Topic: *NEW* X-WING ALLIANCE - Chapter 23 - Secret Weapons of the Empire

[hangarbay94]

COLLECTORS EDITION fLiP BOOK - Optimized for iPAD and Tablet
http://publ.com/PuPaRFu

[Tamer]

Wow is that gorgeous Jules. I would definitely say the cgi work is worth it!  I don't know how you tie in everything with this, but it is just beautiful. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Luke Sprywalker]

Such an amazing chapter! I am stunned at the moment, this is a great story and so beautifuly illistrated. Man, I love this stuff Jules! Some great moments captured in this episode!

[CloneCrazy]

Excellent work my friend!!! I can only imagine how much time and effort this took you with the new CG rendering of the characters, it was truly worth it!!! Your stories and effects are always top notch!!! Thank you for this amazing work 

[DocOutlands]

GREAT WORK!!!

[r1bb1t]

Jules, Jules, Jules.... Wow! You have really outdone yourself, and considering your portfolio, that's saying a lot! I sincerely mean it when I say that your photonovel work deserves to be published, and distributed to a global market. Certainly there are several publishers affliated with Lucasfilm that could sell this with ease. I am not being complimentary here (that'll come later). I am being very serious. I could see this in comic shops and people eagerly anticipating release dates. In fact, I'll further say that this series should be adapted to an animated movie/series. I'd prefer both. Of course, you would head the direction of all of the various avenues that this is capable of pursuing. Now that the serious seriousness is over, compliment time....

I would mercilessly pistol whip an old invalid woman at her great granddaughter's wedding just to catch a glimpse of you creating these masterpieces. To hell with a Klondike bar, and what I'd do to get one. THAT"S what I'd do to see your genius mind at work. I would gladly give the royalties from my new adult film, soon to be released in select theaters and peep show booth shops, R1bb1ted For Her Pleasure II, to your favorite charity to see your creative process. I'm sure that Britain formally recognized you at an early age and classified you as 'Super Genius', and with that classification, I suspect you already receive endless perks throughout your everyday life, but if you ever offer tours to see you work, you can guarantee that I'll be running school buses off the road trying to get to my nearest airport.


Thanks so very much for sharing your gorgeously captivating work with us. Well worth the wait.

[Mando Assasin]

AMAZING! I love it!

[Art deWhill]

absolute professional work, excellent story-telling and exciting panels full of gorgeous angles/point-of-views and lighting.
Another masterpiece, Jules, you can be proud of. Thanks so much for sharing!!

[wraithnine]

mate ! that was bloody awesome !!!!

[hangarbay94]

Thanks guys! I always really enjoy and appreciate your feedback. R1 I played your comment on Siri while driving and I nearly crashed my car, I was in fits, I'll be sure to go knocking on Lucas Arts door!

Jules

[jlw515]

Jules,

WOW, amazing job! I'll have to echo some of R1's comments (minus all the adult film stuff). I've been telling you from day one that your photonovel/graphic fiction deserves to printed in comic book form. If anyone has ever read your work as a flip book they will definitely see what I am talking about. I would like to take the compliments a step further and say that for your work you should be knighted "Sir Jules." In fact your username from now should be "Sir Jules!"

The CGI was just amazing in this chapter. It looked cleaner, crisper in this chapter than any other. The pace of the space battle and the urgency of Maya sitting helpless in her X-Wing were scripted perfectly! Then the flipped cliff-hanger ending was just great!!

Now, on to the really hard part for me and that is the critique. Sir Jules, I hope you understand this critique is probably more personal, but I was a little let down at the lack of action figures and custom figures. Don't get me wrong the CGI of the Ace, Maya, and all the others were just great; but as soon as I saw the CGI of the two lady pilots in their civilian type clothes, and then the CGI image of Ace's face I was just like, "Ah man, he's not customizing figures anymore for the photonovel." Again, not taking anything away from the amazing CGI work you did on this chapter, but knowing the roots of "photonovels" have been photographing action figures and toys and placing them in dioramas, CGI backgrounds, or real world settings; I personally would rather see action figures with some CGI work done to them (as you have done in the past) versus a totally CGI character. I've always loved the way you could take a Luke head and CGI a smile or a shout onto the face, or the same with the Hoth Rebel Trooper head.

Of course I may totally be in the minority - or in fact THE minority - concerning this. Again, not taking anything away from the CGI work you did (and this may be the direction you are going with the photonovel). And I understand there were still some action figures used in some scenes (like the comic pack Wedge figure); and I don't want to sound too critical, I just personally have always loved the fact that photonovels use action figures to tell the story. It's always interesting to see a new character and how the author of the photonovel created a custom of that character, or which stock Star Wars figure they used to represent a different character.

Again, Sir Jules hat's off on the amazing work that you do. The great thing about your photonovel is CGI or not, it's the story telling and suspense that makes series so good!

Jason

[hangarbay94]

Jason,

Please don't worry about me taking things the wrong way, on the contrary, a detailed critique is enjoyable to read as it shows that you have taken the time to look at my work seriously. I was in fact hoping you would comment on the cgi aspect and I was interested to read your perspective.

I think my work should fall into the Web-Comic genre rather than Photo-Novel and while I fully understand the custom and diorama aspect is of more interest to the community here and on Yakface and Rebelscum, I consider myself more a digital artist than a customiser, it's where my heart lies.

What interests me most about this project is the story, it allows me to explore what went on during the OT timeline outside of the movies and the fact that certain events have a direct effect on the outcome at the end of ROTJ. What the game didn't explore was the characters surrounding these events, you fly the missions and feel the tension sure, but you never really get to know the people. Using figures has worked fine up to now, but in order for me to convey thoughts and feelings I need to use faces with more expression. I also want to work on less formal scenes, and again, finding the right figures and customising them simply adds additional workload and cost to the project. 

I know that this change will put people off, but I am hoping that my passion, the quality, attention to detail and the story telling will win over in the end.

J

[jlw515]

Sir Jules,

I've always said from the outset that you created your own genre of photonovels or graphic fiction. So, if CGI images are the direction that your photonovel is taking, then don't let anyone (including me) pressure you to do otherwise. I totally understand the reasoning behind using the CGI images of characters. I've just always loved the way you blended the action figures with CGI. In some prior chapters, the way you've filtered or CGIed away the articulation seams from action figures (which in a way has created a type of CGI body); I kind of figured you were headed to creating CGI characters.

Either way, whether custom action figures or CGI characters it does not make or break your amazing photonovel!!

By the way, would you be willing to tell what podcast you were listening to?

Jason

[hangarbay94]

I really can't remember, I think it was a recent one of ours here. It was a conversation about favourite customisers and one of the guests commented that they loved my work, it just seemed  like there was a "but" at the end of their comment.

I might just be paranoid, but I know that most of the energy here goes on the custom forums and I've all but stopped customising for the moment.

Anyhow it's all yours and Chewie's fault for getting me into this  in the 1st place... It would be far simpler if I could just customise figures, I'd get far more feedback as well! 

 

 

[Clonehead]

But,Jules, you are indeed following your passion and should be commended over and over again as this is truly amazing work. Sure, I was initially hooked on your splendid customs and how you integrated them into your brand of story telling but as you continue to mature, it's obvious that the story and flow of imagery, such splendid imagery, should be of the most importance.
I wouldn't change a thing unless in your mind it is to do the continuing impossible task of yet again improving it.