Due to a number of schedule conflicts, Nick Ladendorf and I were the only two to actually attempt The Dare, but we not only finished, but we did so with time to spare.
We didn't begin quite on time, but got the pencils rolling around 12:31pm on Saturday. Nick decided on the the direct approach, finishing each page as he went. My strategy was to get my story and pencils all finished by the 12-hour mark, so all I'd have left was the inking by the time I started to lose my marbles near the end. Em (concertinette) unfortunately had to work that afternoon, but Seth had our back from the start. We were soon joined in the early afternoon by Dan, who decided to just draw along with us, but couldn't pull the whole stretch. That's okay, though.
Later, Peter Mohrbacher and his friend Emily came and drew with us for a time, too. We ordered pizza, and Em got back from work that evening. The food and company revived us for several hours, but things began to wear down late into the evening.
Dan had to head home, and Em finally had to sleep after a long day at the lab. Pete and Emily threw in the towel to head home in the wee hours, but Seth held on until about 6am or so. Honestly, I think it was harder for the people who weren't actually doing the a 24-hr comic. At least Nick and I had the 24-hr goal looming over us to drive us to the finish line.
To our pleasant surprise, Dale showed up around 7:30am, and provided us we some good conversation, which definitely helped keep us going. Em got up around around 9:30, and she and Dale cheered us on until the end. Nick finished first at around 11:30am, and I put the finishing touches on the final page around noon. I did, however, spend the final half hour erasing my pencils (not knowing whether erasing pencils would count as finishing pages or note), and ended up doing a couple of touchups to things I missed.
Anyway, Nick's piece ended up being about an astronaut who wakes up with a super-uzi in a werewolf-infested castle, and sells his silver bullets for a roll in the sack with a couple of gypsies.
Mine, entitled 'Infested', started as an auto-biographical piece about finding a rat in the bathroom, which quickly turns into an underground adventure pitting Emily and I against inter-dimensional aliens.
Okay, here's a quick peek at what went down:
Here we are, near the beginning:
Clearly, I didn't know what was in store for me, yet.
From left to right: Myself, Dan, and Nick.
Nick, off to an impressive start.
Seth, our amazing surrogate host and camera man.
Here I am sketching the water heater closet -- even for a 24-hour comic, I can't seem to get away from the reference material!
Em (concertinette) partakes of the pizza.
Pete and Emily joined at my table for some sketch madness.
Nick, rocking out in his workspace.
After midnight, now. Inking begins
The final products.
More pics here.
Congratulations to Nick on finishing successfully after so many tries. Good work, man! It turned out beautifully!
Thanks again to Seth for all the photos!
Sorry to those who weren't able to participate this time around. I assure you, it was absolutely worth the effort! We'll have to do another one in the New Year; maybe even on the actual 24-Hour Comic Day for a change!
Thanks to for everyone who came to cheer us on and keep us awake!
I don't know about Nick, but I'll be posting mine on WCN once I get it all scanned in. I'll let you know when it's all posted.