My 24 Hour Comic Challenge: I DID IT (Comic Inside)

Started by Ghost, Thu 20/06/2013 11:27:09

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Ghost

That's great. I got steak. I always wanted to try steak at 6 in the morning but never found an excuse for having any. Steak is protein, yes? The only alternative is paella but the shrimp look pathetic.
Gah.  8-0
My lifelong "sideview" to "3/4 view" rate is 2 to 666. This comic is already more balanced than ALL previous stuff i did.
I am also losing grammer i think.

Tabata

Quote from: Ghost on Thu 20/06/2013 22:39:19
Coffee? Oh, I got coffee. You *may* recognise the cup  (laugh)
Sure!
Nice to see good old familiars again :wink:
[... and reassuring to know you are watched by them that close   :grin: ]


Keep up the good work     
       
Please show as much pages in progress as your internetconnection allows - we are all eager to see your comic grow.


... and don't even think about touching the cats

Ghost

#22
FRIDAY 03.30
==================================================
Pages: 9
Panels: lost track
Current Song: Eagle Fly Free (Helloween)

I am learning. I really should have done this in DIN A4, I have better rulers for that size and the detail isn't that great anyways. Well, I will not switch now, it's cool.
Our ghost is hellbend on visiting the funfair but still needs a bone. Small gags start to creep into the panels but that was to be expected.
I'm pretty much past my "dead point" by now. Not tired at all and getting used to my page setup. Made a stencil out of some cardboard. Saves time.
Ghost is getting more cartoony but I stick to the "jittery lines" because I really like them.
I've so far managed to screw up ONE page. That is really not much. There are several panels I would throw away if this were without deadline, but just like MAGS, the 24 hour limit really is a "harsh motivation" to just keep going.
Hand lettering was not the best idea. I really am out of practise and I thikn that I am losing precision already.
Still, not yet half-time, and I'm on page 9, almost ten. That's not too bad.
Could well work out and already has proved quite an interesting experiment.
Using an egg timer now to have a better reminder- it's easy to lose track of time.
Buying some espresso was a good idea too.
Looking forward to breakfast; hope to be past page 13 but the time McDonlads serves their abomia. abominab. GROSS breakfast stuff.
You know, that toasted stuff with the bacon.
Hm. Bacon.

Still absolutely NO idea how to bring my little ghost to the funfair. It's really working nicely, using each page for a smaller "complete" bit, and I have lots of pages left, but I think at some point I will have to think a little about how the story should end.
Technically this is, for me, like going back to the days when I was an absolute noob. That time WAS nice in a way- with no actual expectation about the quality of my drawings I pretty much threw everything at an innocent piece of paper and didn't give sh*t about what worked. It's a bit like that now, I know that I don't have the speed to crank out super-great stuff now. But each page looks nice, the whole THING looks nice despite its flaws.
That is a mindset I really want to keep. You CAN plan and craft and refine every little line and never get anything done. But you can also accept that the result WILL not be "the best thing evar" and just enjoy doing what you do.
That sounds deep, doesn't it?  :P


FRIDAY 06.00
==================================================
Started yesterday at 6pm. Now today 6 am. Half-time. Same goes for the comic. Just started on page 13, inking.
Absolutely no idea if I beat the clock, I do have a plan now bot, let's face it, I *am* getting tired.
But hell, half a comic already.

[edit]
Meet my hand, a sandwich with too little bacon, and a double page test.
[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/6ifDD89.jpg[/imgzoom]

Tabata

WOW!
You are still awake, on the track and good in time on your challange!

Clap, clap, clap …

Looks really good â€" hope to see the complete version in the end, too!  (nod)

selmiak

still awake?! khaos is also my favourite monster taste ;) Keep on rolling and drawing and stuff.

Ghost

Kaos is awesome. I can only drink the non-sugar Energy Drinks (Zero and Rehab); Kaos is the most I can do; it clocks in at ~3 bread units per can. Tastes nice though.

Still awake. I think if I take a nap now I won't wake up in time to even attempt a "speedrun". Ten hours left. I am (still) on page 14 but I took a little time out to sort the pages, reread them and cleaning up some shades and stuff. I already spotted a typo. I'll need to buy Tip-Ex  :tongue:

I am feeling really good right now. In a few hours I've really darn well put lines on paper in a pleasing shape. The story is meh but I'm mostly playing with poses, hand gestures, and general "composition" right now; that's more than enough.

Tabby, your coffee tankard is a life saver!

Eric

Here's hoping you're still going strong, but I am weak and tired! I've enjoyed watching your progress so far, and will hopefully be up in time tomorrow to see you hit page 24!

frenzykitty

Been fantastic following your progress!!! :)

bicilotti


Stupot

Great stuff so far Ghost.  Keep it up.
No update for 3 hours though.  I smell a nap gone bad. Has anybody got Ghost's number? Maybe he needs a wake up call ;)

Ghost

#30
Thanks a bunch guys. I had a small nap, just no way to really make it through 24 hours without sleep. I admit I wanted to get up on 11. It's 12. Ah well, at least I did plan a bit.
Next update will have pics, and you guys are all awesome. Thanks!

[EDIT]

FRIDAY, 13.00
==================================================
[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/OHRdF2F.jpg[/imgzoom]

Five hours to go, and a whopping eight pages to go, too. That MUST be possible. I'm in the zone now. I've also had a bit of sleep and a cold shower. Here we go!

Double pages. I hadn't even thought about those. The pic shows one such double page and I am a *bit* proud here. In a webcomic scenario I'd simply copy-pasted both
of them. These are hand-drawn all the way.

Also notice my stylish shirt.

FRIDAY, 14.30
==================================================
[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/GqYmQbc.png[/imgzoom]

I've started work on the last double page. The story is coming to a closure- after trying a hellof stuff to find a way to the funfair, our ghost gives up and JUST then the portal to the 13th Hour Carneval (ghosts spell it with an e because I don't have time to buy Tip-Ex) appears.
It is a simple and somewhat pointless story but I think there's some... life in it, slice-of-life kind of style. So I think I'll name this one Slice Of Afterlife.
Well I need a title, don't I? Three hours to go and a bit to spare. I am sure I'll make it.

Boy this is more exiting than back in the days when I was a wrestler!

bicilotti

That goatee, that stern look, GHOST YOU ROCK!
It seems you are going to make it, I am so proud!

Scarab

I've been excitedly following your progress since that determined initial photo of your desk. Looks like it's really coming together, keep up the awesome work! ;-D

Ghost

FRIDAY, ~16.30
==================================================
It is done. Yesterday at 18:00 sharp, pen hit paper. A few minutes ago I signed the last page. I have done the 24 Hour Comic Challenge and I came out alive, sane, and with a comic. With a twenty-four page, 60 panel comic. Improvised but technically "planned per page", with roughs, inking, and lettering. None of it is professional. There are typos. It is experimental. But that makes its charme.

I went through two DIN A3 sketch pads. I murdered three 0.3 Stabilo markers, 5 Stabilo Ink Makers, two blue copy pencils, and I broke a ruler when I sat on it. My behind is okay. I also may or may not have eaten an eraser; it was pretty late and dim and the bag of marshmallows really wasn't a good idea.

My floor is littered with two bottles of mineral water, one bottle of Diet Pepsi, and I I gulped down two RedBull and one Monster KAOS. I lost track of the coffee counter but it was a generous amount of coffee and it all came out of a really cool cup. I will not tell you how my ashtray looks because, you know, smokin's bad.

Food. A nice bowl of cream soup with Maultaschen, a huge sandwich with too little bacon, a family size pizza with tuna, onions, double cheese and saveloy. And a small breakfast at McDonalds. I love these tiny excuses of pancakes that they make. Some Dutch candy and one Wunderbar; I kept the sugar pretty low tonight and I didn't have my steak. I'll make it tonight to celebrate.

My playlist is still playing, currently there's Cinnamon Girl by dunkelbunt but honestly, after a while it became a pleasant background hum. I really was in the zone for a while.

I am still too groggy and exited to talk about it objectively, but here's what I think of the challenge right now, it is amazing. It. Is. Amazing. With a capital ZING.
For me it was a lot like MAGS or the old Stickam Hourgames. I tend to overthink stuff. I often want to have the perfect result and then talk about how it will look for ages and never get to actually DO that amazing thing, and eventually it is so awesome in my head that my hands can't do it justice, and I drop the idea and move on and then complain how I never get stuff done  (roll) I think that's not the rarest form of self-limitation.
With 24 hours I felt incredibly insecure and that shows. Twenty-four hours, twenty-four pages, that's an hour per page and there are always some pages that have little to show so you can actually WIN time, right? No. I absolutely misjudged my speed and skill.
The first page took me longer than an hour, much longer. I had no plan, no character(s), and I used a somewhat huge amount of shading. And so I adjusted as I went along, never going back. Just like MAGS; there isn't enough time in one full day to make a super plan AND the perfect image. Or maybe there is, and I've just not found a way to tap into that.
Letting things just flow was okay and felt nice- as I said, I treated each page as a single experiment. One was to put many expressions down. One was to refrain from copy-and-paste when it would have been the sensible option. One was to have a silly joke. I think it shows; the story is very weak and bouncy but the ghost character manages to become pretty well characterized just by talk, thoughts, body language and interaction with a firefly (that is totally not Navi from Link, who is totally NOT listed on a headstone in one panel either).

It was a great way to just get things done, that challenge. Would I recommend it? Yes. Would I do it again? Absolutely. Would I treat it as a valid way to start a big project? No. It's destructive. My hand aches, I am tired and my stomach isn't exactly my friend right now. I have a hard time remembering how to pronounce Cthulluh. I am empty, in a good way, but empty. There is a lot of adrenaline and pride but I know that there will be a price to pay and I am not very keen on waking up tomorrow. It's a challenge alright, and I am actually VERY surprised that I have a good hour to spare. Not enough to correct much, but one hour to spare. Why?
The truth is that I started to sacrifice images for time. There are maybe two pages that I would have done totally different and more complicated and more detailled without that time limit. This is NOT how I'd normally treat a project; I would put that extra effort into the page instead of finding a (creative, maybe, but still somewhat lazy) way to get a quicker result. Maybe that is different for people with more experience who are better at judging their speed and who can come up with better plans. After ten pages I finally realized how much time I could safe myself by making a stencil for a rough 4-panel page layout. Someone with more experience would have HAD such a thing already.
But considering that this is my first "full" comic I am more than surprised how nice it is. There are pages that really look very good. There is variety, too; there are style shifts but it still looks like it was supposed to be "one story".

I am a very happy man right now, is what I am trying to say. And proud.

I'd like to you guys. I wasn't quite sure if an open thread for what is basically an ego trip would be well recieved, but you were great and I checked back every so often and your cheers gave me a bit of extra energy during the wee hours. This forum is an awesome place with awesome people.

Well, so. Yes, that is it. I've officially done the challenge. Tomorrow I'll head over to the copy shop, get the pages shrunk to DINA4, scan them and, naturally, will make the comic available as a download. Right now I wanna share it with everybody.
Some pics to close this- thanks again to you guys!

[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/MpFiVTa.jpg[/imgzoom]

kaput

Well done, Ghost! You threw that comic by the ropes, gave it the big boot and pinned it's ass 1-2-3. Looks very cool.

Stupot

Well played Ghost.  I'm looking forward to seeing it all together :D

bicilotti

There is nothing more fascinating than being able to see the creative process of an artist (in this case, prodded by a deadline!). What you wrote was informative and fun, too!

I hope many people will read this thread (and heck, I would like this to be stickied in some way, it's sooooo good!).

Bravo! Bravissimo!

Tabata

Am I smelling the scent of success in here?  :grin:

          YESSSSS!

â€" Congratulations â€"
            

YOU MADE IT! AND YOU MADE IT WELL!
                     

I am soooo proud of you!
     

Can't wait to see the complete comic from our Super-Ghost  (nod)



… but nonetheless, be careful ...
Spoiler

   (laugh)    (laugh)    (laugh)    (laugh)    (laugh)    (laugh)       :wink:      :kiss:
[close]

selmiak


Ghost

Quote from: Tabata on Fri 21/06/2013 16:10:46
Am I smelling the scent of success in here?  :grin:

No, THAT is the pizza with onions and double cheese.

I'm just home from a visit at the copy shop; all pages are shrunk and ready to be scanned. Then I need a PDF converter thingie and we're ready to go.

Thanks a buch!

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