In the month of November Tyler James created an awesome opportunity for creative minds to unite. He put forth the challenge of creating 30 character in 30 day. I of course answered the call. It was also answered by over 25 other artists. Every day for a month I’d set down an try to come up with a new character. It was a really fun challenge. I don’t think I’ve drawing so many character since I was a kid. If you’de like to see the other great character designs check out the website 30Characters.wordpress.com.

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)

The Daily Comic Sketch Challenge! Here’s the 2nd quick 30 minute daily sketch. This drawing was done on Tuesday October 6th.The Maxx by Sam Kieth was suggested by my friend Carlos Parra via his twitter account @carlosparra

2. Tuesday (10.09.09): The Maxx

This was a fun character to draw. I knew I wanted to make him big and over exaggerated. That’s the way I remembered him. Never drawing the Maxx before I was very excited to have fun with this. I was able to get the sketch done in 35 minutes. I used an H2 drafting pencil. I think I had better control with it then the HB I used for the last quick sketch.

I remember when I had my comic book store, The Maxx Comic was always a very popular character. I literally could not keep the comics in stock. This was years after it’s publication too. I think it was so popular because of Maxx, MTV Cartoon. Which was great because it brought the character and comics to a more mainstream audience.

Check out my other: 30 Minute Daily Comic Sketches

Last night I drew the 1st in a series of quick 30 minute daily sketches. I’m calling them The Daily Comic Sketch Challenge. After asking for suggestions on Twitter and DevaintArt the first drawing is The Manhunter IV (Marc Shaw).

1. Monday (10.05.09): Manhunter IV (Marc Shaw)

I had fun with this drawing. I’ve never really read any comic with this Manhunter, but the costume design is very cool. I actually took a little longer than 30 minutes, I think I took about 45. I used an HB drafting pencil, Only sharpening it once. With this drawing I tried to be quick, but not lose detail. I also tried to use shadow and reflection of light. Thanks to @BlaqueSaber on Twitter for the great suggestion!

Check out my other: 30 Minute Daily Comic Sketches

I’ve decided to give myself a daily exercise to help in my drawing skills. I call it The Daily Comic Sketch Challenge. This next week I will be doing a quick drawing for only 30 minutes. These drawing will be of random comic book characters. Not only will I get to draw some different characters, but it will help in sharpening my drawing skills.

Last week I asked for suggestion through my Twitter and DevaintArt accounts on who I should draw. I received a lot of great ideas. Here is a list of which characters I will be drawing this 1st week.

1. Monday: Manhunter IV (Marc Shaw)

2. Tuesday: The Maxx

3. Wednesday: Enchantress (Marvel)

4. Thursday: Modok

5. Friday: Dee-Dee twins (Batman Beyond)

I’ll be posting the new Drawing every day. If you have any suggestion on who I should draw next, please let me know. – SHAZAM!

Check out my other: 30 Minute Daily Comic Sketches

I’ve been very active on Twitter for the past few months. I’ve actually maxed out the amount of people I can follow (which is 2001).  I would say that about 80% of the people I follow are comic book artists, writers, and fellow fans. Well a few weeks ago I  saw a contest for an original drawing from comic book artist Eric Merced through his twitter account @eric_merced. “1st and 5th to tweet a character for me to draw on live stream…” I tweeted my favorite character Captain Marvel and was the 1st to enter and win the contest!

The cool thing about the live stream was I got to see him draw it live. Eric Merced talked about why he liked the character of Captain Marvel while he sketched him out. It was really interesting to see the process he used when going from sketch to drawing and finally to inking. He also had a question/answer session with other people watching via a chat widget. The original drawing is 7″ x 5″ and he gave it to me, which was very awesome of him!

As a fun added pulse the mailer that the drawing came in had a cool drawing of Captain Marvel too.
Thanks Eric Merced for an awesome original drawing! Shazam!