What you like/hate in Dios or What makes good Dios?

[ender098]

I Started out here about two years ago, and I've seen a LOT of dios. I was reading dio stories about a year before I found this site, and I just wanted to cover some of the things I Like/Hate about some dios I've read. First...what I HATE;


1.) Poor stories.
Hi...meet the Joes....meet the cobra's.....BANG!!! FIREFIGHT!!!
That stinks. What about the purpose? What are their objectives?

2.) Poor Character Development.
Meet Duke.....poster child for America. He Always wins! BLAH! I like what DD did with duke and made him a shady character. Developed him a little. Make me FEEL something for your Characters!

3.) Pi$$ poor photography. I'm not a pro, and I don't intend to criticize anyone out there for their photography. My shots come out fuzzy and dark A LOT. Sometimes these things can play in your favor and make a scene more moody and sinister. What I can't stand (and I'm guilty of it, too...it's hard to control) is when you shoot an outdoor dio and the sun overlights your scenes. Or you take the shot and can see you neighbors house (out of scale) in the background.


4. ) Too much action. This is Caveat to #1. No development makes the action meaningless.

5.) Too Little Action. Understood that you need conversation and interaction to develop the story and characters, but 12 pages of dialog puts me to sleep. THIS IS GI JOE! NOT PAYTON PLACE OR DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES!!

6.) Unbelievability! Don't start a story out like it's gonna be "Black Hawk Down" and suddenly there are ninja's, Star Wars aliens and Transformers in it outta nowhere. I'm not knocking the sci-fi twists. I love some of the Star Wars/Transformers/ other figure crossovers. I'm talking about (and it doesn't happen here a lot, but I have seen it) is in the middle of the Story, the Joes are losing and "POOF" here's a Dragon or something incredible with no hint as to why or where and it saves the day. If you're familiar with "Deus Ex Machina" Plot device, this is what I'm talking about. This jumps out with some fantastic B.S. that doesn't meld with the rest of the story line.


Things I Like;

1.) Character developments. Sometimes I don't nessessarily like who or why...for example General Scarlett has Duke and Scarlett and item. I don't agree with it, but she develops the characters and makes them believable. When you put in the time to make things work....you're doing a GREAT job of developing characters. That makes a great storyline. And when you take a character and make him or her unique, give them a twist no one else has, that shows creativity.

2.) Great Stories. Give me a teaser. Let me know there's a method to the madness. You don't have to give away all your cards. Slowly develop your story and realize when your "objective" in your story is achieved...your story is over. If you wanna keep it going, you need sub-plots. And keep them unfinished from dio to dio. When one finishes, another should have been developed.

3.) The right mix of action and story. THIS IS THE HARDEST ELEMENT TO ACHIEVE IMHO!!! Too much action and you're guilty of having a crappy story. Too little and you have a BORING story. And it's hard to put a measure of what is the right amount. Sometimes you can lead up to a fight and end it there. Then the next story is the continuation of the battle. ViolentFx did this great with his last two episodes. I was chomping at the bit to see that big battle...and he didn't dissappoint!


4.) Good photography. Again, I'm no pro, but if all your shots are cruddy and out of focus, go back and work on it more. Look at the how-to's and try a few test shot in the "photo's" section and get some feedback. I like it when people say "Hey, more light" or "Less Light" or "different angle" more than when people are like "Great shot". Don't get me wrong....I love when people like my work, but I wonder who is just stroking my ego and what can I do better. Sometimes a good story can make up for bad photography!

Again, I'm not purposely knocking anyones stuff here, just posting what, to me, makes good dios.

What do you think? What have I missed?

[Roland da Thompson Gunner]

I agree with most of yours, and I'd like to add; Some semblance of realisim, no not everything has to be STRICT MILITARY REALISIM~! however if a dude gets shot through his arm, he should not continue firing or be seen bending his arm that a bullet just went through 2 freakin panels later.

[General Scarlett]

Thank you for using me as an example.... :D

[lehsreh]

[COLOR=Red]what i hate.

as you said, i hate to much action. action, action and more action do not make a story. so far this is the problem i see with most dios. its like a kid who thinks just because someone is getting shot or something is blowing up, its cool.

also as you said, poor character development. its ok if you have a character as cannon fodder or just as a filler in the background, but if you intend on using someone throughout a story, he or she needs a character. dont just use them and have them saying stuff like, yo joe, cobra, usa all the way or other stuff that every john doe would say. make them special, make them different.

to serious. a story needs realism in it. but making every character in it serious all the time, even when they are in danger is boring. when every character is all serious it gets dull fast. look at x-men. gambit or the beast always had something smart or funny to say. people like that make perfect partners with the overly serious characters. shipwreck from the toon is another good example.

probably the worst thing, is when you get what seems like is going to be a good dio, but you only get 5 to 10 frames. no matter how great is could be, if you only do a few frames a chapter, it makes me feel like ive been cheated.

what i like

a great story. something that keeps me wanting to come back for more. one with drama, humor, action and suspense. not just one element, but a lot of elements to get so into the story that i constantly check to see when the next chapter will be out. thats the main thing for me. of course a good sharp pic is great, but it must have a good story and good characters. [/COLOR]

[Violentfix]

I can tell you that it's a constant battle to make them fit all the criteria you mentioned.

But to play a little devils advocate, everyone starts somewhere and my first Dio" An Eye for An Eye" was very rough. It was guilty of some poor photography, it didn't take a lot of time to build the characters. It was a straight action with a little story tossed in. Heck i even had figures standing on battle stands. But guys like General Hawk (From General's Joes) made me feel like all of it was very appreciated. He gave me some points and the rest is history. Like i said, everyone starts somewhere and I think it's great when anyone decides to put the work into making a Dio, no matter how rough it comes out.

[Sonneilon]

You KNOW this is a loaded question!

HATE.
1. Lack of fotography skills. If the shots are consistently out of focus, then I can't read on. Artistically, one could start from afar so it's fuzzy and then it ends up in focus.

2. Too many characters. It was said that one of the hardest things to do with a comic based on a team was the fact that the artist would have to draw the characters going from room to room (and so on). What I find frustrating is remembering one team from another. Recaps are always nice. Especially when it's MONTHS between parts or chapters.

3. Inconsistency. Make the text size the same UNLESS you have a reason for making it big or small. Someone yelling, sure, make it big. Whispering? Make it small. Try and keep the FONT the same too. You take someone like Cobra Commander or Overkill, I use CHILLER to give it a different effect.

4. Characters in squads that don't make sense. "Yeah, I think I'll use Shockwave and Widescope in an underwater adventure so they can use their billy clubs on shrimp..." What about BBQ in a jungle adventure (well, moreso if the COLORS don't make sense). You really think I would use a guy like BBQ in the War For Territory dio over someone like Gung Ho or Footloose?

I'll have to meditate on this.

LOVE.
1. Well thought out stories. A good storyteller can use any character, even ones we personally hate. And it is even better to not take people's assumptions for granted on how YOU see the character. It's certainly more fun to flesh characters out as to how YOU see them. There is room for stories where we 'know' the characters, but this is OUR chance to make characters deeper. Afterall, readers got to see a side of Gung Ho that's probably never been dealt with in my dio. On the other hand, Footloose was pretty cartoon-oriented, man. ;)

2. The USE of characters. You guys KNOW that I'm not a fan of ARAH figures anymore so I tend to get distracted by the figures over the story. That's just me, mind you. I'm sure people feel the exact same way with the Themes Era and 25A. I think it's hard to show emotes w/ ARAH over the newer stuff where there are better facial molds. But a lot of you can do good w/ chars I could careless about. Related to above.

3. The ability to dios w/ minimal stuff. I come from the Luke Ellison school of dios so therefore, I build everything I can and tend to be meticulous. I know 80% of you guys ARE NOT like that and yet, it DOES NOT SHOW!!! Some of the shorter dios have been absolutely awesome! It's like, "You can shoot a real dio just doing that???" I was hoping to be the Paul Anderson of dios, but sometimes, I feel like I'm more like George Lucas. Which is why it takes me forever to get stuff done.

4. Do the stories you want. Yes, it's nice to have early feedback and people to bounce ideas off of (I do it all the time), but in the end, you have an idea and want to execute it the best way you can.

I shall meditate on more.




For the record, a LOT of you 1st timers have FAR better stuff that I did. I can't even say my 1st dio. A LOT of dios and shorts I've done SUCK ROCKS compared to what you guys have done. And I KNOW there are some of you out there who rock the single-shots but have yet to make the jump to full storyteller. ;)

[ender098]

[QUOTE=Violentfix]I can tell you that it's a constant battle to make them fit all the criteria you mentioned.

But to play a little devils advocate, everyone starts somewhere and my first Dio" An Eye for An Eye" was very rough. It was guilty of some poor photography, it didn't take a lot of time to build the characters. It was a straight action with a little story tossed in. Heck i even had figures standing on battle stands. But guys like General Hawk (From General's Joes) made me feel like all of it was very appreciated. He gave me some points and the rest is history. Like i said, everyone starts somewhere and I think it's great when anyone decides to put the work into making a Dio, no matter how rough it comes out.[/QUOTE]

Excellent answer. And I couldn't agree with you more. What I tend to hate is someone throwing down a bunch of toys in the back yard on a "WAY-WAY TOO SUNNY DAY" and just showing a firefight instead of a story.

I know what you mean about starting somewhere. My first attempt at a Dio was "Fallout" and it violated a lot of my own rules. I hated it and worked on finding out what was wrong and corrected it.

( http://www.geocities.com/ender098/FALLOUT1.htm )

But a lot of people never learn and keep making the same mistakes.

[ender098]

[QUOTE=General Scarlett]Thank you for using me as an example.... :D[/QUOTE]


No problem. It's a well know fact that your Duke/Scarlett storyline deviates from Canon, and it was the first thing that popped into my head. Like I said, I don't have to like or agree with how you change your storyline, but if you put in the time to develop it (as you have) that is GREAT Character Development!

If I wanted to use myself as the example, I would default to my use of "Pimp Daddy Destro". A terrible figure with a gaudy costume, but I have tried to mold him into a unique and deep character you can get a "feel" for. Talk about straying from the straight and narrow!

[General Scarlett]

Heh.....tru enough.....Hell, mine and Flint's ENTIRE Joeverse is a mix of comic AND toon canon (which BTW, Duke and Scarlett are an 'item' in the 'toon ;) )........and we have spent the past 25+ years re-working the mix of both into our own unique version that actually plays extraordinarily well and believable....including a mix of military realism, humor and a whole lot more........all without getting too 'out there' or 'heavy'..... :cool:

[ender098]

[QUOTE=Sonneilon]
You KNOW this is a loaded question!
[/QUOTE]


No kidding! But my reason for this wasn't to start a bashing session, but to get some of us to come out and criticise our own work and let each other know what WE like and don't like to see in Dios. What is it we look for, and as "Artists" in this hobby, what we have learned and how others see our work.




[QUOTE=Sonneilon]

2. Too many characters. It was said that one of the hardest things to do with a comic based on a team was the fact that the artist would have to draw the characters going from room to room (and so on). What I find frustrating is remembering one team from another. Recaps are always nice. Especially when it's MONTHS between parts or chapters.
[/QUOTE]

Agreed! Even although this is a rarity. I, for examply have like 2,000 figures, but I rarely use more than 10 total. And using 10 is hard enough to keep track of. I admire the hell out of ViolentFx for his last chapter with the 30+ night Watch guys. And every frame he moved each one at least a little. I definitely DON'T have the patience for that!





[QUOTE=Sonneilon]
3. Inconsistency. Make the text size the same UNLESS you have a reason for making it big or small. Someone yelling, sure, make it big. Whispering? Make it small. Try and keep the FONT the same too. You take someone like Cobra Commander or Overkill, I use CHILLER to give it a different effect.
[/QUOTE]


Ouch! I violate this rule a LOT! Not on purpose, though. It's just when I take the pics, I forget to leave room for the word ballons or the ballons end up shorter than I expected so I have to change the size of the font. Anyone out there have some tips on how to ensure your font size can be kept consistant in Comic Book Creator? And sometimes I use CBC for the ballons and others I use Paint Shop Pro, causing the fonts (even though the same size and font according to the two different softwares) to look different!




[QUOTE=Sonneilon]
4. Characters in squads that don't make sense. "Yeah, I think I'll use Shockwave and Widescope in an underwater adventure so they can use their billy clubs on shrimp..." What about BBQ in a jungle adventure (well, moreso if the COLORS don't make sense). You really think I would use a guy like BBQ in the War For Territory dio over someone like Gung Ho or Footloose?
[/QUOTE]


Excellent point. Again, one I RARELY see, but I have to see Arctic Ranger Stalker in the desert!


[QUOTE=Sonneilon]
LOVE.
1. Well thought out stories. A good storyteller can use any character, even ones we personally hate. And it is even better to not take people's assumptions for granted on how YOU see the character. It's certainly more fun to flesh characters out as to how YOU see them. There is room for stories where we 'know' the characters, but this is OUR chance to make characters deeper. Afterall, readers got to see a side of Gung Ho that's probably never been dealt with in my dio. On the other hand, Footloose was pretty cartoon-oriented, man. ;)

2. The USE of characters. You guys KNOW that I'm not a fan of ARAH figures anymore so I tend to get distracted by the figures over the story. That's just me, mind you. I'm sure people feel the exact same way with the Themes Era and 25A. I think it's hard to show emotes w/ ARAH over the newer stuff where there are better facial molds. But a lot of you can do good w/ chars I could careless about. Related to above.
[/QUOTE]


You and I are a lot alike on these points.



[QUOTE=Sonneilon]
3. The ability to dios w/ minimal stuff. I come from the Luke Ellison school of dios so therefore, I build everything I can and tend to be meticulous. I know 80% of you guys ARE NOT like that and yet, it DOES NOT SHOW!!! Some of the shorter dios have been absolutely awesome! It's like, "You can shoot a real dio just doing that???" I was hoping to be the Paul Anderson of dios, but sometimes, I feel like I'm more like George Lucas. Which is why it takes me forever to get stuff done.
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, you and I are a LOT alike on this! I build huge sets (ok, maybe not ViolentFx Huge, but huge for most!) and put in loads of time and detail, but some of the newjacks on here use minimal stuff and it looks WAY better than mine! I kinda feel embarrassed and like I got my @ss kicked by a bunch of noobies, but truth be told, I'm learning. And Loving it. I love the Level of creativity shown lately!

FifthConspiracy, Haradrel, Sephron13 and Tracker have come up with some doozies of how-to's! I love some of the unique and creative ideas shown here as of late!






[QUOTE=Sonneilon]
4. Do the stories you want. Yes, it's nice to have early feedback and people to bounce ideas off of (I do it all the time), but in the end, you have an idea and want to execute it the best way you can.
[/QUOTE]

True...and remember, as long as you're having fun and trying to learn from your mistakes, it's all good!







[QUOTE=Sonneilon]
For the record, a LOT of you 1st timers have FAR better stuff that I did. I can't even say my 1st dio. A LOT of dios and shorts I've done SUCK ROCKS compared to what you guys have done. And I KNOW there are some of you out there who rock the single-shots but have yet to make the jump to full storyteller. ;)

[/QUOTE]

True dat! Wanna see some crappy dio stuff? Look at my "Fallout" dio. (If Geocities doesn't die from bandwidth over-utilization!).

http://www.geocities.com/ender098/FALLOUT1.htm

[ender098]

[QUOTE=lehsreh]

[COLOR=Red]
to serious. a story needs realism in it. but making every character in it serious all the time, even when they are in danger is boring. when every character is all serious it gets dull fast. look at x-men. gambit or the beast always had something smart or funny to say. people like that make perfect partners with the overly serious characters. shipwreck from the toon is another good example.[/COLOR]
[/QUOTE]


Excellent point. Being too serious is a danger too. And not addressed very often. Being around Military for the last 20+ years, some of the best Soldiers and Marines I have met, the toughest and the most intense have a sharp sense of humor and laugh and joke in the heat of battle to relieve stress. Making Characters too serious makes them unbelievable, but you have to be careful to make sure not to make them too jocular, also. They need toi be portrayed as serious professionals, but people who can enjoy their work and get loose.

GREAT POINT!!

[Sonneilon]

I'm sure there are different ways people do word balloons. Using the CBC not using the CBC. The way I figure it, the process is like this...

1. Have a slight idea of what the script is going to be. Be flexible when changing things up (ie; run out of space in the balloon). When you shoot, consider where the word balloons MIGHT go.

2. With CBC, you gotta resize the shots to a certain size and then let the CBC do the resizing for you. I forgot what the max requirements are for the CBC but I thought it was 900x1100 or something. However, if you go the route that General Hawk and Violent Fix and myself go, we say screw the CBC and we do it on the art program of our choice. Therefore, our shots can be different sizes and the word balloons can be changed easier.

2a. If you use the regular old art programs, RESIZE the shot first THEN put the balloons in. I think some people work with a large canvas, put the baloons and text in and then resize the shot. And then they sit there and wonder why the text got so small. Most likely, the shot was changed, but the VIEW was whatever was appropriate for the monitor. So if you are working with a 1200x1600 palette, the program will make it so you can see the whole shot at once. You put the word balloons and text in and then change the size of the shot, it don't work. I ended up with a LOT of itty, bitty text my first dio.

3. If you run out of place for your text, use the larger CBC windows (I did that a lot) OR shoot more and do more dialogue (that's a 2-edged sword) OR get to the point faster (lol). I tend to be wordy but that's USUALLY because I have so much space!





[COLOR=Purple]And just a tip for people in the shooting phase: Have music going, be it walkman or mp3 player or whatever. It often helps ya get in the mood and you might have new ideas pop up.

And the tip for people working the dios on the computer: Have music going. Again, it'll put your head in the right place. If you are listening to bubblegum pop music, we'll most likely see a LOT MORE NEON characters involved. But if you're listening to metal, I'm guessing there'll be a lot of bodies hitting the floor. ;) You guys can probably figure out what I was listening to when doing my stuff based on the dialogue. [/COLOR]

[lehsreh]

[QUOTE=Sonneilon]
2. Too many characters. It was said that one of the hardest things to do with a comic based on a team was the fact that the artist would have to draw the characters going from room to room (and so on). What I find frustrating is remembering one team from another. Recaps are always nice. Especially when it's MONTHS between parts or chapters.

[COLOR=Red]I agree and both disagree with this. you are 100% right in to many characters will harm the story. but i think you mean too many characters in any one story. general hawk uses a lot of different characters, but he does it well. he will focus on a few characters each storyline, and +then introduce new characters and not use some of the ones before. this is my favorite way to do things. it would get boring seeing the same 3 guys or girls over and over again. and switching characters lets us all have a small chance of seeing the other joes we like. also as you said, we need to use special forces for special times
[/COLOR]

3. Inconsistency. Make the text size the same UNLESS you have a reason for making it big or small. Someone yelling, sure, make it big. Whispering? Make it small. Try and keep the FONT the same too. You take someone like Cobra Commander or Overkill, I use CHILLER to give it a different effect.
[/QUOTE]
[COLOR=Red]
after you pointed this out i saw how much i did this. i also know why this happened and how to not let it happen again. for me i would have the pic finished, then realize that i could put more focus on a characters actions if i took some of the unneeded background out. this made everything appear closer, thus the words were larger.

and i am not bashing anyones work. i have read tons of dios that i love and i know i have miles to go before im a violentfix or hawk, or the guy at tims corner. even if i were great, bashing someone will most often not be helpful to make them better, instead them may just think it not worth their time if no one has anything good to say about their work. just offer little helpful hints.[/COLOR]

[Violentfix]

I'm also guilty of the Font size thing that was mentioned here but I never really think someone's reading it and getting upset by it. Example, a close of pic of one character who says a short sentence. If my font stays at 15pt then the word bubble and words the character are saying look REALLY wimpy and strange. So I enlarge them.

The only other time is when there's a long speech. There are only so many shots you can fit in a Dio before it really starts to feel way too long and sometimes you need to get a lot of information across in a certain amount of pics. This never bothered me in reading Dios but maybe that's because I make them and I'm impartial to it. I hope people aren't urked every time I change my font.

As for what I don't like about Dios. I can only really think of one thing that truly bothers me and it's something I used to do as well but only because I couldn't figure out a way to get the idea across without doing it. It's when a Dio uses drawn lines to represent bullets flying. Lately I've been using bullet ricochet to get the same point across. Hope it's working, it looks good to me.

[Sonneilon]

I had a 50+ page dio... And that was thru the CBC so you KNOW there were a million shots!

[haradrel]

[QUOTE=ender098]
FifthConspiracy, Haradrel, Sephron13 and Tracker have come up with some doozies of how-to's! I love some of the unique and creative ideas shown here as of late!
[/QUOTE]

Wow, I got kudos again :) :confused: :)

I am in the midst of making preparations for a dio - and all this has been a good read, what to try to do and what to avoid.

Truth be told I have avoided reading any dios thus far, because I'd like to have my own go at it before getting my mind set on someone else's idea (I'm very wierd, most have probably noticed ;) ) I have glanced over a few just because I liked the puretty pictures :D

My first dio is going to be done using normal photography some light photoshopping and whatnot - second and probably shorter one will be using photoshop to make it more "cartoony", I am not sure how well this will go over with the community, but it might be fun to do something totally different.

I hope more of you guys add Hates and Loves here so that I can go over my "script" and see if I am doing something terribly wrong.

After this discussion here has gone for a while, someone should post a "how-to" on making dios! I think that would be appreciated by the majority.
call it a "do's" and "don'ts" list :)

[General Scarlett]

[QUOTE=haradrel]
...............
After this discussion here has gone for a while, someone should post a "how-to" on making dios! I think that would be appreciated by the majority.
call it a "do's" and "don'ts" list :)[/QUOTE]

This is another 'WIP' that I'm in the middle of.......... ;)

[ender098]

[QUOTE=haradrel]
I hope more of you guys add Hates and Loves here so that I can go over my "script" and see if I am doing something terribly wrong.
[/QUOTE]

One thing I do is pick a few members here that I trust their judgement and "leak" the story before it's 100% finished. ;)



[QUOTE=haradrel]
After this discussion here has gone for a while, someone should post a "how-to" on making dios! I think that would be appreciated by the majority.
call it a "do's" and "don'ts" list :)
[/QUOTE]

I did this at one time, but it was more geared towards the photography in the dios and not so much the storyline/content. Maybe I can get off my keister and write something about this.....hmmmmm

here is the one I did on the photo's side of the house;

http://www.joedios.com/forums/showthread.php?t=447

[lehsreh]

[QUOTE=Violentfix]I'm also guilty of the Font size thing that was mentioned here but I never really think someone's reading it and getting upset by it. Example, a close of pic of one character who says a short sentence. If my font stays at 15pt then the word bubble and words the character are saying look REALLY wimpy and strange. So I enlarge them.
The only other time is when there's a long speech. There are only so many shots you can fit in a Dio before it really starts to feel way too long and sometimes you need to get a lot of information across in a certain amount of pics. This never bothered me in reading Dios but maybe that's because I make them and I'm impartial to it. I hope people aren't urked every time I change my font.

It's when a Dio uses drawn lines to represent bullets flying. Lately I've been using bullet ricochet to get the same point across. Hope it's working, it looks good to me.[/QUOTE]
[COLOR=Red]
like i said, i do the font thing. it doesnt bother me at all, but i guess it does some, so im going to try and keep an eye on this in the future. me, im to inot the story and whatnot to even notice.
the bullet thing, i do this, and i do it badly. i have been known to put in a lot of flying bullets and making them to thick at first. then i tried making the lines break, like one long shot repeating. now i make the line smaller, and i am also thinking of making them white and more see through. [/COLOR]

[Violentfix]

[QUOTE=lehsreh][COLOR=Red]
like i said, i do the font thing. it doesnt bother me at all, but i guess it does some, so im going to try and keep an eye on this in the future. me, im to inot the story and whatnot to even notice.
the bullet thing, i do this, and i do it badly. i have been known to put in a lot of flying bullets and making them to thick at first. then i tried making the lines break, like one long shot repeating. now i make the line smaller, and i am also thinking of making them white and more see through. [/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Would you like me to send you a PSD file of my bullet ricochet? You might like using them, like in the pic below.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/Violentfix/36.jpg

[Stormer]

One thing I like: Variation in shots. Angle, focus (as in what's the key feature), depth (close-up, showing some background, etc)... If every shot is the same it can make it a lot less interesting. In my "Skirmish" mini-story experiment, (http://www.joedios.com/dioramas/showimage.php?i=5871&catid=member&imageuser=398)* because it was short I tried to make sure every panel was different from the last to get the most out of it. Even when you've got a lot of dialogue, a "talking heads" scene can still be visually interesting if you mix up the shots with close-ups on the guy talking, wide angles of the whole room/setting, medium shots just fitting in the people in the conversation... Just look at all the different cuts in a TV show when there's a conversation scene, or for an even better example look at how a good comicbook will do it. I'm a huge comics fan so the more reading a dio-story is like reading a comic, the more I'll like it.

*Feedback/criticism still more than welcome!

One thing I hate: Bad writing. I'm not talking about poor characterisation, plot holes, etc.; I mean spelling mistakes, poor grammar, inappropriate punctuation. It really breaks the flow and reduces the enjoyment of the reading experience when I have to work out what someone meant to say, or there are just little errors that catch my eye. Getting someone who you know has a good standard of written English to proofread your script is a very good idea, or even if you know you're good yourself it could still be beneficial to leave it for a day and then reread it as you're more likely to pick up on any small mistakes. It would probably be good to get it proofread after it's in actual strip-form, to catch mistakes but also to make sure it flows well from speech bubble to bubble and panel to panel, although going back to make any changes is likely going to be fairly awkward at this point!

I have other opinions on what I do and don't like when reading a dio-story but these were the only ones I could think of right now that other's haven't really gone into. I may come back...

[Sonneilon]

There IS one more that I just remembered.
It's when accessories aren't put on right. I find the faults in myself. Like 25A Duke's bandolier being a tad off or a Cobra Trooper's helmet being slightly off. This is something that Hasbro has problems with moreso than any of US FOTOGRAPHERS! But still, there's nothing worse when you have ALL the troopers in a row and months after the shot is taken, ONE of those morons put his helmet on backwards. Or is a jigga. You get the idea.

[Outrider]

[QUOTE=Sonneilon]There IS one more that I just remembered.
It's when accessories aren't put on right. I find the faults in myself. Like 25A Duke's bandolier being a tad off or a Cobra Trooper's helmet being slightly off. This is something that Hasbro has problems with moreso than any of US FOTOGRAPHERS! But still, there's nothing worse when you have ALL the troopers in a row and months after the shot is taken, ONE of those morons put his helmet on backwards. Or is a jigga. You get the idea.[/QUOTE]

Man, I hate it when that happens. Just like when you take some awesome outdoor shots, and then when you look at 'em later, you see the gigantic oversized leaf you somehow failed to notice when you were setting up and taking the shot. The number of great shots I've had rendered unusable by that (or similar) just kills me. :rolleyes:

[rds13601]

I like originality and figures that aren't purple or orange. I think you all do a great job. Enjoy the site very much.

[Hammerfel]

My #1 pet peeve is photos that are taken from straight above the characters, or at a really high angle, as if the camera were mounted to a crane or telephone pole. I have a lot of respect for the dio authors who can swing an "eye-level" shot here and there.