A photo comic?

[Bustertheclown]

I have a pretty huge 1:18 scale action figure collection, most of which are G.I. Joe, and I just really want an excuse to play with them. I set them up in little dioramas, and take photos all the time, but I think it would be fun to take the extra leap and start a silly comic featuring my toys. At least a few of you lot do photo comics, mostly in the milieu of Lego, so I thought I'd come here for some info and insight. What sort of things should I be aware of? Got any funny stories to tell about your process? Let me know! I want to learn.

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[Dr Neo Lao]

I'm in the process of getting a toy / photo webcomic off the ground (yeah, with Lego ).

The three things that I would advise:

1 - Lighting: This is the most important aspect. Some people take the lazy option of just using the flash. That looks horrible. Some people just go outside or use brightly lit rooms. That looks bland. Depending on what tone of comic you are aiming for, get appropriate lighting. There are all sorts of nifty tricks that can be done these days quite cheaply with LED's and some small lights from an office or bedroom shop. I would advise going for LED lighting where possible, simply because they generate less heat.

2 - Story: since you can't wow your readers with great and unique artwork, you need to spend a bit more effort on the story / jokes. Unless you have something really spectacular (such as an entire garrison of troops), and that alone would only carry you for a few weeks. Perils of the Bold is a good example of this (note that Google has it listed as a "bad site" - I think the site has been abandoned and a bunch of malware has been added to the forum. The comic itself is fine. If you don't want to follow the link, I'll grab a copy of a page and upload it somewhere else).

3 - Have fun! That's half the point of the whole exercise, so if you are just doing it to amuse yourself and don't give a rats about anyone else's opinion, then feel free to ignore 1 and 2.

Currently, I'm getting equipment together for 1 and am having trouble with 2 due to limited resources.

For camera, I'd suggest to use whatever you already have. No point in going and spending a bunch of cash on a new camera until you've been doing it for a while and know what features you want. I would recommend a DSLR with a Macro lens - but most cameras have a macro mode on them anyway.

[Dr Legostar]

I agree about the lighting, the flash just does not cut it.

Don't be afraid to redo pictures if they're a bit off, i get lazy sometimes and the pictures are not as great as I would like, but sometimes you just need to bite the bullet and redo things.

Also agree with the story, the gimmick of what you're doing with photos will only last as long as "ooooh, photos of GIJoes!" after that you need something, usually story, characters or some kind of good comedy to carry things through, I've seen a lot of photocomics that are just not that interesting once you get beyond the gimmick. Also, it's hard to convey drama with photocomics using toys, however, it is extremely easy to convey melodrama, so go with it and ham it up.

[McDuffies]

My experiences from reading toy photo comics:

1) The same rules that apply to comics in general, should apply for these comics, regarding camera angles and cuts, page structure, lightning and all other graphic narration thingies. Most of these comics satisfy with keeping the bird's eye view all the time. It gets dull after a while, and I like to feel that we got down among toys instead of looking at them from above.

2) I like to see script taking lead in these things, too many times script seems like an afterthought, as if some plot element is included just because author had that toy or object at hand, and craved to use them somewhere. I like to see coherent scripts and toys used in moderation, as script requires.

One day I'm gonna make a photo comic with modelling clay.

[Dr Neo Lao]

Most of these comics satisfy with keeping the bird's eye view all the time.

Ooh - I forgot about that one!

With the 1:18 scale toys you shouldn't have that much of a problem (the sample you showed above is good, though the camera could still go a touch lower). But yeah, getting the camera down at the toys' eye level is definitely the way to go.

[Siabur]

1-Iighting is very important. I have 3 I use regularly. I also recommend a Daylight bulb, it gives a white light and makes the pictures come out better.
2- Raise up the scene. I do mine on a table with a milk crate on it to give it some height from the floor. It makes it easier to position the "Actors" as well as make camera angles easier to do in order to reduce the birdseye view.
3- Use a tripod. Blurry pictures suck.
4- Make the sets easy to move walls. This way you can have more that one angle.
5- Being that you are making a photocomic, backgrounds are easy to do. Just add more props and things. Sunday ads are great for getting posters and pictures and even little frames.
6- Graphics programs are your friend. They work great to fix those little extra's in the background like, a chair that wasn't covered up correctly.
7- Scrapbook paper is a cheap and easy way to get backdrops. I use a cloudy filled sky alot and water paterns. It saves on photoshop time.

Good luck.

[Necrospawn0]

I just started mine... so i really dont have any advise to give
at least besides agreeing with what everyone has already said...

i have to agree with the part about scripting first... you have to spend a lot of time to get a bunch of legos to speak without words

im also a fan of cheap special effects

[Bustertheclown]

Nice, guys. Thanks for all the great pointers. I knew I came to the right place.

[Wendybird]

I haven't read many, but I do like Ask Dr. Eldritch. Its story is definitely funny enough to overcome any visual weaknesses it might have.