Hourly Comics Day 2014!

[JezMM]

 

Step 1:

On Saturday, February 1st, draw a small comic every hour that you are awake based off something you did within that hour.

 

Step 2:

Post them in this topic for all to admire.

 

Step 3:

Rub your face all over your monitor to soak up all the admiration, cleansing pores and reducing wrinkles in the process.

 

This was a ton of fun last year and a whole bunch of people gave it a go!  Why didn't you?  Because you're terrible!

What's that?  You did give it a go?  I don't believe you, do it again!

 

with everyone's efforts neatly organised into the OP for your reading pleasure.

 

Want more information?  Click the spoiler box below for a handy copy-pasted from last year's topic FAQ!

 

What is Hourly Comics Day?
 
On Feb 1st, artists and non-artists alike are invited and encouraged to journal their day by drawing a simple comic for something that happened on each hour of the day they are awake.
 
Is this the same as 24 Hour Comics Day?
No, 24 Hour Comics Day involves creating an original, 24 page long comic within the time limit of 24 hours.  Hourly Comics day only needs to be as long as you want it to be.
 
How big do these hourly comics have to be?
Each hourly comic can be anywhere between 1 and 1 million panels (if you are some kind of comic generating diety).  The most popular format tends to just be 2 or 3 panels per hour.
 
Does it all have to be done on the day?
It's a fun challenge to try and have the comics complete and online by the end of the day but there is no time limit.  You don't "lose" by organising and uploading your comics after the day.  It's not unusual for people to doodle comics roughly each hour and then redraw them cleanly later on when they have access to their preferred tools.
 
Do hourly comics have to be funny?
Not at all!  If you want to poke fun at the events that happened or put a comedic spin on them to entertain your reader go ahead, if not your comic will still be an interesting insight on your life for friends and acquaintances.
 
Can I use a fancharacter or such to represent myself if I don't want to draw myself?
It's your comic, do what you like!  But uhh... try to keep it grounded to your real life happenings, straying too far from reality kind of misses the point of the activity (even though I'm sure doing pretend hourly comics for a fictional character would be an interesting creative activity in its own right).
 
Do I post up a comic hourly or post them all together at the end when I'm done?
Whichever you prefer.  Personally I prefer to do it all together at the end as it keeps the reader in your life and ensures they're unlikely to forget details from earlier on in your day if they become relevant again later on.  Of course you could always post in batches of a few comics at a time too, whatever you want!
 
What if I can't draw very well?
I don't care make a comic.
 
My life isn't interesting at all though!
I don't care make a comic.
 
But I have a ton of stuff to do that day!
Perfect!  Make a comic.

 
Need an example?  Katie T of Awkward Zombie fame tends to do these every year, check out one of hers here.  Of course, unlike last year, we now have a whole topic of examples, so

 

I realise I made this topic pretty early this year, I imagine it'll go dead for a week or two, but a good heads-up is always nice for some folks.

[Uraraka]

wow, I definitely want in!I work for an hour or so on Saturday though, can I write the hour comic for the hour I was at work after I get home? or does it have to be within the hour?

[JezMM]

wow, I definitely want in!I work for an hour or so on Saturday though, can I write the hour comic for the hour I was at work after I get home? or does it have to be within the hour?

 

No time limits at all, I usually just note down my comic ideas and then do 3 or 4 at a time every few hours.

[Emperor Robrainiac]

I'll do it! I actually just thinking about this, wondering what I might be doing on this day. It's hard to say at this point, but I might just use my Robrainiac character in place of me instead of drawing myself as a bishonen-looking guy like I did last year. 

 

seriously, why the hell did I do that?

 

It'll be pretty fun drawing an over sized mechanical alien doing all the useless crap I do on that day. XD

[Space☆Tomoki]

I want to partake in this event, I just hope I don't forget about it, which is what happened last year with the 24 hour comics event, sadly. Sounds like a lot of fun, though! I'll turn my dull, static life on the internet into something more interesting in the form of comics, hopefully!

[Zaysho]

As someone who jumps on and off the journal comics train (shameless plug), this sounds like something up my alley. I'll be shocked if I get up to much to justify doing an hour-by-hour strip, but, dammit, I'll give it my best shot.

[gala]

I'm going to give this a go.

 

Prepare for the most boring comic you've ever seen!

[Cola]

I WILL CHRONICLE MY QUEST TO BECOME AN ULTIMATELY DECENT ARTIST

[no one]

Comic every hour? What if my comics take more than an hour?

[The Egg WAH]

I like the sound of this, have seen other people like Awkward Zombie doing hourly comics, looking at the date though it'll be on a Saturday and my Saturdays tend to only consist of playing video games but I'll try and make it interesting if I take part

[JezMM]

Comic every hour? What if my comics take more than an hour?

 

Then you're probably taking too long to do them.  They only need to be 1-3 panels or so, and they don't have to be masterpieces.  If it takes you more than 5-10 minutes to draw a panel you're probably putting too much detail in for the sake of a journal comic.  Check out last year's examples (even just the preview images in 2013's OP give you a glance at the level of detail people drew in).

 

As said, there's no time limit, so some people just doodle things and then compile/redraw them after the day and post them later on.  Though with the genre of journal comics, often less is more when it comes to art style.  But it's your comic of course, if you want to put a ton of time and effort into the art, no-one's the boss of you!

[spinny]

Sounds fun, guess I'll give this a shot!

 

 

 

no i wont forget the date this time >:U

[ProfessorZolo]

Hm. I meant to try this the last time it showed up. Or maybe that was the 24 hour thing. I dunno.

Either way, sounds like fun!

[C4k3]

No promises from me, but I'll see if I can muster up the willpower to have a whack at this. Might actually get me out of my drawing slump.

[Xtremer Sadiqachu]

How does this work, do I just draw a comic and post it? OK I'm in

[Gabz Girl]

I missed this last year, so I will definitely join in! It sounds fun, I can finally draw my furry self going about daily Saturday business AND I haven't doodled a comic in ages! =3

 

Oh umm..do we post our comics the very next day?

[JezMM]

How does this work, do I just draw a comic and post it? OK I'm in

 

There's an FAQ that answers this.  Check last year's topic for an example of how this one will prolly go.

 

I missed this last year, so I will definitely join in! It sounds fun, I can finally draw my furry self going about daily Saturday business AND I haven't doodled a comic in ages! =3

 

Oh umm..do we post our comics the very next day?

 

You can post them on the day as you make them, at the end of the day in bulk, or the next day if you prefer.  There's no time limits on this, some people will post theirs as much as a week later if they only had time to doodle quick ideas on the actual day.

[no one]

So the basic idea is just make fun comics? Even if they're nonsensical? This sounds funnnn.

[Danj86]

Is it that time of year already?

 

I'll gladly take part again, it was fun. With the early announcement, I can try to complete some other stuff. I'm behind on my work and wanted to make a spectacular comeback (artistically) this year.

[JezMM]

So the basic idea is just make fun comics? Even if they're nonsensical? This sounds funnnn.

 

Not just any old comics - they have to be journal comics - starring you (or a representation of yourself like a fancharacter if you prefer) and what you did that day.  You can of course exaggerate or put a spin on things to make them funnier if you want to, (though they don't have to be funny either) but they should be somewhat grounded in reality and what you did in real life.

[ProfessorZolo]

I was thinking.

...Doesn't this mean we'll basically be writing comics about writing comics? :V

[Milo]

Meant to try this last year but I missed it. Also have been jumbling ideas in my head that I'd like to experiment with them in comic form.

 

Hopefully when this rolls around I will have less on my plate than I did last year.

[JezMM]

I was thinking.

...Doesn't this mean we'll basically be writing comics about writing comics? :V

 

Haha almost everyone last year had a strip where it was just them looking at everyone else's.  They take up less of your time than you'd think though.  It's why I PERSONALLY prefer to do 3-4 at a time, rather than spend my day being constantly interrupted by 10 minutes of comic drawing, and dividing my day up into seperated hours of worrying about finding something comic-worthy to do for 50 minutes.  If you just live your day out as normal and just draw your hourlies in small batches when you have downtime, you'll probably find them much easier.  Another tactic is like Katie does in many of her ones on Awkward Zombie - these days she rarely even acknowledges that she's drawing the hourlies in the comics, just literally journalling everything that happened OTHER than the hourlies.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

I'm planning to give it a go, specialy if I manage to get my technique up a bit by then XD

[no one]

Ah, okay, so lemmie make sure I got his down...

 

February 1st, we draw a comic once an hour, doesn't have to be funny, just is a "visual journal" of that particular hour, panel count doesn't matter, stylized however we choose?