Dragon Trainers: Isle of Hunters
To anyone reading this, hello! Thanks for giving this a shot. This is my first try at a screenshot comic, so I'd love any feedback you might have on it! Please don't reply to the comic screenshot posts though, in case I need to go back and edit it.
Tracky tracky!
Tracking
Trackin'
Tracking!!
Can't wait for the next part :D you know your doing really great at this :)
Tracking *^*
Tracking! :3
Tracking!
I personally thought it was a pretty good comic. It was a little short. If you want to know how to avoid switching back and forth between two pictures for chat scenes it's true that it isn't easy to avoid that. The ways I know of are to
A. Take a lot of shots from different angles of the same character during the conversation.
B. Little things like showing how the dragons in the background react to the world and the conversation. (this can work even if you don't have dragoneese in your storys the way I do) You could have them look away during parts they might find boring or get distracted by something in the background or they might snap to attention at an interesting part. You know, little stuff in the background so you aren't repeating the same pictures over and over. You could also draw an especially cartoony expression on the character in paint or some other drawing program for an exaggerated reaction if that is your type of thing. (Though for an especially long talk scene reusing a picture or two is sometimes impossible not to repeat at least once)
C. Another way to avoid long chat scenes is to just not make them too long in the first place or don't make them the majority of the comic. Have things happen in between the chat scenes. Not all of a story has to be conveyed though characters standing around talking. I do get that screenshot comic makers are limited in their story telling just because they have to use what is in the game but the more creative one can get with these limits the better.
Note. If you hadn't asked for advice on this I wouldn't have made this reply so long. Again I personally don't think this was a bad comic. I especially liked the photography in some places. Could it have used a little more action? Yes. But as it is it's not bad. I enjoyed reading it.
I like these characters and how the story was constructed! The first few parts did an excellent job of establishing characters, setting, and plot. The ending felt a bit rushed, however, moving to two weeks too quickly. I have a hard time believing Fen wouldn't have explained how he and Sunsong found Aria in an entire two weeks.
And Fen's dialogue was a little on the nose with the "lesson we can learn from this story" at the end. I'm not sure that last part is a bad thing, though; I'm just used to more subtley. I think it's the lack of character traits we see about Fen in the story that make that feel a little forced. Aside from being grumpy about being woken up, he kind of acts as the voice of reason and hero without much else to him. That's more to do with the length of the story than his actual characterization, though. He definitely felt like a character, not a plot device; I just don't know him very well, so him being wise enough to talk Aria down just makes him feel a little bland. I'm looking forward to seeing more of his character and his dynamic with others in the future, if you do more of these.
Aria is awesome! I love this character! She's spirited and brave, she's got a lot of personality, and she's got a good heart for the audience to follow. And I like how she works off both her dragon Brynhild and her friend Fen.
As for as repetitive scenes, Hypergoof gave good advise to heed. And like she said, if you have a long chat scene, it's hard not to have repetitive screenshots. I personally am notorious for doing this in my comics because it takes so much time to take a bunch of screenshots, and sometimes, I just run out of time.
As Hypergoof said, taken multiple shots from multiple angles for different positions for your characters helps a lot. Usually I write a script before I take any screenshots, and when I see a long convo coming, I plant my character, take about 4 screenshots at one angle with the character in different positions, then repeat at two more angles, so I have about 12 screenshots. Then I distribute them for that character's screenshot for the moment. Saves me time in the long run while making it less repetitive. And if I do use duplicate screenshots, they're spread out a bit more.
The great thing about comics is the "show, don't tell" policy limited to visuals. You can have your characters doing things during the conversation, for jokes or to get things across so you change things up. If, say, two are talking, one might put on a mask for a joke punchline, or one of the characters is pacing so you see her moving around to different areas, and the other character has to watch. And like Hypergoof said, you can have your characters doing something in the background. (I once used this for a visual gag; in my Dreadfall comic, I had my characters looking for a Leafy Snaptrapper, which could camouflage. The Snaptrapper was in view right behind my main character Whisper, and they just thought it was a pile of leaves. While Whisper and Norbert are talking, one of the heads wakes up at the noise. The next shot with Whisper, he looks around and spots them, but they don't notice. The next screenshot with Whisper, his head is back down, resuming their leafy disguise in the hopes that they won't be spotted. Stuff like that can add a lot of flavor and visual humor.)
And if you can show the action, it's best to show rather than have the characters talk about it if possible (though I can't think of any moments where that applies here).
Also, get more flying shots. If you get shots of Fen on Sunsong while he's flying, his sitting position won't be as awkward. The best way to get flying shots is to hold down the right mouse button and drag your curser up to the tab before you let go. This will allow you to adjust your viewing positions of your dragons and Vikings in flight without having it snap to the back of them the moment you let go of the button, so you can get nice side and front view images without the mouse in the way.
Another cool trick I learned is to change your Viking's facial expressions for different moments. In the boys, it's kind of limited - there's only two faces - but girl Vikings have a multitude of facial expression you can pick from in your journal. Some expressions are great for anger, annoyance, or exasperation. A bit of tweaking in Paint can also turn that permanent smile into a straight face or frown, but I only both with that when I need the face to really show the emotion of the moment.
That's all the advice I have. Hope that helps!
I still think "How did you find me?" would be the first thing Arira asked when they were out of danger, but...yeah, you're right, I did misread it. *sheepish grin*
Glad I could help. :)
Girls get a lot of expressions but boys only get a few? Wow....that's a little sexist of them for designing the game that way.
I know, right?
Really enjoying you comic :D your doing great <3 looking forward to the next part :)
I really likew this comic :D wish that there was more but still i like it for your first one! Hope you make another one soon!
Part 1: Lands Beyond
Aria: *barges into the house* Fen Birgerson, get your lazy butt out of bed!
Fen: *muffled* Go away, Ari.
It takes Aria a good few minutes of pestering, but finally Fen is up and out of bed.
Fen: See, now you've woken up Sunsong too. Do you know how cranky he gets in the early morning?
Sunsong: *snarls and spits amber at both of them*
Aria and Fen quickly dodge out of the way.
Aria: If that's what it takes, then I have no regrets. Besides, you'll be the one dealing with him, not me.
Fen: *sarcastically* What a great friend you are.
Aria: Aww, thanks.
Fen: Not a compliment.
Aria: But taken as such!
Fen: *groans* What do you want?
Aria: We're supposed to help Spitelout scout out islands for the storehouse, remember?
Fen: And it couldn't have waited? It's barely light out, for Thor's sake.
Aria: Well, there's nothing like an early start, right? We fly out in the morning and be back by nightfall. We don't even need to bring all the camping gear.
Fen: You really think we'll be able to find a suitable island in one day? We probably won't even be able to cover more than two or three islands.
Aria: I know. That's why we'll continue tomorrow! And the day after that, and day after that, until we find the right island.
Fen: Thor help me, I'm going to be waking up this early for however long this search takes?! That'll be at least the rest of the week!
Aria: Yep.
Fen: And I don't have a choice in this?
Aria: Nope.
Fen: *sighs in defeat* Fine, let me get ready first.
Aria: Great, I'll meet you outside!
A few minutes later...
Fen: Alright, so where do you want to head to first?
Aria: I figured that we should try the islands northeast of this map today...
Fen: We won't be able to cover the entire region though. We should split up, save some time.
Aria: I'm not sure if that's entirely safe, just a dragon and its rider...
Fen: Look who's talking. You're usually the one to go head-first into dangerous stuff.
Aria: That's not true! You end up in dangerous situations just as often as me!
Fen: Because you drag me into it.
Aria: True, but there was that time —
Fen: One time!
Aria: Okay, okay, fine! What's your plan?"
Fen: I was thinking that'd I'd take the upper half of the northeast region and you'd take the lower. We meet at sundown on this sea stack in the middle, then we go home. Simple!
Aria: That doesn't sound so bad...
Fen: See? Let's go!
The four split up and fly in their respective directions.
Fen: Too hot.
Aria: Too creepy!
Fen: Too sandy.
Aria: Hey wait... whoa! A Flightmare egg!
Brynhild: *squawks in alarm*
Flightmare: *snarls*
Aria: And its mother! Okay, gotta go, gotta go!
Fen: Huh, this looks promising...
Skrill: *roars*
Fen: Aaand now not so much. Sunsong, get us out of here!
Aria: Well, the sun's going down. We should head back — wait, Bryn, hold up.
Aria: That looks like... an island. Just outside the area covered by the map. Meaning none of the Riders have found it yet! Let's go check it out!
They fly closer to the island.
Aria: Wait, something feels off... Bryn, get us into the clouds.
Aria: *pulls out her spyglass and peers through it*
Aria: Huh, it's inhabited. There's a ship...
Aria: Dragon Hunters!
Brynhild: *growls*
Aria: I know, I like them just about as much as you do. But whatever they're doing here, we need to check it out.