TOYSREVIL Visits Singapore 24 Hour Comics Day 2014

My first "24 Hour Comics Day" was a real eye-opener, not as a participant, but as a "curious tourist" (in the bigger scheme of things) and I'd like to share some of what I learnt with readers of my toy-blog, if you don't know of them already, that is! :)

The 24-Hour Challenge was created by Scott McCloud and Nat Gertler, the founder of 24-Hour Comics Day - essentially what 24 Hours Comics Day is, is where 24 pages of comicbook artwork is produced in 24 hours' time. And by "produced" it means being illustrated on original page, non-colored or just inked, or painted.

OFFICIAL: "24-Hour Comics Day is a fun and creative marathon event that happens on the first Saturday of October every year. Thousands of participants all over the world will challenge themselves to each create 24 pages of comics in 24 hours."

This is the 5th edition of this event in Singapore, and kicked off October 4th at 12noon at LaSalle in McNally Street, and ends at the time of this scheduled post at 1pm October 5th (Singapore-time).

I am not entrenched in the local comicbook scene enough to know all the players, both veterans or bright-eyed and eager practitioners (wish I did tho), and viewed the event actual primarily through two personal friends: Kelvin Chan AKA Rocketraygun (and his daughter Woofer Rae, who was studying for her Secondary 3 exams on Tuesday - OMG, you ROCK girl!), and Jerry Teo, creator of Rex Regrets. I've known Kelvin since my design school days decades back (re-connected with Kelv again in 2010 when I wheelchaired to STGCC post-Stroke lol), and Jerry and I used to be belong in a group of ardent 1/6th-scale action figure collectors. Funny how "life" works out :)


CHRONOLOGICALLY SPEAKING

The event started with a 10am briefing at the venue (first time it is being held in LaSalle), which I was late around 15 minutes for, which I needn't have stressed about, because folks were still milling about and registering outside the "briefing room" (which will eventually double up as one of the rooms for the event).

Presentations from a variety of folks started off the briefing, mostly post-event opportunities for printing etc, and as well an introduction by Ray Toh to his FantasticFox.org quasi-Kickstarter project with a genre-focus on comicbooks (more on that at a later date).

Around 10:30am, event organizer JF Koh started the briefing actual, and handy tips flew across the room, as well as logistical happenings ad requirements. Nicely organized, this.

11am saw a break for an early lunch, and the tumulus rain had nearly stopped by then, and folks scattered to hunt for food.

12noon is the official start time. where folks by then would have scored their own working space (all provided for by LaSalle) and adventure begun for all!

Also, this year had a "Spectator Edition", whereby members of the public and media could pop in and check out the folks between the hours of 3pm to 7pm.

This concluded my chronology of time and schedule, as I did not stay beyond 3:30pm. My body just could not tolerate the time spent there since 10+am … and I was so keen to join the event too! Maybe one day I will … Nevertheless, there was even talk about "live" Skyping with other folks across the world, who are also executing the #24hcd challenge (official hostage btw- Singapore's in #24hcdsg).



MY EDUCATION:

I had naively assumed there would be multiple teams of people engaged in a project, like a write, a penciler, and inker for one team, but I found out it was just ONE person doing a comicbook in 24 hours! *yikes*

There were variations of participating rules though:

- "Team Variation" is available! *fist-punches-to-sky* Okay, so now I have to find collaborators ...

- "4-Hour Comics" - meant for "kids" who produce 4 pages of comics within 4 hours … something which I can try, actually! I wonder of they'll accept a 40+ year old "kidult" tho … hhhhmmm

- 12-Hour Comics (a.k.a the Sane Variation)

"This is for those who want to go home and sleep. You join the group and start at the same time, but you go home at 9pm and return 9am the next morning to continue. Then you finish at the same time as everyone else. You only do 12 pages." (via - I like where this is going…!)

- At the end of the day, you'll get a certificate of participation. I remember a conversation with a taxi / cab driver (enroute to the event) whereby he questioned if a "winner" will be declared, and cashmoney doled out - and the answer was "No". Heh.


- Post event, upon completion of the challenge, folks can bring home their project, refine them, color them etc, and then have them showcased on the official #24hcdsg website. Which to me is pretty darn cool!

I remember the days lecturing in the Film department in LaSalle, where I'll suggest to my students to upload their film projects on youtube (*copyright issues pending, of course) to share with the eyeballs of the world … but most inevitably choose not to, as they want exclusivity, to have at least the chance for the filmlet to travel film festivals and circuits, which to me derives eyeballs to their work, IMHO. Regardless, those days are behind me now … funnily going "back" to LaSalle brought all these memories out of me again LOL

Also interesting this year, was the chance to nominate awards to Participants of 2014 Singapore 24-Hour Comics Day challenge, whereby these are meant to be fun and morale boosters - such as "Most Regretful Award" nominated for Jerry, and Gene Whitlock nominated for "Noisiest and Funniest Bearded Ang-Mo Guy In The Room" by JF Koh - you get the drift. Really nice touch, this :)



You know what? You'd be better served by visiting www.singaporecomics.com/24hourcomicsday to get the lowdown on what's available for the annual event, and as well you can check out the International/Original event website at www.24hourcomicsday.com.

Me? I've got to get healthier and my body in shape for this, if I ever want to join in 2015! Meanwhile, here are some videos I tagged Kelvin, Jerry and the guys on Facebook at about 3AM to help provide inspiration (and as well "distractions" heehee).