largento

The Dallas Comic Con has become huge. 50k attendees and it is now in the Convention Center in Dallas. It's in May. It's been taken over by foreign investors who want to make it bigger than San Diego (good luck with that), so they are pumping money into promotion and guests. http://fanexpodallas.com [EDIT] Nevermind. Looks like it's the same weekend as Awesome Con

Thanks, guys! The framing sequence takes place just before the two-part TNG episode "Unification" and the main story takes place 37 years before that. This was our take on what had happened to Kirk.

Star Trek's 50th anniversary is coming up next year and my pal McCrary and I were discussing doing a fan comic in celebration of it. We can't publish it, obviously, but we can put it up on the web for other Star Trek fans to read. We went back and forth on some story ideas and ended up resurrecting a project we wrote and pencilled back in 1992. It's been so long ago that I don't remember why it wasn't lettered and inked, but I suspect that we sent it into DC Comics (who was publishing Star Trek comics at the time) as a sample and when we didn't hear anything, just set it aside. One of the things that contributed to it staying dormant was that Star Trek continuity made it apocryphal. Still, it was a fun project and when McCrary suggested we finish it up and put it on the web, I agreed and said we could just acknowledge when the story was done and what the continuity was at the time. It was a 60 page comic and McCrary had photocopies of all but 5 pages and after a harrowing trip to my storage unit, I was able to track down the script. It's a very weird thing reading something you wrote 23 years ago. You don't remember it, so your younger self is telling you a story you don't remember. Very odd. Anyway, this time out, I'm taking on the challenge of coloring the pages as well as lettering them. This is turning out to be a lot of fun and I thought I'd share the first five pages here. I've left off the lettering because we want to release the story on September 6th, 2016.

I haven't done it yet, but it's not going to be anything particularly fancy. My mom's been approached about making a quilt with a Tardis design on it. Since it's for a full size bed, I thought I'd angle it so that it would be wider and thought it would be easier to get the perspective right if I made a model. Essentially I'll be making a pattern. I doubt it will be made, though, since the cost of materials and labor will probably higher than this person wants to pay.

Bearing in mind this model wasn't designed for close-ups, I thought it might be something fun to have, so I'm donating it to the forum. I've included the images, so hopefully it will work right. rtd_tardis.zip

Thanks, guys! I found some plans online which made the job easier. I hadn't realized just how different the various versions of the TARDIS are. I was also surprised to learn that the actual Police Call Boxes were largely made of concrete (only the door was wood.) But since the ones on the show look like wood to me, that's the way I went.

I'm needing to create a vector image of the 10th Doctor's TARDIS and used that as an excuse to do a model. It came out fairly well for being a quickie. I know there are a few TARDIS models available, but I'd always wanted to try my hand at making one.

Never in my life have I ever wanted something to be more difficult to do than it already is.

Never having been a Windows guy, I have absolutely no idea what an insert button is. I never even registered it as a shortcut on the force keyframe. :-) Robert's right, though, you can easily change the shortcut to a key you can use. (I believe it's "Edit: Make Keyframe")

Here's hoping 2015 brings great things to Tar of Zandoria!

That's a great title!

I believe you can get Mark Skodacek's Ocean Generator rig here.

Genius, as always. And Pixar shows how great fuzzy puppets can look when done by the pros.

Interesting. I read an interview where he said that the idea for the horror game came from a criticism of some of his work. The critic said his animation seemed animatronic, so he came up with an idea based around animatronic figures. I love that kind of turning a weakness into a strength sort of thing.

What about making the scroll as a movie and then applying the movie sequence? Shouldn't that work?

I, for one, don't know what Hash, Inc. does as far as marketing A:M. My impression is that they are keeping A:M afloat so as not to leave any of us high and dry, but I don't think there's a scenario where they are trying to compete in the market space anymore. Let's face it, creating your own 3D animated movie is a lot of work and more work than the majority of people would ever consider putting into it. I've been part of the community here for less than eight years and I've seen many enthusiastic users who start epic projects and despite progress along the way, simply disappear and are never heard from again. Steve Jobs thought everyone would want Pixar's software when he bought them from George Lucas. He thought everyone with a home computer would want to create these 3D environments and characters and make their own animations. Turns out, it was just too difficult, so Pixar had to switch from being a software company to being a studio with its own software. I didn't come to A:M until after the virtual studio idea was in its last stages. My assumption, is that for whatever reason, the decision was made to not pursue it any further. Not being part of that process, I haven't any guesses as to why. Martin does say in his memoirs that if there was a company looking to absorb A:M into their studio, he'd discuss it ...as long as Hash received something substantial in the process. I don't think any of us are independently wealthy enough to swing that. :-) If some big studio with the capital came along and bought A:M to use for their productions, I'd be the first to stand in line to get a job with them, but I think that's wishful thinking at this point. I'm just thankful I can still use A:M. :-)

It's likely they are working with the art team to create the art they need. The art can be created in layers so that the background is whole. Additionally, I think they are probably providing different angles of character drawings to be used on the models. I don't think it's a straight conversion from a comic page. It does seem like they are holding back on showing that part of the process.

Thanks, David! Superman has changed a lot over the years. I always thought Joe Shuster's original Superman looked like a short, scrappy guy. I don't know if that had to do with the shorts or not. After Shuster, Wayne Boring came along and gave him a ridiculous barrel chest and tiny head that lasted into Curt Swan's time. I'm thinking Curt may have been the artist that lowered the belt line. Every time I see old movies with suits with those high pants that seem to come up to their armpits, I always think how weird that must feel.

Here's a turnaround with wireframe. I hadn't planned on doing this model. I always start with the head and do the body later, but this one started with the body. Made some different choices with modeling than I normally do, too. Was really trying to get it done quickly.

Thanks! Yeah, I kinda threw the hand together and exported it from an action. Need to do a proper one for instances like this when I get inspired when I'm supposed to be doing real work. :-)

Another old 2D cartoon character modeled in 3D. This is one I've wanted to do for years. The old Fleischer Studios Superman cartoons were a revelation the first time I saw them.

I've got to get myself in gear, too! It's like a cruel joke that you get to the point where you can finally do what you want to do with A:M and real life and old age get in the way...

I agree, David! My point is that big comic book conventions would much rather book somebody who played the 5th lead in a Hunger Games movie than somebody who has actually contributed to the art form of comics because it draws in a larger fan base and means more money for them. But these people aren't likely to be comic book fans or trekkies.

There's been much discussion lately about the profitability of conventions for artists and dealers. Famed Star Wars cover-painter Dave Dorman's wife posted this blog. She points to a shift in culture that makes it more about the fans than the creators. She says that the cost of San Diego vs sales left them $1K in the hole and Mile High Comics complained at the time that they had lost $10K in San Diego. Given the huge costs involved in doing San Diego, I've never been able to justify it. Even if I sold every DVD I have, I'd never make up for the dealer cost and all the travel expenses. All I know is what I've experienced, which is more and more "regular" people attending cons to see famous celebrities. Whereas it used to be that everyone was just as nerdy (if not much nerdier) than you are, now we're on display in a zoo. And after spending hundreds of dollars for VIP tickets, travel and celebrity autographs and photos, they don't have any money left over for the dealers and artists. I was pretty much factoring on convention sales as the primary way to be able to distribute my own animated projects, but I think that ship has sailed. I'm doing a very small show in November (which has a Mad Magazine theme, appropriately), but it's a tiny one in a hotel with only comic book people and a $7 per person ticket. The biggest named guest is Mad artist Tom Richmond, who is probably completely unknown to 99% of the population. It's in Dallas and an artist table is under $50, so it's reasonable that I'll at least break even. I want to do more parody movies, but with a population that expects everything to be available on the web (and everything on the web should be free), I just don't know of a way that I could ever make it work.

That's pretty incredible, Robert!