[PHX Customs]

We are starting our second week with chapter 8: Tactical Clash.

-PHX

[monstermonkey]

These are all great. I especially love Hawk and Grunt, good to see some of the original team updated here.

[OreoBuilder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by monstermonkey

These are all great. I especially love Hawk and Grunt, good to see some of the original team updated here.

Thanks! Those two figures are among my favorites too. I toyed with the idea of redoing the entire OG13 team in Night Force colors for the project, but that was too many characters for the project. Maybe next time

OB

[PHX Customs]

The adventure continues with chapter 9 - Lines of Communication.

-PHX

[jlw515]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PHX Customs

The adventure continues with chapter 9 - Lines of Communication.

-PHX

Another great update! A few questions for the Team:

1. Who takes the diorama photos?
2. Any way of seeing some "behind the scene" photos?
3. What program do you use to add the dialogue, word bubbles; etc.?
4. I've noticed some "catchphrases" on negative artwork (what I call it), are these "catchphrases" meant as hints to the storyline or do they just stand alone?
5. Why aren't there any Ranks/Grades on the File Card?

As having worked on my own SW photonovel in the past, I understand the hard work that goes into setting up a diorama and picking the right filler material (nice use of Jabba's Sail Barge cannon by the way). So, I'm intrigued by how other customers set up their dioramas.

If I might suggest a fellow customer's work to check out, if you have never looked through his photonovel, Justin Cook aka YakChewie over at www.yakface.com does great work with his diorama setups for his photonovel. There was another customizer BITD, Jules out of the UK (Hangerbay64) who also did incredible work.

Love this series you are doing, and I'm glad to see that it is a Team effort.

Jason

[DanOfTheDead]

I'm sure OB will have more to say, but here are a few quick answers:

1) We usually ship everything to OreoBuilder for photography. I shot a few of the simple setups for the Adventure Team project, but just about everything else is all him.

2) I think this is a great idea, I'd love to see what the dioramas look like from a little further back. OB makes them look like full environments. We do usually include some concept sketches, etc on the last day of the project.

3) Sam is handling the bulk of the art. He does the illustrations and card back designs as well. When I'm contributing, I use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, I assume he's doing the same. Any other programs you're using for the comics, Sam?

4) These are the imagined "glow in the dark" feature of the card backs. Turn out the lights to reveal the messages. Some are stand alone references to a character... some are hints at something bigger. I think these were Sam's idea, I think they're great.

5) Sam, again, has really stepped up on all the "other" stuff that goes into these, leaving the rest of the team more time to focus on making the figures. We'll sometimes include some notes or rough drafts for file cards, but he's doing most of the writing. I'll let him chime in if there was a conscious choice on not using them. My guess is since it's only relevant to Joe team members, leaving it off keeps the file card format a little more uniform, which can be s but deal when cranking all these out.

I've since gotten away from Star Wars figures, but I use to be very active over on the yakface forums. Chewie and Hangarbay both do amazing work. I need to go catch up on the Rykrof Enloe story, you are right that his work is worth checking out. The dio work is top notch and the photography is too.

These are a lot of work to coordinate, and I'm extremely proud to have been included in these projects. Hearing that people are enjoying them is a wonderful thing.

[shirleydoe]

I'm using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for the effects and artwork. Nearly all of the fonts that I use are from Comicraft.

The glow in the dark messages first showed up in our last Night Force effort and foreshadowed events that have been playing out in our universe ever since. They continue throughout this story.

For simplicity's sake, I deleted the ranks off of the filecards. I always looked at the Joe Team as being less about rank -- other than the big guns like Hawk and Duke -- and more who was the best specialist for the job. It also saved a lot of room on the cards and was one less thing for me to make a typo on or forget to update on each card.

As part of the team effort, everyone contributes to the storyline and gives me notes on each figure, but I've been happy to have a ton of freedom to both paint and come up with their characters (or adjust the ones that already exist).

Thanks for asking!

Sam/doe138

[jlw515]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanOfTheDead

I'm sure OB will have more to say, but here are a few quick answers:

1) We usually ship everything to OreoBuilder for photography. I shot a few of the simple setups for the Adventure Team project, but just about everything else is all him.

2) I think this is a great idea, I'd love to see what the dioramas look like from a little further back. OB makes them look like full environments. We do usually include some concept sketches, etc on the last day of the project.

3) Sam is handling the bulk of the art. He does the illustrations and card back designs as well. When I'm contributing, I use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, I assume he's doing the same. Any other programs you're using for the comics, Sam?

4) These are the imagined "glow in the dark" feature of the card backs. Turn out the lights to reveal the messages. Some are stand alone references to a character... some are hints at something bigger. I think these were Sam's idea, I think they're great.

5) Sam, again, has really stepped up on all the "other" stuff that goes into these, leaving the rest of the team more time to focus on making the figures. We'll sometimes include some notes or rough drafts for file cards, but he's doing most of the writing. I'll let him chime in if there was a conscious choice on not using them. My guess is since it's only relevant to Joe team members, leaving it off keeps the file card format a little more uniform, which can be s but deal when cranking all these out.

I've since gotten away from Star Wars figures, but I use to be very active over on the yakface forums. Chewie and Hangarbay both do amazing work. I need to go catch up on the Rykrof Enloe story, you are right that his work is worth checking out. The dio work is top notch and the photography is too.

These are a lot of work to coordinate, and I'm extremely proud to have been included in these projects. Hearing that people are enjoying them is a wonderful thing.

Dan, I got out of SW collecting/customizing around the time the original "Black Series" which is when Hasbro also previewed the Kwinn figure at Toy Fair. At that point, I made the switch to G.I. Joe which honestly dominated more of my childhood than SW anyway. While working SW customs, I did a few episodes of a photonovel I created called "Vader's Quest" which used the comic book style you guys are doing here. So, I really like the work you guys are doing.

Sam, the idea that the glow in the dark messages foreshadow events is pretty awesome! My plans are to produce a photonovel (dio-story) for G.I. Joe. I used Photoshop for editing and PowerPoint for my layout. So I might have to pick your brain on Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop (my knowledge of working Photoshop is very lacking).

Jason

[PHX Customs]

Chapter 10 - Off-Road Action - is up!

- PHX

[Dod Ear]

Look forward to these everyday - great stuff guys!

Love the NF AWE striker. The gun mounts are especially nice.

Skids is nearly a kitbash in perfect NF colors. I really wish the club had not used that 25th torso and gone with the torso that matched the arms as you did. Huge improvement.

DOTD - those AVs look great. Dark and imposing.