The DC Comics Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I was excited when I first learned about this book coming out because it's difficult for me to set up a normal artist's station in my house. Not knowing who this Freddie Williams guy was, I ended up going to his website and checking him out. It was here that I first became dismayed.

His website has a section labeled "DigiArt Quick Tools," in which one can find several Photoshop tools Freddie has available. These include several variations of his MasterPage file, which tend to cost a little bit of money (the bundle pack that gives you all the Master Pages runs I think about $125). I also noticed a blurb in which Freddie mentions that an entire section of the upcoming book is devoted to the Master Page. I immediately started thinking that the book was going to end up being a $15 commercial for the various tools he has to offer.

Never have I been so glad to be so dead wrong.

The section on Master Pages walks you through the process of making your own Master Page, and while he mentions his website, he never tells the reader to go buy anything. Instead, he teaches you how to do it yourself. In fact, there's only one thing that Freddie tells the reader to download, and that's the perspective tool that he created... and its free (as is a generic version of the Master Page, if you don't want to make your own or pay money for a company-specific Page).

As far as the rest of the book goes, it was a massive wake-up call in regards to realizing how powerful and how fast creating sequential artwork on the computer is. In fact, it seems that Freddie's main goal is to get the reader to create better artwork, faster, and he constantly discusses ways to make your work faster and more streamlined.

Be warned, though... this is NOT a "how to draw" book. If you don't know how to draw, this book won't be that helpful to you. This book is more accurately described as a "how to use the computer to draw" book. Additionally, if you don't know how to do any basic drawing in Photoshop, you might want to learn, quick. I have a very basic understanding of how to draw and paint with Photoshop, and this book has my mind racing with all the possibilities I have available to me now. Be prepared to think and imagine when you read the book.

Not every aspect of Freddie's work method will work for everyone, and he acknowledges fact. He describes his methods to the reader, and for key areas offers alternative paths for the reader to take that may be more comfortable for the reader.

Did I enjoy this book? Yes, I did. Did I learn anything from this book? Almost every step of the way. Would I recommend this book to the serious hobbyist or the artist getting into the comics field? Without a doubt and with no reservations, yes!!!!

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Product Description:
Artists! Gain incredible superpowers...with the help of your computer! The DC Comics Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics shows how to give up pencil, pen, and paper and start drawing dynamic, exciting comics art entirely on the computer. Author Freddie E Williams IIis one of DC Comics' hottest artists and a leader in digital penciling and inking-and here, in clear, step-by-step directions, he guides readers through every part of the digital process, from turning on the computer to finishing a digital file of fully inked comic art, ready for print. Creating a template, sketching on the computer, pencilling, and finally inking digitally are all covered in depth, along with bold, timesaving shortcuts created by Williams, tested by years of trial and error. Step into the digital age, streamline the drawing process, and leap over the limitations of mere physical drawing materials with The DC Comics Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics.

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Barbie Fashion Show Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This game requires DirectX 9.0 and video card that supports 3D and 32mb (not 16 as stated above) of video RAM. I've got a Sony VAIO 2.66ghz P4 with all the latest drivers and updates. This system tests out as optimal on all sorts of web sites for evaluating your system. However, this game will not run on this system. Unless you've got a system specifically set up for gaming, I think theres a pretty good chance it won't run on your system. Don't disappoint your little girl with this software. Before buying, install the latest DirectX from the Microsoft website, then go START>Run>dxdiag, then run all the tests. If you don't pass the Direct3D 9 test, don't buy it.

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Product Description:
Barbie Fashion Show lets you help Barbie get ready for Fashion Week in Paris! Advance through 3 design studios creating stylish outfits for Barbie and her four friends to model. It's up to you to put on the coolest, most fashionable fashion shows ever!

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Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy Review

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(More customer reviews)This game is freakin' rad.

There are two elements to this game that make is incredibly fun to play.

One - you can build and design your own ship to use in combat.This isn't like a cut and paste job, you can literally make shapes/guns/wings ANYTHING and put them anywhere on the ship.It's like the drawings that you made when you were a little kid on scratch paper brought to life.You can literally spend HOURS designing ships and not even realize the time has gone by.It's awesome.

Second - as you rip through enemies, blowing them up with your sick, self designed ship, you can grab the defeated enemies and add them to your core fighter as extra weaponry/defense.Essentially, whatever you kill makes you stronger.And it depends what angle you grab the enemies at.They fire their weapons corresponding to that angle.It's like Galaga on steroids.

You can upload your fighter designs to other people and share/swap them.
This sharing process is ridiculously easy.You literally just push "Send"

Not only that, you can design your own levels, enemies, and other random parts of the game.You don't have to share this with only your friends though, there is a website where they post everyones uploads.You can just grab those, or share your designs there.
I can't tell you how great this is.You can basically invent an impossible level and share it with your friends and laugh about how hard it is.Or you can design a ridiculous enemy and see how your brother tries to deal with him.When you do a particularly good job, you can post it on the website and see how total strangers deal with your creations.I am so excited to keep playing this game I can't contain myself.It's like Lego's + your backyard x video games except the lego's are whatever shape you want, your backyard is the entire internet, and then, turn that all into a video game.This game is MIND BOGGLINGLY AWESOME.

When I was a kid we used to play "picture wars" where you'd draw stuff like this, and then imagine the battle.Well, that game has been modernized like a mo-fo.

I just want to say, after you design your own cool ship, you start grabbing dead enemies and the entire screen is filled with firing weapons and approaching enemies, and the action gets ramped up and it's just fun.Sometimes it gets so intense you just start laughing at the devastation.
This is a great game for anyone who has ever played a side scrolling shooter game (like defender or xevious) or anyone who ever drew spaceships when they were a little kid, or anyone who likes video games -diversionary games that you play just to play.No overwhelming story here.

[...]

I'm giving this a 5 out of 5 personally, but I know there are some people who just want to watch their games like movies, or throw balls with the wii-remote.This isn't the game for you if you don't like to *play*.

I'd say this game reminds you or rekindles the true spirit of play. If this had come out in 1982 the world might have imploded.It still might.

There is also no end to this game.You can design, redesign, share, compete and laugh.to me, the more people who buy this game the better.I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with.I think this one is a sure classic. In what has been an incredible year for video games, Blast Works is currently the far and away favorite in my house. (Dethroning Boom Blox and GTA 1V).
Originality A
Fun A+
Replayability A+ * 10,000

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Product Description:
Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy challenges shooter fans to a frenetic geometric battle exclusively for Nintendo Wii.As you destroy enemies, you'll catch their parts and use them to make your own ship bigger and stronger. Then, unleash your creativity with the easy-to-use Blast Works editor where you can create your own ships, enemies and levels. Finally, trade these creations directly with friends or share with the entire Blast Works community at BlastWorksDepot.com.With bright, abstract graphics and fast-paced, dynamic action, this "sticky" shooter based on Kento Cho's Tumiki Fighters online game will suck you in for the long haul.

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Trine Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)'Trine' is a 3rd person, horizontal platform scroller, which I downloaded through 'Steam'; the cost...$29.99

However, don't let my opening statement regarding 3rd person scroller, put you off; this is an interesting and addictive game. In fact it won the 'Best Downloadable game' by 'Gamespot's' 3E Editor's Choice Awards.

The Game:

Three characters (a wizard, a thief and a knight) are physically joined into one person by a magic object called the 'Trine'. They must travel (all the while using their collective skills of conjuring, jumping, swinging and fighting), an evil-laden labyrinth to escape, and thus return themselves into their individual persons.

Each character has different 'skills'. The wizard...object creation and levitation; the thief...a powerful bow and grappling-hook device; and the knight...a fighters sword and shield AND a hammer. Only one character can be activated at a time so you must determine which 'skills' are needed to accomplish the task/puzzle before you.

As you proceed along you will find 'treasure chests' with upgrades and bonuses; there are also experience points gained while fighting, with which you can upgrade your characters abilities and skills. And this is were the game really becomes interesting, because sometime these chests and bonus vials are just visible at screens edge, so you need to figure out a way to get to these precious objects, in order to obtain the bonuses contained within.

The only annoying thing about this game is the game-save method; games are automatically saved at game-generated checkpoints; if all characters die, you restart back at the last checkpoint reached...and this is OK because this checkpoint is usually not too far back, The problem is if, for some reason, you must exit the game and restart at a later time (without having finished the last level you were on)...because then, you must restart from the very beginning of the level. So a restart at the beginning of the last level is not only quite repetitive but also very irritating, because some of the levels are quite long.

Conclusion:

This is not a particularly long game...maybe 8-10 hours if played continuously, but it is addictive and it's one of those games that just keeps you coming back. It does have some replay value as you'll probably not find all the 'bonuses' on the first time through. Lack of full, anytime game saves is a minus...and thus the loss of 1/2 star. 4 1/2 Stars.

BTW, the ending is quite tricky.

Ray Nicholson

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Product Description:
In a kingdom facing chaos and forbidden magic, three heroes are bound (whether they like it or not) by a powerful artifact called "the Trine".This unlikely trio are the only ones that can put an end to the reign of the dark sorcerer that rules the kingdom. Pontius the brave, Amadeus the magnificent and Zoya the silent will have come to together and use their different skills in order to face danger and restore peace.

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