Documentary on this year's event

Sarah Morean did a documentary about this year's Minneapolis 24-hour comic day event. The 13-minute movie is posted over at the Daily Cross Hatch. It features a nice overview of the 24-hour comic day phenomenon -- along with interviews of Brett Von Schlosser, Abby Lehrke, Tim Sievert, Danno Klonoski, Jesse Gillespie, Carlos Merino and Zachary Garrett.

Zachary Garrett's 24-hour comic

Zachary Garrett has posted his 24-hour comic on his Web site, zacharygarrett.com. The comic took 26 hours and it's 20 pages, but it's still a noble effort. Check it out!

Jesse Gillespie's 24-hour comic

Jesse Gillespie has posted his 24-hour comic, "A Forest of Teeth" on his Web site, tetheredhawk.wordpress.com.

David Steinlicht's 24-hour comic

David Steinlicht has posted his 24-hour comic over at allsmall.net.

Daniel Olson's 24-hour comic is posted

On his bewilderedkid.com Web site, Daniel Olson has posted his 24-hour comic, "Meanwhile in Wyoming." It's a continuation of his last year's 24-hour comic, "Somewhere in Montana"!

Zander Cannon's 2009 12-Hour Comic

And a link to our blog for a bit of explanation

Finished 24-hour comics online

We will post links to finished 24-hour comics here as they show up online.

First up: Ryan Dow's story of those lovable canines, Brownie Dog and Little Pepper is posted at ryandow.com.



And Danno is posting his story of groceries -- and revenge a page at a time at staplegenious.com.

The end

Danno (organizer of this year's Minneapolis 24-hour comic day) reluctantly leaves the Minnesota Center for Book Arts parking lot -- his work is finished here. Godspeed, mighty warrior. Photo by Sarah Morean.

The group, 10 a.m., Sunday, Oct. 4

Sarah Morean stopped by at 10 a.m. to snap a photo of the people still here at the end of Minneapolis' 24-hour comic day.

The group on Saturday at 10 p.m.

The group on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Zander done with 12 hour comic!

Stwalley gone!

Cocktail Hour

Lupi here. I got here late but I've already gone through productivity, hyperactivity, braindeadedness, and giddiness. Now I'm ushering a phase of renewed productivity sponsored by pomegranate juice, tonic water, and vodka. I've been here 11 hours, and I'm on page 16.

Hour after hour

Finished pencils relatively early, but inking is moving slowly (in part because the pencils were so quick.) Putting aside time allotment for procrastination.

Alex F.

Pizza Luce delivers

1:00 a.m. Delicious. Thank you, Pizza Luce.

Danno here...

All pencilled, lettered, and given the once over with a Micron...time for brush pen and brusk/ink bottle.
PIZZA LUCE is on the way...THE OLD CODGER is on the ipod...some of us will swing by GRUMPYS for last call in an hour or so...life is good.

The group, Saturday 10 p.m.

Click for bigger.

Steve's here!

Homage to Kevin Cannon

A lesser known K.C. trope, the Whaaaaa? reaction is a great favorite of mine.
Zander

All done

Just finished my comic up. It is insane and shoddy, but it is done. I'm tired and giddy. If you're wondering why I finished so early, it's because I used half-sized paper rather than full-sized. Maybe I'll try full-sized next year. Anyway, I'm tempted to stay for pizza, but I think I'll head home.

R.D.

Diana G. here

There are two Dianas so it's important to specify.
I started off with a talking cigarette lighter trying to pick up a duck. By page 14, a large man has just snapped a kitchen knife in half with his bare hands. It will make sense by page 24.
Back to page 15!

Danno here...

I am currently both inking and drinking.
...Disaster to follow...

Saturday, 7 p.m.

the worst part of comic making

actually, there is no worst part. my fingers ache and my back hurts. it's a thrill

Hour 6 portraits

Page 2 by Zander

Hour Six - One Fourth of the way through!

Hey all, this is Dan Olson (not Danno Klonowski or Dan Murphy). Just checking in with all of you out there that MAY be reading this blog. I know I talked about it enough on Facebook over the last couple of days.

So, far with only six hours in I'm done pencilling and writing the 24 pages. I'm working on inking and lettering pages three and four. I went about doing the whole project a bit different this year. First, I'm writing and penciling everything up front. This should prevent writers block and not being able to figure out layouts in the wee hours of the morning. I'm working smaller, which is a time saver. I'm working at 5.5 x 8.5, which is what the printed comic will be. Also, I'm working on graph paper, which means I don't need to deal with a ruler. The graph paper is 11 x 17, so i am doing two pages per sheet. I know that I could do four per page, but I just feel like being wasteful, OKAY?

If all goes well, I should be done around 3 or 4 AM. However that is a pipe dream. In reality I will probably be done somewhere around 6 or 7 AM.

Anyway, I'm starting to bore myself and probably you as well. I'm going to get back to the comic now. I'll check in later to tell you how things are going.

So it's almost to the start of the 6th hour. So we *should* have 5 pages done. I think. Is that right? I'm not good at math.

But anyway. It's about now where your body starts letting you know it would rather do something else for a while. Your ears ache from headphones, your butt aches from the chairs, your head hurts from thinking and worrying and making and all that. And then you realize how much you are already kind of sore and you think, 'Oh god. I still have 19 more hours.' (again, the math may be wrong there.)

But it's all good, we are still rolling. See you at the end.

-Ilon

Danno here...

I'm pencilling all the pages before I letter or ink.
Usually about this time (4 hours in) I'm done.
Right now I'm up to page 19, so a little behind.
I'm also stuck plot-wise, so I think its going to devolve into 5 pages of fighting to round it out.
Oh well...at least it won't end in an atomic explosion this time.

....or WILL it?!?!

Zander is late!

Not that I care.

-- Steinlicht

You're LATE!

I was late. David scolded me.

Zander

Hour Three!

Three hours! Where does the time go? I'm taking a much needed break from my comic. For me 24 hr comic day is more about endurance that it is about speed. I can crank pages out pretty fast (mainly because I don't fuss too much about quality), but if I get too enthusiastic I can burn myself out pretty quickly.

I think I'm going to walk around for a while.

Ryan Dow

Drawing

Wet Paint mini-store

Tim Jennen and Steve Robbins are here with a Wet Paint mini-store. Not as completely stocked as the St. Paul store, but pretty nice. Tim passed out a goodie-bag of free paper and pens to all participants. Thanks, guys!

My name is vernon mahoney

I'm making a comic about space travel. it's also about hallucinogenics and becoming a better human being. Although no characters within the comic actually ... "progress" or better themselves... or even survive.... YOU the reader will fell like youve grown through the experience. Like... a whole inch.

This is a report from hour 1.75.

The group, Saturday 11 a.m.

Here we are at the start. Well, an hour after the start. Anyway, click for a closer view.

Get started

The Mpls. 24-hour comic day participants are here at MCBA -- and
drawing!

-- Steinlicht

2 hours...

Gather you supplies...grab a snack to share...bring a few bucks for WET PAINT and a tip for the PIZZA LUCE driver...drink lots of water(now AND later)...take several deep breaths...head on down to BOOK ARTS...find a nice spot to sit...be ready to go by 10am!

Just few more hours until 24-hour comic day

Are you ready? I'm not. See you in the morning at MCBA.

--David Steinlicht

Moblogging Test!

There will be blogging from your phone at the 24 hour comic event! If you have email or SMS on your phone, you can send text and photos to this blog fom the event. Details on the day. See you there!

Oh, and this is a photo of our studio.

Zander

A couple of good questions

Over on the Cartoonist Conspiracy site, a couple of good questions were asked about Minneapolis 24-hour Comic Day event. Here they are -- with the answers!


Question:

Jessaroo, September 23rd, 2009, 8:58 am

This year is going to ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How cool would it be if there was another zombie run during the night? Outside, I mean– not the immnient indoor one where we’ll be. Will we be blogging again, too? That was fun.

Answer:

David Steinlicht, September 23rd, 2009, 11:56 am

I think we’ll be doing the do-it-yourself, group-blog thing we did last year. That worked out pretty well. A computer set up for participants to share their thoughts. I’ll try to take a beginning, middle and ending picture this year again, too.


Question:

joecombs, September 24th, 2009, 5:35 am

does anyone know if wet paint will accept credit, or should i bring cash for their portable shop?

Answer:

danno, September 24th, 2009, 4:16 pm

YES! According to Tim from Wet Paint they will be accepting American Express, Discover, VISA and MasterCard. They don’t “run” the card there, they have to write all the info out by hand and then go back to the store and enter it. But CASH or CREDIT–YOU DECIDE!!!

24 Hour Day Update....

YES!!! It's happening!!! Despite earlier word it was not going to be possible, WET PAINT will WILL WILL(!!!) be having an "in-store" from 10:30am to 1pm on OCTOBER 3rd at BOOK ARTS during our 24 HOUR COMIC DAY event. That's right! This is your chance to load up on boss supplies like the Pentel Pocket Brush above (or refills, or paper, or brushes, or whatever) without even having to go to St Paul! (I should note however: since their store will not be opening until 30 or minutes AFTER 24 hour day officially begins, if you come with NO supplies you'll loose an hour of drawing time. So bring a pencil at least. Then when the store opens BUY BUY BUY!!!)
If that's not enough, WET PAINT will be giving away FREEBIES to all contributors! Thanks WET PAINT! You rock!
ALSO: As I mentioned before the MCAD "Comic Heads" will be joining us this year! A projected 15-20. Combine that with our usual 20-30 participants and we are going to have a crowded house! Speaking of which...MN CENTER FOR BOOK ARTS is going to be busting with people on the 3rd. So much so we'll be occupying the MCBA gallery for most of the day (though once people go home we're free to move about the facility and score the high tables).
Get some rest, October 3rd is closer than you think.

24 Hour Day Update and Survival Tips

Good news about Mpls/Stpl 24 Hour Comic Day at the MN Center for Book Arts! (OCT 3rd-4th, 10am to 10 am!

1) The MCAD "Comic Heads" will be joining us this year at Book Arts! Yay! A chance for Conspirators and Conspirators-Of-Tomorrow alike to join in the rarely communal act of making comics! Always a good time. Welcome!

2) While they won't be able to have a "store" this year, WET PAINT will be providing a free grab bag of goodies for the creators! So remember, before 24 Hour Comic Day(and after!) shop WET PAINT!

3) Signing up before-hand STILL is NOT manditory, but greatly appreciated! 24hourcomicday@gmail.com

4) Finally, and because they are ALWAYS invaluable, a tip from the MASTER:
KEVIN CANNON's "TIPS FOR SURVIVING TWENTY-FOUR HOUR COMIC DAY"

PRODUCTION TIPS

Obviously there's no one way to draw, but here are one man's tips:
- Have your paper ready and, if possible, pre-ruled.
- Come prepared with drawing materials.
- Come with a list of things you want to buy from the Wet Paint booth (it's only open for a few hours). At the same time, let Tim (the owner) know what kinds of materials you want him to stock for cartoonists.
- Bring a lamp and extension cord for direct light.
- Pace yourself. You have to carve out time for meals and bathroom breaks.
- Try doing a page every fifty minutes. That gives you 240 minutes to rest and recoup and eat.
- If you're chatty, you're shooting yourself in the foot. Don't be surprised when you end up with only 20-30 minutes to draw each page.
- Some people like to pencil the whole book and THEN ink. I HIGHLY discourage this. Try to COMPLETE a full page every hour. This lets you accurately budget your time.
- Do as little penciling as possible. Nobody's going to win an Eisner with these books, so why not jump into the inks right away?
- Bring comfort items: extra clothes, an iPod, a cushion, etc. Better to bring too much stuff on your first time.
- On the flipside, don't bring a bunch of unnecessary crap. Things are going to be tight this year and space -- especially table space -- will be at a premium.
- Wait until you get home to erase.

HOW TO MAKE IT TO THE FINISH LINE

You will get distraught and tired and want to quit. Some tips on surviving the full 24:
- Split the day into chunks. I like to think of the day as 3 8-hour shifts.
- Set goals for yourself. "When I finish 12 pages I'm going to gorge on cookies and walk around the block."
- Listen to your body, it's going to tell you when you should eat and drink. Avoid caffeine if you can help it.
- If you're a coffee addict, only drink coffee in the mornings. That is, drink up Saturday morning, but then not again until Sunday at dawn. This will keep you on an even keel and it will give you a reason to push hard during the wee hours.
- Imagine people who are not as fortunate as you. When it's four a.m. and you want to die, think about some guy out there who's working the third shift at a dirty, poorly-lit machine shop. Drawing comics doesn't seem so bad now, does it?
- Keep an eye on someone who's better than you. Watch their progress and use their success for inspiration. Ask for tips. Tell them how much you like their comic.
- Keep an eye on someone who's worse than you. Man, wouldn't it be embarrassing if THAT person finished the full twenty-four hours and YOU wimped out? Yep, time to keep drawing.
- Don't drink alcohol. You'll feel sluggish the rest of the event. Limit your drug intake to stimulants.
- Bring a lamp and extension cord. Bright, direct light will keep your rods and cones all fired up and give you more energy.
- Change your environment when you feel restless. This could mean physically moving your spot, putting on some headphones, or even putting on a clean shirt.
- Document your progress. Take photos, give interviews, blog.
- Tell your family and friends to check Steinlicht's blog (the one you're reading right now). You'll be more apt to keep working if you know that your Aunt in Dubuque is going to check the blog before she goes to church on Sunday morning.GET YOUR HEALTH ON
I started drawing "Far Arden" as a series of 24-hour drawing marathons. After my fifth straight monthly marathon I woke up to a numb drawing hand. The numbness extended from my fingers to my elbow and lasted for two days. I was freaked out at first, but then angry. Angry atmyself because this situation was completely avoidable:
- Keep your drawing hand and arm loose. Catch yourself if you're gripping your pen too hard.
- Put padding on your drawing tool. I bought some colorful elementary school foam pencil holders at OfficeMax. They look retarded but feel great.
- Shake out your arm once an hour. Stretch your fingers, flex your elbow, massage your meaty palms, etc.
- Eat often and eat healthy. That crap-filled candy bar you ate at Hour 2? It's going to start tearing at your stomach lining during Hour 17.
- Drink lots of water. More water than soda, anyway.
- Help out your immune system by downing some echinacea. Do this by taking a multi-vitamin or drinking a "Green Machine" Naked Juice.
- Keep it fresh: bring a toothbrush/paste, deodorant, clean socks, whatever.
- Take a walk in the fresh air. Get your heart-rate up once in a while.

... AND FINALLY:

- No sleepy, no drivey.

The poster is here...the countdown begins...

This years kick-ass poster is by DANIEL J OLSON (www.bewilderedkid.com/blog)

That’s right! 24 HOUR COMIC DAY is nearly upon us again. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3rd from 10 am until 10am SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4th (or whenever you get done, whichever comes first).

Once again we will be taking over the MINNESOTA CENTER FOR BOOK ARTS to do this, and ALL are encouraged to participate whether you’ve attempted 24 HOUR COMIC DAY before or not–and remember, if 24 hours seem too daunting, you can always try a 4, 8, or 12 hour variation. Whatever you like. The more the merrier. We also collate a box of 24 HOUR COMIC DAY mini-comics a few weeks afterwards, to commemorate the good times.

Bring your own art supplies, a treat to share for the “POT LUCK”, and a love of drawing comics.

If you’re interested in participating, please drop an email to 24hourcomicday@gmail.com (please note, this is email and the 24-HOURCOMICDAYwebsite are for people participating at the Minneapolis BOOK ARTs location only. Please see the official 24 HOUR COMIC DAY for all other inquiries.)

HOPE TO SEE YOU BY 10am ON OCTOBER 3rd! (Get there early and stake out a good spot!)

As always, a THANKS to all our usual sponors:
International Cartoonist Conspiracy
Minnesota Center for Book Arts
Big Time Attic
Big Brain Comics
Wet Paint
Grumpy’s Bar
Pizza Luce

Sat. Oct. 3

Saturday, October 3, 2009

The date for this year's 24 hour comic day.