Headline, May19, 2014

'''' RABO -DEE- : ''' STANDBY TO GO 

CARTOONS AND COMICS ON !WOW! '''

SAMURAI & FALCON FORMATION.................''CHECK IN''

' Samurai 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...................................!'

!Check > TACAN On.  Check  Fuel Switches >  GangLoaded.  Check > Blinker Blinking.  Check Oxygen > 100%. Check  > NO  Red & Warning Light ON!.

   

FOR SOME REASON, the notion of hero-worship feels a little uncomfortable today:

Heroes tend to be something you had when you still slept under a Star Wars duvet, or felt the need to hang your national flag from your front window, 

Or saw the Pakistani cricketer, turned, super leader, Imran Khan, bowl a fiery spell. And that is the only way for him to go forward! 

Or when Kewley Hawes has taken out a restraining order against you.

Less problematic, however, is having people you very much admire, like,......   and that is where Rabo, Dee, Hussain, Ali, Ehsan, Zeba, Paras, Saima,  Sorat, Talat, Aneela,........  come in. 

If all of them put in focused and professional work daily, and made the best use of the looming summer vacations,  They are likely to achieve admirable success in highly individual ways.

As I reflect and  look very closely and very  carefully at them,  -I know exactly what not to admire elsewhere. Only just so recently, Dee, emailed me thoughts. I suggested  ''Cartoons and Comics'' >  So here we go, girls: 

Right on to the base line for some familiarization and practice.

The way a comic book artist can convey so much emotion, drama and narrative with just a few simple lines has always amazed me.

Now, if you want to put a comic strip together and provide your own drama and emotion, there are many mobile apps that can do the basic artwork for you.

Of the comic book apps that I've used, Comic Life,  $5 for an IOS version, has the most features and works best on iPad because of the bigger screen. The apps main trick is taking images that you've snapped with your device's camera, applying effects to them-

And adding art on top to create a traditional-looking comic strip. Because the app relies on your photos to create stories, you don't need any drawing skills to get a good result.

After opening the app, you tap on the + button to create a comic. The app then offers a selection of comic strip templates with different themes, like wild west, futuristic or moody black and white. 

The templates are populated with story cells, space for headlines and background colors. You can edit all of this as you create your story.

Filling in a story cell is as simple as tapping on the little photo icon to import a photo, then zooming and rotating the photo  to fit using familiar multi-touch gestures. 

You then add one of a number of effects that make the image look like an illustration from a comic book, either in color or bold black and white.

After that, it's just a question of tapping on the buttons to add speech bubbles, or action-word stickers like !WOW!.....POW! When you are done you can save your comic as an image, print it or share it over social media.

One loves the way the app allows you to edit tiny details like the shape and style of word bubbles, and the size and placement of each story cell.

Occasionally, the menus are baffling. For example, it seems strange to use an icon to adjust some image controls while you use different menus for the rest.

Comic Strip It Pro, a $1 Android app, is similar. There is also a free version. Like Comic Life, this app is focused on turning photos into comic strip, but I think I prefer the effects this app uses to make- Your images look like comics.

Comic Strip it Pro's interface is more playful to use than Comic Life's, but it's equally potent, letting you adjust parameters like speech bubbles and headlines. It too has interface quirks:

Who would have imagined that a Piggy bank icon with an arrow going into it would mean save?

One wishes users had a little more control over, over the layout and shape of story cells, but you can still produce  great-looking comic scripts  with this app, if you get creative.

An alternative to both of these apps is ComicBook! by 3dtopo ($2 on iOS and Android). The app comes loaded with image effects to turn your photos into comics.

But many of the effects are available only  via in-app purchases. That little trick has annoyed many reviewers on app stores, given that they have already paid $2.

It also has not been updated on Android for quiet some time.

For a simpler option, try Comic and Meme Creator, available on iOS and Android. There's a free edition, but  you'll probably want to spring for the full pro version  (1$ on both iOS and Android):

To unlock all the image editing features. While you can drop own photos into this app, it's also full of characters, backgrounds and objects that resemble clip art that you can use to illustrate your comic story.

Some of the characters may even remind you of your favourite heroes. And it would seem remiss not to include,....... And should you wish to ask me, let me then confess right up upfront:

My Heroes  :   '''' The Students Of The World ''''

The Honour and Serving of the post continues. Stay tuned for the next one.

With respectful dedication to all the creative student artists in the world. See Ya all on !WOW!  -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

''''The Games World''''

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless