5/30 and 5/31/07 CCP Videos

Four new videos have been uploaded to YouTube:

Video 1 - The introduction to the final CCP session, where I explain what "Shine or Die" is all about.

Video 2 - An ad for Moosey Moose and Gosh by Zenon.

Video 3 - Another ad for Moosey Moose and Gosh.

Video 4 - A panning video from the final CCP workshop.

The only videos left are from the Comic Making Tournament.

5/24/07 Workshop Photos (for real)

For some reason, my last attempt to add the photos from the 5/24 Workshop didn't work, probably due to Comic Genesis's server issues. This time they're there.

I've also updated the gallery pages to make navigation a little easier by including a second bar.

Site Updates

The About, FAQ, and Links pages of the comic site have all been updated.

The About page has been updated to include the end date of the CCP and a couple more links to CCP related material on the web. The FAQ page has been redone so only sections of questions are shown rather than the whole thing at once. I also updated several of the answers provided to reflect current events. Finally, I added "Tracy and Tristan" to the Links page (finally).

CCP on DevArt

I've finally begun uploading comics to the Create a Comic Project's DeviantArt account:

http://createacomic.deviantart.com/

I'm only uploading the hand drawn comics by my students, to avoid any copyright troubles. In the case of original comics, it's likely they'll be posted there first before appearing on the ComicGenesis website. So be sure to check in on it regularly.

Template Schedule: Tournament

Note that Short form Original and Long form Original used no comic templates, so they're not included below.

Warm-up:

Krakow
Penny Arcade
Shortpacked

Short form Pre-drawn:

Krakow
Penny Arcade
Rob and Elliot
SGVY
Shortpacked
Something Like Life

Long form Pre-drawn:

Krakow
QC

Speed:

And Shine Heaven Now
Chugworth
Faking Life
Ghastly's Ghastly Comic
Krakow
Mac Hall
Okashina Okashi
Penny Arcade
QC
Rob and Elliot
Resident Phreaks
SGVY
Shortpacked
Something Like Life
Tsunami Channel
Tracy and Tristan
Venus Envy
xkcd

Template Schedule: Workshops

5/3/07:

And Shine Heaven Now
Chugworth
Krakow
Okashina Okashi
Penny Arcade
Questionable Content
Resident Phreaks
SGVY
Shortpacked
Something Like Life
Tsunami Channel

5/10/07:

And Shine Heaven Now
Chugworth
Ghastly's Ghastly Comic
Krakow
Okashina Okashi
Penny Arcade
QC
SGVY
Shortpacked
Something Like Life
xkcd

5/24/07:

And Shine Heaven Now
Chugworth
Krakow
Mac Hall
Okashina Okashi
Penny Arcade
QC
Rob and Elliot
Shortpacked
Tracy and Tristan

5/31/07:

And Shine Heaven Now
Krakow
Okashina Okashi
Penny Arcade
Shortpacked

Template Schedule: May

5/2/07:

And Shine Heaven Now
Resident Phreaks
Shortpacked

5/9/07:

And Shine Heaven Now
Dr. McNinja
Okashina Okashi
SGVY
Shortpacked
Something Like Life
Return of Stickman
Tsunami Channel
Tracy and Tristan
Unshelved
xkcd

5/23/07:

And Shine Heaven Now
Krakow
Mac Hall
Okashina Okashi
Penny Arcade
QC
Rob and Elliot
SGVY
Shortpacked

5/30/07:

And Shine Heaven Now
Chugworth
Faking Life
Krakow
Mac Hall
Okashina Okashi
Penny Arcade
QC
Shortpacked
xkcd

Template Schedule: Apr

4/4/07:

And Shine Heaven Now
Dr. McNinja
Okashina Okashi
Penny Arcade
Questionable Content
Venus Envy

4/11/07:

And Shine Heaven Now
Chugworth
Krakow
Okashina Okashi
Penny Arcade
QC
Resident Phreaks
SGVY
Tsunami Channel
Venus Envy

4/18/07:

And Shine Heaven Now
Chugworth
Dr. McNinja
Krakow
Okashina Okashi
QC
Resident Phreaks
Tsunami Channel

4/25/07:

And Shine Heaven Now
Dr. McNinja
Krakow
Shortpacked
Something Like Life
Return of Stickman

Template Schedule: Mar

3/7/07:

Chugworth
Krakow
Mac Hall
Okashina Okashi
QC

3/14/07:

Chugworth
Faking Life
Krakow
Okashina Okashi
QC
Venus Envy

3/21/07:

Chugworth
GGC
Krakow
OO
Penny Arcade
QC
Rob and Elliot
Tsunami Channel
Venus Envy

3/28/07:

Chugworth
Krakow
Mac Hall
Okashina Okashi
Penny Arcade
QC
Rob and Elliot
Tsunami Channel

Template Schedule: Feb

2/7/07:

And Shine Heaven Now
Okashina Okashi
Questionable Content
Tsunami Channel

2/21/07:

And Shine Heaven Now
Dinosaur
Krakow
Mac Hall
Okashina Okashi
Penny Arcade
Questionable Content
SGVY
Tsunami Channel

2/28/07:

Okashina Okashi

Template Schedule: Jan '07

1/3/07:

And Shine Heaven Now
Okashina Okashi
Questionable Content
Venus Envy

1/10/07:

Chugworth
Faking Life
Ghastly's Ghastly Comic
Krakow
Mac Hall
Okashina Okashi
Penny Arcade
Questionable Content
Tsunami Channel
Venus Envy

1/24/07:

Chugworth
Okashina Okashi

1/31/07:

Chugworth
GGC
Krakow
Okashina Okashi
QC

Template Schedule: Nov-Dec

Some of you may be curious as to when certain templates will be appearing on the site. I started out with a handful of different templates and then expanded over time. This series of posts will tell you the comic templates I used at each session, so you know what's scheduled to appear.

11/29/06:

Chugworth Academy
Dinosaur Comics
Okashina Okashi
Questionable Content

12/6/06:

Chugworth
Dinosaur
Okashina Okashi
Questionable Content
Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki
Tsunami Channel

12/13/06:

Okashina Okashi
Penny Arcade
Questionable Content
SGVY
Tsunami Channel

12/20/06:

And Shine Heaven Now
Chugworth
Ghastly's Ghastly Comic

12/27/06:

Chugworth
Okashina Okashi
Questionable Content
Tsunami Channel

The Numbers Game Part 7: Create a Comic Project Summary

With the tournament stats completed, I can now post the final numbers of the entire CCP:

Total comics produced: 2003 (would've been funnier if it'd been 2007, heh)
Average comics for the 24 sessions, 4 workshops, and tournament: 69

Total number of templates used: 662
Average number of comics per template: 3.03
Number of templates without any comics: 2 (I forgot to print out one Krakow and one Shortpacked template)

Hours logged at the New Haven Public Library: ~80
Hours logged at the Dixwell-Yale Community Learning Center: ~16
Hours logged for the Comic Making Tournament: 7
Total hours spent on the CCP: 103

And that's not even accounting for the time spent writing the lesson plans, creating the templates, and organizing the tournament! Nor does it include time spent on the website. Still, it was time well spent.

The CCP has been a fantastic project and I'm sad it's over. The comic project was simple in its design and implementation, but delivered near infinite variety of play. The amount of participation I got was amazing - many of these kids improved in their English skills without ever feeling bored. The CCP truly has the potential to be a great youth literacy activity that can be done around the world.

The Numbers Game 6: The Comic Making Tournament

I finally finished tallying up the comics for the Comic Making Tournament, held on 6/2/07. There were five events plus a warm-up as an introduction.

Warm-up: 10
Short form Pre-drawn: 15
Short form Original: 20
Long form Pre-drawn: 33
Long form Original: 8
Speed: 277

Total comics produced: 363

The tournament nearly produced more comics than the four week workshops! Speed was the biggest generator (for reasons you can imagine from the name). I'll describe what went on in detail on in my summary report on the CMT later.

The Numbers Game 5: Workshop Summary

Since I summarized the stats for the normal CCP sessions, I thought I'd do the same for the workshops:

Total comics produced: 378
Number of workshops: 4
Average number of comics produced: 94.5

Best workshop: 5/10/07 - 124 comics

The Numbers Game 4: Session Summary

These are the final stats for the regular comic project sessions:

Total comics produced: 1272
Number of sessions: 24
Sessions missed: 5 - 1/17/07, 2/14/07, 5/2/07, 5/16/07, 5/23/07

Top 5 sessions by comics produced:

1. 135, 5/30/07
2. 129, 4/18/07
3. 112, 4/11/07
4. 90, 4/4/07
5. 80, 12/6/06

Record attendance: 18
Average attendance: 10-12

Average number of comics produced per session: 53
Average number of comics produced per comic: 5.3
Average number of comics produced per template: 1.98

I have graphs showing how the total comics produced and averages changed over time. I'll post those eventually.

5/31/07 Workshop - CCPW End

The final CCP Workshop at Dixwell-Yale produced 63 comics, the fewest of any workshop. This was largely due to no one showing up to the first gathering because of soccer practice. Fortunately, the second gathering had a healthy showing of about 10 kids, including those from the High Meadow School.

As with the final meeting of the comic project session, the theme was "Shine or Die." Unlike the other kids who were overwhelmed, this group was much more willing to plunge ahead. One student in particular was able to create his own original story using the comics. Something I like about the comic project is when students think of ways to interpret the images given to them in ways I never even imagined.

I had two new students who attended, but were disappointed that it was the final workshop. Fortunately, both later attended the Comic Making Tournament.

5/30/07 Session - CCP End

I was finally able to finish getting the numbers for the last CCP session. In all, 133 comics were made, making it the single most productive session. Several new kids showed up, as well, who were disappointed to learn it was the last CCP session.

Overall, however, the session did not go as well as I'd hoped. Only one of the students showed any interest in completing the activity for that week: Shine or Die, a 38 page set of templates based on an And Shine Heaven Now story arc I co-wrote with Erin Ptah. This lack of interest was mainly due to the sheer size of the final activity, which overwhelmed many of them.

This reaction was not unexpected on my part; in fact, I had anticipated and planned for it. Originally, Shine or Die was going to be split into two 19 page halves for 5/23 and 5/30. I knew 19 pages was reasonable since the kids had finished the 18 page Dr. McNinja story earlier. However, when the 5/23 session had to be canceled because of the unexpected party, it forced all 38 pages to be done at once.

Still, much fun was had by all. I took several videos and pictures, which I will post when my deskto pis up and running again.

5/24 Workshop Images Posted

The Workshop Gallery has been updated with pictures from the 5/24 meeting. Only five total, as it was a fairly low turn out.

These will be the last images uploading for several weeks, as my desktop is presently headed into storage as I move from New Haven to Pittsburgh. The site should continue to update as usual, however, barring Comic Genesis related queue problems like those that have been plaguing the system these past couple weeks.

The Numbers Game 3: Template Tallies

Due to the move, I haven't had time to go through and figure out just how many comics were created at the final meeting of the CCP session and workshop, nor at the Tournament (though my current estimate is that the Tournament made close to 600 comics).

However, I can tell you just how many templates of each comic that participated in the CCP was used. I've listed them here in alphabetical order.

And Shine Heaven Now: 135
Chugworth Academy: 29
Dinosaur Comics: 1 (obviously)
Dr. McNinja: 21
Faking Life: 3
Ghastly's Ghastly Comic: 5
Krakow: 48
Mac Hall and Three Panel Soul: 11
Okashina Okashi: 122
Penny Arcade: 25
Questionable Content: 72
Rob and Elliot: 11
Resident Phreaks: 3
Sparklign Generation Valkyrie Yuuki: 20
Shortpacked!: 45
Something Like Life: 13
Return of Stickman: 1
Tsunami Channel: 24
Tracy and Tristan: 5
Unshelved: 12
Venus Envy: 8
xkcd: 6
Misc: 52 (this includes templates based on the art of John Su, Twin Enigma, Sora-ko, and others)

I would've used more Chugworth, but the site went down before I could snag the latest comics for making templates from. Assuming I do the CCP again in Pittsburgh (which I plan to have happen in Summer 2008), I'll likely use more Venus Envy, Chugworth, Penny Arcade, and Dr. McNinja than I did this first time. Dr. McNinja especially was a huge hit with the kids, so I will try to use every issue!

Without the above comics and artists, the CCP would be nothing more than an idle thought. Thank you to all who helped me!

Info Coming Soon

I know I have yet to post anything on the last CCP session and workshop, or the tournament. I'm in the middle of moving, so this is delaying my posts. I'm also still crunching the numbers and such. Expect info on what happened soon.