Welcome to the website for the 24 Hour Comics Day Perth 2018 challenge! The 24 Hour Comics Day challenge happens over the Queen’s Birthday weekend (WA) every year.
This event is graciously provided studio space by The University of Western Australia’s School of Design and has been since 2014. Prior to this, the Film & Television Institute in Fremantle hosted it from 2006-8 and 2010-2013.
A Painfully 80s Comicwave
The theme for 2018 is A Painfully 80s Comicwave. All of the prompts will be based on 80s pop culture, but this does not mean it needs to be an 80s period piece. You do not even need to know what the reference pertains to to use it as a prompt. Not everyone will know what ‘Gull wing’ refers to, but the title along an make the mind wander (for those who do wish to look up what it is, it pertains to cars that have doors that open up, like the iconic DeLorean).
What is the challenge?
- The goal is to create a finished 24-page comic in just 24 consecutive hours. The entire process, from concept to completed artwork should be undertaken within this timeframe. The challenger can take as many breaks as they wish, stop for a sleep, go for a walk around the block, but the clock will not stop even if they do. As of 2018 we’ve introduced the option for people to complete multiple short stories to add up to the 24 page count. There is also an 8 hour/8 page challenge, and a 4 hour/4 page challenge for those 11-15 who wish to take part.
- Officially, the rules state that participants are not allowed to preplan their comics. No writing, designing or plotting is to take place before the event (though they may have ideas in their head prior to the event, the spirit of the challenge is that these are not to be written down on paper beforehand).
- Challengers may use any medium they wish – pens, pencils, ink, black and white, colour, computer artwork or photo collage. They are also free to work at any size that they wish (though participants should take note that A4, or smaller, pages are easier to fill).
Throughout the day, photos will be posted of the event taking place to our Twitter and Instagram feeds, so feel free to have a look and follow along with #24HCDPerth. The challenge will be starting at 10:30am on Saturday 22nd so expect the first updates to be starting shortly after that.
A few quick notes:
- I don’t want to use this theme, does that mean I cannot participate?
You are certainly welcome to participate even if you choose not to use the theme. The theme is there as a fun way for challengers to be able to feel a connection in their works. - I don’t like the prompt that I was given, can I have another?
After everyone has done a blind draw, participants are free to trade with another if they so choose. If after this, you are still unhappy, you will be allowed to draw another card. - I have another issue, can you address it?
We will certainly try, feel free to email us at contact@24hcdperth.com
Let’s get drawing!
Previous themes
To give an idea of what has been done in years past, below are the themes for the first couple of years (all the themes since will be added in the near future):
2013 – Three Words, One Shared
The theme for 2013 was ‘3 words, 1 shared’. Each participant was given a card with three words on it, one of which was shared across all of the participants.
2012 – The Musical
2012 borrowed from song titles. And just the titles, not the lyrics themselves. So a song based on the title ‘Hero‘ wouldn’t follow verbatim the lyrics and ideas of either the Foo Fighters or Mariah Carey song, but would instead be used as a launch pad for an original story of their own. A list of song titles was be posted up the morning of the event, and the challengers picked the title of their choosing (the order of selection was based upon the order in which the participants arrive). This was the original idea, but in fact challengers were instead asked to go through their musical device on the day and pick a song at random – ed.
2011 The Machine of Death
In 2010 some of the participants came up with the idea of having an item that would be mentioned in the different comics. Not everyone chose to do so, but those who have read all of them may have noticed that the term ‘pickle’ came up a great deal. Well in 2012 we wanted to have this expanded to have a common theme carried through the stories, and we were granted permission by Ryan North, creator of the fantastic Dinosaur Comics, to use a concept of his to this end. The actual comic strip that comes up with the idea is here.
The premise is that, after a simple blood test, people are told how they are going to die in an ambiguous way (‘Old age’ could mean getting hit by a pensioner, whilst ‘Suicide’ could mean being killed by someone else trying to commit their own suicide). A book, called Machine of Death was released that collected short stories based on this premise.
For the challenge, participants drew a card out of a bag to determine which death their story will be based upon (with the note that the story did not in fact need to be morbid. The deaths could also be tailored to allow for any theme the participant chooses (fantasy, sci-fi, superhero, etc).
