00+S1+Technologies


 * 1. Comics**

There are a large number of different types of comics aimed at all ages and interests. Scotland is the home of [|D.C. Thomson] the publisher of [|The Beano Comic], [|The Dandy], [|The Broons], [|Oor Wulllie] and [|Commando Magazine]. An important British comic has been [|2000AD] and in America there are the publishers [|Marvel], [|DC Comics].

Scottish born artist and writers have made important contributions to comics from [|David Law], drawing Dennis the Menace, and [|Malcolm Judge], drawing the Numskulls, to [|Grant Morrison], who has written for Batman and Fantastic Four, and [|Mark Miller], who has written for X-Men and Spiderman.

Scotland has also offered a home for others to work in such as [|Dudley D. Watkins], creator of The Broons and Our Wullie, and [|Alan Grant], who has written for DC Comics and 2000AD.


 * 2. What is a photo-comic and what is Comic Life?**

A [|photo-comic] is a type of comic book that uses real images instead of artwork along with text and speech ballons.

Comic Life is a piece of software that will allow you to combine images and text to create a photo-comic. You can find some very simple examples using Comic Life below:

[|Antics] [|Dr Pumkinstein] [|Falling] [|Cookies] [|The Discovery of Gold]

The full manual for Comic Life can be found [|here]

A reference guide can be found [|here]


 * 3. Designing a photo-comic**

Each group has to create a comic around the theme that you were given. The comic will have as many pages as their are people in your group. You will work together in your group during the design of the story and the capturing of the images that you can use. You will then work individually to create a single page of your comic. These pages will be combined to make up the finished comic.

//Your comic will be made up of photographs that you will capture with a digital camera. Your group will make up all the characters who will appear in the comic. When it comes to capturing the pictures you will have a chance to prepare costumes and props that will help bring your story to life.//

3.1 You have already been told your target audience, have been given a theme to work with and you have an idea of how your. You now have to brainstorm in your group to come up with a story and a set of characters.



3.2 Now that you have an idea of how your story will be made up it is time to add detail to the individual pages. It will help show how your story develop. You will work in your group but each member will be responsible for outlining what will happen on their page.



3.3 Once you have decided upon an outline of the story you can start to create a script. The script will make clear what the characters are saying and include details of how the picture should be set up.

Take a look at the example comics for layouts and dialogue. You can then look at the example layouts from Comic Life and think about what type of layout you think would best suite what you have to have on your page based on what part of the story you are creating. You can then begin to create the script.



3.4 Using the script you can now go on and create a storyboard of how you expect your page to look. Your script will guide you here with the comments you have made for each panel.


 * You will draw your storyboard using a layout from Comic Life provided by your teacher. **


 * 4. Capturing your images**

After you have completed your design the group will be in a position to capture the images that are needed. Your teacher will provide further guidance on how this is to be done.


 * 5.Editing your images**

Once your images have been uploaded onto the computer you will be able to select those images that are for your page. These images may need to to be edited before they are inserted into your comic page.


 * Using picnik to edit your photographs**

[|picnik]allows you to edit your photographs online. As it says on the site:

//Picnik makes your photos fabulous with easy to use yet powerful editing tools. Tweek to your heart's content, then get creative with oodles of effects, fonts, shapes and frames. It's fast, easy and fun.//

picnik provides online help [|here]. It also has reference pages for four levels of user:

[|Seed] [|Sprout] [|Sappling] [|Big Shady Tree]

With a little practice you should be able to edit your photographs for use in your photo-comic.

**Terms for you to know**


 * Common features of most general purpose packages**

Run/open applications: You usually open an application by clicking on an icon or selecting from a menu. New/Open or Load file: We can use the computer to open a new file or load a file that already exists from backing storage. Package: A package is a term used to describe a piece of software that you may use on the computer. Save file: Allows you to store your work, for example on a hard disk, for use at a later time. Print file: To get a paper copy of your work you would need to use the print file feature. Insert: This is easily done by moving the cursor to the point where you want the data then clicking. Once you have placed the cursor where you want it you can type in your data. Amend: This simply means changing the data. Delete: You can highlight data and delete it using the delete key or a menu option. Or, on some systems, you can delete files by dragging them to the Recycle Bin/trash icon. Change text appearance: You can change the appearance of your text in many ways: change the size, make it bold, and put it into italics. Copy/move: Moving data around a document is easy. You simply highlight it and then cut and paste. In an integrated package this is how you transfer data between applications. Headers and footers: Headers and footers appear at the top and bottom of every page in a document. You use them to put page numbers in and other information such as the title or the date or even the author’s name. Print part of file/document: If you have a large document you might not want to print it all out. This feature lets you choose which pages you want to print out.


 * Graphics**

Draw graphic: You can use the drawing tools to create your own graphic. Enter text: Entering text in a graphics package is very useful. It lets you label graphics! Common tools: Most graphics packages have a similar set of tools for drawing lines, circles and rectangles for pouring colour into a graphic and for freehand drawing. Alter tool attributes (e.g. line width): Changing the attributes of a tool such as the Line tool means changing, for example, the colour or the thickness of the line. Scale graphic: Scaling means changing the dimensions of the graphic by increasing or decreasing the height/width of the graphic. Rotate graphic: This lets you spin the graphic round. You can control the rotation either by dragging the graphic round using the handles or by specifying the number of degrees. Crop graphic: When you crop a graphic you cut out the part of the graphic that you do not want, usually by selecting the cropping tool and dragging the handles at the edge of the graphic. Scan graphic: You can input a paper based graphic by using a scanner. Edit graphic: Most graphics packages have features such as: 'Crop', 'Change colours', 'Layer graphic objects one on top of another' and 'Zoom', as well as enabling you to add effects such as 'Soften', 'Sharpen' and others that you can see in the menu above.