P.O.W.! Challenge 20--BUGS! (as History)

[Ilaekae]

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


P.O.W.! Challenge 20
Deadline: Sunday, March 1, 2009, 11:59 pm
anywhere in the world.

Topic: BUGS! (as History)

This Challenge will run approximately one month, to avoid conflicts with the TD and allow everyone enough time to take a crack at it.

This is our 20th Challenge, and so I'm making it a little special. Those of you who have trouble with plots...have fun. We are doing any event--ANY EVENT--in human history, BUT with INSECTS as the characters. The Viking Cock Roach invasion, a scene from the Inquisition under Preying Mantises, Buffalo Dung Beetle's Traveling Western show, WHATEVER!--as long as it's real history but with bugs. For this Challenge, "BUGS" includes insects of any kind, spiders, centipedes and millipedes, and buggy-like sea types like shrimp, crabs, and such. Try to have fun with it--any human period, any human event, any historical accomplishment, but with BUGS.

You can interpret the art any way you wish, and the more creatively, the better. Any media. B&W or Color.

You can present your solution as a minimum of THREE to a tentative maximum of TEN pages which adhere to standard comic specs as below...and, yes, you can have the first or last (or both) as a splash page if you want. You can go to additional pages without asking if you have a decent idea that requires it--just don't get too extreme on page counts

Standard Comic Book Size:

--Trim size: 6 5/8" x 10 1/4"
--Live art area: 6" x 9"
--Bleed size before trimming: 6 7/8" x 10 1/2" (1/8" in all directions)

This thread will be the place you ask questions on this challenge, trash talk, post WIPs and post your final art. See the READ THIS FIRST thread for all specs.

Good luck.

P.O.W.! Challenge 21 will be posted before Sunday Midnight, March 1, 2009.


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A little note here for all of you who have supported the P.O.W.! Challenges...thankyewthankyewthankyew...

Just a reminder--those of you who didn't get a chance to finish exactly the way you wanted to, or ran into deadline problems, remember there is a sticky section where you can post your stuff when you do get it up to speed.

[Oni Rem]

aayy bug replaces history dudes eh sounds funny...i'll think about this one

in the meanwhile gonna go find me a yummy history :yum:

[DeuceRok]

What the crap is TD?

-deuce.rok

[Cookiedough]

DeuceRok:
Since you're asking so eloquently and polite.... please click here (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=148224) for more information about TD.

[arttorney]

And supposedly there is another big ThunderDome (TD) event coming up in about a week or so, although its specific nature remains hush hush at this time.

Watch the Lounge or Challenge Arena for announcements.

[Ilaekae]

It would be safer to say two to three weeks, probably. That's the reason we shortened the Male/Female TD so drastically...

[Maria David]

As drawing comics is my main art thing, I really should draw this one. I have no idea how to draw insects so hopefully I learn lot of things while drawing this.

The hard thing is to decide what event to draw...

[Ilaekae]

One thing that should be made clear here is that obviously, you don't have to stick to proper "bug" anatomy, and you don't have to be "historically" accurate in your depictions as far as the literal details go. The bugs will almost certainly have to be modified or simplified if costuming is important to your scene, and some things in real life just won't work if applied to bugs...a sexy corset or bustiere for example just doesn't cut it on a lady bug.

Either think anthropomorphic to some degree, or adapt the world and its accessories however you have to to the "bugs." This is fantasy, with a human historical basis...

One additional thought...you don't have to do the "bugs" to any specific size. If you make them human-sized, obviously the accessories and scenes will be just as we know them. If you make the critters "bug"-size, obviously you have another whole can of worms (pun), since you'll be getting into shoes as boats, soup cans as homes, thimbles as helmets or hats, etc.

[shannanigan]

It would be safer to say two to three weeks, probably. That's the reason we shortened the Male/Female TD so drastically...


Please tell be the deadline for the Gender TD is still Feb. 22nd or I'm hosed! I can't let you guys win by default!! ;)

I'm having visions of "A Bugs Life 4: Return of the Boston Tea Party" for this POW. LOL!

[Ilaekae]

Like your idea..

Don't sweat the deadline--still the 22nd. It was drastically shortened to THAT date from a 10 week challenge because ANOTHER TD is "rumored" to start near the end of February or so. We were playing safe...

...and as for winning by default...on the 22nd, your feminine ass is mine...metaphorically speaking... :P

[alesoun]

*stops drawing bugs and shuts Kitty's tail in the door*

[Ilaekae]

...bitch... :P

[alesoun]

:angel: Oops!

[arttorney]

I know a historical event to do and have some reference already, but I may only be able to get pencils done for three pages (and that mostly during a two day court junket to Texarkana I have to do near the end of the month).

Where is everybody lately? Ilaekae says "bugs" and you scurry like somebody turned the lights on.

I dare anybody to do the Raid!TM version of the second battle of Ypres.:gasmask:

[Ilaekae]

I've been toying with cockroaches and the Nixon/Watergate thing...the missing 18 minutes of tape was eaten... :P

[Onyx Serpent]

I've been contemplating the Trojan Horsefly, but that means I'll actually have to do some thumbnails I like. :P

[arttorney]

OK, then. I'll start this off with some rough pencils.
Sorry. Photoshop 4.0 lied to me about the resizing. I'll be back.
There. At least the GIMP is truthful to me about such things.
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[shannanigan]

Haha... Arttorney thats great! :D

[Oni Rem]

man...i gotta get started on mine ><
to much on my plate for the time being.

Arttorney- lookin good

[Chate Noire]

Onyx - Trojan Horsefly is a good one :)
I actually thought about a Trojan scene too, but before the horse. Some pretty Butterfly Helen scene.

[Maria David]

So I decided to make a comic about William Wallace and the battle of Falkirk.

Now the hard part starts, I have to look pictures of bugs... ugh, I hate bugs so much! I think I'm gonna faint once or twice during research but that's why I really want to do this.

[Ilaekae]

...heeheeheehee...

[arttorney]

Who thinks I should be daring and do another digital POW? Is this panel style working?
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[shannanigan]

Who thinks I should be daring and do another digital POW? Is this panel style working?


Do it... but not with those colors.... LOL! ;)


Well my Battle of the Sexes is done, as is my CHOW... and I had a flash of an idea for this so I'm gonna give this a go. Well see if I can pull it off... :D

[arttorney]

Are you saying you don't like my style?:( Don't worry. Drawing this way is a real pain in the ass. I'll probably have to follow through on my threat to do pencils during my Texas trip this week. Will they let me take pencils on the plane? They didn't give me any trouble over ball point pens last time.

[shannanigan]

Are you saying you don't like my style?:( Don't worry. Drawing this way is a real pain in the ass. I'll probably have to follow through on my threat to do pencils during my Texas trip this week. Will they let me take pencils on the plane? They didn't give me any trouble over ball point pens last time.


I would never say such a thing!! And you may want to bring crayons just to be safe. Actually doing it all in crayon would be awesome! LOL!

[arttorney]

Ahhh. Then I can have something else in my "brief" case besides my extra underwear. Good thinking.

[shannanigan]

Hehehe............. :D


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I hope I'll be able to get it done. I just have to try and keep it simple... not go crazy with the details.
My narrative needs a little work... but I think the panels will flow pretty well.

The bottom of page 2 looks a little confusing, those are the scared neighbors hearing the gun shots. Its a really messy sketch. ;)

[shannanigan]

I'm rather bummed that POW doesn't get more WIPs and back-and-forth discussion and critiques like the CHOWs do... comics get no love around here. :(

I've decided to take the "Cityscape" to a junkyard level... LOL!
Instead of the real buildings of Clark Street I'm going to use old-school tins and boxes... Ebay research... does the creative mind good.

I'm not sure how far I'll get.... but I'm makin' the effort. ;)

EDIT: Added final roughs for all pages.

[arttorney]

I think your idea is clever about having the buildings be junkyard stuff.

"Bugs" Moran. I get it. Ha ha ha.

I often wonder why 50 people clamor to enter CHOW but then, if their character is expected to say or do something (POW), they all head for the hills. I just think the linear thinking in a storyline goes against the right brain part of the drawing process and it kills it for them.

Your art tends to be strong and so I suspect you are on the POW fast track.

I have gotten some work done on some pages destined to become my finals but I need to regroup today after my whirlwind junket to beautiful Texarkana. I will have something for this.

[shannanigan]

Yeah I originally thought about doing Paul Revere's Ride... with Fire Flies in the tower... LOL! But then I remembered the St. Valentine's Massacre and Bugs Moran. With a name like that... it had to be told by Insects! \w/


POW doesn't give a lot of time to show off drawing skills, but with CHOW you can focus on a single moment and character and make it look your best... that is probably why people gravitate to it. I'd be rather curious to see some of the popular artists in CHOW try their hand at POW... I wonder how it would turn out.

I have to say trying to make 2-3 minimum pages in a couple weeks is really intimidating to me. I'm not going to be able to do it every challenge because its really time consuming just coming up with the idea/dialog let alone drawing it up... and I do want to create other stuff too! ;)

[arttorney]

Yeah. I miss doing a plein aire now and again on Sunday or making attempts at larger scale fine art pieces. This challenge requires a major amount of dedication, and because of it I have very much respect for the guys doing panels for their daily bread. They can't afford to blow one off.

If you get your sketchbook too much filled up with simplified drawings people will tend to assume you suck in general, so it is a tough call. The people who are very concerned to be on their "A" game with everything they post on CA rarely show up here (except perhaps Hideyoshi who seems on his "A" game everywhere, and Cookiedough who I have never seen crash and burn with anything, and Prometheus|ANJ who seemed to run out of time).

[shannanigan]

This challenge requires a major amount of dedication, and because of it I have very much respect for the guys doing panels for their daily bread. They can't afford to blow one off.


Absolutely.... comics and cartoons (Manga not included of course, because those guys are brilliant. *groan*) still doesn't get enough respect as an art form and the artists creating it don't get the credit they deserve.

Especially the ones who not only draw, ink and color but also write their own stories and strips and make websites to post them on or spend their own money trying to publish their work. People who are dedicated for the love of it and do it all on top of a "day job". Pretty amazing... there needs to be more Comic Love! :heart:

[Ilaekae]

I guess i should mention that I'm doing the Nazi invasion of France--or at least a start on it. If i like how the idea works, I might do the entire Second World War some day... :P

[shannanigan]

I guess i should mention that I'm doing the Nazi invasion of France--or at least a start on it. If i like how the idea works, I might do the entire Second World War some day... :P


LOL! I'm definitely curious to see which bug you choose to represent Hitler...

So I say you forget about the poll until Wednesday... you know on accident. Haha! I'm so behind on where I thought I'd be right now on this....

[Ilaekae]

Well...since February's short a couple of days and I said we'd have a month on this, and the fact that I have four doctor's appointments Monday and Tuesday (...you don't think I keep this good looking all on my own, do you? :P) which will take about 20 hours out of my life riding streetcars and buses, how about we just do that, Ms. Sannanigiggles?

New deadline is Wednesday night, if anyone needs it. Actually, because of my bad rescheduling of Doctors, I literally cant do a poll until late Wednesday at the earliest anyway, so lets use the time constructively...

Deadline extended to Wednesday night, March 4, 2009.

[shannanigan]

New deadline is Wednesday night, if anyone needs it. Actually, because of my bad rescheduling of Doctors, I literally cant do a poll until late Wednesday at the earliest anyway, so lets use the time constructively...


Aye Aye Cap'n!! :D

[Oni Rem]

aaah finally bought me a wacom a medium size one, so i hope this change will help me grow. Digital journey here i come!!

but i wont be joining this pow...to much crap at the moment ><

and i can't wait to see yall final entries :D

[Ilaekae]

You really don't one to get associated with this one, Oni'...

Mine's going to set back comic sequential art AND literature in general about eight or nine centuries... :P :P

[Cookiedough]

Hmm.. i have mostly problems with coming up with a proper historical idea. Figured the mythologies were out... as those aren't technically history.

For 'proper' historytelling, say wars or sieges... usually too much happens to capture in only a few pages. Since most incidents are related in a way... i find it hard to pin down just one thing. I've thought of doing some about a specific artist, but that also didn't feel okay and sorta too limited.... Hmm, stupid history... i can handle the bugs, just don't feel like wars...

[arttorney]

There are famous events that don't involve a cast of thousands or war, though. Examples: Martin Luther nailing his manifesto about the indulgences and stuff on that church door, the Watergate break in, the real life Romeo and Juliet style love affair that Pocahantas had.

I find it is easiest to think about events by starting out with places. If I think about Easter Island it brings to mind the Kon Tiki expedition. If I think about Russia, It brings to mind Rasputin. If I think about Scandinavia it brings to mind the discovery of Greenland.

[Ilaekae]

The other thing to keep in mind, Cookie', is that we don't necessarily aim for a complete presentation of any single idea. Even the Titanic story or the first men on the moon would be beyond our time limits, for example. The idea is to start the ball rolling with the first few pages of an idea, or the start and some additional pages later in the story. Otherwise, I'd be dead before I started my idea, because I really AM doing the WWII invasion of France. Try to cover ALL of that action would take me the rest of my life, and forget about anything meaningful on WWII as a whole... :P

Show me Guy Faust.
Show me George Washington crossing the Delaware.
Show me Marie Auntiehairnet losing her earrings--big time.
Show me Caesar being goosed by his "buddies."
Show me a shrimpy French artist visiting a cat house.
Show me the first guy to convince his girlfriend that oysters were edible.

This is all history. Hell, turn it on it's head--show me the first professional bug exterminator--as a bug exterminating humans in the pantry.

[Mydrim]

I am happy this is still going on! I'll join someday

[arttorney]

I got too much crap to do next week so I must post my final now. Sorry in advance for what you are about to see. :eyeloss:
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[Cookiedough]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I'm still not sure about things though. I guess i'm overcomplicating things again.

[Hapun]

New here but I've been lurking on POW for a while now haha (creeper status WOO BABY!)

Will definitely be taking advantage of the extension and entering something. :D

[Ilaekae]

"I guess i'm overcomplicating things again."

You do seem to do that a lot, Dear... :P I personally tend toward simple...probably because I'm as simple as they come... :):dur:

[shannanigan]

Here is mine... I made it!!! Woo Hoo! :D

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[Hapun]

Forgive the messy comic you're about to see, wrote and drew it in the past two or so days. ): (excuses excuses) Oh well, NEXT pow around then, ahaha.

Anyway, I ended up doing the assassination of Frantz Ferdinant. :)

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/kittybro/POW/vitus1.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/kittybro/POW/vitus2.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/kittybro/POW/vitus3.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/kittybro/POW/vitus4.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/kittybro/POW/vitus5.jpg

If I posted anything wrong just say the word!

[donalfall]

Hapun, Shannanigan: Those are 2 great POW! entries. Very nice, I'm very impressed. I'm having awful trouble with Photoshop, hopefully this page will be more polished and the next 3 pages will be finished and up in the next few hours....

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[Hapun]

Thanks donalfall! Good luck finishing the rest of our pages.
"Beetelo Mussolini, il Dunghi" = genius!

Shannanigan: I really like the choice of colours, matches with your story perfectly!

[arttorney]

You folks are great. Glad to see you back Donalfall.

[Oni Rem]

alright awesome entry everyone :}

Hapun i have no idea what history that is but it is awesome and how you handle it and then at the end i was like waaaaat?!?! :D
although the man face should have been a bug face since the humans are suppose to be replace by bugs :P

Shananigan I am not a history person but i am liking this one also :D i like the dead bugs and the last part lol funny x]
One thing i wasn't feeling to much on was how you handle the ratatata gun shot noise, i like the noise though, but i think it look better that it was scattered "ratata" around the place so it look like scatter gun shot in ratata noises :)

Donafall hahaha i like the title of it, can't wait to see the rest of it :D

Arttorney ha i see going all digital ey, looks good, i like the history of this too, especially how they talk and how you drew the bug with dramatic poses to go with what they are saying :)

[shannanigan]

Shananigan I am not a history person but i am liking this one also :D i like the dead bugs and the last part lol funny x]
One thing i wasn't feeling to much on was how you handle the ratatata gun shot noise, i like the noise though, but i think it look better that it was scattered "ratata" around the place so it look like scatter gun shot in ratata noises


Thanks Oni... I know the gun shot should have looked more sporadic but I liked the flow. I admit I went with form over function. ;)

If you are interested you can read the story on Wikipedia... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Valentine%27s_Day_Massacre.
The crazy part is, I didn't make any of it up... the Frank guy did say that (he had over 20 bullet wounds!!) and they found a dog in the garage (not a caterpillar... obviously) I found a lot of good references of the crime scene... The dead bug panel is from an actual police photo!

[Hapun]

Thanks Oni! I hope it's okay to have one human panel for dramatic/emotional effect?

And don't worry, I only remember this thanks to world history last year, haha! Just some background info: Franz Ferdinand was the archduke of Austria-Hungary and his assassination is often considered the cause of the first world war.

[Ilaekae]

Sorry i'm on so late, everybody. Everything looks really great. I should have the poll open in about an hour or so, and the new challenge up right after that.

My apologies for the rather erratic behavior over the last few days... I've been fighting a case of pneumonia for the last five days and it's been kind of rough to stay awake. I've been falling asleep in weird places lately, like at the computer and while eating dinner. To the good side, it appears to be clearing up nicely and I should be back to my normal miserable self by this weekend.

[alesoun]

Ah, sorry, Top Cat. I missed that. Fried computer and various other dramas.
Next time.....

[JawsLeaggen]

OK, I think I need to do this one. I have sooooooooo many scraps. I will need to do a bit of scavenging through them to see what I have to work with before I make my plan of attack. But this sounds like fun.