Ink & Snow: Recap: 24 Hour Comics Day 2019

Thirty-something folks signed up with many more support crews and random visitors dropping by. We were joined by many new faces and few other of us cartoon sourdoughs... and really missed a few that have moved away from the ‘Banks (Tara and Jeff!). Amateur and pro, young and old and everything in-between we all had a good time making superheros, strips, gags and graphic novels.

I remembered how a couple years ago I swore off things like this largely on account of not being able to handle the constant distractions. When one is used to working in near silence and solitude it can be overwhelming to try and function in a sea of noise and interruptions.

Keys to the universe

No worries about turning into one of those ingrown art divas (“I can’t work like this!”) since I spend a good portion of each week interacting with students, so eventually the stoic patience wears a wee bit thin. But then after a while all the white noise ebbs away, and just the hardcore devotees remain, toiling away in their respective zones of focus. That's when the magic happens IMHO - it's almost a contradiction because you're sharing something pretty private. Bonus points for irony in that usually things like this are sacrificed so as to get work done: can't remember how many family and friend engagements I've let slide because the cartoons are calling. This truly is the best of both worlds.

Robsz/Green Tara/Katie Tasky Art

Always humbling to meet people for the first time who are so insanely good… even saw one kid whose work looked EXACTLY like mine did at his age. It was only about a month after the comics class but boy I hadn't realized what a withdrawal it was already to be inundated with the comics. And this was almost better in that we were holed up inside an actual comic shop.

Sine Anahita.com/Robin Feinman

And seems there is always a handful of regulars whose work is inexorably improving each and every time (myself included one hopes) – though to be sure it’s always so inspiring as it is whenever I see it. Such a spread of differing styles, all unique and individual as the creators. In short, the living, breathing, inking manifestation of the mantra I've been repeating for years to hundreds and hundreds of students: it's all good.

Devon/Domino/Shayla Sackinger (Bird Ninja Art)

Every so often during a quiet lull, I would look about the room at the half-dozen or so remaining contestants and catch one of them just drawing away smiling to themselves as they worked. Whenever a big grin would come across their faces I'd think “Wish my own stuff had that kind of effect on ME” – well turns out I just couldn’t see the earbuds and they were actually listening to a podcast about murders. Come to think of it, this would actually be the longest stretch of time I spend in a whole year without drawing to an accompanying soundtrack.

Alex Bates (Forge of Ice)/Ashley Lane Art/Sarah Corbette

At the half-way mark there were about a dozen practitioners remaining, with that number halving again in another twelve hours. A few went away to nap and return refreshed later on.

For this attempt (my ninth overall) I tried a different approach: spent half the allotted time - the first twelve hours – breaking down a script and then thumbnailing the pages/panels out. And easily half of THAT time was devoted to schmoozing, browsing (both munchies and comic books) and hanging out with the fellowship (these are my people).

Then it was just a simple matter (ha) of penciling and inking the pages onto watercolor paper, followed by a last-minute do-over with wash and texture. At the rate of one page every half-hour it led to a constant, sustained level of output and staying focused and on task the remaining 12-hours.

One sublime moment occurred when after a good ten hours or so I struggled to comprehend on one particular note just exactly what the hell I had drawn as a thumbnail. Then again it could always get worse, and it did, as a little later I struggled to understand and interpret what it was that I had just sketched out as pencil on the page from whatever it was the thumbnail doodle was supposed to be.

19 hours in at page fourteen I got busted “power napping” – besides remembering to draw on watercolor paper so as to utilize any drool for a quick wash, I was pleased at maintaining a professional demeanor by keeping a grip on my Sharpie.

(pages 1 -2)

Now for the specific project that consumed my personal attention for these twenty-four hours: a take on the classic “Peter and the Wolf” tale, but with a twist ending inspired by “Women Who Run With Wolves” (Estés, 1982). This all started a week earlier after stumbling into a big nostalgia sinkhole upon hearing - for the first time in damn near fifty years - the 1957 version of “Peter and the Wolf” narrated by Boris Karloff (YouTube link here) Along with “Free To Be You & Me” this was my first record as a kid.

(pages 17-24)

Aside from it being completely non-verbal, the first half was loosely based off a transcript I made of Karloff's version and is a fairly faithful adaptation - at least up until the twist ending in the last five pages (spoiler alert) …instead of a mob of hunters it’s a loner who sights on the wolf’s head, but is thwarted at the last second by…not the grandpa but the grandMOTHER who cuts the rope, and Petra (the female version of "Peter") jumps down from the tree… and at the end instead of finishing the tale with a procession to a zoo, it becomes about breaking free.

Always seems anticlimactic (no doubt from sleep deprivation) but most of the reward to me is in the process of breaking down a script and then thumbnailing the pages/panels out. Looking at everybody's pages all laid out was tremendously gratifying. A total of four of us did all twenty-four pages, with another three doing twelve, and another handful creating amazing stand-alones.