Rules of Singapore 24 Hour Comics Day 2012

Participants must register online. Registration is free.
The 24 hours include meals and breaks.
Participants are free to move in and out of the venue during the 24-hour period, but need to be present at the starting and ending times.
Participants are not to make any direct preparations before the start of the challenge. That means nothing on paper beforehand.
Indirect preparation is allowed. Participants may prepare tools and reference materials. You may do research. You may think and plan ahead.
Participants may work in any medium, in any size, in print or digital form. Print works should aim for 24 pages. Digital web comics without any page boundaries should aim for 100 panels.
Participants may choose any theme to work on. There is no restriction, as long as you exercise common sense and stay within legal boundaries.

Completing the challenge

At the end of the 24 hours, participants may or may not complete the challenge.

If you complete all your 24 pages, you may pop the champagne call yourself successful. Otherwise, you may call yourself a "noble failure". There is no shame in failure. The important thing is that you embrace the spirit of the challenge. Whatever you choose to do next, you are in good company:

The "Gaiman variation" -- in which you simply stop there at the end of the 24 hours. Named after Neil Gaiman who completed only 17 pages of his work, "Being An Account of the Life and Death of the Emperor Heliogabolous".
The "Eastman variation" -- in which you keep going until you finish. Named after Kevin Eastman (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) who chose to continue after 24 hours until he was done.

Both successful completions and noble failures are encouraged to submit your works to be featured on this website.

OFFICIAL CERTIFICATE

Oh yeah, and we'll be giving out these official-looking certificates of participation to all those who suffer with us till the end :-)

24 Hour Schedule

Saturday, 20 Oct 2012

10 am Arrival of participants. Allocation of tables. Sharing of electric power points.

11:00 am Ready, get set, go

Sunday, 21 October 2012

11:00 am Pens down. Breakfast. Voting for completed works for prizes.

12:00 am Closing party -- debriefing, final vote tally for prizes, prize-giving, photo taking. Home participants are invited to join us.

1:00 pm Event close

Team Variation

In other countries, only solo participants can register for 24 Hour Comics Day. However, comics is known to be a collaborative medium. That's why in Singapore, we encourage the "Team Variation", meaning a writer and an artist may team up to collaborate on one project. You may not be officially recognized in the worldwide 24 Hour Comics Day, but here in Singapore, we do recognize and honour team participants.

We have been doing Team Variation in Singapore since 2011, and will continue this year. Just let us know when you register if you intend to team up.

International Team Variation

In 2011, two of our participants did an interesting experiment. We got in touch with some friends in Indonesia who were also doing 24 Hour Comics Day. We agreed beforehand that we were going to collaborate as writers and artists. On the day itself, our writers in Singapore started working furiously on their stories. Within a few hours, the stories were emailed over to Bandung, Indonesia. From there, the artists took over.

The result? A story written by Cheng Tju was published in an Indonesian compilation.

Home Participants

You may be keen on doing 24 Hour Comics Day, but you might prefer the comfort of your own home. Or a few friends may want to form a group at someone's house, complete with loud music and booze. No problem! You can register as home participants.

Home participants spend the 24 hours at home and keep your own time. At the end of 24 hours, you are invited to join us at the venue to celebrate and to vote for the best completed work.

You get the same recognition as the other participants, with the option to showcase your work on this website, and to take part in a possible post-event exhibition (we're working on this and we'll announce it if and when it is confirmed).

Please mention this when you submit your registration form.

The reward

The reward for you at the end is that you gain a better understanding of your inner creative process, and a deep sense of accomplishment. You will make lots of friends, and you will have loads of fun!

That's it. Really. You were expecting a prize?!!

Nah, just kidding. If you stay to the end, we will be giving out some small prizes, thanks to Cheng Tju's special gift of sweet-talking the sponsors! If anyone is interested in sponsoring prizes, please get in touch!

Showcase your work

When you have completed your work, you are encouraged to submit it to us so that we can showcase it on this website.

This is voluntary and not a requirement. We will link back to you to give you some exposure. Copyright remains with you, the creator. Any time you want your work to be removed from the site, just let us know.

24 Hour Comics Exhibition

After the event, there is a possibility that we may hold an exhibition to showcase the 24-hour comics. This is not confirmed yet. We are working on this and will announce it when it is definite.

Health issues

Not everyone can work non-stop on a comic for 24 hours. Your brain may turn into jelly. Your fingers may fall off. Your eyeballs may explode. But seriously, if you have a medical condition, please be responsible for yourself by making sure you bring your medication and take it as needed.

If in doubt, DO NOT participate in 24 Hour Comics Day. Do this at your own risk. You have been warned!

Frequently Asked Questions

My drawing skills suck, but I'm good at writing. Can I still do 24 Hour Comics?

You really don't need to draw well to do comics. You can draw stick figures, like the folks who do Order Of The Stick and XKCD. Or you could try something creative, like the folks who do dot comics, in which all the characters are represented by dots, and all the skills go into writing the dialogue. Or you could play with clip art -- take a bunch of royalty-free clip arts, and just add some funny lines.

If you prefer to work with an artist, you can find your own, or we can help find you one.

Who owns the copyright of the finished works?

You the creator own the copyright -- that is, until you license the rights to a publisher or some other third party. That is completely up to you to negotiate and decide.

Any other questions? Please ask!