#38: Challenge Yourself! 30 Characters Challenge Post-Script
When was the last time you challenged yourself? When was the last time you set an ambitious, yet achievable goal, and went after it? If it's been awhile, then I challenge you to challenge yourself. You never know what good will come from it.
A little over six months ago, I had a wild idea. I was teaching comics to a class of middle schoolers, and we were doing a lesson on character creation. In that class, these kids were generating dozens of characters on the fly ...silly characters, scary characters, and some that were just plain cool. And you know what? I was jealous.
It had been a while since I allowed myself the freedom to simply create characters. I've been so focused on the nuts and bolts of storytelling and getting my comics done, that it had been a while since I cut loose creatively. So, I came up with an idea- The 30 Characters Challenge. The premise was simple: Create 30 brand new characters in 30 days, one for every day in the month of November. Ambitious, yet achievable. And hey, it sounded like fun.
And because it was a simple premise, and because it sounded fun, I decided to invite others to partake. #30characters30days was one of the first times I really appreciated the power of Twitter to spread a cool idea. While some of the 30 Characters participants were friends and acquaintances, most of the participants were strangers before the challenge, to myself and to one another. We're not strangers anymore, though.
When the challenge kicked off, roughly two weeks after I shared the idea on Twitter, nearly 30 participants signed on. I created a public blog for us to share all of our creations with each other and the world. (If you've never been to the 30 Characters site, go check it out. I guarantee you'll find something you like.) Once the challenge began, the site was flooded with great characters. Writers and artists alike filled the blog with art (quick doodles to fully finished pieces) and character bios. Comments and critiques were shared and a community quickly built around the challenge.
(30 characters created by Art Geek Zoo's Rob Stenzinger. This collage of characters he created during the challenge will be featured in his first book collection,Art Geek Zoo Volume 1: Hidden Talent, coming soon!)
During that month, nearly 600 new characters were brought into the world. Not everyone finished the challenge (but many did.) And everyone who participated had a positive response when it was all said and done.
Here we are six months later. I thought it would be cool to check in with some of the 30 Characters Challenge participants to see if they've done anything of note with any of the characters created during that month. Not surprisingly, there's plenty of cool stuff happening with these creative folks.
Some creators used the challenge to get some much needed character design work done, and at the same time promote their upcoming comics. Dan Govar, writer/artist of Zuda Comic's Azure debuted several new characters for his webcomic during 30 Characters. Pretty much anything I slapped a Zuda logo on will make an appearance in Azure," Dan tells me. "So far, McCallister, Corin, Molochai, the League Scout, League Councilman, and the Medico (though in the background), have all been featured at one time or another. In the next 20 pages we should see the others make strong showings."
Likewise, Caine Dorr used the challenge to continue to build the universe for his new comic The Paladin Brigade, the first eight pages of which are currently in Zuda purgatory. As you can see, the comic is looking good, so here is hoping Caine keeps rolling with it regardless.
Crash! Landen tells me his blog is still getting plenty of hits from people checking out his beautiful artwork on the 30 /30 website. At least one of the 
characters he created during the challenge will be appearing the in pages of a comic he's been hard at work producing.
Other interesting tidbits from 30/30 include:
- James Fairlie told me that his character "Barbie Molrone almost made it into my masters film project. Sadly, he had to be cut for time, but he does make a cameo in the end credits. His voice was kindly provided by fellow 30/30er John Lees."
- Christopher Tupa's character, "Karate Cactus" was used in a 3D business simulation video game prototype. He's been hard at work doing commissions, working on a children's anthology book, and running a podcast at his personal site.
- One of Atombat's 30/30 characters was posted on RedBubble's Print on Demand T-Shirt store and has sold quite a few shirts.
Even creators who have yet to use characters created in the challenge spoke highly of it six months later. "I haven't used any of the characters, but won't rule them out for the future. I thought it was a great exercise to help me think outside my existing characters and develop characteristics," said Rick The Stick's Ken Drab. Ralph Contreras agreed, saying "That was a great and fun challenge! I haven't had a chance to use any of the characters yet, but I'm planning on creating a battle royal webcomic this summer." Eric White hasn't had a chance to do much with his characters yet, but he's doing a great job keeping the Hue Doo Forums in tip-top shape. If you're interested in comic book coloring, definitely check out over there. And Mike Gallagher hasn't used his 30/30 characters yet, but he tells me exposure during the challenge got him a paying comics job. He's doing Closed System, a serialized comic for the speculative fiction magazine Bull Spec. Congrats, Mike!
And as for me, I too have been putting some of the characters created during 30/30 to good use. It's funny, when I started 30/30, I did it with a particular comic in mind, focusing on building up that universe of characters. Near the end of the challenge, I came up with another comic idea and created a few characters for that universe as well. The first comic idea has stalled a bit, while the second has turned into EPIC, and all systems are go. I'm working with artist Matt Zolman on EPIC, and the 30/30 characters work came in really handy in the concept art stage. I passed my 30/30 sketches on to Matt and he put a major polish on them in his style.
The moral of this whole story is simply this: You never know where creativity is going to lead. 30 Characters was just one of many creative challenges out there that provides an opportunity and a focus to stretch creatively. When was the last time YOU really challenged yourself? Challenged your art, your writing, or even yourself physically? Maybe it's time you did. Maybe it's time you found a new challenge and went after it with a vengeance. Hell, maybe it's time you started your own, and invited others to join.
Good luck with it, and let me know how it goes!
Reader's Note: By popular demand, the 30 Characters Challenge WILL happen again this November. It will be bigger, better, more organized and more publicized than last year's event, and I can't wait. Official sign ups and info will be coming in October, but if you want to make sure you're on the mailing list, send me an email at TylerJamesComics@gmail.com and I'll make sure you get all the details. |
Tyler James is a comics creator residing in Newburyport, Massachusetts. He writes and draws Over, a romantic comedy online graphic novel updating every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He also writes Tears of the Dragon, an epic fantasy webcomic. His work has been featured at Zuda Comics, and includes Interrogation Control Element, a political action thriller, and Super Seed, the story of the world's first super powered fertility clinic. When not making comics, Tyler works as a game designer and content producer for a software company.
Contact Tyler directly at tylerjamescomics@gmail.com, keep up with him at his blog, or follow him on Twitter.
Attention Readers: If you enjoy this column, you might be interested in checking out The ComixStreet Recap. It's a new series I've begun where I share and comment on interesting topics, resources, and events relevant to comic creators. The column is bi-weekly, and posts on Thursdays.
Previous Columns
1: Big Goals
2: Resolutions
3: The Great Idea
4: Research Part I
5: Research Part II
6: The Killer Pitch Part I - The High Concept
7: The Killer Pitch Part II - The Synopsis
8: Pay Your Artists
9: Zuda Comics- A Tale of Five Submissions
10: Creating Great Characters Part I (Or Why Wolverine is Everywhere)
11: Creating Great Characters Part II (Or Why Wolverine is Everywhere)
12: Structurally Sound- The Beginning
13: Your Reputation
14: Structurally Sound- The Middle
15: Structurally Sound - The End
16: Your First Con
17: Beat It
18: Memorable Scenes
19: Mailbag
20: Comics Dialogue - Part I
21: Comics Dialogue - Part II
22: Baltimore Comic Con - Part I
23: Baltimore Comic Con - Part II
24: Is It Worth It?
25: The Re-Write Part I
26: The Re-Write Part II
27: The Re-Write Part III
28: Taking Initiative
29: Setting the Table for a New Year of Creating Comics
30: Ready to Script
31: An Artist Ready Script
32: Going All In
33: The Dip and Being the Best in the World
34: Patience Pep Talk
35: Tools You Should Be Using: Viddler
36: Zuda Says No More Competitions
37: Business Mailbag
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