24 Hour Comic Challenge Live Blog, 2008

The Challenge: I have from 10am Saturday to 10am Sunday, twenty-four hours, to draw twenty-four pages of a new comic.

9:52 am:
Got up on time, everything was in order, I had some oatmeal and emergen-c vitamins. Portland is fairly vacant at 9:20 am, Saturday morning. Picked up some snackums from Safeway and rode along 10th to school. I recognize one guy in the library from last year. He drew a bunch of separate images and them compiled them together. BT is here and a dude I think I remember and a girl I have never seen before. Most everyone I know is busy busy busy. I am just not busy enough to do this. Plus it is nice to have something really complete and final to do to relax myself. This is all for me, yay! Now I am just counting minutes till the start time.

10:02 am:
I figured out where the plugs were and took a spot on a table instead. Now I am kitty corner to BT and next to Genevieve.

10:49 am:
Good thing I grabbed breakfast because they are only supplying us with coffee and tea till about 1am when I think there will be pizza. Mmm!! BT moved elsewhere to work and Kim is now across from me. I am doing a haiku comic. I am writing 24 haikus and they all tie together and it is one for every page. I have five written and thumbnailed. I'm unsure if I want to stick the haikus on the pages and just leave it wordless. Well, I'm only one fifth of the way done with planning it out.

11:42 am:
Another hour and just about four more pages thumbnailed. Watching the new Pushing Daisies episode. I really hope it doesn't get cancelled.

12:22 pm:
16 haikus and 16 thumbnails. Eight to go. Can't wait to start drawing and inking! Watching some BBC documentaries about magic now.

1:26 pm:
24 Haikus. 24 thumbnails. And the afternoon lunch for the challenge has arrived. I shall eat, and then start the real meat of the comic! Now I enter the long haul. Bryan stopped by for a little bit earlier on. He isn't doing the challenge but seems like he is going to hang about and work on the painting assignment.

1:51 pm:
Oh boy! They brought us lunch from Baja Fresh! A massive platter of burritos and lots of fixings to make your own eatables. Very delicious and filling and healthy. I scarfed and now it is back to the paper to start my panels. Now I'm watching Nevermind the Buzzcocks. Some of the lovely people around me have taken interest and I've shared my streaming video location secrets with them.

2:45 pm:
Just finished sketching my fifth page. Making good pace and progress as I am only about five hours in. Karen said she is going to stop by.

3:36 pm:
Sketching my seventh page. Took a little break when Karen came by. Showed her those Views on Color magazines. Suggested some movies (Kill Bill, Requiem for a Dream, and Waking Life). She is photocopying now but will probably sit and draw with me after. It is deathly quiet in here. Now watching magic again.

4:54 pm:
Page 12. Why is this taking so loooong. Well it probably just feels long because it is the afternoon. Still watching the Magic stuff. Talked to Dominic, August, and Jon. And by talked to I mean that I gave them some candy. Share the sweetness. Close up magic tricks are quite awesome.

5:40 pm:
17.

6:05 pm:
19 and a half. And I just brewed my third cup of green tea. Two in the morning, one to give me some extra pep to get me through my pages. Kim is making an awesome comic about llamas. Really lovely detail. She is taking it one full page at a time.

7:10 pm:
All my pencils are done. Now the fun part: inking! Chelsey stopped by to take pictures of us hard at work. I'm so thrilled and psyched. Hell, I may even break my record depending on how the inking goes.

7:51 pm:
Two pages inked and looking great! Added a touch of grayscale in there as well. Watching the last few episodes of the Wire now. Omar's coming!

8:37 pm:
Up to four pages now. We are putting copies of our finished pages up on the wall. The largest number of pages is around 10. I plan to put mine up two pages at a time. Almost done with The Wire. Also for Christmas I would like Speedball Super Pigmented Acrylic Ink. Black preferred, but all colors would rock.

9:49 pm:
Hitting the twelve hour mark. Six pages inked, 18 to go. Karen and Diana cruised by for a visit and I shared some candy with then. I am so wired. Had another cup of green tea. I am so freaking set. Also had a couple slices of the pizza. I've been snacking so I haven't needed much in the way of the meals the provide. Switched from The Wire to Daily Show. Need something light hearted.

10:58 pm:
Just noticed that I added an extra haiku that I didn't do a thumbnail for. So I'm adding in that extra page that bumps it up to 25. So that means I am on my 10th right now.

12:40 am:
Working on page fifteen now. Really chugging along. There's a lot of black coming up. That means no detail. Yay! Working hard and it's coming out. Looks like how I wanted it to...fourteen hours ago.

1:03 am:
There is nothing better than comics, food, and an endless supply of TV and movies.

1:49 am:
The nice guy who bought us Voodoo doughnuts just left. The first major leaver. He was mostly working on his own projects. Half an hour left in The Wire. Boo hoo!

2:21 am:
Eighteen pages pinned up. The upcoming pages are easy.

2:28 am:
Finished The Wire. All of it. No more.

2:59 am:
TWO. ZERO. Five left. And they are easy.

3:27 am:
I have three left. I'm tired but I am almost there. Just a little bit more and then I can sleep. And then I can go to my job interview.

3:53 am:
I am done. Seventeen hours, fifty three minutes.

4:47 am:
After taking advantage of the free copy machine access and making several copies of my work, I set out. Well I said goodbye to everyone and cleaned up my space. That table has a lot of little ink flecks on it and I used up a ton of my ink. But there is always more ink in the world. I was the first to complete the 24. BT was mostly working on other things (having everyone around you working makes for a great environment). Kim and Genevieve were napping. I had another cup of tea a few hours ago but I think sleep will win over now. Only one car went by me on my way home. It was a wonderful, clear night. Portland is a very quiet city, even on a Saturday night. Err well I guess Sunday morning. Now I am going to go to bed and the next you will hear from me will be regarding my job interview that will take place in eleven hours.