No more pussyfooting around. We’re gonna get some comic projects underway. Today, I pose a challenge to our budding writers and artists. This exercise is designed for beginners who want to try their hand at comic scripting or art based on familiar characters and stories. Challenge – Reinterpret a favorite fairy tale, fable, or nursery rhyme as a short comic. If you’re a writer, get to work on a script, even if it’s just your favorite scene. If you’re an artist, let’s see some character designs, backgrounds, splash pages, or covers. If you’re a hybrid of the two, go full tilt. If my wildest dreams were to come to fruition, there may even be some collaborations amongst the iFanbase. Feel free to take liberties with the original story, but there’s also nothing wrong with a wholly traditional approach. Just tell a great story.
Guidelines – Submit up to 10 pages of scripts, short comics, or art (pdf’s preferred) to paul@ifanboy.com. Submit a project on your own or collaborate with one other person (creative teams shall not exceed two in number). Note that one compelling script page could potentially merit a bigger prize than 10 pages of a lackluster comic. We’re looking for quality first, quantity second.
Feel free to email me any questions.
Subject line – ‘Sequentially Ever After’
Deadline – Friday, May 22, 2009
Prize(s) – One grand prize winner in the writing category will receive a copy of Drawing Words and Writing Pictures: Manga, Graphic Novels, and Beyond from First Second Press. Another grand prize winner in the art category will win a copy of Fables Covers: The Art of James Jean.
Depending on the quality and number of entries, further prizes may be awarded to the runners up. Top entries will be showcased on iFanboy.com during the last week of May.
Discuss, ask questions, and network with potential collaborators in the comments section below. If you’d like to network even further, you might want to meet up in the writer and artist thread on our forums where you can exchange contact information via private message.
For reference, check out the Comic Book Script Archives and Wally Wood’s 22 Panels That Always Work.
Tell your friends. Give it a shot. Even if you only submit a single page. There’s little excuse not to. Please make my job of selecting a winner exceedingly difficult. Bury me in your creativity.
Good luck!
–Paul
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Wow, awesome. I am so in! I’m a budding writer, and this is an absolutely fantastic idea.
I have to give some thought to what I’d like to do, but if anyone would like to collaborate, please contact me at kenny@kennywisdom.com.
Thanks, iFanboys.
Am I eligible?
@Jimski – You are the third staffer to ask. I’m gonna say no, but if you produce something, it will be showcased.
Even now, Josh is embarking on a research study to learn some folk and fairy tales as he apparently doesn’t know of any. So I am told.
Ohh!! First Josh motivates me to pick up a pencil again and now Paul is giving me a swift kick!! I have no excuses. I am seriously going to try my hand at this. Thanks sir!
I have my basic idea now. Came up with it in the shower.
Now to procure some art talent….
And Jimski, you better participate!
Great idea! No excuse not to enter this. Well, there are some excuses, but I hope I won’t use them.
Oh, this looks like fun!
Awesome idea. I think I want to reread some fairy tales before I pick too.
Oh I’m so in. Just called up the old sibling and the brothers Slim are on the case!
Interesting idea.
Huh. I’ve actually done a lot of fairy tale adaptations as short stories, for college courses. I’ve never thought about translating them to the comic book page. That… might actually be a cool idea.
I can draw if anyone needs an artist. I write a bit, too.
Ideas are brewing! this is going to be awesome. I just met a girl who can draw her ass off. SICK!
@DJRustBucket – I couldn’t find a contact for you on your profile, but could you please contact me at kenny@kennywisdomdotcom with samples, if possible?
Thanks again for this contest, iFanboys.
I just wanna let the writers know I am pretty awesome at drawing stick figures.
Also, if there are any fairy tales involving chimpanzees, please let me know & I will write the shit out of it.
I accept your challenge sir! Question though: need it be a well-known fairy tale/nursery rhyme/etc?
@deezer – Whatever you feel is appropriate. It’s up to you.
@WadeWilson – some consider evolution a fairy tale… There has to be at least one chimp in that.
@deezer – A very good question. Any fairy tale, fable, folk tale, nursery rhyme, or legend is applicable. I chose the topic because there is no shortage of short, fantastical stories from any region of the world. Great writers like Mike Mignola have built careers on reworking such stories.
And just to be clear, no points will be added or deducted for using either a popular story (Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood) or an obscure one (Kipling’s Just So Stories, Anansi, something bizarre from the Indigo Fairy Book). Just work on something you enjoy.
Where possible, please send me a link to the story online or a scan of the story from a book. Just so I can post it as a reference. Not a requirement, but it helps. If you feel so inclined, you can include a brief explanation of why you chose it and how you went about adapting it.
woohoo.
I’m there >:o
@kwisdumb: I sent an email your way, dude.
Heh, you know, I wasn’t going to do this because I’ve got so much other writing to get done (as Paul well knows), but the stupid challenge sent my mind spinning, and I actually have a pretty good one. My only problem is that the style works best as something one draws oneself — something in the Jeffrey Brown – Bryan Lee O’Malley spectrum. So, do I attempt a really bad drawing myself? Or do I try to get a cartoony artist? Hmmmm…
Nice. I have never written a script before, but I am so doing this. I have always wanted to learn how to write a proper comic script and this seems like a good way to get some practice in.
@daccampo – Draw it yourself! DO IT! 😀
I’m excited for the contest Though I’m disappointed in the lack of byline for this wee’s column.
Sometimes it’s about the message and not the man. Or the message and not the massage, if you’ll allow.
I will, of course. But I offer the follwoing "Paul Montgomery is a dream catcher currently engaged in Fiield Research." He invites you ot join hm by grabbing a net and grasping at the whisps of whimsyi in thier free radical form in sequential grids."
Good luck all!
I’ll allow it.
I am so in!
I’m a storyboard artist who’s always wanted to do a comic: http://isaacnejakostoryboards.blogspot.com/
I can provide inks and/or colors as well. Hit me up.
This sounds excellent. I’m afraid you’ve probably just damned yourself to being burried under a sea of scripts, but it was a self-damning.
Now to find a good fairy tale to script.
Can we only submit one comic?
Aw crud. Have to add this to the to-do list now. Good thing I already have ideas, thanks for providing the motivation.
Anyone up for drawing Biliblical reinterpretation or should I just stick to Hans Christian Anderson? (I have ideas for both, get in touch haupt@goingtrain.com)
@Jazzlawyer – If my damnation be a moment of mass creation, then stoke the flames.
@chlop – You can submit up to ten pages of content. It can be more than one story, but no more than ten pages total per person or two person team.
Hi there! A. David Lewis here.
You know, this is really intriguing to me. If there was a talented artist hot to get a script for this, I would definitely enjoy putting some writing together…
Contact me at dave at captionbox dot net if that’s you. And, if not, best of luck to the competitors!
Umm, If anyone would like to draw my story, that’d be great. It’s not quite fully developed, but if anyone would be interested I’d be thrilled. If there are any artists willing, please reply, and I’ll give a small sommary
DJRustBucket & kwisdumb are officially throwing their hats in the ring! Yaay.
I have a couple of stories in thought if anybody is willing to draw. This would totally be awesome.
Writers, don’t wait for artists to fall into your lap. Seduce them with amazing pitches. If an artist offers his or her services, contact them with your ideas.
I’d like to again recommend that you try and hook up on our forums. You can exchange contact information privately and artists can post samples of their work. The venue is there for the taking.
Be fruitful and….make comics!
Yet another writer looking for an artist. Here’s some of my past work http://tw-babiez.livejournal.com/741.html#cutid1
I’m thinking… Red Riding Hood with werewolves. And in space. Y/Y??
Your tiny billboards are not enough, my legion of word wranglers! Seek them out! Email those artists!
Sound your barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world! Go out there and get ’em!
Yeah, if you want to earn an artist, you’re gonna have to put some work into it. You can’t hope they come to you.
Work for it people!
I guess I could, like, take my shirt off or something to get an artist. If you’re gunna make me work for it.
Aye aye Captains!
While I’ve never really had aspirations to write in the comic medium… this sounds like a perfect project to be done in sketch books high in the mountains of Utah.
*soft sob*
Um, alright. My first idea is one where the heroes are notorious serial killers, John Wayne Gacy Jr., Jeffrey Dahmer, the zodiac and so forth, and in the future they are regarded as heroes, as these are the people that go back in time and kill those that need to die in order to preserve the utopia of the future. Obviously some of the afformentioned characters wither went insane, or had there legends exagerated, (in my universe that is). I plan to tell my stories in a fairly fairy tale like fasion, but I’m not sure if it would fit the contest, hope so. Oh, and I think that the first one follows Eva Braun, who is sent to kill Hitler.
Also, the disclamer as always is when I am half way through a story, I tend to take it way to seriously, and fail to realize it’s mediocraty. I can only assume this will be the case.
I’m so excited, this looks like fun. I’m thinking something along the lines of an old Buddhist teaching/legend re-told in a modern setting…
Looking for an artist … twitter @Carllee if you’re interested or what to know more.
( Oh, and @spastasmagoria I’m so jealous of your idea, it sounds awesome! )
@Gabe – That’s stretching the requirements a bit. I don’t want to dissuade you from pursuing a story you’re passionate about, but try and start from a fairy tale and build upwards rather than trying to fit another story into the requirements of the contest. Not saying it can’t involve serial killers. Just see if an existing fairy tale or folk tale already has some of the characters and themes you want to play with.
Hope that helps.
@icn1983: I looked at your blog, and man you have some great stuff. I really like your graytones and your colors. I’m already working with Kwisdumb, but I’d love for you to add something to my art (as coloring is difficult for me to wrap my head around). Too bad we can only work in two person teams. Say, Paul, any chance of this rule being lifted? To truly see what your iFanbase is capable of? (Insert puppy-dog eyes here)
Sorry my previous post looks weird.
These things happen…
@PaulMontgomery Alright, fair enough. can’t wait to see all these, once they are done, will people post links?
So I’m guessing a modern day detective story involving Jack and The Beanstalk would be a bit of a stretch as well? I mean I’m going to write that story irregardless for kicks but if I have to write a separate script I have no problem with that at all.
@ALL YOU WRITERS WHO WANT ARTISTS – If you want an artist to take up interest don’t just put what story you’re gonna adapt. Say what you’re gonna maybe change. Maybe come up with what you might want the tone to be.
I’m a bit of an artist but i’m thoroughly aware of my limitations. So to see if i’m interested in doing a project I would kinda wanna know if I have the stylistic chops to handle a particular thing before i get you all excited by saying i’d work with you
Does the writer need to use the artist on all the stories or is it okay to switch artists per story?
Can an artist that’s working with someone else be used as well as long as it doesn’t interfere with that other someone’s project?
Can an artist that has already published something to some extent – physicaly or digitally – be used?
You may pair with one other person. Trying to keep it simple this time around, as it’s the first time we’re trying this.
In the vain hope that someone will wrangle Gary Frank or James Jean to collaborate with in a contest I am judging, I’m leaving it open to all experience levels. It’s a gray area, so I can’t exactly penalize somebody because they’ve done work before. I can’t really track it, and I’d have to make weird judgment calls. The intent of this challenge is for amateurs to try their hand at comic creation, but everybody is welcome. I’m looking at the work produced and not the names attached.
I hope you get a lot of great submissions. This could make a great compilation to sell to you iFanbase.
ARTIST AVAILABLE!
i’m a bit cartoony (for ‘bit’ read ‘quite a lot’)…my influences are Jamie Hewlett, Phil Bond, 2000AD…
check out my work at http://www.myspace.com/drmamboandthefeeb to see if you like it…if you don’t…er…DON’T…
bring it on! woot!
@stew: Damn, dude, your art is incredible! Somebody needs to snatch you up quick! Very impressive work!
current problem:
"I know what I’ll do. I’ll do a retelling of– wait, no; she’s been done better by Willingham in Fables. I guess I could– Nope. Fables. What if I–? Oops, no, Fables."
Etc.
@DJRustbucket: wow thanks man! good to get a positive reaction…i’ve had people turn their noses up at it because it looks ‘cartoony’…to which i reply "it’s a farking CARTOON!"
i reackon we should have a place to post art on here…what say you iFanbase?
@jimski – just rip-off James Finn Garner.
@stew – The best option right now is to post stuff on our forum over at the Rev3 boards (linked in the post).
That art is really nice stew. If your not already taken, I have an idea which would work well with your art.
@P Money – Smashing! Thanks.
@thematthaber – I’ve not been taken yet (‘taken’ makes me feel a bit ‘prostitutey’…and not in a good way)…throw me an e-mail with whatever you’ve got and we’ll see what we can do!
thefeeb@hotmail.co.uk
groovy
Artist acquired.
@Paul. Are we talking straight up adaptations or are reimaginings and retellings fair game as well. For example, a Noir version of the Three Little Pigs.
Also, I’ve got an artist lined up. She’s on my improv troupe and does fantastic drawings of all the members. She’s cartooney, so I’m planning on writing something to fit that.
@Anson17 – if you’re really doing a noir 3 little pigs then now i’m mad. Exactly what i was thinking of doing. I guess I’m gonna have to work that much harder. lol
Who’s going to pick-up the gauntlet and write a Hansel and Gretel story with the kids as nazis? It would be a twist on the familiar – it would make the mother seem the good one and explain why she kicked them out. Anyone?
@Anson – As I said in the post, you can take as many liberties as you like. All I’d suggest is that there should be at least some evidence that it’s based on a fairy tale. Without a whole lot of context, your pitch sounds appropriate though.
Based on the emails I’ve gotten, it looks like there will be a few Three Little Pigs comics. Don’t let that dissuade you from doing one. Just make sure it’s the best one, yeah?
Three Little Pigs as a Twelve Little Indians type of thing? Hmm.
Just as a cautionary note, I hate math.
It sounds better than the persecution analogy – he huffs and puffs and drives the pigs away. You can decide yourself who are the pigs and who is the wolf.
UPDATED: There are now distinct prizes for the writing and art categories. The grand prize for writers is the copy of Drawing Words and Writing Pictures. The grand prize for artists is a copy of Fables Covers: The Art of James Jean. Fairly appropriate, yes?
Just wanted to sweeten the pot since there’s been so much interest.
Forget about that nazi Hansel and Gretel version. Someone should write the incest one instead.
I still didn’t find out what to do with Gretel and I don’t want her to just have sex with her dad and betray him – it’s too forced.
Hansel is 18ish and his step mother falls in love with him and has sex with him, and because they aren’t related they feel it’s okay. The father finds out and leaves home and finds a regular house (no candy on it!) where a nice woman gives him great food and drinks and allows him to spill his guts. Basically having a nice conversation with him.
He beats her head to a pulp and sticks her in the oven – I didn’t figure out how to get there from the first encounter… He does that because of his wife’s betrayal – he was brooding all through the conversation when he recounted the betrayal, and slowly got more and more enraged at the female sex.
Anyone?
that’s rating a 10/10 on the disturb-o-meter
@Paul, Doubt I’ll be doing the Noir 3 little pigs. That was just something off the top of my head as an example. Thanks for reitterating.
Getting A LOT of inquiries about noir interpretations. Very popular genre. Which is fine and perfectly welcome. Just an observation.
The wolf inhaling and sniffing? That could work. The wolf doing lines of coke, the three little piggies trying to get in on the action and open whorehouses, the wolf kills everyone at those whorehouses, but I can’t figure out the punch line – how will they win in the end?
"Fairy tale, fable, or nursery rhyme" — Just curious, are Greek myths off-limits?
Myths are allowed. You can basically do any shorter form story with fantastical elements that exists within the public domain.
Cool. Thanks for the clarification.
This might help people out with ideas:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fairy_tales
Well i’ll throw in my kudos for coming up with the contest, It’s going to be really cool to see so many of the ifanbase indulge their creativity. I’ve got 3 pages of my script done so far and am jumping up and down with glee…which i should probably stop doing before my downstairs neighbors decide to assasinate me…(Sorry Mrs. Beaz)
Sweet moses I’m late! But I have what most people don’t! A buttload of time! =) That and energetic creativity should send me on my way.
I have ten pages of script. I’d like an artist with whom to collaborate. Not, honestly, on the full ten pages — that’s a lot of work in a few weeks! But I’d like a couple of pages, to get a sense of the visual.
The nursery rhyme is:
just so everyone knows i started my mini-comic today so the rest of you might just as bloody well put down your pencils and go home. now.
i’ve put down my pencil…but i’m already at home
umm… this stuff is harder than it looks
Oh, shit, I still have to do this!
I just listened to the podcast and came here and I really have to do this one, too. I have a couple that I’m playing around with now and one that I want to do, but am afraid to because it was also done and published fairly recently. What to do. What to do.
I realize I’m coming to the game a little late, but I’m an artist who would love to collaborate with a writer for this if anyone isn’t paired up yet. If interested, send a description of your idea to tim@entertainingart.com. My portfolio at http://www.entertainingart.com
Oh, hey, I think I came down with an idea (and I use that phrase advisedly). I’ll see if I can beat it into script form in 12 days.
My artist is working on the pencils right now. I’ve had so much fun with this.
I so want to show off he pages I’ve seen. Not yet though…they’re not done.
Shifting this project to my primary focus. Already have a good head start and I’m excited to finish it up! I can’t wait to see some of the other submissions too.
Already got my outline for the script. I’m pretty certain nobody is interpreting the story I have. I’m getting anxious to finish this now.
Just sent my script to DJ Rust Bucket. 😀
Less than a week to go! Make me proud!
Well I had writer’s block not too long ago but found a way around it:
Just so everyone knows, in case of writer’s block it never hurts to have a look at great works (eg: Sandman or Dark knight Returns), it may just inspire more ideas.
God im behind in writing. I have been so dam busy. 3 days left, 5 more pages to go. Hope i can do this.
Well, nervous as I is my entry pdf is in… Hopefully neither the writer nor artist’ll get too mauled 🙂
We’re wrapping things up. Probably submit tomorrow! Thanks guys, this has been so fun.
well, i blew this hell out of this deadline. it may be done by May 22 2010
Consequentially ever after.
I just sent me script. I am very disappointed with the last 5 pages. I really rushed those pages. But at least I finished the script:)
@peekay – No one’s going to maul you. This is about getting stuff done, and learning to be better. For everyone. You submitted something, and that right there is an accomplisment already! Good work.
@matthaber – Anyone who gave this a shot earned major respect. I haven’t read your submission yet, and if you want to take another crack at the last few pages, you still have a little bit of time (depending on your own schedule of course). If you want to, you can send a second draft by Saturday morning. I’m giving everybody until 9AM EST to send first or revised drafts. If you have other obligations, I totally understand. Just wanted to put it out there. Don’t sweat it.
@paul- I got a pretty busy week so I wont be able to really do any rewrites any time soon.
But still, Over the summer for fun, I will turn my short story into a 22 page One shot. There was a lot of ideas I came up with which I couldn’t fit in the 10 page story.
So I finished my entry. Now, is there an easy way to get my bunch of PNGs into a PDF in the right order? The only way I can find are the Printers that you pretend print to and it creates a PDF, but I can’t choose an order if I just select all my PNGs and "print" to it. Do I HAVE to, like, open them up in OpenOffice and make a doc with all of them in the right order? There just really has to be something simpler that I am too tired or hopped up on mtndew voltage to see right now :L
I’ll accept .jpgs too.
Bebop and I submitted ours last night, thanks again guys. This has been a blast all month! I’d never tried to translate something to the comic medium, it really makes you think about what works in writing may not work in comics and vice versa.
@Paul – I can put them all in a .zip if that works for you. They are clearly titled to indicate they order and all that.
@sgrsickness – That works.
Lots of art coming in the past couple days! Awesome!
Just finished and sent it. isnt a perfect story but I am glad I did it. YEA FOR CHALLENGES!
Color pages trickling in…
Yes, I went all out. On the other hand, I’m not eligible to win anything. Don’t tell the team that, shhh!
BURIED IN CONTEST ENTRIES!!!!!
Well sent mine in! Off to bed now…
Wow, I actually finished mine before 3 am.
HA! DONE.
@Paulm:
Thanks Paul 🙂 Have fun reading all of the entries and cheers for sorting out the compo in the first place. Guessing I’m not the only one who’s feeling inspired to carry on even though the comp’s closed…
Wow, I just stayed up all night to finish this script. I think it turned out pretty well for a first attempt. I can’t wait to see what everyone else came up with.
@peekay: This contest definitely inspired me to keep writing. It was a lot of fun. I hope Paul gets the chance to do a ton of these, I’d enter every time.
Man, I have a task ahead of me. The iFanbase shattered all expectations. Good work, people!
Awesome. I hope there is some way that you can show off some of the different comics people made. I’m really curious as to what everyone did.
I’d like to see more compos, definitely, although I can’t say I’d enter every one as time was tight with this one as it was… But it was a blast to do anyhow.
That said I do hope we get to see everyones work as well… Although in ways that’s a mixed thing. I sent in art and an outline of how the story would go, ending and all, which in retrspect was a bit excessive. Maybe a future competition could be something where artists make images on a given theme and then writers take the images and make a story out of it? Sort of like a remixing event?
Anyhow: top stuff and looking forward to seeing what the ifans came up with.
After the last week, I don’t think I’ll be as harsh as I used to be on funnybook makers when their books are late.
Yeah, I hope there are more contests on the horizon because this was great fun. Do you know when you want to announce the results? And will we get to see everyones entries? Though I imagine figuring out how to allow all of us to view them easily (If only for the apparent large amount of entries?)
Regardless, I’ll have mine up to look at when the stuff is announced for others interested to see and I hope others find ways to share theirs 🙂
obviously mine requires ALOT of revision so that’s what I’m in the process of doing since I’m a darn perfectionist. Also I think once it’s done I’ll give the final product to a willing artist.
So – he’s got his hands on loads of scripts and the email addresses of eager new creators… Could this be the launch of Paul Montgomery Comics Inc.?!
That is diabolical…
I sent mine in like Wednesday, and was actually very happy with the results. I would have loved to see it be drawn, but I didn’t have the time to find someone….but it’s a finished script, and the first time I’ve ever written a succinct, finished story. It felt good.
I submitted mine on Friday – also my first ever comic script and first piece of fiction for 16 years! Much harder than I’d imagined; I think the main thing I learned was to keep everything concise; I had this whole big back-story figured out, which – whilst interesting – didn’t add to the actual story I was trying to tell. I found myself editing and cutting out extraneous information on every page.
I’m going to do some more work on the script and would definitely be up for another challenge.
I can wait to see how this turns out! Our submission is already posted in a few corners of the internet which I’d be glad to share with everyone assuming that it doesn’t break any contest rules. Good luck everyone and don’t stop making comics just because the contest is over!
We’ll never expect rewards for curing patient x, especially since she only has several months to live. Fuck the odds!