Saturday, August 4, 2007
FAQ Update
The FAQ has been updated. It now included questions about the tournament and some changes to other questions.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Comic Making Tournament Part 2: Structure
This is the second part of my multipart Comic Making Tournament series. Part 1 is here.
As I worked on collecting prizes, advertising, and other logistics, I also thought about the structure of the tournament itself. I needed events of varying difficulty to appeal to all ages, but simple enough to be run single handedly. I also wanted to make sure that both original and pre-drawn templates would be equally represented, so kids who liked one or the other could enjoy themselves.
In the end, I came up with five main events, plus three variants designed for groups:
1. Short-form Pre-drawn - The simplest. Individual students are given a handful of pre-drawn comics to fill out. Each comic is standalone and with content based on a theme drawn at random.
2. Short-form Original - Students are given one of each of the blank templates (2x2, 2x3, 2x4) and fill them out in turn. Each comic is given a different theme.
3. Long-form Pre-drawn - Students have to write several multipage story arcs using a group of related pre-drawn templates. Each different arc is given a theme.
4. Long-form Original - Using 2x3 blank templates, students create a single multipage story arc based on a given theme. The arcs can be as long as they want.
5. Speed - Kids are given a stack of pre-drawn templates and have to fill them out as quickly as possible. Quantity over quality!
Short-form pre-drawn and the two long-form events were also setup as group events, where a team of kids could compete against another team. In the end, no one registered as a team, so only the five main events took place.
With the events finalized, I also turned to how to judge them. I need a quantitative way for the judges to rank each student. I took inspiration from Iron Chef's scoring method. The criterion were:
1. Creativity, used for all five events. This was generally weighted more than spelling or art quality, to reward imagination even when skills were lacking.
2. Use of Topic, used for the first four.
3. Spelling and Grammar, used for the two Pre-drawn competitions. This was intended to encourage kids to use more than just simple words or sentences. I setup the scoring matrix so that a kid who attempted to write a lot but made mistakes would still get mroe points than someone who wrote perfectly but only a little.
4. Artistic quality, used for the two Original events. This was meant to differentiate between stick figures and finely drawn figures.
5. Quantity, used heavily only for Speed. Since the point of speed was to see how many comics a kid could create in a set time, this made sense.
Each criterion was given a point scale with precise definitions, to ensure uniform measuring by the judges.
I was anticipating a high number of students, so mechanisms to handle high turnout were put in place. Three-person/team tiers were to be used, with the winners of each tier then facing each other. This would allow multiple runnings of the same event to be held at once. And as the winners of a tier faced off, the others could continue on to the next event. Actual participation was small enough that these more complicated procedures didn't have to be implemented. But I'm keeping them in mind for future tournaments that may be larger.
As I worked on collecting prizes, advertising, and other logistics, I also thought about the structure of the tournament itself. I needed events of varying difficulty to appeal to all ages, but simple enough to be run single handedly. I also wanted to make sure that both original and pre-drawn templates would be equally represented, so kids who liked one or the other could enjoy themselves.
In the end, I came up with five main events, plus three variants designed for groups:
1. Short-form Pre-drawn - The simplest. Individual students are given a handful of pre-drawn comics to fill out. Each comic is standalone and with content based on a theme drawn at random.
2. Short-form Original - Students are given one of each of the blank templates (2x2, 2x3, 2x4) and fill them out in turn. Each comic is given a different theme.
3. Long-form Pre-drawn - Students have to write several multipage story arcs using a group of related pre-drawn templates. Each different arc is given a theme.
4. Long-form Original - Using 2x3 blank templates, students create a single multipage story arc based on a given theme. The arcs can be as long as they want.
5. Speed - Kids are given a stack of pre-drawn templates and have to fill them out as quickly as possible. Quantity over quality!
Short-form pre-drawn and the two long-form events were also setup as group events, where a team of kids could compete against another team. In the end, no one registered as a team, so only the five main events took place.
With the events finalized, I also turned to how to judge them. I need a quantitative way for the judges to rank each student. I took inspiration from Iron Chef's scoring method. The criterion were:
1. Creativity, used for all five events. This was generally weighted more than spelling or art quality, to reward imagination even when skills were lacking.
2. Use of Topic, used for the first four.
3. Spelling and Grammar, used for the two Pre-drawn competitions. This was intended to encourage kids to use more than just simple words or sentences. I setup the scoring matrix so that a kid who attempted to write a lot but made mistakes would still get mroe points than someone who wrote perfectly but only a little.
4. Artistic quality, used for the two Original events. This was meant to differentiate between stick figures and finely drawn figures.
5. Quantity, used heavily only for Speed. Since the point of speed was to see how many comics a kid could create in a set time, this made sense.
Each criterion was given a point scale with precise definitions, to ensure uniform measuring by the judges.
I was anticipating a high number of students, so mechanisms to handle high turnout were put in place. Three-person/team tiers were to be used, with the winners of each tier then facing each other. This would allow multiple runnings of the same event to be held at once. And as the winners of a tier faced off, the others could continue on to the next event. Actual participation was small enough that these more complicated procedures didn't have to be implemented. But I'm keeping them in mind for future tournaments that may be larger.
Fanart Section
I've added a new section to the website: fanart. This fanart is largely generated by the Spamusement forum, where they started a "Make Your Own Comic" based on the CCP. I'm going to feature their work here as thanks.
Creative Commons License
Previously, the students' original comics were in the public domain. I've now changed that to a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. This will keep someone from selling the art and make sure the children are credited for their work.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Comic Making Tournament Part 1: Planning
Finally, my multipart summary of the Comic Making Tournament begins.
The idea for the tournament came to me around March 2007, when I found out I'd have to move in the summer to a new city. I felt that the CCP had become big enough that it shouldn't just end. It deserved a finale of sorts, something entertaining and grand.
The basic concept was simple: a full day version of a Create a Comic Project session with kids competing against each other. It would be a way for them to demonstrate the skills they'd learned during the CCP and reward them for attending regularly. At the same time, it'd be open to everyone so that the whole community could enjoy it.
This presented the first issue with designing the tournament: how to convince kids to spend hours in a tournament. Simply earning bragging rights wouldn't be sufficient incentive in all likelihood. Prizes were the logical solution; to get them I turned to local businesses for help.
It still amazes me how readily the people I asked for help were willing to provide materials. The local comic book store - Alternate Universe - had already been helping advertise the CCP with a flier in their window. They quickly agreed to provide stuff for the kids come tournament time.
Next, I approached a used book store, the Book Trader Cafe. The owner gave me $50 worth of books and gift certificates on the spot. I was very pleased, to say the least!
The good fortunate continued, with over half of the companies I asked for help agreeing to provide me with things. This included the Yale Bookstore, New Haven Reads Book Bank, Hull's Art Supplies, and Yale University itself! Those who turned me down had down so because they'd already used up their charitable donation budget (basically, tax breaks only go so far in making it beneficial to donate stuff).
Still, in all, I'd managed to acquire enough prizes to suit the needs of the tournament. And all I'd had to do was ask.
With prizes secured, I then turned to the other logistical issues: location, timing, and advertising. Fortunately, the New Haven Library had a large Program Room able to hold dozens of people. I quickly reserved the room for use. For timing, I scheduled the tournament on the only Saturday between my graduation and moving.
Advertising did not go as smoothly. I created a flier and registration form for the tournament. These were then distributed to all my CCP students. However, a series of mishaps at the New Haven Library forced the cancellation of several CCP sessions, meaning I wasn't able to get the fliers to as many students as I was counting on.
Fortunately, the Dixwell-Yale Community Learning Center mailed the forms to their 300 member mailing list. Unfortunately, the DYCLC was also holding a very popular soap box derby on the same day, which drew away many of the students from that area. Additionally, summer soccer had begun, reducing the audience at the DYCLC workshops and further decreasing those who got the fliers.
Looking back I should have done more than count on fliers. A librarian had told me about a radio station aimed at New Haven youth. I should have taken the time to record an ad for them to get exposure via the airwaves. Also, I should've created a CCP mailing list for the main session, which would've allowed me to contact past participants about the CMT directly.
With future tournaments, I'll definitely work on correcting these shortcomings.
The idea for the tournament came to me around March 2007, when I found out I'd have to move in the summer to a new city. I felt that the CCP had become big enough that it shouldn't just end. It deserved a finale of sorts, something entertaining and grand.
The basic concept was simple: a full day version of a Create a Comic Project session with kids competing against each other. It would be a way for them to demonstrate the skills they'd learned during the CCP and reward them for attending regularly. At the same time, it'd be open to everyone so that the whole community could enjoy it.
This presented the first issue with designing the tournament: how to convince kids to spend hours in a tournament. Simply earning bragging rights wouldn't be sufficient incentive in all likelihood. Prizes were the logical solution; to get them I turned to local businesses for help.
It still amazes me how readily the people I asked for help were willing to provide materials. The local comic book store - Alternate Universe - had already been helping advertise the CCP with a flier in their window. They quickly agreed to provide stuff for the kids come tournament time.
Next, I approached a used book store, the Book Trader Cafe. The owner gave me $50 worth of books and gift certificates on the spot. I was very pleased, to say the least!
The good fortunate continued, with over half of the companies I asked for help agreeing to provide me with things. This included the Yale Bookstore, New Haven Reads Book Bank, Hull's Art Supplies, and Yale University itself! Those who turned me down had down so because they'd already used up their charitable donation budget (basically, tax breaks only go so far in making it beneficial to donate stuff).
Still, in all, I'd managed to acquire enough prizes to suit the needs of the tournament. And all I'd had to do was ask.
With prizes secured, I then turned to the other logistical issues: location, timing, and advertising. Fortunately, the New Haven Library had a large Program Room able to hold dozens of people. I quickly reserved the room for use. For timing, I scheduled the tournament on the only Saturday between my graduation and moving.
Advertising did not go as smoothly. I created a flier and registration form for the tournament. These were then distributed to all my CCP students. However, a series of mishaps at the New Haven Library forced the cancellation of several CCP sessions, meaning I wasn't able to get the fliers to as many students as I was counting on.
Fortunately, the Dixwell-Yale Community Learning Center mailed the forms to their 300 member mailing list. Unfortunately, the DYCLC was also holding a very popular soap box derby on the same day, which drew away many of the students from that area. Additionally, summer soccer had begun, reducing the audience at the DYCLC workshops and further decreasing those who got the fliers.
Looking back I should have done more than count on fliers. A librarian had told me about a radio station aimed at New Haven youth. I should have taken the time to record an ad for them to get exposure via the airwaves. Also, I should've created a CCP mailing list for the main session, which would've allowed me to contact past participants about the CMT directly.
With future tournaments, I'll definitely work on correcting these shortcomings.
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