BELLOWS FALLS — Get your coffee, tea, or favorite caffeinated beverage ready: Local artists and storytellers who want to test their creativity and push their artistic limits are invited to the Rockingham Free Public Library for this year's 24-Hour Comics Day Challenge.
The day of extreme cartooning allows 24 straight hours for amateur and professional cartoonists of all ages to challenge themselves to write, draw, and letter an entire 24-page comic in 24 hours.
Create your comics traditionally or digitally. The RFPL will provide outlets for anyone depending on electricity to create their comic.
This year's 24-Hour Comics Day Challenge starts at midnight on Saturday, Oct. 4, and ends at midnight on Sunday, Oct. 5.
If you don't feel ready for the full 24 hours, sign up for the Four-Hour Comics Day Challenge to create a four-page comic in four hours.
The Four-Hour Comics Day Challenge will also be held on Oct. 4, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Creating comic art can be lonely work; 24-Hour Comics Day provides an opportunity to stretch creative muscles and get invigorated by working alongside a group of fellow artists.
According to Youth Services Librarian Sam Maskell, this is RFPL's first year participating in the Worldwide 24-Hour Comics Day.
“Although some really cool comics have been created as part of the 24-Hour Comics, making an awesome comic is not the end goal. The real goal is to take on this creative exercise and have fun trying. You might surprise yourself,” Maskell says.
The event, all about sharing the love of comic book creation, draws in creators young and old, experienced and novice. Don't let a lack of experience or materials keep you away - participants have been as young as 7 and have used supplies ranging from a box of crayons to top-of-the-line drawing pencils.
Professional comic book creators have taken on the 24-hour challenge too, including Neil Gaiman (“Sandman”), Erik Larsen (“Savage Dragon”), Stephen R. Bissette (“Swamp Thing”), and 24-Hour Comic Day founder Scott McCloud (“Zot!,” “Understanding Comics.”)
The RFPL will make basic supplies available but encourages participants to bring favorite supplies with them.
In 2011, more than 2,000 professional and amateur cartoonists around the world took the 24-Hour Comics Day Challenge.
Artists who complete the challenge may submit copies of their comics to be included the official 24-Hour Comics Collection hosted by Ohio State University's Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.