In my last post, I shared the results of my Hourly Comic Day. I’ve been a mere husk of a person ever since, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence. So, massive kudos to everyone who did it, and a regretful ‘nuh-uh’ to the nice friends who have suggested I should do something similar every day.
I wanted to post a few of the brilliant Hourly Comics by other people. You might remember that in a low point during my own day, I drew myself wibbling over how professional other people’s entries looked. Well, here are the superb comics that made me feel that way.
Feel free to leave me a comment if I’ve missed anyone.
Joe Decie
Joe’s local to my hometown of Brighton and Hove. His pictures are unusually ‘fine art’ for a cartoonist, and they often contain a delicate seasoning of surrealism. Here’s his entry in full. I notice that, as a concession to the nature of the day, he’s gone for pencilled panels rather than his usual watercolour, but just look at how adept they are.
Gemma Correll
Gemma is a new artist to me, but, joy, she has a massive archive of daily comics just ready for perusal. I love this crowded but utterly clear and cohesive style. Also, I can relate about the dip pens.
Boum
All right now, what do I know about Samantha Leriche-Gionet (aka Boum)? Absolutely nothing: I discovered her stuff via Tumblr and the mighty #hourlycomicday hashtag. And I immediately liked her stuff because it deals, truthfully, with those weird months when you have a young baby in the house. Here’s the whole bunch from Boum’s day.
Ah! There’s an About page. Montreal. Cheese. Marvellous.
Dan Berry
My last two picks seem rather redundant – I get the feeling that they are most people’s gateway to Hourly Comic Day (in the UK at least?).
Certainly they were key players in stirring up interest, tweeting and blogging and linking and still having time to complete their own entries.
Here’s Dan’s work. Perhaps I won’t feel so bad about how polished it looks, given that he’s both a published illustrator and lecturer on comics. Oh and he also produces Make It Then Tell Everybody which is a great podcast where he just chats to all kinds of cartoonists, a different one every week. I listened to all of them without stopping while I was doing my last collage, and I didn’t even feel like I’d over-indulged.
Sarah McIntyre
Sarah draws a LOT anyway, and managed to complete this *while working to a tight book deadline*. You can see her full day here. I love following her blog because she’s always dashing around meeting people, drawing stuff, running workshops and dressing up in wild costumes. Looks like a fun life to me.
Lucy Knisley
As far as I can tell, Lucy didn’t participate this year, but her stuff from previous years is exquisite enough that it definitely deserves your attention.
One more thought
If I ever had the feeling that comics was a dying art (clue: sometimes I did), Hourly Comic Day completely disabused me of that notion. I have no idea how many participants there were, but (possibly due to my harried and borderline hallucinogenic state by the end of the day) it felt like immeasurable hordes.
Myfanwy Tristram 