At long last we are able to present Charlotte Williams conceptual comic, completed on the 14th of January 2011 at 9.39am. That's 24 drawings in 23 hours and 9 minutes.

Throughout my 24 hours, I decided that I would use the ‘Challenge bridge’ as a starting point. I planned to explore the composition of this contemporary structure, which seemed a little surreal within its small town, Wadebridge setting. Using the inspiration of a flat pack construction guide that you would normally throw away.. I experimented with line, form, composition and a form of animation.

The integral focus to this series of images was the number ‘24’. I found this concept consuming and became more and more obsessive as the hours ticked by.

“The Suspended Deconstruction of ‘24’ “ celebrated the idea of joining two exterior/ natural spaces. The 1st drawing plotted 23 lines and the viewer as the 24th piece to the puzzle.. Gradually the construction developed through planes, diagrams and various familiar forms.. including a ladder and train track. I found once the bridge was complete there was potential to metamorphose the panels along the pathway and through the bridge, to a train track, into a steep stairwell and climbing towards a calm and open space.

Distances, numbers of dots, the size of paper used and lines composed all had a certain reference to ’24’. Even the distance between the drawings within the suspension installation, which progressively encompassed my workspace through the night, was 24 cm.

I also tried to play around with different sized and shaped pieces of paper.

For me, this experience was priceless. I found it indulgent to be able to spend 24 hours to explore and further my ideas as a Fine Artist. I felt a great sense of achievement!! My lesson is to stay open to new projects and events.. I am determined to start a series which continues on a daily basis.. I would have never tried a comic format before. It has definitely opened up new possibilities within my practice.

 

Do you have any advice for anyone who wants to try the 24hr Comic challenge?

 Enjoy every minute of it!! And... start the challenge with an open mind and without any pre-conceived ideas about how you attempt to express your comic.

 

 

 

 

Presenting Anna Spearman and Frances Williams' twenty four hour performance/ installation/ video, 'Dreaming of Anneka'. Produced on the 13th and 14th of January 2011.

Copyright Anna Spearman and Frances Williams

"We based our work on researches of curators of the suspension bridge at Wadebridge which had been built in the “Challenge Anneka” tv series in early 1980s.

Our concept was to make a sculptural/performative/durational installation based on the narrative of a little girl who desperately wanted to see the tv show but having misbehaved has been sent to her room on the night. Instead she builds her own bridge in her bedroom.

We brought with us materials and tools to use and we also visited all the charity shops as research and as a source of further materials. All of them were happy to loan us various items of objects and clothing.

We were provided with a great space of the stage in the town hall. We also filmed the event over (most) of the 24 hours with view of making a film from the footage)- speeded up version of event highlighting particular instances including the visit by Anneka Rice and her assistant dressed in pink."

"The idea of working within a time-frame and being on display over that period seemed daunting but also were both excited by the possibilities and the fact that it was an unknown. We had some faith in the process of working together and regularly reviewing what we had done and where we wanted to get to over the 24 hour period. A bit of sleep was necessary so that was factored in. The curators were marvellous and the blog was fantastic. We really enjoyed being part of that live event. We would have liked to leave what we had done for a day or so – so that public could see finished results." 

Do you have any advice for future participants or anyone who would like to attempt a similar 24hr challenge?

 "It was a really good thing to do and would encourage anyone to do it. It was challenging but the whole idea of doing something within 24 hours deadline is very inspiring.

Anna and I collaborated in this project for the first time. We discussed in advance possible options of approaching the 24 hour challenge so we had some outline shape of where it would go overall (but not the detail at all). We agreed in advance it would be sculptural/performative/durational and filmed thus incorporating our own individual practices. We obtained range of materials beforehand so we had ample resources. But essentially we decided what to do on the day after we saw our space, saw the research on the Anneka Rice bridge and reccie’d the bridge and local charity shops. Once we had our narrative agreed (which we had kept very simple) at an early stage it flowed from there."

 

For you entertainment, Benjamin Wright's completed 24hr Comic, 'Pigeon Loft'. Completed at 6.55am on the 14th of January 2011.

Copyright Benjamin Wright, 2011

"An alternative explanation to the Old Bridge’s history and it being ‘built on wool’. I tried to tie in a few other curious pieces of Wadebridge’s local history by including the old chapels, and the culverhay.

The giants, the magic dove, the massacre, the pie recipe and the events surrounding them were the only fictitious parts."

"I learnt loads, possibly more in one night than I have in recent years. For one, the inks, brushes, watercolours, laptop, scanner, papers and pens I brought were completely unnecessary as I just used the paper and pencils provided.

I was really unprepared to be working under pressure in this circumstance, especially when trying to avoid digital outcomes in such a small time window. After the first four hours bewilderment the final choice of media was more an act of panic than of logic. The choice to illustrate one image per page, and in such simple means was a time saving choice that seemed to work too well as I finished loads early, with naps. Perfect for the 14 hour comic perhaps."

Do you have any advice for future participants or anyone who would like to attempt a similar 24hr challenge?

 

"Overall the 24hour comic has revealed one important question. Are you comfortable with your way of working? I wasn’t, and am still not at the moment. I don’t draw enough comics, and need to commit to super tight deadlines more often. The people who seem to get the job done to jaw dropping standards practice religiously, and are masters of their own style. If I were to do this again, and I really really would love to, I would practice and almost train before the event to be able to produce the goods."

 

 

 

The long awaited reformation of the battleship-grey, vertical railway-centric, triangular poem construct from Nick Jarvis.

This was a fantastic example of how to adapt, adopt and improve, with some stand-out lines, pseudo-pannelling, Hornby layout nod and hints of sadness, happiness, loneliness, compulsion, boredom and sea shells.

Do forgive my photoshoppin', and do download at full-size to get the full literary hit.

Regards,

Thomas G.J. Sharpe

Please download for full readability!

Copyright 2011 Nick Jarvis

"My work drew on what I took to be the two significant elements of a 24hr Comic – time and a comic style – to create a poem in which the narrative progressed not only as the number of words increased, but also as the poem developed spatially. I told the story in a non-linear fashion: working on a board that was just shy of 1.5m², I started with 3 characters at different edges and then worked inwards as the narrative progressed so that the conclusion of the poem would occur when the three routes met. This spatial progression also represented the physical movement of the characters and the paths they took on their respective journeys to the final meeting point. The back stories for the characters was filled in around these routes, occurring at intervals as thoughts and memories do when one is travelling on a train, waiting in a waiting room, or (with more intensity) wondering how life got so messed up.

The train theme was inspired by a photograph of the Molesworth Arms, which was a public house in Wadebridge where you could catch a bus to the train station"

 

"Working in a public domain without time to think or time to edit was quite challenging for me and began to have some emotional consequences at around 4am. Writing poetry, without a break, for 24hours is certainly not something that a doctor would advise you to do because once the sleep deprivation kicks in and the ideas start to dry up, there’s only one place you can go, and that’s deeper, deeper into the dusty corners of your attic brain to drag up the things you’d rather forget you’d hidden there.

This is, of course, precisely why taking part in something like the 24hr Comic Etc. is an invaluable experience. I found it humbling to reach such a breaking point in a room full of other people, heartening to know that there are people interested in the type of work that such a process would create, and very encouraging to find that I had some resources of style and technique to stop the whole thing from dissolving into a mess!"

Do you have any advice for future participants or anyone who would like to attempt a similar 24hr challenge?

"Don’t be afraid to push yourself, but when the going gets tough, go easy on yourself.

Also, try not to eat your way through the 24hours, it makes your stomach feel a bit weird the next day!"

 

 

 

 

For Thomas' full and unabridged "analysis" of this piece visit his blog here or flavors.me.

Nick Jarvis can be found online in this corner.

Presenting, Jules Barford's 24hr comic, completed at 9.50am on the 14th of January 2011. 

Copyright Julian Barford 2011

"My concept as a documentary photographer was to capture something of the spirit of Wadebridge through a 24 image photographic essay. I Hoped to portray an independent Wadebridge, showing its uniqueness through reduced global homogenisation, so commonly found, I wanted to create an almost medieval narrative out of a set of images I had captured over the course of the day, speaking of detachment from mass manufactured materialism, in favour of the skilled hand crafts still being practiced in Wadebridge."

"I feel the event taught me a lot, through the necessity to complete the project in 24hours I was forced into areas of photography I would have ordinarily shied away from, For example I usually practice very people cantered photography, but as night drew to a close, and people were scarce I had to try more landscapes and contemplative imagery to illustrate the essence of the place. I also learnt how using images in a different way can illustrate the same essential point, but in a less literal and more fictitious narrative."

 Do you have any advice for future participants or anyone who would like to attempt a similar 24hr challenge?

"I would, say have a good night sleep the night before, because even though every intention was for me to get to bed early I didn’t manage to get a great deal of sleep. But generally just embrace it, get out of your comfort zone, try something different, it is a great" opportunity to do so.

 

 

 

For you viewing pleasure; Mr Jack Teagle's 24hr Comic, finished at 9.35am on the 14th of January 2011.

Copyright Jack Teagle, 2011

We strongly suggest you read the comic before you read any further. Spoilers!

 

"The idea behind my work was reflecting part of my life in Cornwall. I was trying to deal with isolation in a funny way. Although it’s only mentioned once in the comic, Wadebridge seemed like a great setting for the comic, a sleepy small town with very little chance of adventure happening in it. The comic mixes the absurd fantasies of a lonely man with some very bleak moments that I think everyone goes through from time to time.

Keith, our hero, tries to escape from his crushingly dull life and lives in Trelawney garden centre after going mad from being laid off. He can’t come to terms with what happened and chooses to shut himself off in a child-like world, which punishes him as much as he enjoys it.

I love contrasting pulp style fantasy and science fiction themes with the mundane slog of everyday life. Both of these things mix with my personal interests and humour well."

 

 

"I learnt a lot more about pacing myself, initial planning and structure. The plot started to fall apart at the end, but I learnt to plan my story instead of diving straight into it.

I also learnt a lot about the balance of black and white on the page, how to keep flow and consistency, and how much text is appropriate for each panel and speech bubble. I would say I am still in the early stages of creating comics, and simply making them gets you used to he format. It looks easy when you read comics, but it does take many, many tries to get things right and the 24 hour comic has helped me to create another finished comic that has built up my skills.

I felt a lot of accomplishment after the event. It felt great to be part of something like this locally. Cornwall can make you feel isolated at times, especially since I work freelance from home, so it was great to see new and familiar faces, who are all creative and passionate about creating narratives. It was really exciting that so many people all got brought together to participate in something like this."

 Do you have any advice for future participants or anyone who would like to attempt a similar 24hr challenge?

"I would have to say planning a story or where you want it to go initially is very important; it helps to get the comic rolling and prevents hesitation.

A lot of people will be afraid of a big white piece of paper, and my advice is to just jump straight in, don’t over think things, don’t try to create an epic masterpiece, it’s fun and it’s a great exercise for ideas generation and drawing practice. Don’t take things so seriously and it should help you to loosen up.

Try not to worry too much about how badly you think the last page went. Just keep going. Time is precious. Try to flesh out your project first and then come back to things you weren’t so happy with when you think you have a little more time. Worrying will only make things worse, and halt you on your mission!"

jackteagle.co.uk

 

 

That's it, we've done it. It's been gruelling, it's been emotional, it's been physically exhausting and creatively taxing. There were times where we stopped making sense and dissolved into fits of desperate hysterical laughter and there have been times were I've watched people stare apparently comotose into mid air as they try to turn the tired cogs of their brain. It's been a lot of fun and very rewarding. We've all learnt a lot about ourselves, each other and the history of Wadebridge. We've all achieved

I sincerely hope that you've had as much fun following our progress and significantly more sleep.

Me and Tom would really like to thank all the participants for their commitment an effort, they were champions every one and the work they've produced has been impressive, exciting, varied and interesting.

Special thanks go to Tim for covering the event, and letting us in on his very witty perception and thoughts. In a way I think it's harder for the writer than it is the rest of us, not least because you have to stare at a computer screen for 24 hours and still make coherant sense.

Phil Rushworth

Here's the final run down!

Ben Wright was the first to finish his comic 'Pigeon Loft' at

There was a time towards the start of the challenge when it looked like Ben was despairing slightly, but he really got into a groove and finished over two hours before anyone else.

That's 24 comic pages in 20 hours and 55 minutes

Sam Bradbury finished his final image of his comic 'The Situation... is Grave' at 9.30am.

You may remember that somewhere around the 12hr mark Sam contemplated starting his comic over after he realised he couldn't possibly finish 24 pages in in the remaining time. In the end he settled on telling his story in 12 images, and they're fantastic. 

The thing is that this challenge isn't about completing or competing against others it's about exploring your abilities and finding our what's possible. Sam's colleges are incredibly intricate, just the preparation of source material is a long process so we think that 12 images is still a massive achievement. The decision meant that we also get a beginning, an end and a conclusion. Hooray!

Sam produced 12 pages in 13 hours. 

Jack Teagle finished his comic 'The Jungle' at 9.35am

Jack had some practice from taking part in The Falmouth 24hr Comic, but he told us that he learnt more this time round which is good to hear. There were quite a few giggles emanating from people reading the hilarious twist in the final few pages this morning.

24 comic pages in 23 hours and 5 minutes. 

Charlotte Williams finished her series of images titled 'The Suspended Deconstruction of '24' at 9.39am

Charlotte was pretty consistent at churning out images, and it's unfortunate that we weren't able to capture the detail in them. Her suspension bridge inspired installation/ display technique was very impressive as well.

We're really looking forward to being able to properly explain Charlotte's narrative concept because it was really interesting. She's also kept track of the different ways she incorporated our favourite number, 24, in all the images.

Jules Barford printed his last photo in his untitled series at 9.50am.

You've seen little snippets of Jules' photos over the last day and night but you've yet to see them as a narrative, which gives them a whole new meaning. He was really inspired by all the independent crafts in the town and we weaved a tale of sorcery, mysticism and anti-mass consumerism around them.

24 photos in 23 hours and 20 minutes. 

Anna Spearman and Francis Williams finished their 24 hour installation/ performance, 'Dreaming of Anneka' at 10.20am

Their approach was very much to embrace the 24hr time period and make that part of their work. They filmed the whole twenty four hour period and we're really looking forward to seeing the final result, and sharing it with you.

24 hours of bridge inspired visual art! 

Nick Jarvis finished his sprawling conceptual poem at 10.30am exactly.

We appreciate that it's been difficult for you guys to actually read Nick's poem from the photo's, and to take it in with all the other photo's we've been bombarding you with but I promise we'll get some really nice quality scans so you can follow it. 

We hope at least you could appreciate the way it changed and mutated over time and the visual concept of the railways and the travel concept.

Goodbye!

And that's a wrap!

Pens down. Cameras down. Scalpels sheathed. The 24Hr Comic Etc. is done.

And now: over to Phil and Tom...

It's been a good twenty minutes until we rang the final bell to mark 24 hours. After an unsurprisingly unenergetic round of applause and a brief moment of giddyness we got back to the important task of documenting the final pieces of work. Everyone finished, which is brilliant, however some people had to finish outside of the original parameters. The important thing is that we have our first 7 completed bodies of exciting work, created in 24hrs. Only 17 to go!

Jack Teagle page 22, finished at 8.41am, page 23, finished at 9.15am, and page 24 and final page finished at 9.35.

That's 24 pages in just over 23 hours!

Sam Bradbury finished his 12th image and his comic at 9.30am on the dot. It's not the full 24 images but it is a completed story, and the intricacies of the images more than make up for the quantity. We haven't seen these in the correct order yet, so that's something to look forward to.

Charlotte Williams' final image and title page, completed 9.39am. That's another 24 images made in just over 13 hours.

Nick Jarvis stage 21, photographed at 9.25am through to stage 24, photographed immediately after the final timer bell went. That's one sprawling kinetic installation poem in 24 progressions and developments in 24 hours! 

And here is a massive massive photo dump of the end of Anna and Frankie's epic suspension bridge construction installation/ performance. There's so much going on with this that we had to take as many pictures as possible as this is the only time-based piece of work and won't exist after today. In fact it's now twenty past 11 and there's much left of it already.

If you're wandering what's going on, Tim wrote a much more comprehensive explanation of the concept last night than anything I could try this morning. Quite frankly I'm having trouble even spelling comprehensive!

Jules Barford also finished his photo narrative at ten to ten this morning with just 40 minutes to go. We'll be bringing his final images to you very shortly, but it will have to wait until we aren't using a dongle and can download bigger files.

Artworks are being finished... artists photographed with their completed artworks... Tom's wandering about snapping people in poses they may regret...

It's all winding down now.

All the signs of a successful event...

And I can honestly say there isn't a piece I haven't become fascinated by over the last 24 hours - if there's anyone I haven't mentioned much, it's only because their work amply tells its own story.

Jules' photos, for instance, once we got to see them: instantly involving - they draw you in, make you imagine a story.

Jack's comic, I hardly wanted to ask him about, lest I spoil the surprise for myself of the next page.

Sam's meticulously layered, fantastically non-sequitur filled collages of joy-inducing fiery doom... Nick's ever-shifting, ever-mutating, criss-crossing, multiply-connecting tale of a man called Molesworth, trains, waiting, love and insistent reminiscence...

Ben's animal deaths and giants and pigeon recipes... The joyous and frequently distracting Challenge Anneka Bridge slowly taking shape on stage...

And Charlotte's precise, minimalist bridge refractions, hanging over the neighbouring table: an increasingly calm, clear haven to stare at whenever the mind needed ordering, straightening, refreshing - or in short, some satisfying elements other than words to try to coherently slot together.

Yes, amazingly, the sleep-deprivation was all worth it!

 

And with that, I shall sign off for today. Phil and Tom will upload for you all the rest of today's photographic goodness...

While I begin looking forward to the next two! (But, erm, I think I might pass on following them over the full, consecutive 24 hours...)