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.

a MAJOR trillian first

Man oh man, I don't know what happened. I woke up at 6:30 and I guess I was disoriented or something and I didn't wake up again till 8:45. I rushed to the shower and threw on some clothes and set off to school (but I obeyed the laws, late is late). I got there right as they were going on break. I didn't contribute to class but I was still there. Sadly I missed the general core of the discussion that normally happens in the first hour. Two and a half semesters with no lates (that I can recall, and at least not an hour late). I'm starting to wonder if this lit class was too much but it is too late to bail out now. And some comics that I've read are coming up so that will be a much easier assignment(I still plan to read them again, but I'm already closely familiar with them).

Our Illustration critique was done ala reality show judging. Three of us sat as a panel and gave the main critique and whoever we were critiquing was on the panel next time and we continued to swap out like that through the three and a half hour session. I really liked that format because everyone had to say something and with three people getting the main stuff out of the way, the extra critiques from the rest of the class were more specific.

It was agreed that how I drew my first one was out of place with the dramatic second and third pieces. Generally they liked my compositions and it was a pretty good assessment. In depth enough without the Modou/Experiments in Drawing levels of brutality. For the rest of class we worked on our next assignment and watched a documentary on Toulouse Lautrec. I did a quick doodle for Karen, which I presented to her in her studio. She, Robin, and I lounged and talked in her little corner and went over our day and weekend plans.

For lunch, Bekka and I went to Starbucks. I got a warm drink, a cold drink for later, and a delicious sweet bagel. It quite sated me and it came in as cheaper than any other nearby eatery. On the way there we passed a rooftop garden. Well we looked up and saw it. Some of the greenery was spilling out over the sides and it was a lovely site to see in a city.

The last few minutes of lunch were spend indulging my new addiction for perusing artbooks and photo copying the images that inspire me. I got a new binder and some more sleeves so I can start my SECOND book of inspiration. All the groovy art kids have them and it is good to know what is going on now when it comes to the scene. Most of the copies are from the most recent American Illustrators book. Each one provides about three to seven images that I like and that is out of hundreds. I figure that once I compile enough, I will go through them and figure out the specifics of things that I find attractive in illustration, photography, design, and general art.

I'm doing my laundry and after that I am going up to Karen's for a quick game of munchkin. Tomorrow I will be live blogging the 24 Hour Comic Challenge so check back through the day, if you have time, and see what I have been up to. Huzzah!

Update: Munchkin was fun. We played two speed rounds. Robin won the first one joyfully and Adam won the second viciously. While Robin was all, "yaaay!!" when it came time for Adam to win he jumped about and hollered and threw down his winning cards. I was close both times but just not close enough. Phil's brother Andy is in town. He moved here actually and is looking for work and whatnot. He has a graphic design degree. He introduced us to pictionary telephone. One person writes something and the next person draws it. Then the next person writes what they think they see and the next person draws that. And so on. My Superman picking up dog poo while Batman moons him became Superman watching as Batman melted into poo. There were fire breathing slugs and footless musclemen flipping pancakes. Very fun game and I look forward to forcing it upon you guys come Thanksgiving.

goofy goof goof GOOF goof...goof goooI'm tired good night

When I hear people talk of all nighters, I imagine what I could accomplish if I actually drank coffee. But since I know my limits, I know I have to have everything done by 2am. All nighters are not even a question at this moment.

My Ulysses/Odyssey illustrations are okay. Maybe when they are put up on the wall all together they will look better. Ehh, I'm not really feeling them. And I left my good charcoal at school so the third isn't quite the same as the rest. I try not to complain about these not living up to my expectations but they really didn't. Live and learn and see what everyone else does. I did my artist sketches on Olaf Gulbransson. I loved recreated his work, the lines and movement were fun to play with. Chad seems to like how I present my assignments so I'm keeping with the all ink and washes method. I think we are doing washes in class tomorrow. I am so going to rock that!

Every class I get better with figure drawing. Every single class. Every piece is a little bit better. During our break Diana, Karen and I looked at the new installation in the In Flux gallery. It is a bunch of ties nailed to a wall and the knots symbolize the amount of money each person was given (the tie each relates to one person). With a little looking it was pretty easy to tell what was going on, but having the explanation was just dumbing it down for the audience and we three were not cool with that.

During the break, Karen and I went to Quiznos and then I helped her set up her studio with inspirational imagery. There were textures and artists to be taped up and haikus to be written on the walls. Just a little decoration goes a long way. On the way out I saw Jen in her studio and said some hellos. The rest of lunch was spent as the victim of the really nice photocopier. In the process of getting references for my piece, I found many cool images via some color prediction magazines. I need to start a second look book/inspiration binder. Sleeves and binders for Christmas please.

My sketch for class was crap but we didn't go over mine that long. Today was painted the buildings and gabbed. It was a nice relaxing class and I liked the triptych that came out of it. Jen called me a stalker for remembering that Farel was at the last 24 Hour Comic Challenge. All I remembered was that there was some dude working on a big piece and Farel mentioned in class that he was there and I put two and two together. When I go through my day sometimes I make note of things to put specifically in here to relate my day. Sometimes I forget these things but the point is that I try to observe what is going on just for relating it somehow. So I remember people, that doesn't make me a stalker. I'm just observant. Yeah!! And Jen was probably just being a goof when she said it. Jen you goof, I know you read this!

Went home and it was straight to work. I'm ready for tomorrow, just have to stay awake through the morning.

su-su-studio

The Goose gave us a day warning that the water was going to be shut off but they never did it, at least not when I was taking my shower.

Comic club was mostly just us working on the jams. I scanned them all for the club but I didn't put them on my usb stick. They were okay, this group doesn't quite get the concept of making a coherent story but eh, it takes time. It's a lot of things coming out of nowhere instead of using what is already there...sorta. Or maybe I'm just being too picky. Daniel D talked to us about staging a comic battle. I think Karen and I would make a good team. Or we would just draw things and she would go, "BAAAH!!" and I would go, "HEEE!!" and eventually loose the battle to a more serious pair.

After the club I scanned in all the comics and then went home and got to work!! I finished up two of my illustrations (out of three). The first fits the style I wanted to go with and looks very clean, the second does not fit the style and is a little hard to read and if I had the time I would redo it. It also isn't so clean but I can't erase the marks now. Boo! Still, did a lot of work. Typed up this little paragraph of whatever for my studio class. Wanted to get that out of the way. Now I am just down to reading, sketching, another illustration, and artist sketches. Some of those will take longer than others. And then it is the 24 Hour Comic Challenge! And then it is my job interview! And then head on into mid-terms where I only really have two major things due (a zine and the thought web which I started weeks ago and got some more pictures for tonight).

In exchange for dinner, I helped Karen move into her studio space. It went quick and the pizza and discussion was good. I helped her with the starting of her thought web. Well gave her some ideas, I'm not doing it for her. But I would love to just do more and more of these things. They rock!

my figure model got jets

Instead of blogging tonight, I thought I would just post a photo montage that from which you will interpret how my Tuesday went:



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Just kidding, here's my day:

As we are working on our midterm we went straight into drawing with minimal lecture. Morgan talked to us about embracing reality and how solid contours are not embracing reality. He suggested thinking about where to place a heavy contour and where to place a light one and told us to break contours when needed. Our model then took a nap and we drew her for what was initially 30 minutes and then became one hour. About half way through I had to draw the back and head lower but I was fine with that. Last year I would have left it but now, well, I am doing so many pieces that I might as well change it to better myself. In the end, my drawing was one of the best I have done all semester and it really shows the changes and growth I've shown. I was like, "Whooo!" when I was done. A little disappointed that it didn't make it onto the hall wall for our class, but oh well.

History of Design was History of Design. Again. Well actually, I think she did a better job talking about artists and showing us quality examples instead of talking about sites. Then again she did say, "It doesn't get any better than this!" about six times and was corrected about her history I think about three times. Most notably was Daniel correcting her about when Uncle Sam was created. I drew a girl with a jetpack that was inspired by a haiku I wrote during the final 10 minute freestyle of figure drawing.

Student council, oh boy. Just one big debate. I don't even want to get into it. Outside of the fact that people really need to know that the rules have changed now that we have 1500 instead of 15,000 to spend.

Painting was a little critique with a cool demo about wiping and flicking paint. My piece was way over worked and didn't look like much at the end, but still I tried and at one point it looked okay. My stomach was wonky all day. We got out a little early, and by that I mean everyone started packing up early for whatever reason. But we were mostly done anyway. Err. Yeah. I'm not really feeling my poetry compositions. Sure I can make them a challenge. Erm yeah, I'm in a weird art funk right now.

Cut up and taped off my bristol paper for my illustration assignments. It is a smaller area that we are working in that I originally thought.

Picked up the fifth and final season of the Wire. Watched the new Heroes. It doesn't bode well when Sylar is really awesome and everyone else is rather lame. Peter is going crazy so many that will end up cool. Bubbles from the Wire was on Heroes, but I don't think he will be coming back, which is sad because he is a great actor.

Page Nine, Panel One of my Piercing Chapter Seven Adaptation

The first panel on the ninth page of my adaptation of the seventh chapter of Ryu Murakami's Piercing. For my comic literature class' final last semester.

Felt pen and watercolor. Roughly 3"x2".

the city changes at midnight

By the time I realised that I didn't have the paper I needed for my project, it was too late to go to the store. But I still got everything else that I needed to do, done. I did two sets of thumbnails for two separate poems but I still want to do other poems. Neither of the images are particularly challenging on the grand scheme. Only in the small details. Just need to think about it some more.

Did the dishes and found a nice moldy meal in the fridge when I was making jello. Ew.

Finished my figure reincorporation assignment early on in the day. The guy is cropped with a nuclear explosion going on in the background.

Still, I'm a little disappointed with what I did this weekend. Not as much as I should. Still, I have plenty of time left in the week.

Hung out with Karen for a little bit. Gave her some critique on her priest piece. Now I am watching Dark City, which is AWESOME. It is so visually appealing and well done. Loving it.

short day

Had another nightmare. Watched Reign of Fire, not so bad for the first half and it had lots of manliness. Installed Photoshop and Illustrator onto my computer. Karen called and confirmed that Steve seemed to like me. Moped around because I wasn't feeling too well. Looked at Nathan and Rubie's pictures from their trip. Nate was on a game show and now is famous. Ate some Annie's mac and cheese. Looked at the poems of William Stafford but then noticed that the assignment has changed to any poem of our choosing. Haven't looked at new poems. Yeah, didn't do much today. Wasn't feeling too hot.

Page Two, Panel Four of my Piercing Chapter Seven Adaptation

The fourth panel on the second page of my adaptation of the seventh chapter of Ryu Murakami's Piercing. For my comic literature class' final last semester.

Felt pen and watercolor. Roughly 3"x2".

they really care & apples galore

Today I received three awesome things in the mail: a care package from mom, some photos from Nate and Rubie, and my Jones soda!! The printing quality on the soda labels was nice and the pink sugar water within is delicious. The care package was in spirit of Halloween. It had candy corn in those mysterious Incredibles baggies mom sends me everything in, leather Norwegian gloves, a beanie bay, more Annie's pasta, some goodies from Nate and Rubie, and a Troll Doll! All the things of my youth are coming back to me. If only mom could find that large stuffed cat tht I used as my pillow for 10 years. It had a big red bow. Rubie and Nate sent me some wonderful photos from their trip to the Philippines. Each photo was a montage and I put the one of Rubie and a Tarsier on my fridge. Very cute.

Dad called wondering if I was planning on visiting and making some apple juice with them.

I tidied up my resume and went to Robin and Diana's with soda and cookie in hand and asked to use their printer. Diana hd to make a .pdf of it so that I could load it onto Robin's so I could print it, all because of the PC to Mac translation. Still, it printed out and even with a few alignment errors, it looks great!

I brought some soda up to Karen's and asked her who I should talk to at Gap Kids in regards to seeking employment.

Why am I seeking a job? Well I like a little padding in my own personal bank account, I need to get out of the house and meet some more people, I like to have little more self reliance, and when I move out I would like to have some income.

On the max ride to the Lloyd Center some guy spat on the floor before asking some due for a quarter. Then this family got on board and the kids were being kids but the dad shoved the middle boy into his seat and told him to settle down and of course the boy started to cry. He got right up in his face and told him to be quiet, drill Sargent style. Yeah that didn't work either.

I didn't even need to introduce myself to the guy Karen told me to talk to, he said, "You must be Karen's friend!" the instant we made eye contact. He looked over my application and resume and said he would call to set up an interview. I'm feeling positive about this. I treated myself to mall dinner (cinnamon bun and a pretzel) and went back home. The max would give me about a 25 minute commute. Time to read.

Later that night, Karen and I found ourselves at Robin and Diana's. Robin's sister Poppy was there and had made delicious apple crumble stuff. We played Apples to Apple for hours! Poppy won both rounds even though she had never played before. I didn't do so well but maybe that is because I normally play with more bizarre people. Sure K, D, P, and R are interesting but they don't play the game like my family does. I did win the "Irresistible" card when I played "Black Holes".

It was a productive and fun day. Tomorrow I hope to make productive with school work. I'm excited to get started on the things that are due soon.