P.o.w.! Begins...

[Ilaekae]

http://photos.imageevent.com/aljmary/conceptarts/CA-POWexLOGO.jpg

This is the official announcement that P.O.W.! is alive, and will begin operations between January 12 and January 16 in the Challenge area of the Activities Section. This time period was chosen specifically to miss the final chaos of the Medusa Challenge and LMS3.

We will be doing (assumed at this point) three standard comic book pages a week as a challenge, in color or black and white. This is not going to be a walk in the park. It literally combines all the other challenges into one, with the same time limit--characters, creatures, environments, machines, and random chaos...AND you have to WRITE the sucker!

You WILL sweat this one. You WILL enjoy it. You WILL screw up more often than you succeed. And you WILL NOT regret entering. You wanted comics...you're getting comics. Enjoy.

For those of you who think you can't do this...look at that stupid logo above. If you can't do three lousy pages of art better than that piece of crap, well...you just might think about becoming plumbers or something...

(For the record, if this makes it through the first month, we'll have a competition for a new logo/masthead for the section so we won't have to hang our head in shame every time we enter the section... :P)

***********************************************

Davi will have the proper section up and cleared for us in a bit over a week. We have tentative rules and specifications that will be posted there as soon as it's open, and have already assembled a slew of ideas for the start up, with enough to continue for at least a couple of months.

Over time, we will be adding tutorials, technical information on producing and printing comics, and even working methodologies from around the world.

It would be stupid for llothcat and I to assume that this is going to succeed just because it's a cool idea. It IS a rough challenge, and definitely beyond tracing manga and game characters to show your friends. First off, after you create your characters, you have to actually write their dialogue, and it has to make sense. Many of you have probably never done that before, so this is where you'll find out whether you can pull it off or not.

Here's where we need a bit of input--

This is a Concept Arts Forum. Most of you are used to doing all the things that go into creating a comic, just separately, so most of this isn't all that strange to you. We will be presenting a "theme" or "idea" up front that you will use to execute your pages, just like in the other challenges. What we don't know is how much help our entrants will need with the writing end. We have three options...

1. Throw the bastards to the wolves and let 'em work it out (My personal favorite, of course... :P)

2. Present you with a "scenario" without dialogue to get you started--but we'd have to reach a consensus on how "complete" this scenario has to be.

3. We come up with (or borrow from various appropriate sources we have on file) "pre-canned" dialogue. I personally don't like this one because I think it's too limiting in a creative sense.

4. Do either two or all three above, but rotate them week to week. (Could be a pig to keep track of...)

In addition, we know how difficult this will be, so to help out a bit, we're planning on releasing the "next" challenge information on the Wednesday before the "current" challenge ends at midnight Tuesday the following week. This means that all the challenges will overlap ONE FULL WEEK, giving you extra time to think about the next challenge while you're finishing the current one. You just couldn't submit any WIPs or art in the first week of the challenge, because that time would be needed for the challenge in progress.

Basically, we have a weekly challenge with weekly deadlines, but they all overlap an extra week, giving you TWO weeks, in reality, to work on each challenge. This is being done primarily to give the entrants some extra time to come up with the writing for their award-winning extravaganzas... :P

Now...any opinions, input, wise-assed comments, etc., put 'em here while we get the section up and running. (I'm referring to both the four writing approaches above and the overlapping challenges idea.)

[bhanu]

Ilaekae ...if you were a wee bit younger,and I a girl ,I would have married you.

[idoru]

Aaaah, so excited! I like option number one, myself, but I'm used to doing it anyway, so. Uh, it might be not so good for other people. As for overlapping challenges--I think that's great! It does have the distinct advantage of allowing time for WRITING, though at three pages I don't really know how much writing really needs to be DONE beforehand. Still it's good to have time to mull it over and let it percolate, so to speak.

[Victor B]

First off many thanks to all involved I know this must be a huge undertaking. What with LMS and personal projects I can only say I will try extremely hard at becoming a regular of this weekly challenge. As regards to the "format" I am for the rotation on a weekly basis but not nessarily in any order, that is to say you could have two weeks of option #1 followed by one week of option #2 followed soo on and so forth at the discretion of the mod's also taking into account participants comments. In any Case 08' is shapping up to be a hell of a year for Ca!

[Ian Mack]

Another option for the dialogue would be to punk storylines/dialogue from stories. I once did a project where we took a story of our own choice and had to boil it down to 9 panels without speech that still told a story. It was a fun experience! It would make us focus that much more on the panels themselves

I def. see the worth of having to write out own dialogue but I thought I'd throw the idea out there anyway.

I do like the overlapping idea and can easily see how that would apply to the real life situation.

[Cookiedough]

I think it would be cool to vary between the writer-options, just for variation and experience purposes. Glad there's some action going, looking forward to this.

[Slash]

I wanna participate in this. I've been planning to explore comics, and this gives me a perfect incentive.

I'd suggest people having to write their dialogues in most cases, with special editions of the POW where we take canned dialogue and use that. (like famous speeches, dialogue from plays etc etc.)

You should also consider allowing team efforts, since there are normally quite a few people involved in producing a comic panel.

[Brendan N]

3 original pages per week? Damn we really are gonna sweat this. I vote that POW winners should get exclamation marks under their usernames - it seems WAY tougher than any of the other current other challenges.

Will probably start participating sometime in January, got some exhibition stuff coming up but then I'm free for a week or two.

Muchos thanks Ilaekae-sir, much appreciated!
ciao!

[xenos]

This will be sweet! :teeth:

as for presenting the idea/theme, i like the first option the most of course, but it would also be fun to sometimes do the options 2 and 3..

also the overlapping challenges is a good idea :)

[arttorney]

What about collabs? Somebody writes and somebody draws. I have seen that there are some exquisite talents on here that can't write their way out of a wet paper bag, and some incredibly creative thinkers who are not upper echelon draftspersons. I can see that you are regarding the synthesis of these to be part of the big challenge, and I think that collab efforts can't be fairly judged next to solo efforts, but the general thinking on CA seems to me to be "as long as the image is purty then it doesn't matter whatsoever about the story and if somebody drew a purtier image than you it doesn't matter how much sense your writing makes, you still suck." I guess one way of making everybody do their best on everything, though, and still get crit/input on stuff like writing and lettering is to make like the "Miss Text Congeniality" award for the text part of the pages. "The Amazing Arttorney/Kreskin" predicts: people voting are mainly going to look at the drawings.


Of the options as presented, of course I am a "throw them to the wolves" guy because of my profession and way of life.

(To the wolves I say!)

[Brendan N]

Oh yeah, I vote entrants have to come up with their own dialogue and scenarios - only the theme is supplied. Can't write? suck it up, it's part of the medium.

[smugbug]

Option #2 is my preference. :D

[Rabid]

interesting

[DIMAGYAN]

great.
i like the options 1 and 2.
the overlaping idea is good.

[idoru]

Oh yeah, I vote entrants have to come up with their own dialogue and scenarios - only the theme is supplied. Can't write? suck it up, it's part of the medium.
Pretty much how I feel about it.

[drd]

This sounds awesome. It's good to know that CA isn't a sitting duck; still going and going.

I might actually participate in it; but in my ignorance I don't know how much I'll hate working on it =(

[Flakari Leader]

There is absolutely no way I'm going to miss this. I vote option 1 concerning the writing portion.

Can't wait to see this up and running. :yayca:

[JonZ_]

I might throw myself in.

[SalOnimaruRem]

hmmm i'm a big lazy bastard when it come to drawing comics, buuut i'll give this a try...

[El_Bert]

Hmm..this might be a good start to become a wee bit more active on CA.

[JonZ_]

We need a warming up thread until that January date. I'm like in the mood to do something until then.

[Renegade89]

Fantastic!, im really looking forward to this.
I personally like option 1 the best, i vote for that one.

[JonZ_]

I like the option 4 best. It kind of explore all the facet of creating comics, by doing it all by yourself or throught an editor (ie Marvel). It kinda benefits everyone.

[Kelp]

I like option 1 the most. Throw us to the wolves!

As for the overlapping challenges thing, I think that would be a good thing,
to have a week to think about what you're going to do. Even if that week is
already filled with finishing the previous assignment, it's nice to be able to
think about things when you're sleeping/cooking/biking around town.

[HunterKiller_]

I'm so glad you made POW into a logical acronym!

[mahir]

So looking forward to this. Subscribed!

[SeB C BiEn]

I'm good with option 1 or 2, like Ilaekae said, if the dialogue is also written it's taking a part of the job we have to do. Comics are panels and storytelling.
Giving us a theme or a general scenario is good I think, a theme gives more creative freedom and a scenario teaches us to be creative despite constraints.
The overlapping challenges is a good idea, I just hope I won't get mixed up lol

[Emerald_Mara85]

ARRRGGHH...
Jan 12 - 16?!!

Those are the days before my final exams!!!

DAMN!!! *Bangs head on wall*

On a side note...I hate no3
I and 2 is good. But I like 1 better than 2

Sigh...I'll enter the next one... :(

[Ilaekae]

Don't worry...it's going to be a continuous thing...

[tmbritton]

I'm in! And if anyone is counting my vote is for #1.
#3 could be cool if it's something like how Eisner does Hamlet in Comics and Sequential Art.

[Jazz]

If anything will be good practice for me, this would be! I keep crying to myself about making comics. :P

I think 1 is the best idea, and like someone said, maybe once in a while you could have a #2 or #3 challenge! :D That would be a neat way for participants to try working on parts, but getting a good idea about what it takes to work on a whole comic! :)

[pomegranate]

i'm so excited about this!
actually i think #3 once in a while would be good to practice interpreting someone else's writing (something many comic artist have to do). and besides, imagine the result. it would be so much fun to see the different entries, as well as a very good learning experience to see how everyone approaches the dialogue.

[MiniGoth]

If I may, what about a basic storyline where the competitor writes the dialogue - a touch more detailed than a scenario, but still room for loads of interpretation?

For instance - a weary traveler walks into a bar and orders a drink. While there, he tries to get the attention of a beautiful woman. She laughs at him, and a fight breaks out.

Could be anything from a cowboy hitting on a floozie and starting a bar fight, too an intergalactic foozball salesman hitting on a mob moll.

[Whyatt Thrash]

I'd love to get going with this too... I've been kicking myself to do comics so this is the kind of initiative I need.

Personally I'd like something like option 2. Just something like a quick setting and description, or possibly a title. "Post-apocalyptic love affair". "The white bunny- a road story". Just a little something to get the imagination flowing...

[Chordate]

something to get the imagination flowing as Trash said!

i love making comics, but sometimes i think i get bogged down in a depressing story or theme by nature lol, so something more or less to make everything connect would almost you know...make it like a mini book of comics, wether they make it or not to the top, it will be fun. And i dont think it should be 3 pages absolute, many of us go to school and as the breaks come to an end, it might be good to have a min and a max, like 2 min (or 3 i suppose) and a 4 max. To give them a bit more breathing room. 3 pages is a lot of work! especially if you have to keep a 3.5 going D:

i like trash's comment :x

[Satyrane]

I'm finally going to try and do a challenge in this forum even if it kills me (and it probably will...). I actually like the concept of being given set dialogue so long as that dialogue is ambiguous and/or flexible, it really makes coming up with visual themes and motifs a pretty fun exercise in creativity. Just my two cents though.

[Grief]

i'm personally in favor of each artist doing all the work themself.

i tend to percieve the act of creating a comic as having a story to tell, and it seems a bastard offspring to neglect any aspect which would cheat the artist of having to struggle with the full scope of the challenge of creating the comic.

illustrating someone elses ideas doesnt appeal to me. its like making out with someone elses girlfriend of whom you feel nothing for, sure youre doing the act, but it's lacking the love.

i have a comic i'd like to draw, but its devoid of monsters, aliens, mecha-robots, big tits, guns, vikings, talking animals, and pointy haired anime characters. if i sent someone else the script it'd be a drag for them. thats not to say i dont appreciate comics with all that fun stuff, but if i was challenged to create a comic 'out of my comfort zone' it really wouldnt be anything i could emotionally invest myself in, as though i'm just interpreting instead of creating.

i say if youre wanting the challenge of making comics, grow up and take the full responsibility. sure its hard to come up with ideas, but guess what, people wont always spoon-feed you ideas in real life. you have to find your own outlets of creativity, be able to inspire yourself and pick up your own ass when its dragging.

[blackrobin]

option #1 : bastards to the wolves
ah... so nostalgic, you just draw and draw comics no matter how much your art sucks
this POW will be exciting, im starting to want to subscribe my weekly POW
or the winner gets to publish their comic? hmmmmmmmmmm... who knows

[JonZ_]

so erm... it January 12th today http://www.p1x44r.com/smiles/bleh.gif

[Grief]

so erm... it January 12th today http://www.p1x44r.com/smiles/bleh.gif

yeah, ive been itching for a post too, but i didnt want to be the one who seemed impatient. the intro page does say jan 12-16th though..

[Ilaekae]

Results of unofficial poll:

At least one of the previous posters can read. :P

Anybody else want to join the list?


For the record, the first Challenge will be posted late Tuesday night, officially beginning Wednesday the 16th (our plan from the start). That will give us time to post the rules and other legalized stuff in advance...unless one of you impatient little devils has already gone and done that. Heeheehee...I don't mind. It saves me a lot of time that way...




*cough* :P

[JonZ_]

Results of unofficial poll:

At least one of the previous posters can read. :P

Anybody else want to join the list?

Which list? Is there a subscription somewhere to fill in? it sound like it, I thought it was up to people to participate?

[Ilaekae]

It's a joke, Jon... The list of "people who can read..."

Refers to the previous two lines... Sorry, I know english isn't your first language.

The challenge will be open to anyone who shows up. No list. REPEAT--no list...

[JonZ_]

lol, no sweat.

It not only because of your comment, I've sort of read along in the other posts here that there was a subscribtion going on, so I became confused for a moment http://www.p1x44r.com/smiles/biggrin.gif

[arttorney]

At last! The gathering. *click*

[Ilaekae]

http://photos.imageevent.com/aljmary/conceptarts/CA-POWexLOGO.jpg

Davi has been kind enough to prep us a new room in the Community Activities Section. Some general rules are up, and the first Challenge will be posted there by Midnight, Tuesday 15th...

[Ilaekae]

P.O.W.! Challenge 1 has officially begun...

[FlipMcgee]

Can we have an exception to the "no cruelty" rule #7 if the bad guy of our comic is one who's a fictionaliefeld multimillionaire comic book artist who has a peculiar style of drawing the human anatomy?

.

[wheezy]

Many thanks Ilaekae for putting this together. Great job.

[Ilaekae]

@ Flip:

Yes.