions added in the middle, while credits are added in the end. These can be added by clicking either the Title, Caption, or Credit icons in the Home tab > a text box will appear in the particular slide or image/video > type in the text > re-size the text box dimensions as needed > move by dragging the text box to the desired area in the screen. Texts appear as peach-colored bars at the bottom of the pictures and video clips in the timeline (see example below of the three text files within the timeline). Text-editing options are available via Text Tools (highlighted in peach). You can access these by simply clicking on a text bar in the timeline to open the Text Tools sub-menu. The text-formatting options include: Font Settings: enables you to change the font type, font size, font color, bold, italicize. Paragraph Settings: change the text alignment (left, center, right) and the transparency of the text. Edit Text: allows you change the text. Background Color: enables you to change the background color (whole screen) of titles and credits, but not of captions (since they are positioned over images and videos). Start Time: set the time when you want the text to start showing in the timeline by typing in the exact time (in seconds) or using the up/down buttons. Text Duration: like with images and video clips, you could set the length of time you'd like the text to appear in the movie (by typing in the exact time or selecting one of the pre-set time durations). Effects: text also have animation options like images and video clips. Simply hover into the thumbnails in the grid (more in the drop-down menu), choose and select the text animation you like. Adding Sound Effects and Voice Audio Sound Effects and Voice Recordings(voice-overs/narrations) can also be added to your project. As long as the files are in the acceptable formats (*.wma, *.mp3, *.wav, *.aif, *.aiff, *.m4a, *.ogg), they can be added to the timeline like normal music files (click the Add Music icon > locate the file folder > select the file > click Open). However, there is a significant limitation in this particular aspect in Movie Maker: music/audio files cannot be added over existing music/audio files in the timeline (no overlapping is allowed). So if there is already a music file in the timeline (like in music video type projects), sound effects or voice-overs cannot be added over the music file, doing so will instead abruptly cut the music file at the point where you added the new music/audio file. In short, there is only one room for a music/audio file at a specified time. Though fret not, as there is an alternative solution for adding another layer of sound effects in Movie Maker: For projects with existing music in the timeline: finish first your movie project without the sound effects/voice-overs and save your movie. Then open your movie file in Movie Maker > identify the exact point/time in the video where you'd like to add a sound effect or voice-over > add the sound effect/voice-over file via the Add music button > edit the sound settings in the Music Tools (start time, start/end points, fade in/out). You may also adjust the volume of the added audio file relative to the video music by clicking on Project > Audio Mix > adjust the volume to your liking (higher volume for the video music or the sound effect/voice-over). Other Project Options Under the Project tab are a few more options you could set for your project: Audio Options: Audio Mix - enables you to set the music and video to play at the same volume, or play one louder than the other. Fit to music - automatically adjusts the duration of photos so the movie and music end at the same time; this is primarily used for quick fun projects but not advisable for projects requiring proper timing of photos and music. [*]Aspect Ratio Options: use either the Standard (4:3) or the Widescreen (16:9) aspect ratio for your movie project. Reviewing & Finishing the Movie So you've arranged, compiled and edited the images and videos for your project and added the necessary animation, visual and sound effects, text captions and titles - now you're ready to complete your movie! But wait - there's more! Every film-maker, especially the perfectionist ones, always make it a point to review their work several times before 'calling it a wrap'. So here are a few key reminders for the final review of your project: TIMING IS EVERYTHING: Make one initial viewing of the whole movie and keenly observe for the timing of the minifig movements, scene transitions, visual effects, sound effects, and background music with respect to each other. Ideally, all the movie elements should be in-sync together overall. Record any off-timed elements and the exact times of occurrence so these could be corrected accordingly. Visual Quality: Check for any inconsistency in the quality of the images/videos in terms of brightness, contrast, lighting and correct these if possible. If animations were used, observe for any image/video which might've missed an important transition or visual effect. Do the same for text captions if they were used (check for proper spelling, visibility of text style, size, and color, etc.) Sound Quality: Listen for any issues in sound quality (abrupt changes in volume, presence of background noise, incompatible fade in/out, imbalanced sound of music/sound effect/voice-over, etc.) Correcting Issues: After gathering all the findings in the initial viewing, correct all issues observed (if any). Final Review: Make one last final viewing of the revised movie. If everything is ok, you can now save your movie. Otherwise, revise again until you're completely satisfied with the final product. Saving the Movie: In the Home tab, click on the down arrow in the Save movie icon > select the quality of the movie to be saved (either the recommended setting for the project, for high-definition display, burn for CD, for computer, email, mobile devices, or even set your own custom quality settings) > type in the file name > click Save. The movie will be saved in the default Windows Media Video File (*.wmv). You may need other video converter programs if you want to have your movie in other video file formats. Sharing your Movie: Movie Maker allows you to share your movie directly from your project file to online video-hosting sites like YouTube, flickr, Facebook, SkyDrive, and Windows Live Groups. Simply click the icon of the site you'd like to upload your movie to > choose the quality settings of the movie > Movie Maker will save it (again) and upload it to the specified site (you may need to log-in to the site and continue the uploading process online). Finished Product: Even if it was not originally part of the plan in making this tutorial, I went ahead and completed an impromptu comic-video out of the various movie elements I imported and compiled for the examples above, to show you how Movie Maker really works: Borrowing the wise words of Dr. Emmett Brown, "please excuse the crudity of this video, I didn't have time to come up with a brand new brickfilm material". I just used the images from my Superman vs. Power-Armour Lex Comic, and fortunately I found a suitable music that goes well with the flow of story of the comic. The features in Movie Maker that I prominently used in this project are: Transitions: No transitions were used for most of the images for them to be in-sync with the sudden changes in the beat of the background music. "Blur-through black" transition were specifically used for the scenes where Superman got struck by Lex's Kryptonite Blaster (at 1:29) to give the scenes a dramatic effect. [*]Pan & Zoom Transitions: I used several pan & zoom effects to depict the movement in the images (notable ones include Superman flying at 0:48 and Superman falling at 1:32) [*]Timing with the Music: Note how the transition of images are in-sync with the sudden changes in beat of the music. I used the beat of the music to define where I'd set the starting time of an image and how long will its duration be (it took a few trial and errors to get the timing right) [*]Use of Text: I used a Credits to add the text caption in the end to ask a hanging question. Other Examples Here are a couple of examples to illustrate how the various features of Movie Maker can be used effectively in a movie project. Even if there are a lot of great brickfilms around, I specifically chose these two videos as examples for their simple yet effective and noticeable use of video-editing elements. Example #1 This is a video slide show I made for my wife, again using Movie Maker. The subject might not be LEGO but I'd just like to highlight the various Movie Maker effects I used (so pls. excuse if you have to bear seeing my unsightly mug throughout the video ) Transitions: I prominently used a combination of "Overlapping" and "Blur-through black" transitions for almost all the slide transitions to produce a dramatic (and hopefully romantic) reminiscing effect. Pan & Zoom Transitions: I used mostly "Zoom In" and "Zoom Out" effects, with several pan & zoom effects (the ones that I liked the most are at 1:10 and 3:14) Use of Text Captions: I highlighted some lyrics of the song (with some slightly tweaked) in the form of Captions (mostly using the "Zoom In-small" effect plus the snazzy "Cinematic Burst" effect in the end). Timing with the Music: As always, I made it a point to time the transitions and text captions to be in-sync not only with the beat of the music but the exact lyrics of the song for the text captions. Example #2 by hinckley39 (YouTube) This is a stop-motion video made by fellow BFC Academy Teacher Hinckley for his Forest II mafia game. Note that this was not made by Movie Maker but its iOS counterpart, iMovie. Nonetheless, the video depicts features that can be done using Movie Maker, and some of the effects used in this video are good examples which we could learn from. The things that I really liked about this video are: Minimalistic Movement: The movements may be minimal but they fit well with the simplicity of classic 70s/80s music videos, particularly the music in this video, Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. Moreover, the subtle movements are perfectly timed with the music and visualizes the lyrics accurately. Timing with the Music: Here are some examples of very good timing of the images with the music: Piano at 0:49 - Nice! "Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fandango" scene at 2:04 - Very nice! "I'm just a poor boy..." at 2:24 - then the group singing at 2:24 - then back being alone at 2:32 - Wow! The "Let him go" scene at 2:41 with the "appearing-disappearing act" the trio of Pancho Parrot, Gilda Goat, and Edgar Elephant - EPIC!!! [*]Visual Effects: The negative polaroid effect for the "Thunderbolt and lightning" scene at 2:14 is just spot-on! Now that you know the basics of video-editing using Windows Movie Maker, you can now start embarking on this exciting and rewarding task of completing your movie project! As always, this tutorial serves as a general guide but ultimately the choice of the visual effects, animation, etc. would depend on the type of project and of course, the personal creative taste of the film-maker. For any questions, clarifications, comments, and suggestions feel free to post in the Questions & Answers Thread. Sources: 1. Windows Movie Maker, (http://windows.micro...ker-get-started)

It's time for the dwarves to shine! I'm really interested to see the dwarves take the spotlight in this movie as we only got to see Gimli in action in the LOTR trilogy while the other races had significant exposure (humans, elves, hobbits, heck even orcs and Uruk-Hais had more screen time!). Also nice to see a 'younger' Gollum in the trailer! I'm eagerly anticipating this movie and hoping it would even be better than the Avengers or TDKR. My only concern is I might unfairly hold this up to the high standard of the LOTR trilogy, so anything less than the epic storyline might be disappointing (not a book reader so I don't know the story of the Hobbit).

What a great way to introduce yourself to EB glenbricker, glad to have you here! I'm very impressed with this creation, especially how you got the overall shape, design, colors and detailing with pinpoint accuracy (the side-by-side comparison below would do justice). There's also a good balance of SOT-SNOT build, playable features and custom minifigs which gives an overall impression of a complete LEGO set. These, along with the downscaled size similar to the Fury, make it a realistic possible future set and certainly worthy to be supported in CUUSOO in my opinion. Great job and hope to see more of your LSW MOCs here.

Rocky says "Happy Birthday Josh Stallone"! (if that is what is meant in that language ) Have a great one mate!

As a fan of Gundam models, I could truly appreciate the characteristic Gundam details you've put in this fantastic brickbuilt model Mood! From the wedge shoulder pads to the nicely-contoured "calf muscle" of the lower leg and robot feet, to the "difficult-to-pull-off-but-you-did-it-wonderfully" Gundam head, everything is just extremely well done! Outstanding work! (And this may have re-kindled my previous plans of building my own brickbuilt Gundam, and I may have to borrow some really nice techniques from this MOC. )

Fantastic effects on Flash! That's really creative and ingenious. The purist custom Grodd, his evil contraption, and the rest of the vig is also really well done!

A couple of recent movies I watched: Peter Pan (2003) - the "Neverland adventure" never gets old even for an adult like me . A nice feel good movie filled with notable performances especially by Jason Isaacs (Mr. Darling/Captain Hook). Apocalypto - the extremely violent scenes may have been a bit disturbing and stressful to watch at times, but there are a lot of things I liked in this movie: the story, no matter how simple, was gripping, heart-pounding, and so effectively told that you'd really root for the protagonist to succeed with his escape. I also loved how the relatively unknown cast gave a superb acting job. And the whole movie may not have been the "ideal entertaining" Hollywood flick but it was certainly enlightening and educational as I have little to no prior knowledge about the Mayan/Mesoamerican civilization.

Hey welcome to Eurobricks Me2! Of course any contribution from a new member is always welcome, feel free to post it in here. As a LSW fan myself, I'm interested and looking forward seeing the rest of this Hoth story. Cheers, ~ Kiel

Happy birthday dd! Enjoy your dayoff special day, and hope lots of LEGO come your way.

Brickfilming excellence at its highest form, outstanding piece of artwork! Gotta love the keen attention to details - camera panning/zooming, minifig posing, lighting effects, and even the minute intricacies like the drum cymbals clapping - all ingeniously executed. Thanks for sharing this truly inspirational work Sir!

A few guesses: Dactillion: Or as obscure as the Nos Monster from the deleted scene in ROTS. Whatever it is, I'm sure it's bound to be awesome so I'll be eagerly awaiting the final product.

Basketball + LEGO Carl Lyon Studio

Section 3: Traditional Comic Book Lettering and Grammar I’ve found a very good online article written by Nate Piekos which tackles on comic book lettering and its grammatical and aesthetic traditions. It’s a good reading material where you can learn the conventional rules of lettering in comic books, and for this purpose, the designing of the text in the speech bubbles – when to use italics, bold letters, capital vs. small-letters, etc. Since I find the article already useful as it is, I’ll just refer you to read it off-site and hopefully you'll gain a good grasp on the subject matter. Deviating from the Norm & Exercising Creative Freedom Throughout the history of comics as a visual mass medium, it has developed its own set of conventional rules on comic-making, some of which have been touched in this lesson with regards to the types and proper usage of speech balloons. But like in any other "artistic medium", the intricacies of the art (comic-making) will almost always ultimately depend on the subjective personal taste of the artist (comic-maker). Yes there are traditional and conventional ways of doing things in comics, but one could always exercise some degree of "creative freedom" to deviate from the norm and do things that will give one's work a "better effect" and a "visual flavor" that suits the creator's personal taste. Thanks to fellow BFCA Teacher def, here are a couple of examples of deviations from conventional rules with effective results: Asterios Polyp by David Mazzuchelli In this particular example, you'd notice that the lead character is a cold architect whose dialogue is aptly depicted with a signature square balloon, while the other characters have different text font styles. The six-panel division of the single location is also remarkably unique and effective - another perfect example of non-traditional techniques giving a good effect. From the same artist, here is an example of a radical style of drawing speech balloons - the tails are directly coming out of the character's mouth, who happens to be mentally disturbed. Artwork by David Mazzuchelli From those two examples above, you'll see that doing things 'outside the box' can produce very interesting results. As a comic-maker, you could also try some unconventional techniques like these to give your comics a distinct look. Though a word of caution: don't do these just for the sake of making your comics unique. As much as possible, deviations from conventional rules should be done with good reason, and hopefully with proper execution. I do hope that through this lesson you have gained a good grasp on the intricacies of adding visual dialogue to your comics. Should yo have any questions, feel free to ask in the Questions & Answers Thread and the Teachers would try to provide their insights. Sources: 1. Comic Book Grammar & Tradition , by Nate Piekos (www.blambot.com)

Section 2: Adding Speech Balloons to your Comic There are several ways how you could add speech balloons to your comics. For this lesson, I'll be touching on the use of two programs to add speech balloons to images: the more advanced Adobe Photoshop and the simpler but useful Microsoft Office Word. Adding Speech Balloons using Adobe Photoshop I. Using Speech Balloon Custom Shapes Adobe Photoshop comes with a default set of custom speech balloons. You could activate it by: After you've activated the speech balloon custom shapes, you can now start adding them to your comic images: 1. Open your image/comic layout in Photoshop. Add a new layer by clicking on the Add New Layer icon in the LAYERS pane. Image Size: 405 x 350 px 2. Set the foreground color in the Tools Palette to the color of your choice. White is the universally preferred color of speech balloons. 3. Select Custom Shape Tool (U) in the Tools Palette > and in the toolbar above select from the drop down menu the particular type of speech balloon you want to use. 4. Draw the speech balloon over the image by dragging the sides/corners to your desired size. By convention, the tail of the balloon should be clearly pointed towards the character speaking (preferably the mouth/head area). 5. To put the outline on the speech balloon: Right-click on the speech balloon layer > choose Blending Options > tick Stroke > set the desired parameters (Size, Position, Color) > Click OK. Balloon Outline (Stroke) Size: 2 px / Position: Center / Color: Black 7. To add the text: select the Horizontal Type Tool (T) in the Tools Palette > set in your desired font, font size, font color > and type in the text. Font: Digital Strip / Size: 24 pt. / Color: Black 8. In cases where the text extends over the speech balloon, or there is too much space inside the balloon, you could either: a. Resize the speech balloon by using Free Transform (CTRL+T) on the speech balloon layer; or b. Resize the dimensions of the text box or resize the font. Resized font and re-oriented text box to fit in the speech bubble. 9. For specific speech balloons which are not included in the default set (like radio bubbles, whisper bubbles, wavy balloons, etc.), you would have to manually create the speech balloons, which will be tackled in the next section. II. Manual Drawing of Speech Balloons Speech balloons can also be drawn "manually" instead of using the default set of custom shape speech balloons Adobe Photoshop comes with. Even though this method requires a few more steps than using the ready-made speech balloons, this offers more customization options to the speech balloons (longer balloon tails, specific position of the tail point, curved balloon tails, etc.) and to add certain types of speech balloons that do not come with the default set of custom shapes (like radio bubbles, connected speech balloons, etc.). Speech Bubbles 1. Open your image/comic layout in Photoshop (I'll use the same image we used above.) > Add a new layer for the speech bubble by clicking on the Add New Layer icon in the LAYERS pane. 2. To draw the balloon: Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) in the Tools Palette and draw the ellipse on the specific part of the image you'd like to add your speech balloon. 3. To draw the tail: Select the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) in the Tools Palette > while pressing the Shift key, draw a triangle (three points) overlapping the ellipse. Steps #2 (left) and #3 (right). 4. To add color to the speech balloon: Press D and then X to set the foreground color to white > Press Alt + Delete to fill the balloon with white. 5. To add the border/outline to the speech balloon: Right-click on the speech balloon layer > choose Blending Options > tick Stroke > set the desired parameters (Size, Position, Color) > Click OK. Steps #4 (left) and #5 (right). Balloon Outline (Stroke) Size: 2 px / Position: Center / Color: Black 6. To add the text: select the Horizontal Type Tool (T) in the Tools Palette > set in your desired font, font size, font color > and type in the text. Font: Digital Strip / Size: 18 pt. / Color: Black 7. Re-size the font / Re-orient the text box dimensions / Re-size the speech balloon (CTRL+T) as needed. Curve-Tailed Speech Bubbles 1. Open your image/comic layout in Photoshop > Add a new layer for the speech bubble by clicking on the Add New Layer icon in the LAYERS pane. 2. To draw the balloon: Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) in the Tools Palette and draw the ellipse on the specific part of the image you'd like to add your speech balloon. Follow the previous steps above to fill the balloon with white and to add the border/outline. 3. To add the text: select the Horizontal Type Tool (T) in the Tools Palette > set in your desired font, font size, font color > and type in the text. Re-size the text or balloon as needed. Balloon Outline (Stroke) Size: 2 px / Position: Center / Color: Black 4. To draw the tail: Go back to the balloon layer > Select the Pen Tool (P) in the Tools Palette > click the Paths icon in the Pen Toolbar above > create a triangle overlapping the balloon with just three clicks of the mouse. 5. To make the curved tail: Select the Convert Point Tool (P) in the Tools Palette (in the submenu of the Pen Tool) > click one of the points inside the balloon and drag the cursor to get your desired curve > do the same for the other point inside the balloon > DO NOT click on the point outside the balloon. Steps #4 (left) and #5 (right) 6. Right-click on the area within the curved tail > Select "Make Selection" > Click OK > Press Alt+Del to fill the tail with white and add the corresponding border. Lightning-Tailed Speech Bubbles (Radio/Broadcast Balloons) 1. Open your image/comic layout in Photoshop. Create a regular speech bubble by following the standard procedure above (Steps #1-7). 2. Select the Balloon Layer > select the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) on the Tools Palette > make a rectangle selection covering the bottom two-thirds of the tail of the speech balloon. 3. Select the Move Tool (V) on the Tools Palette > press the right or left arrow keys to move your selection. 4. Repeat Steps #2-3 to the lower section of the tail to get another "lightning bolt layer". Connected Speech Bubbles In cases where multiple speech balloons are required on a single panel, separate speech balloons coming from the same character are usually joined together to avoid the unsightly view of several speech balloon tails pointed to the speaker. To do this: 1. Open your image/comic layout in Photoshop. Type in the exchange of dialogue according to proper chronology. Do also provide enough spacing between the separate text captions for the speech balloons. Image by paanjang16 2. Add a new layer for the Connected Speech Balloon > draw an elliptical balloon for the topmost text caption, using the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) > fill with white (Alt+Delete, with the foreground set to white) > Deselect the elliptical selection. 3. On the same Connected Speech Balloon layer, draw another elliptical balloon for the next text caption using again the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) . Using the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) , draw first the tail of the balloon (while pressing the Shift key, draw a triangle overlapping the bottom ellipse) and then the connecting bar (while pressing the Shift key, draw a narrow rectangle overlapping the two ellipses > fill with white (Alt+Delete, with the foreground set to white) > Deselect the current selection. 4. Right-click on the Connected Speech Balloon layer > choose Blending Options > and set the Stroke parameters to give the connected speech balloons an outline. 5. Create a speech balloon for the remaining text dialogue to complete the multi-speech balloon panel. Thought Bubbles 1. Open your image/comic layout in Photoshop > create a regular speech bubble (without a tail) by following the standard procedure above > type in the text caption. 2. Select the Brush Tool (B) in the Tools Palette > set the following parameters in the Brush Toolbar above: Hardness = 100% / Opacity = 100% / Flow = 100%. The size of the brush can be manually changed by pressing the right/left [ ] bracket key in the keyboard. 3. Set the foreground color to white (or to the same color as the balloon) > select the Speech Balloon layer > begin dabbing the brush along the outline of the balloon, with each click producing one "puff" of the thought cloud. Increase or decrease the size of the "cloud puffs" by pressing the right/left [ ] bracket key in the keyboard. 4. Lastly, create the thought balloon tail by clicking three brush dots of decreasing size. Adding Speech Balloons using Microsoft Word Another program that can be used to add speech balloons in your comics is Microsoft Word - yes, that document-making MS Office application. MS Word might be not be as "professional" as the dedicated graphics program Adobe Photoshop, but it still gets the job done in this particular aspect of comic-making (speaking based on experience). Let me show you how: For this part, I'll be using Microsoft Word 2010, though I'm pretty sure you could still use the older versions (2003). 1. Open Microsoft Word > create a new blank document > select Insert in the Function Menu above > choose Picture > select the image. Re-size the image as needed. 2. To add the speech balloon: Select Insert > choose Shapes > in the Callouts grid below choose the speech balloon you'd like to use > draw the balloon on your image (re-size the dimensions by dragging the sides/corners to your desired size; position/re-size the tail of balloon by moving the yellow-dotted tip) 3. To change the color fill and outline of the balloon: Right-click on the balloon > select Format Autoshape > and change the settings for Fill, Line Color, and Line Style. 4. To add the text caption: Double-click the balloon > type in the text > highlight the text and edit the font settings to the change the font style, size, and color > re-size / re-orient the text as needed. 5. Select View in the Function Menu > zoom in the document to a respectable size (best possible resolution) > press the PrntSc (Print Screen) key in your keyboard > Open Microsoft Paint > paste the selection (Ctrl+V) > Move / Crop the unwanted parts until only the image is left > save the image. Speech Balloon Positioning Placement As previously mentioned, the tail of speech balloons should be clearly pointed towards the character speaking. This is especially important to avoid any confusion for conversations involving multiple speech balloons. If possible, the tail of the balloon should be pointed to the mouth or head of the character. In cases where it’s not possible, the tail could be just pointed to the character as a whole. Examples: Speech Balloon tail Left: Pointed to mouth; Middle: Pointed to head; Right: Pointed to body (Patrick) Chronology For scenes involving multiple speech balloons, the reading convention is from top to bottom, left to right, so the topmost/leftmost balloon is usually read first down to the succeeding speech balloons. Be sure to keep this in mind when placing your multiple balloons in the panel to avoid any reading confusion. Avoid placing two speech balloons on the same level and instead place them in chronological order. Examples: Left: Improper chronology of multiple speech balloons; Right: Proper chronology Size and space The text should be of readable size, and as much as possible consistent with the font size used throughout the comic. Avoid unusually large fonts when not needed. On the other hand, excessive amount of space inside the speech balloon is also discouraged (resize the balloon or font as needed). Examples: Left: Too large text size; Middle: Too small text size; Right: Proper text size In cases where there is a conspicuous amount of blank space in the panel, the speech balloon could also be used as an effective ‘space filler’ by repositioning it in such a way that it would effectively reduce the blank space and give the panel a more ‘balanced look’. Examples: Left: Available space above; Right: Repositioned speech balloon Sources: 1. Creating Speech Bubbles in Photoshop using the Custom Shape Tool , by Jennifer Farley (www.laughing-lion-design.com) 2. Speech Bubbles , by Greg Kogan (www.gagcartoons.com/cartoon-tutorials/speech-bubbles/) 3. Add Speech Balloons and Text Bubbles to your Photos in Photoshop or Elements, by Sue Chastain (About.com Guide)

One of the integral parts of comics is character dialogue, which is as valuable as the images themselves in conveying the story of the comics (of course with the obvious exception of “speech-less”/”silent-type” comic strips). Adding the character dialogue is usually done in conjunction with the post-editing of the images after the principal photography. At this particular stage of comic-making, one is expected to already have a general idea (or even better - a working script) on how the exchange of dialogue would be. This lesson will teach you how to add character dialogue in your comics – with emphasis to the proper usage of speech balloons and comic-book grammar. Lesson Sections Section 1: Types of Speech Balloons Section 2: Adding Speech Balloons to Comics Using Adobe Photoshop Using speech balloon custom shapes Manual drawing of speech balloons [*]Using Microsoft Office Word Speech Balloon Positioning Section 3: Traditional Comic Book Lettering and Grammar Deviating from the Norm & Exercising Creative Freedom Section 1: Types of Speech Balloons The visual tool used to represent speech/dialogue/conversation of characters in comics is Speech Balloons (also referred to as Speech Bubbles, Dialogue Balloons, Word Balloons). There are different types of speech balloons depending on the emotion of the dialogue, the nature/manner of delivery, and the source of the speech/sound. This lesson will tackle the various types of speech balloons used in comic books and its conventional proper usage in comic-making. Examples: (Click on images for higher resolution.) Left: LOTR Funnies by Sextant Images Middle: Tabloit by Oky - Space Ranger Right: Wolverine's Worshipers by Oky - Space Ranger Examples: (Click on images for higher resolution.) Left: Forever Alone by The Penguin Middle: No Wiener? by Kiel.Da.Man Right: Princess Quest by Sandy Examples: (Click on images for higher resolution.) Left: Raging Plankton by Kiel.Da.Man Middle: Unlimited Powah by Oky - Space Ranger Right: To Infinity and Beyond? by TinyPiesRUs Examples: (Click on images for higher resolution.) Left: Hey I just met you by Kiel.Da.Man Middle: Lego Bin Laden Watching TV by Here Be Zombies Right: Do the Robot by pong0814 Examples: (Click on images for higher resolution.) Left: Shhh by Kiel.Da.Man Middle: Day 346 by Dan (LEGO365) Right: Day 270 by pasukaru76 Examples: (Click on images for higher resolution.) Left: Must save Friends by Kiel.Da.Man Middle: Day 271 by Dan (LEGO365) Right: supercutstext by TheLegoJoker Examples: (Click on images for higher resolution.) Left: Pay Attention by darkdragon Middle: Puny God by Oky - Space Ranger Right: My Precious by Kiel.Da.Man Examples: (Click on images for higher resolution.) Left: Triceratops Dewback by J.V.D. Middle: Civilian Marvel Heroes by Hobbestimus Right: Forgot to blow dry by Clone O'Patra Sources: 1. Speech Balloon , Wikipedia 2. Comic Book Grammar & Tradition , by Nate Piekos (www.blambot.com)

Well we have this: and recently this: Sorry, rules are rules.

Amazing work Walter! I love how you did those pots, dishes, and the rest of the dining wares - very tricky to build in LEGO yet you pulled it off seamlessly! Great job on March Hare too! I'm also a fan of Alice in Wonderland though of the more recent Tim Burton movie, but still this vignette very much captures the essence of the scene perfectly!

I don't know if this one fits better in the Funnies or this Photography Thread, though I'm not sure if it's funny so I guess I'll just post it here. Superheroes Everywhere by Kiel.Da.Man (flickr) An image I initially planned as part of my Heroic Heroes of the Deep Review but didn't make the final cut. As you'll recognize it's based on a popular meme and aptly describes the current state of the Licensed Themes.

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).

Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? I am! I am! Wow, you've done it again Sir! You really have a very good talent in capturing the real life character looks into custom minifig form! From Willy Wonka to the TDKR characters and now Maximus the Gladiator - this fig sure does look like Russell Crowe! My only suggestion, if I may, is to make the beard under the cheeks "thicker"/add a few more 'hair prints' on that part. But as it is, it already looks great, some slight tweaks and it would be perfect!

It's not really about the time, but just the simple effort one would exert just to express his/her appreciation of someone's work. There you go, that's already a good comment IMO! It's like saying "I can't put my finger on it, but there's something about this MOC I really really like...elaborate..elaborate" (something like that). The next thing you know, you've already made a nice comment that I'm sure the builder/reviewer would appreciate. The key here is just being honest about how you feel with someone's work - without worrying if what you're saying has been posted a bazillion times already - just express yourself naturally.