2011
Liveblogging for 24-Hour Comic Day 2011
This is my live-blogging post for my attempt to produce a comic in 24 hours or less. Mainly, I’ll share tweets and images here.
05:45am: I had planned to start at least two hours earlier. I’m getting coffee, and then clock starts at 6am.
Good morning.
24-Hour Comic Day: join in via Google+ hangout here: http://is.gd/rCObok or follow via blog: http://is.gd/IkBREw or here on twitter.
07:00am progress update: Basic layout and script essentials sketched out:
10am: Disappointed that I’m photoshopping images again, but I have a story to tell & don’t have the chops to tell this any other way. #24HCD:
02pm: Eight hours in and this is what I’ve got:
05pm: Jesus Christ vs. The World. Where is this going?
06am: And here is the “final” version. My story is less than half-way done, but gonna post what I’ve got. It’s in Prezi/Flash, which gave me the flexibility to structure layout in unique ways.
2011
24-Hour Comic Day 2011
In less than 36 hours, I plan to participate in 24-Hour Comics Day. In a nutshell, this Saturday is set aside for masochists to create a 24-page or 100-panel comic within 24 hours. I plan to start as early as I can–3 or 4am if I can, and to live-tweet-blog-video it throughout the day and back into the dark night of the creating soul.
Here is the dare, and its guidelines:
To create a complete 24 page comic book in 24 continuous hours.
That means everything: Story, finished art, lettering, color (if applicable), paste-up, everything…
No sketches, designs, plot summaries or any other kind of direct preparation can precede the 24 hour period. Indirect preparation such as assembling tools, reference materials, food, music etc. is fine.
Your pages can be any size, any material. Carve them in stone, print them with rubber stamps, draw them on your kitchen walls with a magic marker. Whatever you makes you happy.
…
THE ONLINE VARIATION: The above applies to printed comics or online comics with “pages” but if you’d like to try a 24-hour Online Comic that doesn’t break down into pages…then try this: At least 100 panels AND it has to be done, formatted and ONLINE within the 24-hour period!
Two years ago, I realized I just missed this event, so I organized an “18-Hour Comic Day” with Galen, CatGirl and a few friends. Here are our final results: mine: You Are Here – A Photographic Journey Thru Heaven & Hell. and Galen’s silent, haunting: Lest They Should See. (samples below:)
This year, I’m back, and ready to take on all 24 for those hours (cue Training Montage), in spite of the fact that I draw as well as I fly the Space Shuttle. What’s more, it isn’t enough for me to fail at producing the 100 panels for “THE ONLINE VARIATION” within the guidelines they have listed above. Not only am I not scripting or sketching anything beforehand, I have added the following restrictions personal challenges:
- I will create new content (last time, I used Creative Commons-licensed images as backdrops)
- I will incorporate the comic panels and their layout as part of the overall art.
- I will tell a non-linear story.
- I will utilize the ability to navigate through digital space in multiple directions, including zooming in and out.
- I will upload everything and broadcast it throughout the day.
- I will host a Google hangout
- I will incorporate a Bible and other material elements (i.e., it won’t be all digital). I would like a physical version of the comic when I’m done.
I will also only operate the mouse and exacto blade with my left armpit.
On a serious note, I have reasons for imposing these restrictions on myself–I believe that they will free me to create more than I can without them. And so far, I’ve held to my commitment to not script anything before I start working on the comic. I have thought a lot about tools, techniques, and materials. Because I can’t draw, I’m going to try to cut silhouettes. You can see some of my material preparation in the photo above.
Galen and CatGirl are doing it again this year, as well as friends Andrew Penn Romine and Tracie Welser (who are collaborating) and Jacob Ruby. you’re welcome to join the insanity as well! What rewards await those who accomplish this nigh-on impossible task? I’ll tell you: overnight celebrity, vast riches, and an iPhone 5 with a detachable hookah and preloaded with Alan Moore’s home phone number. Or, perhaps even more incredibly:
If you complete a 24-page comic in the 24 consecutive hours during the 24HCD event, you can send your comic in to be collected with the national 24-Hour Comic Book Day archive hosted by The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.
Galen’s written up a great post as the Art Nerd at Functional Nerds that describes the event in more detail. We both plan to live blog our progress via twitter (@johnremy and @galendara , hashtag: #24HCD), here at Mind on Fire and at Galen’s Mining the Nooks, and on Google+: John and Galen. I’m going to try to run a Google+ hangout so that we can either work alongside each other or that curious onlookers can curiously look on. (Only 10 people can be on at once, so I’m not sure how that will play out.) Let me know if you’re doing one–I’d be happy to post links to any completed works in the follow up post.
If you’re interested in participating or in following along, please leave a comment or tweet me!
2009
18 Hour Comic: You Are Here – A Photographic Journey Thru Heaven & Hell.
Post updated 2009-10-25 1:55PM Pacific Time:
My contribution follows this introduction and the participant links.
Thanks again to everyone who participated in the 18-hr comic event, either by contributing or by encouraging us along. CatGirl is the only one who achieved the main goal of 18-pages in 18 hours, and hopefully she will post them so that you all can see what amazing work she did. Others also produced some fine work. If you continue to work on your comics, or if you decide to take the challenge on your own time, please submit the link to me and I’ll be happy to enter it below.
2009 Participants:
- John Remy
- Galendara
- CatGirl
- Bored in Vernal (facebook album)
- Benjamin Lind
- angryyoungwoman
You are Here:
2009
18-hour Comic: Journal.
[Final Update: Here is the link to my final creation, which also has links to other participants' works: You Are Here: A Photographic Journey Thru Heaven & Hell ]
I will be updating this throughout the day.
6:16 am: GameBoy wakes me up and reminds me I need to take him to his all day Junior Classical League event this morning. I’m feeling mighty groggy from a late night and sleep meds, but I finally had a solid night of sleep. Count Chocula serves me breakfast.
Ideas that I’ve held back for weeks start to mingle and join together. I decide: a) I’m not going to draw *anything* and b) I’m going for the 100-panel web-based infinite canvas model, rather than the more traditional 24-page approach.
I’m less overwhelmed by the comic challenge than by how messy the house is, and by all my non-comic obligations for the day. Wish us all luck!
9:46 am: Finally made my first, inglorious post. Spent the past couple of hours thinking about story and theme, procrastinating, and building a template image. Decided to work in Photoshop.
10:28 am: Building some momentum. First four panels posted. Only 96 left to go…
Gonna take a stretching/cleaning break.
11:53 am: *Now* I’m going to take that stretching/cleaning/lunch/grocery/gas break. Hmmm…a third of the time is up, and only 10% of my 100 panels. Not sure I’m going to make my goal, but I’ll keep marching along. 
1:07 pm: Gas tanks were filled, groceries were purchased, and lunch was eaten. Back to the digital grindstone!
4:34 pm: Picked up GameBoy from his conference. Only 16 panels completed. Time is flying by. The process has been fun, frustrating, and educational.
8:10 pm: I have about 4 hours left to go, and 25 panels up. I’m somewhat frustrated at my pace–I’m just searching for and pasting images, and cranking out a bit of text for the most part. There is also management of files and posting to flickr and the blog, but it doesn’t seem like this all should take as long as it is. I’m averaging just over one panel every 30 minutes. That seems like an excruciating pace.
Anyhow, let’s see what I can power out in the next 2 hrs.
12:03 am: It’s 10 minutes less than 18 hrs since I started this project. No energy left to process anything. I posted 37 panels, and a complete story. I’m going to call this a noble failure in the Gaiman mode. If I’m going to fail, I want to fail like my hero.
Good night!
2009
18-hour Comic Day and Upcoming Projects.
Previous 18-hour comic day announcements:
John: You’re Invited to 18-Hour Comic Day.
Galen: Invitation to 18 hr Comic Day!!
Galen: 18 hr comic details…
Just a reminder that tomorrow is 18-hour comic day, which is Galen and my softcore response to the more insane 24-hour comic day. You are all invited to join us, and you do not have to have any drawing background to enjoy this. Look at me: I really have no idea what I’m getting into. I haven’t really done any serious work in Photoshop in the past 2.5 million seconds, but I think I’m going to try to follow the rules that would qualify it as an official, Scott McCloud sanctioned 24-hour comic:
- The entire comic has to be created, including its conception and any planning, within a 24-hour time span.
- The comic must consist of at least 24 pages or 100 panels, if using the infinite canvas concept.
- You can still be recognized for your “noble failure”, even if you don’t quite make it to 24 pages in 24 horus.
Come back to Mind on Fire tomorrow if you’d like to see my comic unfold throughout the day. I will also post links to other participants’ pages, so you can follow their progress as well. (but only if you send me your links!) I am also happy to post links to your project if you can’t do it tomorrow, but make the attempt in the next week or two.
I think that Galen and I are going to start our projects at 5 or 6am Pacific/Arizona time; I may not actually post anything until later in the morning, since I’ll probably spend the first 2-3 hours drinking coffee and procrastinating. Ehem. Planning and experimenting with drawing and Photoshop.
It’s going to be a busy month:
- Saturday, October 24th: 18-hr Comic Day.
- Thursday, October 29th through Saturday, October 31st: World Fantasy Convention in San Jose.
- Sunday, November 1st through Monday, November 2nd: Kicking off NaNoWriMo by writing furiously at an undisclosed location in San Francisco.
- November 1st through 30th: NaNoWriMo.
- Friday, November 6th through Sunday, November 8th: The Fall Gathering of the Southern California Quarterly Meeting
- Thursday, November 12th through Sunday November 15th: The Annual Meeting of the Friends National Committee on Legislation in Washington, DC.
- Saturday, November 28th: LosCon with the family (for just the one day)
I’ll keep you posted all along!
2009
You’re Invited to 18-Hour Comic Day.
On Saturday, October 24th, Galen, CatGirl and I will attempt an 18-hr version of Scott McCloud’s 24-Hour Comic challenge. If you’re unfamiliar with the phenomenon, Wikipedia has a good summary of the rules. Past grads include luminaries like Kevin Eastman and Neil Gaiman.
We’re looking for a few good humans to join us. And any other creatures who can make comics.
Now, you may be saying to yourself, “But John, I can’t draw! My chihuahuas look suspiciously like urinals!” No need to fear, my friend. Many respectable comics are not drawn at all, but are simply creatively captioned woodcuts or clip art or photos of legos. Heck, one of the most popular comics on the internet is all stick figures!
We’ll post more details next week, but we hope that some of you will be interested in joining the fun! We envision posting panels or pages on our blogs throughout the day on the 24th so that everyone can follow along. We’ll post cross-links to anyone who is participating in the event.
If you’re interested in joining the fun, please email us or leave a comment below!
[Update:] I forgot to mention why we’re not going for 24 hours: because we are old and tired. If you can only participate for a fraction of the time, or want to try this on another day, let us know, and we’ll find some way to include you in on the fun.
2009
Spark: the Truth
This is absolutely priceless. A comic & blog post about Cheney (who, incidentally, “is as ancient as he is evil and he is large amounts of both.”).
2008
In Which I Reveal What a Big Geek I am.
First of all, it was revealed recently that Barack Obama has a collection of Spider Man and Conan comics. Do you hear that? OUR FUTURE PRESIDENT READS MARVEL!!1! Bush strikes me as a Superman guy. (Green Party types read Vertigo and Maus and maybe Love and Rockets)
So when Madeleine Brand (who I love!) of NPR’s Day to Day did a short piece covering this, she treats comic book collecting like an embarassing disease, like a case of the nerd scabies or something. The comic book shop owner she interviews attempts to inject some seriousness, pointing out the escapist nature of most superhero comics. When she expresses relief that “he’s not into the really out there stuff…something a little more disturbing,” I feel like she’s dimissing an entire vibrant and growing cultural medium and perpetuating negative stereotypes. Maybe I have a clue now how granola/green Evangelicals feel when they get lumped in with global warming denialists.
One more thing: Jana’s taking me to see The Dark Knight this evening! On the big screen! Not only am I a huge fan of just about everything that Frank Miller has churned out, but the casting is incredible–if Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine and Maggie Gyllenhaal were having a post-production orgy and needed a love slave, I would volunteer in a heartbeat.
Don’t think too much about that last bit.
2008
By xJane
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Spark: Sinfest gets Political
I’ve long been a fan of Sinfest, but it’s mostly been religious, rather than political in nature. Recently, since one of the characters is a pig, there was a whole Palin lip-stick-on-pig thing that I’m still not sure what I think about. But then there were these, which are interesting more because Sinfest is not a political cartoon than because they are spot on. Which they are also:
and
2008
You have to be like, insane holy.
This comic by Kate Beaton perfectly captures the resignation I often feel towards work, simplicity/consumerism, and ascetic spirituality. Following the link gets you to a long page of unlinked comics–find in page for “Hiked to Italy” for the complete comic.
2008
By xJane
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Spark: Training
I’m sorry for all the sparks recently, but I couldn’t resist this one. Enjoy!