Fire_Guardian_EU

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The numbers don't mean a thing, you can't put a price on that stuff

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Pretty sure I just did. And the price is awesome. Anyway, Superman 2 is on Sky Two right now, so...KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!

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tis a shame that it gets quite expensive

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See, I really don't think of it as being that expensive. When I was first thinking about ordering from MMOArt, I did a check against the exchange rate, and I was pleasantly surprised. So, I checked again today, for this post, and here's what I found. (Please bear in mind that I am in no way connected with Gill_Bates or MMOart.com, beyond my admiration and appreciation for his skills)

Single piece:
Pencil Single Character: £27.04
Ink Single Character: £67.61
Color Single Character: £108.18
Digital Paint Single Character: £216.36

Pencil Character in Environment: £94.66
Ink Character in Environment: £135.23
Color Character in Environment: £189.32
Digital Paint Character in Environment: £324.55

Duo Piece:
Pencil Duo: £40.56
Ink Duo: £94.66
Color Duo: £162.27
Digital Paint Duo: £432.73

Pencil Duo in Environment: £108.18
Ink Duo in Environment: £162.27
Color Duo in Environment: £216.36
Digital Paint Duo in Environment: £540.92

Combat Piece:
Pencil Character in Combat: £40.56
Ink Character in Combat: £94.66
Color Character in Combat: £162.27
Digital Paint Character in Combat: £432.73

Pencil Character in Combat w/ Environment: £108.18
Ink Character in Combat w/ Environment: £162.27
Color Character in Combat w/ Environment: £216.36
Digital Paint Character in Combat w/ Environment: £540.92

Add-On Options:

Additional Character:
Pencil Piece: £13.52
Ink Piece: £27.04
Color Piece: £54.09
Digital Paint: £216.36

Additional Enemy:
Pencil Piece: £5.40
Ink Piece: £10.81
Color Piece: £18.93
Digital Paint Piece: £40.56

Pet / Minion
Pencil Piece: £5.40
Ink Piece: £10.81
Color Piece: £18.93
Digital Paint Piece: £40.56

Mount
Pencil Piece: £13.52
Ink Piece: £21.63
Color Piece: £29.75
Digital Paint Piece: £54.09

Portrait
Pencil Piece: £13.52
Ink Piece: £21.63
Color Piece: £29.75
Digital Paint Piece: £54.09

And, with a flatrate international shipping charge of $12.50 (or £6.76) you could, in theory, purchase a single character pencil sketch for £33.80. Does it really still seem too expensive?

Just a quickie, before I head off to bed.

Super Heroine asked a question a while ago, and I thought, what with the London trip in a few hours, that I should answer it here and now. Don't think of this as a premature start to Ask A Ben season Two. Nor is it an extension of season one. If anything, this is...Season 1.5, and this'll be the only question I'll answer this way, since the question and the answer would take far more than the ten minutes allowed me by Youtube.

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Did they really take that long to make? I know you said that the one with the text on screen to follow the song lyrics took several hours, but were the rest just as hard?

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The episodes themselves, as I stated in the previous thread, can take anywhere from half an hour to -seven- hours to make. The 'karaoke' episode, as I call it, where Zortel asked a question which revolved around the song, "The Riddle", had me writing a placard with the lyrics she quoted to me, and I had to put them to music, springs to mind. It was the single most challenging episode I've done by far, and I was literally up all night putting it together. I'm something of a perfectionist. No matter what you may believe, nothing happens in the episodes that I don't want to happen. If something is even slightly out, I'll do it all again.

However, it isn't just the 'post production', if you will, that takes a while for me to do. I can spend quite a while on the actual filming. As an example...

I decided to put together a short "Ask A Ben goes to London" during the convention, and wanted to kick it off on the friday night, talking about preperation. I decided that the actual introduction should last no more than two minutes...three, in a pinch. However, what I didn't count on was how quickly I had fallen out of rhythm with doing something as seemingly easy as talking to a camcorder. The finished introduction runs at 2:06, and looks like just any of Ask A Ben episode, minus the intro:

London Expo - Friday Night

As you can see, no real differences there. However...what if I were to tell you that those two minutes and six seconds were, in reality, the product of over 18 minutes of filming? Sadly, it's true. I made a short clip of the...out-takes, I suppose, so you guys can see that I actually put a lot of time into the creation of each episode. Whilst the outtake clip is only 3:53, there is, quite honestly, four times as much film on the tape.

Out-takes

Please note that this second clip contains adult language. I cut out a LOT of the swearing from the outtakes (including two very rude mother insults), however, I kept a very small amount in, just to indicate my general frustration.

This is the sort of thing that happens with every single episode.

A Canadian nickel, sure. At the current rate of exchange, though, I think that means that, in order for you to garner your nickle, you'd actually have to give ME money.

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You still updating the website? And you might want to link it here if you are

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I thought this second trailer captured the feeling of Ask A Ben a bit more than the first...

[/ QUOTE ]I'd say the pic of Trelawney matched AAB perfectly

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The update is in progress as I type this...well, not literally. I added Trelawney, because all the others were "serious" prophets, etc, and AaB is more jokey than anything else.

Oh, I took you seriously. I just thought it was a terrible idea, and didn't want to hurt your feelings.

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Thanks everyone! I had a great time working on this piece with X_treme, and I'm so happy to see how well its been recieved here.

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This'll save me shooting off loads of e-mails to you guys. Welcome to the forums! I'll be commissioning a piece when the revamped site goes live again, and I was wondering, what's the general process of drawing the pictures?

Well, to be honest, I wasn't really planning on having a voice-over. The trailers seem a little busy right now as they are. Thanks for the offer though!

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BTW, you surely missed a trick in not having that American trailer voiceover guy with the incredibly deep voice reading out the text? After a quick Wiki trip, I discovered I mean Don LaFontaine. IIRC, he's supposed to earn 1 Million dollars a year doing that job!

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Eh. A million a year really isn't all that much. I would have preferred Nick Tate, myself, but any of the top five American VO artists would have done the job.

Okay.

Well, tonight was....well, it wasn't a total loss. Between myself, Henry, and Nightfyre, we did a few missions. But three people just didn't feel right, so we called it quits early. Nobody levelled, so there's no catching up to do for next week.

Well, given that my reply was "X-Box", it could be taken in many, many ways.

I had a similar idea. Plus, with all the Heroes around Paragon, it stands to reason that one or two might have been caught up in the aftermath of what I'm officially naming the "Whoopsidaisy".

Doctor Tran is For The rescue!

After a consultation with the other group leaders (well, those that were available to chat) it's been decided that I'll be taking control of Group 1 this week. Hopefully, next week we can change back to two groups, but this week, since at least four people will be out, we'll just be running the one group. We'll meet at The Hollows gate from 7:30 to 7:45 tonight. If you can't make it, send me a tell at @Fire Guardian any time before then, or PM me on the boards. We'll set off on a mission at 7:50 (giving people enough time to purchase any inspirations beforehand) and continue until we can't continue no more. We'll hit Frostfire at least once. It's my understanding that one of the team-mates ran an FF mission last week, but he may well have escaped since then.

Nugget_, if you can meet us by Wincott at that time, it'd be useful. Shadowfane...provisonally you can team up with us tonight, but the final decision on if you can become a permanent member will be up to all the group leaders, in Wams' absence. Since there are IC ways around this, I don't foresee it being a problem.

Okay, so unless there are any issues to be discussed, I'll hopefully see most of you in about four hours.

Tutorials are too much like instructions for my own personal tastes. I used to have Photoshop, but I only really used it for post-production video effects. Now I use a combination of Paint Shop Pro 7 and X.

Yeeesss. Anything your little heart desires to know. Previous non CoH related questions have included:

If a mime falls down in the forest, and tree falls down on him/her, does anyone care?
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck chucked a woodchucking Chuck Norris?
Junction 21 is part of the M1. Can you name another?
What is the meaning of life?
Do you like Marmite?
Where can I get all of Monty Python's Flying Circus on DVD?
What is your favourite colour?
What is your personal favourite type of controller?
If the following statement is true, and the previous statement is false, which one is really true?
Given that space is infinite, that time is endless, and Chuck Norris is considered G-d, have you ever thought about working in comedy?
Is that really you singing, or do you just mime?

And, my personal favourite...

Why?

Cheers.

Hey, speaking of which, let's get some more questions in, guys!

I thought this second trailer captured the feeling of Ask A Ben a bit more than the first...

I didn't. It was Eyecandy.

Mah bruthas and sistas, I have a dream. A dream that makes me easily identifiable at the London Con on Saturday! I have a dream that one day (saturday, in fact) a man will not be judged by the content of his powersets, but by the colour of his t-shirt design!

Sadly, the paper I printed it out on is postcard sized, so people will only be able to see it's me up close.

I sent an e-mail off to MMO Art a few minutes ago, and got a reply back within a few minutes. Nice people. Anyway, they won't be accepting any more commissions until the 1st of August.

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Just as an added point, and not self-promotion for once, there's been 400 views of this in 4 days and only 3/4 votes in. Is there something stopping people?

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They fear our amazing creative talent.

I'd love to order a Fire Guardian/Jason Tucker colour print, but they're not taking orders right now. Instead, I went out and picked up two books how to draw comic book characters. They're both hilarious, although for different reasons.

That would be a judgement call from Wam, really. Whilst we, as I said, have a couple of non Sci-origins in the group, that goes against the basis of the group. Whilst, power-wise, it doesn't make any difference in the long run, from an IC point of view it does. We'll have to wait for Wammy to post about this, though. However, since, as I said, we have a few non science origins already with us, I, personally, wouldn't have a problem with it, as long as the character is roughly at the same level as the rest of us (9-11)

I think the topic needed a better title than "Dear lord, no", so I'm restarting it here.

And, since I'm restarting it... have a little something.

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Basically the only restraints are characters must have Science Origin and be Fire based in Primary/Secondary or Both.

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Something I've noticed is that, when a couple of Experiment members (not mentioning any names here) have said something along the lines of "oh, can X join?" Wam, Stas, Weas and myself have been only too happy to oblige, but those people aren't Science origin. I've not done anything about it, because it isn't my baby, but I don't know where Wam stands on it.