Yes, it’s back again. A nationally recognized and participated event, 24 Hour Comic Day is here to challenge comic artists in one of the most exciting and brutal challenges that they can take on. It’s been 5 years since we started doing this on entervoid.com, but this homegrown holiday is even older than that! Created in 1990 by Scott McCloud (author of Understanding Comics and Creating Comics) as a challenge to Steve Bissette, it has grown to become a staple challenge for all comic creators to tackle and use as a method for improvement.
As it happens every year on the first Saturday of October, this upcoming October 3rd, 2015 is going to be 24 Hour Comic Day!
For those of you unfamiliar with the rules of 24 Hour Comic Day, the participating artists involved in the “holiday” has to make 24 comic pages within an unbroken span of 24 hours. Or, if you're doing an infinite canvas comic (think same size panels, like Achewood, Garfield, etc…) 100 panels in an unbroken span of 24 hours.
So, what does this mean to you? Well, it means on Saturday, October 3rd, many of us will also participate in our very own 24 Hour Comics! Some of us will be doing it for the first time and other of us participating in it all over again! Like previous incarnations of 24 Hour Comic Day, we’ll have ourselves a 24 Hour Deadline and we'll be paired together with other artists in Battle Royale-styled Sparring Artist Battle, for us to upload and enjoy the fruits of our labor!
"Explain how this works!"The creator (that's you) may gather research materials and drawing tools beforehand, but you cannot put anything on paper (such as designs and character sketches) until the 24 hours to begin. These are all original plots and thought up on the spot (or at least you should, you’d be surprised at how creative you can be on the spot!) Any breaks (for food, sleep, or any other purpose) are counted as part of the 24 hours. You've got your 24 hours and you'll stick to it!
And don't work ahead of time neither, only dingles cheat on 24 Hour Comics Day! It’s not for bragging rights; it’s for your own personal challenge! You’d only hurt yourself!
"I never get picked for Volleyball. It hurts my self-esteem and makes me feel bad!” Everyone can participate! No harm to anyone who wishes to participate! You will not have a hit taken to your score or rank, this is all in good fun! If you get to the 24th hour and you're not at 24 pages, that's okay! We want to see your noble failure! I'll repeat that again,
THIS IS NO-STRESS FUN. YOU WILL NOT LOSE SCORE OR GAIN SCORE THROUGH THIS EVENT. IF YOU DEFAULT OR DO NOT MAKE 24 PAGES, IT IS OKAY. IT IS JUST TO CELEBRATE AND PARTICIPATE IN 24 HOUR COMICS DAY!“What if I don’t finish at all? How can I live with myself?”That’s okay! You have two options. You can either quit it entirely at the 24 Hour mark (the Gaiman variation) OR you can continue working until all pages are completed (the Eastman variation)! Both of these are “noble failures” and as long as your intent and attitude is there, that’s what really counts!
“Will there be a win or loss?”Not at all. It won’t be recorded, it’ll just be put up for us to enjoy!
"Why is this being announced a month in advance?"In the past, a lot of people told me how they had wanted to participate but were unable to due to short notice. As a result, I'd like everyone who's interested in doing 24 Hour Comics Day have a chance to do it, so hopefully we can plan a month in advance. Whether this means you decide to do it a weekend or two before the event or you actually take time off of work to participate is totally up to you. You can do it later too, if you'd like! It’s more about the challenge, even if you can’t take the opportunity to do it on the actual day.
"I thought you just said no working ahead of time!”I meant working on the comic ahead of time over the course of multiple days. If your schedule doesn't match up with the event and you decided to start earlier while adhering to the rules of 24 Hour Comics Day, that's totally fine! I encourage you to do that if it works better for you. (
Especially if you’re also participating in the Monster Mash!)
"Can you impart any sage advice for 24 Hour Comics Day, Rofl?"Do NOT waste time scanning. You can scan and upload your work the next day and will be just fine. Otherwise, you're just wasting your own time setting it all up. So, October 4th, upload then. Or get some sleep first, whatever your priorities are after spending 24 hours awake.
Don't stay awake waiting for October 3rd to start, you're going to be dog-dead-tired in the middle of the day. Make sure you sleep earlier and set your alarm for about 11:40 or so. 20 minutes to maybe get some coffee, hit the bathroom, pick out your music, and set up skype calls/google hangouts, whatever is comfortable!
If your pulse stops, or you’re nauseous, maybe take a break! Don't kill yourself over some comics, that's stupid. Go for as long as you feel comfortable. It’s pretty rare to actually reach 24 pages, but as long as you’re enjoying yourself, that's what's important.
I wouldn't recommend trying to do both traditional and digital! Pick one or the other and stick with it.
I can say that we all had a good time with in the prior years and some fun short comics were made, even if the majorities weren’t finished. So, honestly, join on in. It's a lot of fun and won't cost you anything but a day of your time.
THAT DAY IS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3RD, FOR 24 HOUR COMICS DAY!SO SIGN UP WHY DON'T YA!1. mortooncian
2. Nothin
3. Kozispoon
4. Tofubeast
5. Dansome
6. - - -
Mother's Day 2024
Dairyu
@ 7:03 PM May 14th