24 Hour Comics Day Noble Failure

Photo credit: Troy Little (c) 2011, Summerside PEI.

October 20th was this year's 24 Hour Comics Day. Usually I like to host the event at my place in Kanata (DragonHead Studio), but unfortunately due to renovations, I wasn't able to!

That didn't stop me from jumping into the challenge and tackling it with the ridiculous bravado for which I've become famous. It's been a long while since I've tried a 24 Hour Comic challenge solo, in fact, it's been 11 years. My first one... which has yet to be completed and scanned, was done solo. It was a brutal experience, even 11 years younger. And this October's event was no exception.

I kicked off around 10:30 am. I highly recommend starting in the morning. The one time I gave 'er a go in the evening (2008 I think), was an exhausting and abysmal failure. I only managed to get to 19 pgs that time 'round (yet another comic clamouring to be completed and shared!)

This time I also was missing critical supplies I usually have on hand for such things: jellybeans, icy squares and the horrifying 'drink' known as Rev. Apparently no one in Stittsville drinks Rev (which is the location of the LCBO I tried first).

This time 'round I also decided I would do things differently. Instead of doing a complete page/ hour as Scott McCloud suggests, I was going to tackle the problem by penciling my pages first. That meant I had to crank pages out in 1/2 hr increments. Crazy!

But, my thought went something like this: if I don't finish my inking entirely, at least I'll have all the pencils done. I'll have a complete story told (instead of the several 24 hr comics languishing around that all seem to peter out around pg 19 or so!)

Things trucked on well. I was using the 110 lbs. white card stock that I prefer (the same stuff we use at the Ottawa Comic Jams), penciling with Bic #2 mechanical pencils, ruling out panels (I hate rulers and panels in general, but this time they seemed appropriate). The story rolled out and I hit the 12 hr mark with the entire comic penciled and fairly lucid. I was a bit disappointed that the pacing of the story goes crazy in the last 3-4 pgs ('Oh my God, I'm out of pages!?') Oopsie. Anyway, they do wrap up somehow. And no splash pages!

Splash pages are a cheat when you get behind, doing it the old-fashioned way (case in point, pg 7 from 'The Magic Cauldron', my 24 Hr comic from 2007!). This time I found I needed every single page at my disposal for the story I was telling. It felt satisfying to be able to move through the pages and panels and honestly use every bit of them to the best of my ability (and not feel like I was 'behind' all night!)

Around 4:00 am or so, I was flagging. I had coffee, horrible candies I'd found somewhere (augh!) and my eyes were getting blurry. My inking was going to hell and I was ruining my comic. I was also utterly exhausted and realized that although I firmly believe anyone regardless of age or ability can tackle these things, that I was feeling every one of my sleepy 43 yr-old-bones  yelling at me to GO TO BED.

So I did.

And didn't feel guilty for one minute.

I got up the next day after about 5 hrs of sleep and kept inking for a bit, til the time ran out. I was pleased that I had a comic, pretty much finished, where before there had been absolutely nothing.

I'm a procrastinator, big time. The beauty of the 24 Hr Comic is that;  if you do it, once a year, you will have in your hands, at the end of that period of time: a comic. This means, no matter what happens during the rest of the year, you will have produced at least one physical comic with no delays, procrastination, what-ifs, over-thinking, guilt or apathy. Hurray!

I've been inking the beast on and off all week and I'm happy as a peach. The panels are pretty clean, the lettering isn't wobbly and I'm using templates for my word balloons(!) I hauled my folder to the Ottawa Comic Jam last night to share and had some really supportive and sweet comments on it (thanks Emily!)

Sure, it's a "Noble Failure", since it does not adhere strictly to the Dare's rules. But that's ok. I'm in good company (what with the likes of Neil Gaiman and Kevin Eastman setting the bar!) And I'm proud that I created this thing.

When it's finished, I'll post it over on my Deviantart gallery, which you can get to by clicking here.

Cheers, and thanks for reading my ramblings (as always).
And.
If you haven't tried the 24 Hr Comic challenge yet-- do it! You have nothing to lose (except a bit of sleep). It's worth it and it is an experience unlike any other.

Next year, I WILL be hosting the 24 Hour Comics Day Event at DragonHead Studio. Get your pencils ready!

All the best,
Suzanne.

Thank you Neil

I'm always grateful for wisdom, compassion and humour to sand the edges of heretical madness. I want to thank Neil Gaiman for being an emissary of that crinkled wisdom, grinning laughter, sober fourth and fifth thoughts (and sixth shots). I love Charles de Lint dearly, but today I needed Neil and only Neil would do.

First off, Troy Little posted a link to Frank Miller coming across like a lunatic about the Occupy movement (which made me come up with the idea that an Occupy Sin City poster would be quite interesting.) Then, while I was absorbing this and shaking my head, I read a Tweet from Scott McCloud about it: "BTW, No matter how batshit Frank's political rant may be, that's a great silhouetted drawing of him on his blog."

Then, I read a Tweet from Neil that lead to a post from 2006, which I'm reposting here, to better describe my own thoughts about it (content is copyright Neil Gaiman (c)2006):

Neil Gaiman's thoughts on "...not feeling guilty about liking the art of people [I] disagree with personally or politically..."

Hi Neil,

I've been a fan of your work for awhile now and I just came across your site. I've had this nagging question, about authors, stuck in my brain for awhile now and I thought you might have an answer or opinion.
If you really enjoy an author's stories and then you find out the author (not you) is a jerk or believes in some fairly wretched things would you keep reading this author's works?
I suppose it's similar to the whole crazy celebrity dilema. Do I really want to go see a movie that looks good even though that guy is in it?
Thanks,
Kyle

If I were only allowed to read or enjoy art or listen to music made by people whose opinions and beliefs were the same as mine, I think the world would be a pretty dismal sort of a place. I love the work of many creators who self-avowedly believe or believed things that I consider to be "fairly wretched", not to mention wrong-headed, lunatic, irresponsible or simply wrong. Worse yet: there are artists, actors, songwriters, authors, whose work I love, like or admire and who, biographers or historians tell us, actually did things that were utterly reprehensible. And worse even than that, there are all those things by Anonymous, who could have been or thought or done, well, anything, and we'll never know...

Ezra Pound was a fascist, an antisemite on a level that makes the Aryan Nation seem wishy washy, a traitor (or at best, a collaborator), and I'm very glad I got to read his poetry, and appreciate it and learn from it. I could list dozens more without breaking a sweat. Most, probably all, human beings get to do awful things and believe things that other human beings think they should be burned for believing, and they get to do and believe wonderful things too, and artists, writers, musicians, creators, actors, are nothing if not human beings.

The art isn't the artist, the poem isn't the poet; trust the tale, not the teller.

(The sad flip-side is I've met people -- writers and artists -- over the years who I liked immediately, with whom I found myself agreeing on everything to do with art and aesthetics so closely that we might have shared the same head, people whose world-views were pretty much mine, whom I'd talk with far into the night and whom I parted from excited that I'd met them, looking forward to nothing more than reading their writing or looking at their art... and then I would find what they had done, and, at least as far as my taste was concerned, the books would be uninteresting, the drawings ugly or clumsy. And in an odd way, that hurts more than liking the work of someone who behaved badly, or thought in a way that I consider offensive or wrong.)


======

I'm an easy-going person, and like to try and get along with everyone I can. I hate being judgmental (and dislike being judged intensely), I avoid confrontation as much as possible. Finding comfort in an author's artful words for something that makes me uncomfortable and upset was such a relief and a soothing balm, I actually did send a quick reply to Neil in thanks. That is why they are the writers, these 'Kindly Ones', who can hammer the words together and throw them down for us to nod and grin at and to take that solace from.

In crashing about in Neil land, I came upon the following "I believe" from American Gods, which I would love to just have stapled to Womangue as an emblazoned motto (though it's rather large). Instead, I'll repost it here. Apparently it is available in t-shirt form at Neverwear. This is also copyright (c)2011 Neil Gaiman. Thank you so much.

Suzanne.

======

"I can believe things that are true and I can believe things that aren't true and I can believe things where nobody knows if they're true or not. I can believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and Marilyn Monroe and the Beatles and Elvis and Mister Ed. Listen–I believe that people are perfectible, that knowledge is infinite, that the world is run by secret banking cartels and is visited by aliens on a regular basis, nice ones who look like wrinkledy lemurs and bad ones who mutilate cattle and want our water and our women. I believe that the future sucks and I believe that the future rocks and I believe that one day White Buffalo Woman is going to come back and kick everyone's ass. I believe that all men are just overgrown boys with deep problems communicating and that the decline of good sex in America is coincident with the decline in drive-in movie theaters from state to state. I believe that all politicians are unprincipled crooks and I still believe that they are better than the alternative. I believe that California is going to sink into the sea when the big one comes, while Florida is going to dissolve into madness and alligators and toxic waste. I believe that antibacterial soap is destroying our resistance to dirt and disease so that one day we'll all be wiped out by the common cold like the Martians in War of The Worlds. I believe that the greatest poets of the last century were Edith Sitwell and Don Marquis, that jade is dried dragon sperm, and that thousands of years ago in a former life I was a one-armed Siberian shaman. I believe that mankind's destiny lies in the stars. I believe that candy really did taste better when I was a kid, that it's aerodynamically impossible for a bumblebee to fly, that light is a wave and a particle, that there's a cat in a box somewhere who's alive and dead at the same time (although if they don't ever open the box to feed it it'll eventually just be two different kinds of dead), and that there are stars in the universe billions of years older than the universe itself. I believe in a personal god who cares about me and worries and oversees everything I do. I believe in an impersonal god who set the universe in motion and went off to hang with her girlfriends and doesn't even know that I'm alive. I believe in an empty and godless universe of causal chaos, background noise, and sheer blind luck. I believe that anyone who says that sex is overrated just hasn't done it properly. I believe that anyone who claims to know what's going on will lie about the little things too. I believe in absolute honesty and sensible social lies too. I believe in a woman's right to choose, a baby's right to live, that while all human life is sacred there's nothing wrong with the death penalty if you can trust the legal system implicitly, and that no one but a moron would ever trust the legal system. I believe that life is a game, that life is a cruel joke, and that life is what happens when you're alive and that you might as well lie back and enjoy it."

Credits:
The photo of Neil Gaiman at the top of the blog is by Allan Amato and is available in poster form
Sin City comic image is by Frank Miller.
Scott McCloud's head comic panel is by Scott McCloud.
The poster from American Gods is by Molly Crabapple.

We don't need no stinkin' sleep!

In honour of the upcoming 24 Hour Comics Day event at my place, I took time to post my 24 Hour Comic from this August. Actually, this is a chunk of history in the making... I've completed four 24 Hour Comics out of six tries, and the upcoming event on Saturday will be my seventh go 'round. It will be the first time I've ever tried to do two 24 Hour Comics in one year. Wow!

Anyway, I'd like to thank Troy Little for hosting the August 4th's 24 Hour Comics Day event at the West End Cottage in Summerside, PEI to cap off Comic Book Shark Week. I had a grand time, met some truly creative and cool people and made a crazy, blood-soaked comic. What could be better? Oh and there's swears in it. Sorry!

To check out my contribution to 24 Hour Comics Day history: "The Hour Before the Dawn", please head on over to my Deviant Art account and take a looksee.

Cheers, and hope to see y'all out either at the 'Backwards' comic jam tomorrow at 7pm, or on the weekend for 24 Hour Comics Day.

Suzanne.

PS--here's some fantastic photos of the 24 Hour Comics Day event in August! (All photos, including the one below are (c) 2011 Troy Little).

Grapes of Jelly

A fresh comic for y'all! As I speak, the first jar of grape jelly has pretty much been eaten up. Yum!

For those interested, there are two very cool events coming up: The Ottawa Comic Jam presents: 'Backwards Jamming' Wednesday, September 28th, 7pm - 10pm @ the Shanghai Restaurant.
Next weekend (October 1st to be exact) is Scott McCloud's famous, annual, International 24 Hour Comics Day. Come to DragonHead Studio and give it a 'go'. It is a lot of fun, challenging and a one-of-a-kind experience. That being said, it will be my seventh 24 Hour Comic (so far, I've completed 4 out of 6 tries).

Registration for 24 Hour Comics Day is Sept 28th. Please email me: suzanne(at)brainpowerstudio(dot)com and let me know if you are able to attend. The event begins Saturday Oct 1st, 10am and runs 24 hours 'til Sunday Oct 2nd, 10am. There is ample overnight street parking available and the bus also serves the area (there will be a shuttle set up to pick ppl up at Kanata Centrum--call ahead to arrange: 613-863-8264).

Bus service from Rideau Centre to Kanata Centrum

Sat, Oct 01, 2011
At 8:51, walk to station MACKENZIE KING 2A (3000)
At 8:56, take Bus route 96 (OC Transpo) direction Kanata - Terry Fox.
At 9:37, arrive at station TERRY FOX 3C (3058) (41 min.).

For further info, please head on over to the Ottawa Comic Jam site, or email me and pepper me with questions.
There is also a dandy article in the latest ed. of the Fulcrum, Ottawa U's English newspaper, by wordsmith Keeton Wilcock about the event and the Ottawa Comic Jam. Thanks man!

Cheers and happy jelly-making,
Suzanne.

Rolling up the sleeves and gettin' 'er done

This is it, man--this is the time, now is the moment.
Friday, October 17th at 8:00pm, DragonHead Studio will transform from its usual organized mess into a razor's edge of creative instensity. We have confirmed artists, we have grub, we have supplies! We're ready!

For your amusement and to get you excited about the upcoming Event, here are some pics from last year's challenge, where much great artwork was produced and new friendships solidified! Just think, this time next year, you could be looking a sweet collection of photos from the upcoming weekend. If you act quickly, your mug might even be profiled! Ya never know...


Speaking of mugs, here's yours truly at Kanata Centrum, picking up Westin Church from the shuttle pick-up point.

The table at the studio in progress, covered in artwork, drinks and supplies. Meaghan Quinn surveys her efforts.

Left to right, Keith Savage, Westin Church, Lynette O'Brien and Meaghan Quinn, sometime in the middle of the night (probably before 2 am or so, since Keith headed off to sleep in his tent around then). Lynette had dropped by to shower us with support around 10pm, but mistakenly went to the wrong house. No one was home! Finally she heard the sounds of cussing and Frank Sinatra and made her way to the corrrect locale of the "do".

Westin catches 40 winks in the company of the world's coolest cat, Arlo, star of many of my comics. Westin's allergy medication was labouring hard to keep him going. With minor setbacks, he was still able to complete the gut-splitting tale of "Harry Hotdog in the Land of Linguini".

Yours truly, showing off the fruits of labour sometime in the wee hours of the morning. You can see by the 1,000-mile stare that the coffee had finally proved useless and the sugar crash had long ago happened. Still, it was a fun excersize!

Keith Savage (OMBRELLA) and Westin Church at Kanata Centrum, heading home after the event. Look how happy they are to escape back home to get some shut-eye! Lucky people!

Now, wouldn't YOU like to see yourself in these pics? You can! There's still a couple of spaces left if you're into it. Just contact me, via email, phone or psychic transmission. Check out the group on Facebook (24 Hour Comic day at DragonHead Studio) for info.

Confirmed 24 Hour comic artists this year include:

Suzanne Marsden:
Hostess, owner of DragonHead Studio, animator, traditional comic artist, writer.
Robert (Guang) Yap:
Animator, traditional comic artist, storyboard artist
Meaghan Quinn:
Web comic artist "Eat the Roses"
Clayton Jacobs:
Traditional comic artist, animation, novelist
Christopher Rudderham:
Web comic artist, "Sailorsun"

Participants confirmed for the 12 hour comic challenge

Keith Savage:
RPG systems inventor, animator, filmmaker, novelist.
James Fletcher:
Teacher, sculptor, member of the National Capital Network of Sculptors, Ottawa.

Check links to their work--this is going to be a phenomenal 24 Hour Comic party!

Plus, you can look forward to seeing it assembled as a documentary by talented filmmaker Randy Kelly!

Cheers, and to those who can't make it-- perhaps next year? It seems like it is becoming an annular event ;-)
Suzanne.

October 17th - 18th 2008 24 Hour Comics Day Party!

If you read too many blogs, you could end up like the people in the above pic. Barring that...read on!

I was talking with Westin the other day; Westin, the dude who is getting married (to fiancée Nadine!)Sept 17th, and for whom I am donning a tux and being the 'Best Ma'am'(just finished writing my speech this morning--yay!).

I said; 'buddy, wish we could get together to draw, but I know you're busy with your wedding coming up and all'. And he said 'Sue--what about next month?'
'Next month?'
'Yeah!'
'Hey I think Nat'l 24 Hour Comics Day is in October sometime... Wanna do it?'
'Sure!'
'What, are we insane?'
'Probably!'
'Still, if I only complete 1 comic a year...'
(SFX swelling of orchestral music)

(And now a cheat-repost from October 2007 [abridged])

With the event [a little over a month] away, folks must be getting excited and stoked for the exhausting, illuminating and one-of-a-kind experience ONLY this kind've gathering can evoke. I know that I am! And it is not too late to take part. Simply contact me with your interest and questions, or sign on to the Facebook group and request to be included on the event list. You will receive maps, and can participate in a carpool or shuttle bus to DragonHead Studio's cozy locale in Urban Kanata.

Ample drawing, painting & comic-creating material will be provided, along with a selection of caffeinated beverages ;-) [NOT coffee-beer though; man that was gross last year :-P] and foods. We do support vegetarians; just let us know your needs. We also have a large collection of animals living with us, so if you need it, prep your system with anti-allergy medication. DragonHead has a secure area if you wish to bring a tent and camp. We also will be providing up to eight places for people to sleep, should they require napping during the event, or cannot complete their comic projects and must sleep.

You have nothin' to lose by giving this a try! You will discover creative depths in your heart you didn't know existed! If you are experiencing artist's or writer's block, this event will kick the hell out of it. You will amaze yourself by what bubbles up in the middle of the night... Go for it!

To get a feel for what others have experienced during previous events, check out YouTube. There are tons of clips showing comic artists and even a couple of interviews with the inventor of the 24 Hour Comic, Scott McCloud!

Contact me via my website, The 24 Hour Comics Day at DragonHead Studio Group on Facebook, or by calling 613-323-3377 and leaving a detailed voice message.

Cheers and all best
Suzanne.

PS -- For detailed information regarding the 24 Hour Comic and what it is exactly, refer to Scott McCloud's web page. Here, he explains what it is, how he came up with it and shows copious pages of completed 24 Hour Comics. Inspiring!

[PPS-- check out 24 Hour comics Day participants from last year's successful event at DragonHead Studio! Westin Church's "Harry Hotdog and the Land of Linguini", and Suzanne Marsden's "The Magic Cauldron!"]

PPPS--NEWSFLASH - Randy Kelly, noted filmmaker, is planning to document the event at DragonHead Studio October 17th - 18th!

Git your game on!!

I looked at the image above on my Facebook profile and it hit home. There are only THREE DAYS AND EIGHTEEN HOURS left until the exciting 24 Hour Comics Day Event at my place (DragonHead Studio.)

So, email me, join the Facebook Group and request to be added to the Event and come out to enjoy the fun, horrifying, exciting, excruciating challenge. There will be home-made poppycock. Seriously :-)

Suzanne.

613-836-7821
sue.clay@rogers.com

Official Press Release!

For immediate release
For further info about the local event, contact Suzanne Marsden at 613-836-7821. For further info about 24 Hour Comics Day, contact Nat Gertler, nat@24hourcomics.com, (805) 499-4091

Making Comics Around-the-Clock and Around-the-World – Kanata, ON included
Cartoonists Gather At DragonHead Studio For 24 Hour Comics Day

(Kanata) To many people, comics are the hip type of reading material. To some, they’re a great form of artistic expression. But come October 20th, people will treat comics as a challenge, and a tough one at that. That’s the day when local cartoonists will gather at DragonHead Studio to join with professional and amateur comics creators worldwide in celebrating 24 Hour Comics Day, a marathon festival of cartooning.
The cartoonist’s goal on the annual 24 Hour Comics Day is easy to explain, difficult to achieve. Each wants to turn 24 blank pieces of paper into a finished comic book in 24 hours. This “24 hour comics challenge” means achieving what might normally be months of work in a single (generally sleepless) day. During last year’s event, more than 1200 cartoonists gathered at event locations in 17 countries, working side-by-side while sharing energy, snacks, and camaraderie. While not everyone successfully completed 24 pages, among them they crafted more than 15,000 pages of comics.
"The participants are a mix of first-time comics creators, seasoned amateurs, and established professionals," explains Suzanne Marsden, Founder of DragonHead Studio. "They’re spending 24 hours trying something different. Even people who have made a lot of comics find new creative techniques and inner resources when facing this bizarre deadline. When you can’t spend endless time reworking and rethinking, you learn to create on impulse, and some amazing stuff can result.”
The Comic Book Shoppe carries several books featuring 24 hour comics stories, including one edited by Scott McCloud, the leading comics theoretician who invented the challenge. McCloud had leveled the challenge at Steve Bissette, a fellow cartoonist who sketched quickly but created finished comic work notoriously slowly. The energetic and emotionally raw work that Bissette created is in McCloud’s book 24 Hour Comics, as are 24 hour comic attempts by Stardust writer Neil Gaiman and eight more. Other books feature stories drawn during each of the past three years 24 Hour Comics Days.
"We’re gearing up to provide food and drink for a batch of creatively-driven, fun-loving cartoonists," says Marsden, "and even people who don’t want to make comics themselves can do their part. Stop by the studio, see the creative effort in action, show the cartoonists your support. THE STUDIO WILL BE OPEN TO VISITORS AND SUPPORTERS FOR THE FULL TWENTY-FOUR HOURS!”
The full description of the 24 hour comics challenge is available at the 24HourComics.com website. Cartoonists who want to participate should call DragonHead Studio at 613-836-7821 to reserve a spot, as space is limited and planning needs to be done. No talent is required, just enthusiasm, a willingness to put in the effort, and someone to drive you home (driving after 24 consecutive hours of creative effort is not a good idea). DragonHead Studio is also looking for local restaurants and other vendors to help sponsor the event by providing food to keep the cartoonists going.

DragonHead Studio is an independent comic publishing house, animation and cartoon studio. Located at 37 Ballantrae Way, Kanata, ON K2L 1N3, DragonHead Studio publishes “aBraxIa”, “Ivy & Dummy” and provides creative services to a number of Canadian studios.
24 HOUR COMICS DAY is an international festival of cartooning. Founded in 2004 by comics writer/publisher Nat Gertler, the festival has experienced rapid growth. More information can be found at 24HourComics.com

Yes, we're online... and there is still time to sign up!

Nat Gertler sent me a notice regarding the 24 Hour Comics Day Event, stating that the International start time list had been completed. The list includes DragonHead Studio's event, the ONLY host near the Nation's Capital (the next one out is The Artel in Kingston, then Hairy Tarantula West in Toronto!) This comprises 82 Events scheduled in 15 countries, 29 US states and 3 Canadian provinces! Check out the map here :-D

With the event less than two weeks away, folks must be getting excited and stoked for the exhausting, illuminating and one-of-a-kind experience ONLY this kind've gathering can evoke. I know that I am! And it is not too late to take part. Simply contact me with your interest and questions, or sign on to the Facebook group and request to be included on the event list. You will receive maps, and can participate in a carpool or shuttle bus to DragonHead Studio's cozy locale in Urban Kanata.

Ample drawing, painting & comic creating materials will be provided, along with a selection of caffeinated beverages ;-) and foods. We do support vegetarian-friendly food; just let us know your needs. We have a large collection of animals living with us, so prepare your system with anti-allergy medication (if you need it.) DragonHead has a secure area if you wish to bring a tent and camp. We also will be providing up to eight places for people to sleep, should they require napping during the event, or cannot complete their comic projects and must sleep.

You have nothin' to lose by giving this a try! You will discover creative depths in your heart you didn't know existed! If you are experiencing artist's or writer's block, this event will kick the hell out of it. You will amaze yourself by what bubbles up in the middle of the night... Go for it!

To get a feel for what others have experienced during previous events, check out YouTube. There are tons of clips showing comic artists and even a couple of interviews with the inventor of the 24 Hour Comic, Scott McCloud!

Contact me via my website, The 24 Hour Comic Book Day at DragonHead Studio Group on Facebook, or by calling 613-323-3377 and leaving a detailed voice message.

Cheers and all best
Suzanne.

PS--Happy Thanksgiving!
PPS -- For detailed information regarding the 24 Hour Comic and what it is exactly, refer to Scott McCloud's web page. Here he explains what it is, how he came up with it and shows copious pages of completed 24 Hour Comics. Inspiring!
PPPS -- Here's a funny image detailing ways to keep awake while doing the 24 HCD.

Take the plunge

You know you want to.

You've been aching, your fingers vibrating with the creative need to DRAW. But, you've put it off. Your boring job saps all your strength. Or even your moderately not-so-boring job takes up so much of your energy, when you get home (or hell, if you're working from home) you just don't have it in you to.. draw..

Scott McCloud came up with a nifty device over a decade ago (August 31st, 1990), called The Dare. In this Dare, he challenged a compatriot, Steve Bissette, to draw for 24 hours straight, one page an hour, until by the time he was done, this fella would have a complete comic, written, penciled and inked in his hands. That's all it took. From that wonderful, inspired idea, the 24-Hour Comic has spread like fruit flies on a squishy mango, in other words, FAST and with much sucking of tasty, sticky juice! To check out more information on The Dare and to read McCloud's first 24-hour comic, check ze links!

No writer or artist's block can withstand the energy or will that exists in the sweat of someone working on a project for 24 hours straight. Take it from someone who has braved that valley of darkness three times and come out alive... blind, exhausted, hallucinating, but alive! Below, are panels from my first attempts: "Good Medicine/ Bad Medicine", "The Wyrm's Treasure" and "SnowBlonde" (you can read the last two in their entirety on my website, thanks to the continuing web genius of Carol Busato.)

"Good Medicine/ Bad Medicine"

"The Wyrm's Treasure"

"SnowBlonde"


If you're interested in reading more 24-hour comics, you can order them online from Amazon, or via the 24-Hour Comics Day site which has tons of info on the event! You can also order two of Troy Little's 24-hour comics directly from him at Meanwhile Studios ("Smoked Fish" and "Inanimation".)

Come October 20th, 2007, the entire world will host hundreds of mad, creative folks in various locales, drawing maniacally away and creating something from nuthin'! I was interested in joining the fun, but realized it would come very close to overlapping my business trip to Abbey Hill Design in Callander (near North Bay.) I heard that Hairy Tarantula in Toronto was going to host it, but thought the additional drive and then no sleep, then driving HOME would probably kill me. I looked for something closer to Ottawa and realized there was nothing.

NOTHING.

No 24-Hour Comics Day event in ANY Nation's Capital comic book stores to encourage artists to create masterpieces on trestle tables, between multicoloured rows of comics. No fervent prophets of art and story, drawing throngs of the interested public through the doors to bring lucre to the tills. No store was signed up to host. So I thought to myself, "Self," (sfx of Arlo Guthrie talking) "Yup?" "Why dontcha host an event yerself?" "Sounds like a great idea. Then I won't end up in flames somewhere near Belleville on the way home from the stint in TO!" "Sounds like a plan." "AND I would get to see all of my comic and animation buddies whom I haven't seen in a donkey's year." "Is that an African or European donkey?"

And so on.

The 24-Hour Comics Day site has wonderful resources (like this FAQ) for hosting the DAY and I have downloaded lots of 'em. DragonHead Studio is officially on the boards at their site, and the fun starts at noon, October 20th, 2007 at yours truly. There is a Facebook Group set up for it, as well as an "Event" that you can request an invitation to.

As it stands, I have a possibility of 7 people turning up, which looks great! There is room for 5 -7 more, so if you are in the Ottawa/ Kanata area and you're keen to draw and you'd like to play with my animals and sit on my deck sipping Rev or what-have-you, drop me a line!

You know you want to.
That leetle voice you spend all day ignoring and the entire drive home from your job trying to feint left and right as its siren susurrus pleading whisper darts from ear to ear... Listen to it. Next time you're about to crank "Sam's Town", take a minute to really listen to what the Killers are saying; don't just let the sound wash over you.

"...I've got this energy beneath my feet
like something underground's gonna come up and carry me,
I've got this sentimental heart that beats
but I don't really mind that it's starting to get to me now..."

Call, write, email (blackcomet666@yahoo.ca) or sign up on the Facebook Group and pester me. You have 'til October 6th to get your name in! It's going to be fun!

Cheers,
Suzanne.

Screw the "24" Hour Comic

Hello! I have been on deadline for my storyboard..so that is why it has been quiet around here, and on my sister site Kunstpike (which would all be filled with crazy drawings from "Wayside" instead of Sue sketches, cause that's all I've been doing lately.)

Ok, about today's title. If you don't know ANYTHING about 24-Hour Comics, please go and read about them and the initial "Dare" on Scott McCloud's site. Then go over to my DragonHead Studio site and read my two online 24 Hour comics (The Wyrm's Treasure and SnowBlonde.) Then, go get some supplies and do one yourself! Anyway.. on to the rest of my post..


When I had initially read the variants on Scott McCloud's 24-Hour Comics project, I had always been skeptical of one of them: the "Eastman" variation (named after Kevin Eastman, co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!) Neil Gaiman also has a variation named after him, which is; if you get to 24 hours and you're not finished, drop the pencil, c'est tout, that is it. These are both called "Noble Failures", noble, because well, geez, it's an amazing expenditure of time, creativity, mental pain and effort! Failure because.. well, it ain't 24 pages in 24 hours.
But back to Kevin...from McCloud's 24-Hour Comics Index:
"Kevin Eastman - No Guts, No Glory
That's the title of the printed version (The original was "F**k the Dead" but Kevin decided an alternate title might be more marketable for some reason.)
[...] The Eastman Variation: If you get to 24 hours and you're not done, KEEP GOING UNTIL YOU ARE!

24 pages, completed in 50 hours."

50 HOURS man! That's an accomplishment--it's.. well, can you imagine being up for 50 hours? I had been skeptical because the longest I've stayed awake was during my 3 stints of 24-hour comic-making (the last was the worst though, as I had to drive a friend home afterward and attend a family dinner the same day--urk!)


People stay up crazy-late all the time. Hell, many women who endure labour sometimes work on their first one for 36 hours.. Talk about the pain of creation! And afterwards, when you have your baby (or twins :-) you get those long, sleepless nights, taking care of them and forgetting what a solid night's sleep felt like.

Where am I going with this?
Well, as usual, I was behind on my storyboard. I had resolved to get started early, and I did! But really, after last week, I didn't have enough done to be able to finish the board in a reasonable amount of time. The idea of submitting my work late was not an option, especially when my friend Nick was counting on me!

In High School, University, College and working for various studios, I've always amazed myself by somehow even though all hope seemed lost, of being able to come through in the crunch. I don't know why sometimes it takes UNTIL THE CRUNCH CRUNCHES to get down to it, but there is probably a chemical explanation for it somewhere..

The mystique of the 24-Hour Comic pales when you've been awake and drawing for 41 hours... and, even then, I probably could've kept going (Clay calls this the "Third Wind", not sure, probably my cracked teeth were helping keep me awake too!)

I never intend to get behind and then have to do all-nighters, I don't believe anyone does (unless they're masochists!) The weird thing was getting on the other side of one, hearing morning bird-song (4 am), seeing the powder violet-blue of pre-dawn pale behind dark green pine needles (5 am), and realize; the night is over, and you still have work to do. Lots of work to do.

But I finished it, and gave it in with a deep-felt sigh of relief (one of those sighs that comes from the depth of your feet out the top of your head.) Perhaps the drive to finish something that is deadlined, the imperative and will to see it through made time irrelevant. When you're doing a 24-hour comic there are always breaks for food, jelly-bean and beer runs, pizza, etc. It's fun; a circus-- a performance to see IF you can do it; stay alive and conscious and keep drawing. It is also a more communal affair. Apart from my first solo one ("Good medicine/ Bad medicine"), I've drawn with other comic artists and the company and joviality really help.


This was more like lying on an executioner's block and drawing to save my life. I suppose it was; drawing to save my creative and professional life. Stopping wasn't in the equation. Driving around, doing anything not related to drawing and basic body functioning was not allowed. I had to finish.

Can I learn from experiences like this? I guess I would probably learn more if I tried to pull a miracle out and failed instead of succeeded. But, in a way having to do this is failure; you can't do it and have a life, not a stress-free (or stress-reduced) one anyway. All I can say is for the next board, which I get in 2 weeks apparently.. I will plan better, start earlier and avoid the zombie-elixir of the 41-hour comic!

Cheers!
Suzanne.

PS--for the sake of our more timid viewers, the event of my cracked tooth, abscess and all of that fun stuff has been omitted. I may post it later when I have some happy news to report, and leave out the pictures...

PPS--
My Uncle has this on his desk. It seems appropriate to post and inspire other Procrastinators ;-)