The 2nd 24 Hour Comic - Part 1

YAY Weddings!

I had another opportunity to write/draw a 24 Hour Comic, so, of course, I took it. I recommend reading it before continuing to read this blog entry.

24 Hour Comic #2: "LIFESCOPE"

Remember that no part of the 24 Hour Comic is meant to be created prior to the 24 hour period, so there was little for me to think about in my preparations. However, remembering how the last 24 Hour Comic went, I knew that I did not want to do a literal story.

The last 24 Hour Comic, "Bad Day At the Office," became very preachy, very quickly. I didn't want to write another story that, indirectly, told people how to live their lives. I thought the easiest way to do this was to tell a more abstract story.

And that was the word for the 2nd 24 Hour Comic, abstract.

As such I began with a section of a human's face that would normally not be examined intently. Then I let the images guide me, as I sketched the pages. But somewhere along the way, the images started having meaning. I followed those meanings...and soon found I was being preachy again.

Apparently I am a preachy guy, and when struggling with a deadline, rely on my internal whinings to direct me. I have little idea if this will be notable to any other reader, as I am unclear how much my scribblings make sense. What was your first impression from reading "LIFESCOPE"?

I broke this blog entry into two parts to reflect my experience...yea, I kinda failed to create a comic in 24 hours...well, sorta.

continued....

24 Hour Comic Success!!!

Thank you. Thank you. PAX.

For those of you who do not know, PAX is an annual convention of video games and board games. My roommate went to this year's PAX and I finally got my 72+ hours.

On April 5, 2012 at 8:30pm I started my first foray into the "24 Hour Comic medium." (for more info on 24 Hour Comic) I had 24 Bainbridge boards, pencils, photo pencils, a variety of sized ink pens, a T square ruler, a ruler, a protractor, well, you get the point.

I deliberately did not read anyone's 24 Hour Comic, so that I would not be influenced by their approach. I stumbled through the process with only McCloud's guidelines. And ultimately I learned much about myself in the process.

For instance I am a very preachy person. Since I rejected my natural instinct to begin constructing a story until 8:30pm, the story I wrote reflected that which goes through my mind. I constructed and illustrated my angst and frustration, which as it turns out required me to lecture the reader about "life and the injustices therein." I'm not actually super happy about that. While I believe in a healthy discourse of ideas, I frown on forced belief structures. I found, by the end of it, I had constructed events to place my protagonist as the hero, even though the events were meant to be gray areas.

After 24 hours of penciling and inking, my hand was killing me. The last few hours were torture. Which makes me wonder a number of things: Will I get carpal tunnel syndrome? Do I need to be exercising my hand and fingers more? Do I have an intensely bad habit of placing too much pressure on my hand while drawing/writing? While it is probable that most artists feel the same physical pressure from a 24 Hour Comic...I've never spoken to any artist about such experiences.

When completed, I did read Scott McCloud's first 24 Hour Comic (available to read on his website here). While his had significantly better art (no surprise there...I mean, he has been doing this longer than me, significantly), his story seemed to lack a deeper meaning (than say my didactic story). This makes me wonder if next time I should focus more on creating the art from the beginning and worry less about the story or story structure. Hhhmmm...haven't decided on that one.

My 24 Hour Comic, entitled "Bad Day At the Office," can be found here. If you wish to read this or other comics by me: www.eyeofinfinity.com