Sunday, October 21, 2012

24 Hour Comics Day 2012!

This year's 24 Hour Comics Day comic was a sort of success! I didn't finish, only got to 15 pages but, there was LOTS of good to come out of it.

I did cheat a little. Anyone who's been to an Artists' Mediums 24HCD knows that I'm a BIG stickler for the "no preparation" rule. Some folks come in with a huge plan and it irks me; that's not the point. This year, however, I cheated. I've gotten some calls for a new Lysander Twilight story and I went in with only those characters in mind. I didn't have a story, just Lysander and his partner Elderberry. I started a stream-of-consciousness outline which can be seen at the bottom. Then, went into the sketching. I drew twenty-four pages and got writing/laying out. That took until one or two in the afternoon.

I think the story has great potential with only a small tweak of dialog. Even with that, I thought I did some rather nice pacing. I've come the closest I've ever come in creating cohesive, individual characters with good 'voices'. They're not perfect, but much better than the past.

WIthin the comic, degradation of art due to exhaustion notwithstanding, there are some really nice moments in both pacing and the composition of individual panels. Some of which I am dreadfully happy with. Some don't work perfectly but, we're in a time crunch after all.

My only regret is lack of production design. When I reached the stage where I introduced the four main characters, I realized that I'd have to draw four different girls and was daunted.

The title is a line I remember in passing from an Usulla K. LeGuin book. I don't remember the context. It also has connotations within the story that would have been explained in a little exposition, but, it got left out in the edit. One of the characters is name April and there is a sort of throwaway line that alludes to what the title means.

Let me know what you think!



Added Bonus! Here's the example of my workflow that I promised. Reads from top to bottom, mosty. Stream of consciousness is fun! When I finish the comic you'll see that some plot points have changed slightly.

Listening to while posting: "Friday Night" by Lily Allen

2 comments:

Don Snabulus said...

It may be too late now that you've scoped out the plot, but maybe there could be a play down against the Glitter Dragons.

I enjoy the Twilight/Elderberry stuff. Good call!

Sweet Enemy said...

When I first looked over and he was scribbling something about a girl band, I really thought he was doing the Glitter dragons.

C'mon Arkon, bring on the girls!

Maybe Glitter Dragons could be their werewolf alter-egos or something...