5-Page Screenshot Comic

[wyze2099]

I've been messing around with PlanetWide Games' Comic Book Creator Software, which allows users to arrange pictures from their computer onto pre-made comic book templates. The pictures can be anything from scanned photos or images from the internet to screengrabs from movies and video games. Once the images are arranged in the template, word balloons, sound effects, and captions can be placed on the panels.

I'll primarily use the software for lettering the upcoming Ultimate Ninja Turtles comic, but because I was bored, I decided to test out the program by recording a quick Time Trial game of my TMNT IV SNES rom, saving it as .avi, screengrabbing the frames with JASC Animation Shop 3, then turning the frames into a comic story. WHEW!

Here's the result:

So! Comments? This was basically me messing around and getting a hang of the software. I admit the dialogue isn't all that great, as I built a quick one-shot story out of the fight that took place.

Also notice that some panels are fuzzier and more pixelated than others, because the program enables images to be zoomed in to fit the panel size or to focus on a small part of the picture. I made extensive use of that to get a few closeups of game footage that never changed camera angles, and to hide the heads-up display at the top of the screen.

[Garou]

True, the dialogue may not be superb, but I think you did a good job. It could be fun with various screen caps from the show.

Ehm, where do you get that program?

[Draconic]

Hey man, don't worry about the dialogue, worse has been done before... by professionals.

[wyze2099]

Originally Posted by Garou

True, the dialogue may not be superb, but I think you did a good job. It could be fun with various screen caps from the show.

Or, as I was thinking about last night, screencaps from the movies.

Originally Posted by Garou

Ehm, where do you get that program?

Software Etc. I've also seen it at Gamestop. It's available for around $20 or $30. And there's also a free trial version and tutorial here.

Originally Posted by Draconic

Hey man, don't worry about the dialogue, worse has been done before... by professionals.

Sad but true.

[Spawn Guy]

Don't worry, Ultimate TMNT will be full of my glorious dialouge. If it's not typed in all caps like Marvel's books, then it'll be even more Ultimate.

[wyze2099]

Okay, so I've been working on this for the past couple of days. It's a 5-page scene between Leo and Raph that (I think) plays to my dialogue strengths better than the above game comic.

The setting is a few months after the events of the second movie. Most of the images used are from the Official Screencaps Thread on this forum (though a few are slightly manipped).

[Garou]

Ouch. Hey, I liked that one, and I'm beginning to really like that program of yours - I got to download the trial The images and the dialogue was great. Will there be a continuation?

[Spawn Guy]

That's very in charecter. I like that take on it...Raph does it for them, not him. Cool.

[wyze2099]

Originally Posted by Garou

Ouch. Hey, I liked that one, and I'm beginning to really like that program of yours - I got to download the trial The images and the dialogue was great. Will there be a continuation?

Yeah, the CBC program is pretty interesting. At first it was hard to get the hang of, but it's quickly becoming second nature to me.

As for a continuation, it's possible. A longer story started forming in my head as I was working on this, so perhaps at some point when I don't have as many other projects going (or I get help from another CBC user), I might continue the story, as there's a lot more going on that would expand on the movieverse characters.

[cowabunga14]

These comics here are pretty cool. Great job with 'em. The title Brother's Keeper reminds me of an old Wolverine comic.

[wyze2099]

Recently I've started chipping away at the movieverse story inspired by "Brother's Keeper". It's looking like it'll be a 100-page online graphic novel by the time it's finished, and will serve as my alternate treatment on a fourth TMNT movie. It introduces Karai and the concept of Foot Mystics to the movie continuity, and explores some of the characters established in the movie series, like Tatsu, Keno, Professor Perry, Chief Sterns, etc.

Thanks to the movie screencap thread on this forum and some online searches, I have a huge library of images for the comic, though I could use plenty more for what I have planned. In particular:

- Images of Judith Hoag's April O'Neil, preferably looking angry, sad, or depressed. I already have plenty of her smiling, but she's not gonna do a lot of that in the comic.

- Images of Casey with April, preferably arguing.

- Action shots involving the Turtles vs. the Foot Clan, both dishing out and recieving punishment.

- Movie-created characters like Tatsu, Chief Sterns, Jordan Perry, and Keno. Action shots of Tatsu and Keno are especially welcome.

Anyone willing to help me out on this will be appreciated and duly credited.

[Raven]

I've been meaning to relpy to this but never got around to it.

Very sweet, I was really impressed with your take on raph, really great dialogue between him and Leo.

Plus kudos to the Turtles in Time little strip.

[wyze2099]

Thanks, man!

Would you mind if I sent you some pages from "Shadowed Alliances" (the screencap comic I mentioned)? I'd like to have a sounding board for this project.

[Raven]

I would love it if you did!

[Whitewolf89]

Originally Posted by wyze2099

Software Etc. I've also seen it at Gamestop. It's available for around $20 or $30. And there's also a free trial version and tutorial here.

Thankies for the URL, m' friend. I'll give it a whirl later, once I get home.

And $20.00 to $30.00 isn't all THAT bad a price, actually. I was expecting it to be a LOT more expense...like around $100.00, or so. I can go $20.00 or $300.00, easy.

[wyze2099]

No problem. Hope you enjoy it!

[Whitewolf89]

Er, I hate like anything to TELL you this, but....the pics aren't showing up for some reason. You might want to look into it.

Just though that you might like to know.