Continual Comic Sketchbooks

[Ben Sutter]

Hi! This is Ben Sutter, from Dayton, Ohio. In attending design classes at Sinclair Community College, I often grow quite bored. So, one fortunate afternoon, I was looking at a brand-new sketchbook and wondering about it's potential.

(NOTE: I fill sketchbooks at an extremly rapid pace. Like, one 240 page book in three months.)

Instead of drawing something of my own, I thought, "How to breed creativity?". I wrote a title down and gave it to my friend, Andy, and said, "Draw a comic."

My. God.

It has been about two months (started on 11/4/2003), and there are a solid 48 pages of comics (averaging 3 a page), with a total of, get this, TWENTY artists and title-writers. Even completly art-deviod people have jumped in and scribbled a comic that can make me laugh. The subject matter ranges from cute to disgusting. It is amazing.

To make one, write a title. From then on, everyone who draws a comic makes a title for the next artist/writer, with no doubles (that is, no artist writes his own title.) This is clearly an idea I subconciously ripped from Scott McCloud, and I'm wondering if anyone else has implemented an idea like this. i don't have e-mail (yeah, yeah, I'm doing this at school, too) but any posts will be noted and appreciated.

[Tim Mallos]

Hey Ben!

Your idea is more Scott-like than you know. One of the exercises in Scott's class... www.fifthdigit.com/comics (Check out MCAD Journal)...he had us each write a title and then pass the paper to a neighbor. I think it was a 15 minute exercise. The comic I scrawled in class was fun, if not entirely clear - www.fifthdigit.com/brushwithdeath

I just happened to have it up per Sara's request.

Comics are so much fun, and, as you point out, so acessible to so many people once we all get over our "I can't draw" hang-ups.

Tim

[Ben Sutter]

How patient is Scott with wannabe artists? I was thinking of showing him the book (it's improved since the first post) at the Wexner Center on the 11th of Febuary. If his daily blog is any indicator, he might well enjoy the hilarity. i would just feel... oppressive if me and my friend walked up and said, "Lookit this! Now! You like, yes?!". or something like that.

[Tim Mallos]

In my experience, Scott is very interested in encouraging all of us wanna-bes. If he possibly has the time (and often when he doesn't) he'll stop and chat.

He does frequent this board, you might intorduce yourself here and ask him yourself before the event.

I think your odds are better on this board than sending him an email (I get the sense that he gets a couple googleplex emails a day)

Tim

[Ben Sutter]

Well, then? Scott, if you can read this, what do you say? I'm just a guy with a few comics and a lot of ideas. I'd love to have a website, and I'm attending design school for the priciple reason to fund a comic-creator's lifestyle. If you could look at a few of these (seriously good, even by my standards) comics, it would mean a lot. (Of course, if you never see this message, no hard feelings!)

I do look forward to seeing you speak, though. From Dayton, I probably have a way shorter drive than you do. Thanks for making the trip!

?Sutter

[Scott McCloud]

Bring 'em by, Ben. I'll be happy to take a look!

[Ben Sutter]

Excellent. Sorry for the? uh? delayed reply, but like I might have mentioned, I have to be at school to even look at this message board. Me and the second largest contributer to the book will definately be there.

[Ben Sutter]

Wow. The talk at Ohio Sate was great. Very humorous, very informative. However, I will now give my take on:
"What the hell were we rushed for?"
Ha ha? sitting in the second row, me and my friend Tony (5 entries in the book) talked to two ladies who seemed very nice. Later on however, they seemed very desperate (EXTREMELY desperate) to get the thirtysomething out of the Wexner Center and onto the streets! Now, Scott was taking his time and giving everyone his full attention for a few minutes, which is great, but these two ladies (Who might be important(Who hopefully aren't reading this)) kept on announcing (I thought) hilarious things!
"Please have your books ready to be signed when you get to Scott!"
Ohhh? really?
"We have to be leaving in 15 minutes, or we'll miss dinner!"
Heh. I see. Well, I gues I couldn't argue Scott eating(or the ladies eating, for that matter), But it would have been nice if they could have allowed time for overzealous fans such as ourselves to interact.
Thanks, Scott. I'm not bitching. I just thought it was funny. [/b]

[Kris Lachowski]

yeah i thought it was sort of funny and unfourtunate the way every one including Scott was urgeed to rush, but the other side of the story is probably that there are many people who work at the Wexner Center who wanted to be able to get home sometime that night, quite possibly those ladies included. I wasn't there when the ladies were saying it was going to close in 15 min and also that they're miss dinner, but it sort of sounds like they had also made reservations somewhere to take Scott out to eat. So there were alot of factors weighing in on those (I'm sure kind) women. I work at a Super Market Deli and I can't stand it when I have to stay alot later than usual passed closingbecause customers kep comming and comming past the time i should be shutting everything down and washing everything, and I'm sure there were many people working there in like the book shop and at the desks and stuff who (as crazy as it sounds) reaqlly had little to no intest in Scott McCloud and just wanted to get home.

Wow that was a long post. i hope it makes sense because I'm in a hurry and don't really have time to reread it.

[Ben Sutter]

Oh! I wasn't complaining! I just saw the look in their faces, the urge to leave, the passion that surrounded them like an aura of? HUNGER! Would I keep Scott (or anyone) from going home or to eat? No. This is cruelty. It was simply the manner it was conducted I thought was amusing. Really.

[Ben Sutter]

Anyway, update on the sketchbook, as of Feburary 16th, 2004:

Twenty-six artists (or at least contributers, all are not really artists?)

186 comics and titles

67 pages filled

and nine requests to get the damned thing published (which I don't really see happening, although some online exposure would be more than possible in the future.)

Seriously, to publish this book would be a legal, monetary, and printing NIGHTMARE. But, if it does get around to that point in popularity (I use the term loosly and probably incorrectly?), I'll deal with it then.

Thanks for caring!
?Ben

[Ben Sutter]

Another update, just to show how design classes can kill your sense of art.

A single month later, there are:

Twenty-six artists (we're running short on them, lately.)

220 comics and titles (90 of them mine, 72 of them Andy's, 15 of them Pat's, the rest by 23 other people?)

85 pages filled (to be honest, there are 6 pages worth of "commercial breaks" to display these kinds of stats within the book itself")

And thirteen publishing requests. if there are any laywers out there who would advise me on how to take 26 people's art and writing and get them published, while excluding certain comics, but including their titles, but...
I guess I'll put it off until page 110 (the last one).

Start one at your school! You know you want to!

[Ben Sutter]

And, on April 2rd, 2004, the 27th artist added a comic to page 86.

Cerebus's Dave Sim, using the title, "That Woman is In Denial About the 10-Foot Monster Living in her Basement". Uh-oh. His comic is a woman, coldly saying, "I'm? WHAT?". Good stuff.

Another thing about SPACE (Small Press Alternative Comics Expo) that I thought funny, was that Dave Sim was placed directly opposite of a "Friends of Lulu" display. Humerous fate, I suppose.