Monday, February 7, 2011

48hr. Comic Challenge

Last Friday, thanks to Twitter, I found out about a 48 hour comic challenge for the weekend. The idea is to use Saturday and Sunday to create a comic of any length, from one page to as many pages as possible. Feeling ambitious, I thought drawing 24 pages would be something to shoot for. Being that the challenge was very last minute, I didn't consider all the normal weekend stuff that needed to get done, along with the challenge. Plus, with never have done something like this before, I didn't realize how long my approach to drawing would take. Actually, it's one thing to simply draw a picture, but conceptualizing a story on the go and then drawing it in a sequence of pictures is a daunting task that can take a lot of time to do. When realizing that it would take me a lot longer to complete the story if I drew the planned 24 pages, I decided to modify the story half way through the project, which ended up giving me 18 total pages. Even so, I went way over deadline and completed the challenge Monday afternoon.
This story was inspired by my time prepping the garden on Friday. We joke how the old septic tank looks like a grave site, thus yielding a zombie story.
When I finally started the challenge on Saturday morning, I first labeled a sheet of paper from 1 to 24, then put titles on them that would dictate the imagery and flow of the story; a storyboard using words instead of drawings. Then I penciled in the story. Originally I was going to use a nibbed pen with occasional brushwork to put ink over the pencil. However, to save time, I decided to make a major decision to use an ultra fine tipped Sharpie. Not quite the same effect, but it came out better than I thought it would.
Note: Being that this is a zombie story, if you are offended by horrific blood and gore, then go no further because there is lots of it in the pages to follow.
































































































































































































































































































































































8 comments:

E*phi said...

Haha, best zombie story ever! I really enjoyed your comic!
When I read your post about this on the edm list, I was sad that I couldn't participate (too late and a incredibly fully planned weekend anyway, unfortunately). Is this a annual/regular event like the 24h comic challenge? Are you "allowed" to sleep in this one? *g*

David R. Vallejo said...

Thanks! The 48hr Comic Challenge is less structured than the 24hr. Sleeping is allowed and there are no limits on how many pages an artist can create. I tried to make this more challenging for myself because I want to prepare for the 24hr.

Linda T said...

I liked it! It's not as gory when it's just black and white. Now I'm afraid of the dog.

meegan said...

it is absolutely brilliant. I love it. And I like the fact you didnt include any dialogue. The best zombie comics are the ones that throw in humour [check out Steve Niles].

Tim said...

So awesome.

Patricia said...

I enjoyed that so much. You are very clever.

Unknown said...

Great job on this, David! You do such a great job on putting just the right perspective in each frame to show what is happening. All the foreshortening, etc, so well done!

Barbara B said...

This was fun to look at. I love your drawings, and was rooting for the homeowner hero all the way! Scary dog, though.