Futuredragon Studios

Inheriting a Community

2009-04-08T20:59:00.001-07:00

The other day, David Davis, illustrator of Cosmic Dash, came to me asking me if I would be willing to help manage some of the code over at Comic Dish. Now, you see, Comic Dish is a web comic hosting community, and it also happens to be the host for my web comic, Lakewood. I told David that I would be more than happy to help out.

It wasn’t until shortly after this conversation that I realized what was actually going on. Sam, the administrator over at the Comic Dish, essentially dropped the entire site in my lap. Now, I’m more than happy to take it. Comic Dish is a good site, and it has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, Sam, due to his current schedule and other concerns, simply did not feel up to managing the site any longer and needed an out. Cue yours truly.

Well, because I know that I won’t be able to do much more than simple bug fixing on my own due to time constraints (I have Lakewood, I’m working towards my degree, and I’ve also got a couple of jobs, the main one right now being at Napalm Riot), I decided to put together a programming team.

David Davis will be helping with some of the GUI related issues, such as HTML and CSS templates and the like. I provide some basic specs of what it will look like, and he’s going to be putting it together.

Jon (Picante) is also going to be helping out as my PHP coding assistant. He’s a good programmer, and he’s worked on community sites like Comic Dish before, so it should be easy for him to help me recode the core system.

JTorch is also an “Apprentice,” and will be helping out where he can.

The other two that will be helping on an off-and-on basis are Sam (different from the owner) admin of OverCranked, a movie review web site, and Brian, who is a Java coder.

So what is this going to get us? Firstly, an awesome comic host! Hopefully, with everything up and running, we should be able to host and supply to people a stable, customizable system that will allow us to create custom web comic sites as good or better than other systems. Also, it will allow all of us on the team to gain valuable experience… let alone put an extra line on our Resumes. A shiny “System Administrator of The Comic Dish” sounds good to me!

Anyways, stay tuned, and I should have updates on Comic Dish in the near future! Also, if you’re a web cartoonist, sign up for an account! I’m going to need people to test the system!

Cheers!

-Doc

Weekly Comic Dump – March 29th – April 4th

2009-04-05T15:27:00.001-07:00

COMIC NEWS

Well, picking a little fun at the predicament that I had this week with the hardware issues here at the Studio, I ended up drawing a few comics dealing with the Sticks updating their computer. Cowboy goes from Vista to Dos to Windows ‘95. Talk about upgrades!

Also, this week, I celebrated hitting 600 strips total in the Lakewood universe (Lakewood is a combination of three of my old comic strips, Designation Se7en, Sticks, and Sharky)! Pretty exciting! Also, Lakewood hit 50 strips this week!

If you would like to read my comics on a daily basis, please feel free to read it over at ComicDish on The Official Lakewood Web Site.

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In Technical details, I’d like to mention what software and materials were used for each strip.

46 – Photoshop Elements 5
47, 48, 50, 51, 52 – Adobe Illustrator CS4
49 – Sharpie Markers

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Cheers!

-Doc

The System is Down…

2009-04-05T14:50:00.001-07:00

Well, I had a most interesting predicament the other day. As I was finishing up a rather large program that I was writing in C (a basic database engine), I turned to work on a couple of things, and then, when I turned back to my computer, something stunning happened.

“CHIC-BHSHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWwwwwwwwwwwwwwww…….”

The system itself shut down, with a rather nasty sound, the likes of which I have tried to exemplify above.

Anyways, my one reaction was “Oh. That can’t be good.”

After a bit, I made an attempt to reboot the machine. It had hardly gotten beyond the BIOS screen when it stated rather simply “Hard Drive Failure.”

That’s odd, I thought, as I looked at the ominous grey-on-black command prompt. I didn’t hear the hard drive crash or anything…

So then it was time to fix and rebuild. Luckily, I run Linux on several of my machines, so I used a rescue disk on my big ol’ Windows box. Remarkably, I was able to mount half of the hard drives. I did a network backup, but since I have about a half terabyte of information on the disk, it took about a day over the non-gigabit network.

Then I went to the Great and Abominable Store (Best Buy) in order to purchase a new .5 TB hard drive. I got in and out for only a few bucks more than NewEgg’s offerings on the same drive, so I was happy. I came home, threw into the machine, and then I installed Windows fresh, copying original files.

The only problem I’ve run into on my system rebuild, CS4 would not work. Photoshop crashes every time I make an attempt to open an image. I have yet to be able to diagnose the reason. Luckily, this morning I realized that I had not installed it on my 64-bit machine, so I installed it, and it’s running beautifully.

Anyways, here we go… rebooting life again.

And Lakewood has been running steadily for over a month! YES!

Cheers!

-Doc

Comic Creation Guide...

2009-02-06T07:40:00.000-08:00

I am currently in the process of creating a guide that will instruct beginners on how to create comics and cartoon strips. The surprising part is, I have found quite a bit of support in the project. I am currently working with several cartoonists and students in order to provide a comprehensive, online guide that will allow other, aspiring artists to begin their work and get it out to the public.

Current artists participating:
N. Rackley - Amateur Cartoonist - Lakewood
David Davis - Semi-Professional Cartoonist, Professional Comic Writer - Cosmic Dash, Warped
Howard Tayler - Professional Cartoonist - Schlock Mercenary

"Student" participants:
James - Writer
Jonathan - Photographer
James Hertz - Writer, Machinima Director

David Davis is also rounding up a couple of other people to help out with some sample illustrations from among the Scienteers. The Scienteers will be sponsoring and distributing my column. We have also agreed to allow an edition of the podcast form of these columns to be distributed through the Scienteer sister site, ComicDish's weekly cartooning podcast, The Dish.

Links to specific artist pages and their comics will be added promptly.

Special Note: Cartoonists rock. I sent out the requests to use sample material, and most responded within the day.

Anyways, stay tuned for future updates!

Cheers!

-Doc

New videos up at YouTube.

2009-02-03T22:29:00.000-08:00

My two newest productions, Downhill Fast Episode 1 - Modz, and Draconus V, my video blog/podcast are now up over at my YouTube gallery.

Check them out!

http://www.youtube.com/Droakir

You can also check them out below...

Enjoy!

-Doc

New Comics!

2008-11-27T01:43:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody!

I've finally buckled down and drawn some more comic strips for everyone. Go over to my lakewood page to read them!

http://lakewood.comicdish.com

I've been trying really hard to start getting back into the habit of updating Lakewood daily with new comic strips. Additionally, ANOTHER comic series is planned to debut this upcoming Friday: The Wandering Wizard!

Stay tuned!

Downhill Fast - Episode 0

2008-11-12T23:45:00.000-08:00

Downhill Fast - Episode 0 is finally up!

Enjoy!

-Droakir

Downhill Fast - Episode Zero

2008-11-08T00:57:00.000-08:00

Alright, so after working with Alimar for some time now, we've begun the production of our upcoming machinima using the Halo 3 game engine, titled "Downhill Fast." This first one is only going to be a couple of minutes long, but future episodes are definitely going to be longer.

Progress report:

Script: Done
Voice Acting (scratch track): Done
Sets: Done
Acting: Done
Filming: Done
Capturing: Done
Voice Acting (final): Done
Animation: Done
Audio Editing: In Progress
Final Cutting: In Progress

As you can see, we're about 70% done with this current animated short. Stay tuned for more details on Downhill Fast!

Cheers!

-Droakir

Guide to Beginning Digital Photography - Overview

2008-11-02T01:02:00.000-07:00

Guide to Beginning Digital Photography - Overview
by N. P. Rackley (Droakir)

http://www.futuredragon.net
http://droakir.deviantart.com
http://futuredragon.blogspot.com

Introduction

Hobbies and pastimes are important to almost every person in the world. Hobbyist photographers have been around for centuries, perfecting their art and at times turning professional. However, the trail from Amateur to Pro often appears a steep one. How can we get up it? What do we need to know?

My purpose in this tutorial is to instruct my fellow hobbyists on the different (and often inexpensive) methods that one can utilize to breach this gap between amateur and professional photographer. It is my hope that those of you who follow this tutorial will learn enough to be able to make correct decisions. From selecting and purchasing a camera to post-processing and publishing your images.

Regards,

N. P. Rackley

Where to Begin

There are many frequently asked questions. I have pooled questions from several different photographers, and have come up with the following list of things that beginners often ask. The articles may be read in order, or, if you have a specific question, please feel free to jump ahead!

Frequently Asked Questions:

About Photography

What is photography?
What's the difference between an Amatuer and a Professional?
What is the difference between film and digital cameras? Which is cheaper?

Cameras

What kinds of cameras are there?
What kind of camera should I buy? What features should it have? Will I spend a lot of money?
Is Megapixels important?
Where should I get my camera?
Is there any equipment I should purchase with my camera?

Taking Photos

What is the "luck factor"?
What modes should I use my camera in?
When should I use the flash?
How should I frame a photograph?
How do I focus the camera? Should I use automatic focus, or manual? What are the multi, center, and spot modes?
What is an ISO? What are exposures?
What is white balance? How do I use it?
How do you use a tripod?
How do I use macro mode?
How do I use manual mode?
How do I take photographs at night? Photographs of Lightning?
What are timed photos, or multiple exposures? What do I use them for?

Post-Processing

What is post-processing?
How do you post-process an image?
What kinds of tools are good for post-processing? What kind of software should I purchase? Are there any free alternatives?
How can I improve the quality of the photo?
How can I adjust the colors of the photo?
How do I add a borders or text to my photo?
How do I add a focus effect to my photo?

New Digital Camera!

2008-11-02T00:12:00.001-07:00

I am now happy to say that I am the proud owner of a brand new digital camera!

I purchased today a new Canon A590IS. Now, I know that this camera isn't as "high quality" as my Canon A640, however it certainly will do the job!

This camera was purchased in part to be used in my upcoming tutorial set about beginning photography. Stay tuned!

Cheers!

-Droakir

Lakewood and Casa Grande are now up!

2008-10-30T23:10:00.001-07:00

I have officially uploaded my first Lakewood/Casa Grande strip. Go check it out!

The pages are still WIPs, however content does help to spiffy things up a bit.

THE LAKEWOOD WEB SITE
THE CASA GRANDE WEB SITE (Lakewood in Spanish)

Enjoy!

-Droakir

Photography Project

2008-10-28T00:12:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been organizing and getting my photographs that I have taken in the past two years ready for publication. Here above is a sample of my photography from my trip to Mexico.

Anyways, other photographs can be found at my deviantART gallery.

Enjoy!

-Droakir

Machinima... and Webcomics.

2008-10-24T23:21:00.000-07:00

Well, after having been gone for a while, I have decided to come back with a bang!

Alimar and I will be working on a Machinima using the Halo 3 engine and Macromedia Flash for animation.

The name: Downhill Fast: What's in the cards?

Here's a sneak peek:

Want to see what it's all about? Stay tuned for more soon!

Also, in the works, is my new Lakewood comic strip, the rebirth of the Designation Se7en series. It will be hosted at ComicDish. A Spanish translation, known as Casa Grande, will also be hosted there.

http://lakewood.comicdish.com
http://casagrande.comicdish.com

Well, that's it for now. Stay tuned for more updates in the future!

Cheers!

-Droakir

Halo Marine Armor: T-Shirt Logo

2008-10-22T16:47:00.000-07:00

I completed my vectorized version of the UNSC logo for my marine armor for the video game Halo: Combat Evolved.

I am currently recieving help from the 405th, the premiere Halo costuming community, to get everything all put together.

The armor requires several items... hat/helmet, BDUs, this T-Shirt, as well as several different armor pieces which I will have to arrange.

Stay tuned for more updates, and photos!

-Droakir

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Image hand-vectored in InkScape. None of that bitmap tracing nonsense! :)

New Beginnings

2008-10-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

A new beginning, and a Blog. I never thought the world would come to this!

Anyways, I hope that everything turns out fine. I will post news, project updates, and art here.

-Droakir