This year I participated in the annual 24 Hour Comic. The challenge is to create 24 pages of comic book with in 24 hours. This was the second time I’ve done it. I really had a great time doing it too. At times it felt like I wasn’t going to finish, but i did…..with 3 minutes to spare (WhaZa!). It has been a very popular and fun exercise for both writers and artists. The idea is to come with not preconceived ideas of what your going to create, and make a 24 page comic!

So here it is, my 24 Hour Comic entitled “infiltration” written, penciled, and inked by me Ralph Contreras in 24 hours and 57 minutes on October 3rd to 4th, for the 2009 24 Hour Comics Day! I did my pages with widescreen panels, I think it adds a great element to the storytelling.

The Half Way Point!
Participating in 24 Hour Comics Day. Here I am 12 hours into the challenge. Not as far ahead as I had planned. But still having fun. I originally planned to have the comic done within the 1st 12 hours. I’m actually on page 6 and 7 at this point. Not even the half way mark. I honestly didn’t think I would finish, but I new I wasn’t going to give up. (I did finish the 24 hour comic, at exactly 11:57am…. with 3 minutes to spare. Shazam!)

As I started to fall back on the pages and the time was moving forward, I thought what can I do to catch up and finish. I decided to work on the pages very similar to Marvel Comics new format of widescreen comics. That’s where you place your panels stretched out through 2 pages. Like several widescreen shots. Marvel’s title Dark Avengers is very well know for this.

Once I decided to use this technique I was able to catch up. It gave me the great opportunity to create some very dynamic angle shots. Once I gained my confidence that I could finish the comic the story just flowed out of me. It’s full of action and fight scenes. It was really a fun comic to do. The story ends up with solders, ninjas, villains and even a giant monster.

My progress was posted on a few sites during the event. On both the local and national 24 Hour comic blog sites. Here are the links to these sites. 24 Hours from New Mexico Blog – Hours 14 through 18 from New Mexico Official Nation 24 Hour Comic Book Blog – Hours 14 through 18 from New Mexico

This year I participated in 24 Hour Comics Day again. It was held on October Saturday the 3rd to 4th. I had such a blast with it last year there was no question I would do it again. The goal is to create 24 comic pages in 24 hours. It’s a very challenging exercise. You come to the table with no idea of what you are going to write and draw, from there you create  a 24 page story.

Last year there was a place to participate in 24 Hour Comic in Santa Fe NM (that’s where I live right now), but this year the closest place was in Albuquerque, NM. I decided to stay home and work on the 24 hour comic in my drawing table. I was committed to participate no matter where I did it.

The first few hours were tough, the year before I created my 24 hour comic with the help of my girlfriend as my inker. This year I was working completely solo. I was finding it hard to find a fast rhythm. I was really digging what I was coming up with, but I was just a little slower then I originally wanted to be.

My girlfriend helped me out by updating my Twitter, Facebook & Flickr pages. One of the Twitter updates caught the attention of the group in Albuquerque. They were updating their blog dedicate to the 24 Hour comic and told me to send them some photos of my stuff. You can check out the 1st of 2 post showing my work progress during the event. 24 Hours from New Mexico blog (Hour 13 1/2 from New Mexico). What was cool is the blog post was picked up by the Official Nation 24 Hour Comic Book Blog too. – (Hour 13 1/2 from New Mexico)

I created this comic book in 23 hours with the help of my girlfriend (she inked the pages) for 24 Hour Comic 2008. Click on any of the pages to see larger. If you start with the 1st page you can read the whole comic. Shazam!

This was the first year I participated in the 24 Comic Book Day. The goal was to create a full 24 page comic book in 24 consecutive hours. It was organized by 7000 BC and True Believers our local comic shop. There were over 20 artists who drew their own comics. We all met at Warehouse 21. A great community center for youth and the arts here in Santa Fe. There was even a small exhibition showcasing the comics we created.

I had a blast doing this and will definitely take part again this year. I can’t wait!

This years 24 Comic was great! I was able to create a 24 page comic in 23 hours. With the help of my wonderful girlfriend Consuelo. The best inker around! It was organized by 7000 BC and True Believers the local comic shop here in Santa Fe, NM. After 23 hours we created a fully inked comic book titled “Aliens and Heroes”. This was truly a great test of creativity. There was a great turn out here in Santa Fe. Over 25 fellow comic artists. I met a lot of cool people. After producing 24 pages in as many hours I feel a higher sense of confidence in my comic creating ability.

Check out my Flickr page with photos of me at 24 Hour Comic

http://www. flickr. com/photos/rafaelcontreras/sets/72157608194210278/

Here some links covering 24 Hour Comic here in Santa Fe. I’m even mentioned in one.

http://24hcd.blogspot.com/2008/10/santa-fe-just-about-wrapped-up.html

http://www. baaadasssscomics. com/