December 4th, 2006
Stock Car Ninja
Here it is in all it’s rushed glory. My first 24 Hour comic. When I got there thankfully the list of random titles was printed out and on the table. Skimming through them I was releived to see keywords like ‘robot’ ‘puppies’ ’sober’, all stuff that I could squeeze 24 pages out of.
The very first one on the list was STOCK CAR NINJA.I picked that one because it was the one title that immeadiatley lent itself to a quick 24 page story. I always try for a distinct ending and not something that just fizzles out, a stock car race, any race, has a clear start, middle and definite end with tension in between. The Ninja part gave me more of an excuse to add action.
I planned my strategy the night before and worked out a way to lash through the pages without resorting to splash pages and keep it visually interesting. Simple dynamic devices such as the use of brick walls in Sin City, a shortcut that can be a design feature. Most of Sin City is just smart shortcuts that work. I flicked through one of them the day before just to see what can be gotten away with. Miller and Mignola are masters at that shit. I don’t mean that in an entirely derogatory way, it’s a great skill that ensures a distinct style and a prolific output.
Roughed out the thumbnails and was pencilling pages before 1pm. Broke off for half an hour to grab a quick pint with Brian and started inking around 4pm only stopping for piss and Guinness breaks. It ended up being 25 pages due to a miscount! Missed the last bus home, which in Dublin city, a major capital of the world is 11-11:30pm which is a fuckin disgrace. Had to get the Luas which decided to terminate at the Red Cow so on to a bus and then a 45 minute walk up from The Square. What kind of shitty public transport system is that? A shitty one.
Ran out of pens when I started work at home, knew I should have stocked up in advance, I went around to Evan’s right before the event planning on getting everything I need but they had NOTHING! That place used to be great for pens and markers.Wankers. Had to leg it up to the Art and Hobby Shop in The Jervis which saved the day with those brilliant Faber Castel Brush pens but they didn’t have the other ones that I needed. Fuck it, it turned out well, millions of things I’d like to fix but it that’s the beauty of it innit. Managed to get a good sleep, food and a few spliffs in between everything, I wouldn’t be into staying up all night drawing. If I had to I would but I find staying awake for 24-30 hours just fucks me up for around 3 days.
Here’s another account of the whole thing.
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