Image by Gunwallace, from Utterly Rucked, found here on the Utterly Drunk Duck!
Photocomics
My somewhat undisciplined, regularly wandering mind went, awhile back, to the possibility of doing photocomics instead of drawn ones.
Of course, my fanciful thoughts hit a wall after realizing the amount of WORK that goes into doing a project with photographs.
Models have to be built. And not just for characters. All the props and backgrounds have to be figured out, whether they're built, bought or found, drawn or photographed. Frames have to be composed - and as annoying as editing a misplaced arm or a too-small head can be, altering a detail or two while keeping a photo intact must be exponentially harder (if I even knew where to begin doing something like that).
Then there's lighting the image, and the usual comic thing of creating panels, word bubbles, and comic or dramatic timing, which has got to be a heck of a lot harder if any of the pictures are a little bit off. And the various special effects which are pretty much infinitely varied and challenging to achieve in a photo.
The level of preplanning and work required boggles my mind.
But I love the way a lot of these comics look! The images have actual WEIGHT to them, being, y'know, actual 3d objects (or the illusion thereof).
Some notable photocomics on the Duck:
Interstellar Blood Beasts and the work of bravo1102
If you hang around the Duck enough, you'll know the infamous bravo, who has been a major contributor to discussions and comic creation here for years. My favorite work of his so far has been Interstellar Blood Beasts, but he's done a lot of stuff, mostly sci-fi/fantasy/comedy mashes, using certain attractive, leggy, feminine toys with amazing sets and effects (WARNING: They do tend to get a little bit nude). A talented, talented bloke this guy is.
His eye was ripped out by a pair of rabid weasals recently, so send the poor chap some love, hey?
Pegwarmers by Sameth
If you love movies and pop culture, Pegwarmers will be your bag! Updating Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Pegwarmers has very funny and on-point comedy featuring toys from movies like Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ripping that fourth wall a new one every week!
Sameth has quite a few other comics in the ol' catalogue as well! Check 'em out!
Utterly Rucked and the work of Gunwallace
Talented writer of many scripts and comics, purveyor of much gut-busting humor, and composer of a MULTITUDE of theme songs for our webcomics here on the site, Gunwallace is actually a cruel, brutish man in person. Keeping at least one kilometre away is recommended. Though he draws some of his comics these days, much of his work has been done using Playmobil toys, and this stuff works WAY better than I would have imagined such an idea would!
Gun has done several of these in various genres (always replete with puns) and my favorite was Utterly Rucked, a slasher/murder mystery featuring a rugby team that's being offed one by one.
Kudos to these photocomic makers!
What do you all think of photocomics? Any recommendations?
Links:
Interstellar Blood Beasts by bravo:
http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Interstellar_Blood_Beasts/
Pegwarmers by Sameth:
http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Pegwarmers/
Utterly Rucked by Gunwallace
http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Utterly_Rucked/5331040/
And here's
Sword of Kings, the newest comic by bravo!
http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Sword_of_Kings/5535525/
PHOTOCOMICS
Banes at 12:00AM, March 9, 2017
8 likes!
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Gunwallace at 12:10AM, March 10, 2017
@bravo: you can pay me anytime. I will read for food. (love your new comic, but really want you do do the other one you sent me the script of, which still makes me laugh even now).
rawdale at 10:23PM, March 9, 2017
Wow, these are all fantastic! For TRUMPed, I just use 100% stolen photos lifted from the internet (or screengrabs from videos, put them through a few filters in Photoshop before I assemble them on a page, then add the dialogue. However, what you all have done is much more involved and that much more impressive in the end result.
plymayer at 8:37PM, March 9, 2017
What if, we are all living INSIDE a photo comic?
bravo1102 at 6:02PM, March 9, 2017
But Utterly Rucked still has twice the page views of one of my comics, three times the respect and even featured. You can sell comics. I can't even get people to read mine if I pay them.
Gunwallace at 10:58AM, March 9, 2017
Thanks for the shout out to Utterly Rucked, my least read comic of all time. The panels you selected illustrate the limitations of working with toys, as that's my hand in the last panel there. We had to make a full-sized rugby jersey in the same colours as the tiny Playmobil ones just for two or three frames.
bravo1102 at 8:20AM, March 9, 2017
Tales of SIG was 100% green screen. Sword of Kings is about 85% green screen. Shooting with a set is easier but set up can be a pain. Set building is also hard. Plus there's the three walls blocking shots. interstellar Bloodbeasts had modular sets so I could remove walls. But still it was hard getting in there. Green screen I just set up the plain walls and shoot. I want to shoot another view all I have to move are the figures. And I only have to worry about lighting the figures.
El Cid at 7:24AM, March 9, 2017
The work that goes into a photocomic can be surprisingly sophisticated; I think Bravo even used greenscreens at one point (I may be mistaken on that; my memory is almost useless). There are very few currently active photocomics on this site though, and since they changed the search options, it's next to impossible to find the older ones now. [url=http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Asshole/]A$$hole[/url] by Trevor A. Mueller was really good back in the moldy oldy days.
KimLuster at 7:23AM, March 9, 2017
I liked when Bravo showed some 'behind the scenes' of his stages and props, his giant collection of figures and clothing... It was stunning!! Truly enjoy his art!! Another renowned photo-comicer is VinoMas, with his Paperdoll cutouts arrange in various scenes - wonderful sense of style!
KAM at 6:29AM, March 9, 2017
I've done a few comics using pictures, mostly just adding captions/word balloons, but one time I had an idea to cut shapes (heads, arms, etc.) out of colored paper so I could quickly arrange them and snap pictures to speed up the comicing process, but the one time I did it the colors just weren't bright enough for me, so I ended up making fake cutouts in PhotoShop. Oddly enough it hasn't really sped up my comic-making.
Banes at 6:19AM, March 9, 2017
I didn't know about Sword of Kings! Glad you made your way back to doing a comic, man!
bravo1102 at 5:16AM, March 9, 2017
I'd recommend Bravo's newest retake on his oldest "Sword of Kings" but that's just because it's the newest one. ;-D Thanks for recognizing the efforts of we photocomic makers.