Comic Tournament IV

The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven has awarded the Create a Comic Project yet another small grant to support the Comic Tournament! This marks the third time they've done so. This means there will be a tournament in 2010, likely around mid-March.

For next year, I'm thinking of splitting the tournament into two Saturdays. This would allow for more time judging and for the events, solving many of the time issues of before. A benefit of being in NYC next year is that I can simply take a train to New Haven, making travel much easier.

Comic Making Tournament 3: Quick Thoughts

The 3rd Annual Comic Making Tournament has come and gone! The event was an overall success, with some 20 students participating (several more than last year).

A full write-up will come later when I have time. For now, here are some quick notes:

- The Pre-Tournament event only had 3 participants. Based on this, it'll be scrapped for next year.

- The warm-up was too long, ruining the timing for the event and causing me to have to skip over Round Robin Onslaught at the end. It'll be shortened next time.

- I need to do a better job of getting some dedicated judges. Both the judges who volunteered to take part were no shows, making me to rely on an already over-burdened librarian. This causes significant delays in judging and award giving.

- I need to set up the judging area better. Putting it outside was a good move, but my choice of location was poor.

- Short form Pre-drawn can be extended, since everyone seems to finish it very fast and everyone generally likes it.

- I managed to collect satisfaction surveys this time. I'll post an analysis of it soon. Overall, the surveys were filled out well, so their formatting is good.

- Hybrid took too long and wasn't very popular. It'll be dropped entirely next time, with Round Robin Onslaught shorted to reflect this.

- Long form pre-drawn with only one comic for a story may be a bit limiting for some kids. I'll try a mixed form next time with different comics having to be woven together.

- For outreach, I'll be reaching out to principals of schools whose librarians I couldn't reach. I'll also set up a mailing list using the emails of participants from this year. A student has generously offered to help me get the word out to his high school classmates next year.

- I forgot to take pictures and video of the award ceremony this year. D'oh.

- The kids know A LOT more anime and manga this year than last, perhaps speaking to its increasing penetration into American culture. Even the relatively obscure Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei was well known. I'll be adding more anime and manga prizes next year to reflect this.

- The music worked well. I'll just be making minor soundtrack changes for 2010.

Stats, pics, and video will be posted later, as well as a more detailed summary for each event.

Comic Making Tournament 3: Round Robin Onslaught

As a team event, Round Robin Onslaught is really 3 events in 1, only compressed for time and to encourage team work.

Comics used:

Abandon
A Girl and Her Fed
And Shine Heaven Now
Animenifesto
Blue and Blond
Boss Noodle
College Roomies From Hell
Comedity
Cool Cat Studio
Devil's Panties
Dinosaur Comics
Dis
Evil Diva
Faking Life
Geebas on Parade
Ghastly's Ghastly Comic
Hamlet
The Jar
Kastle Comics
Nothing Nice to Say
Octopus Pie
Okashina Okashi
Picatrix
PPG Doujin
Project C
Punks and Nerds
Reman Mythology
School of Rejects
Seasons of Constancy
Sorcerers and Secretaries
Stubble
Sugar Bits
Templar, AZ
Tsunami Channel
xkcd

Comic Making Tournament 3: Endurance

Endurance is the most popular of all the events and has been since the tournament began. This time I approached it by making discrete stacks of 30-45 each, 7 in all with different comics in each.

Comics used:

Almost all of them

One comic that had its first use in Endurance was some of Raina Telgemeier's work.

Comic Making Tournament 3: Long form Pre-drawn

The long form pre-drawn event is another stand-by of the tournament. There was no theme for it; I allowed the comics themselves to dictate it.

Comics used:

Afterlife Inc.
Cardboard Angel
Copper
Dr. McNinja
Ellsmere
Fans
Flipside
Ganbare Shimura-san
Girl Genius
Jellaby
Narbonic
Paradox Lost
Questionable Content
Red String
Saturnalia

Copper and Jellaby provided me a way to do a long form with younger kids.

Comic Making Tournament 3: Hybrid, Original, Non-linear

Hybrid, Original, and Non-linear are all recurring events from the second tournament. I used to call Original "short form original," but since it's the only event with blank templates I stopped using the distinction. Hybrid had students make 3 comics, original 5, and non-linear 3. I expanded non-linear this year by request and shrank hybrid.

Like short form pre-drawn, hybrid and original used themes.

Hybrid themes:

1. "It's over 9000!"
2. "One man's magic is another's engineering."
3. "I'm never going to let you down."

Of the three, only Hybrid uses templates with art on them.

Comics used:

And Shine Heaven Now
Cool Cat Studio
Demonology 101
Dinosaur Comics
Fans
Ghastly's Ghastly Comic
Narbonic
Okashina Okashi
Punks and Nerds
Rob and Elliot
Shortpacked
Sluggy Freelance
Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki

Original themes:

1. Meeting a historical figure
2. Being the wizard who did it
3. Unintended consequences
4. Living within your means
5. Leading a revolution against tyranny

Non-linear didn't have themes. Instead, I let the kids decide what to write about.

Comic Making Tournament 3: Short form Pre-drawn

Short form Pre-drawn has always been the first event of the tournament and is arguably the easiest. Each participant makes 5 stand alone comics based on themes. I lead with it due to the similarity to the warm-up.

The themes for this year have been chosen ahead of time, while in the past they were picked at random. Kids get to pick which comic to use for which theme making it easier on them. The themes are:

1. "Everybody lies."
2. "Are we having fun yet?"
3. "I reject your reality and substitute my own."
4. "Liberty is the source of all creative energy."
5. "Freedom is not defined by safety."

The first is from the TV show House. The second is the catch phrase of Zippy the Pinhead. The third is well known to Mythbusters fans. The last two are based on quotes from Congressman Ron Paul.

Comics used:

Awkward Zombie
Daisy is Dead
Dicebox
Dominic Deegan
Dreamland Chronicles
Freshman 15
Geeks Next Door
Geist Panik
Goats
Grim Tales From Down Below
Hookie Dookie Panik
I Come From Mars
Lil' Mell
My Stupid Life
Mystic Revolution
No Pink Ponies
Paradigm Shift
The Path
Piled Higher and Deeper
Prophesy of Destiny
Scary Go Round
Simulated Comic Product
Sketchies
Sluggy Freelance
Smithson
Something Like Life
Staccato
Sticky Floors
Tea Club
Templar, AZ
Tin
TV Circuit
Versus Verses

Comic Making Tournament 3: Warm-up

The tournament warm-up is intended to get the kids acclimated to creating comics. The goal is to help them get into a groove so they can finish the rest of the events in a timely manner. This year, I used a common pattern to the warm-up templates: 4 one-panels, a horizontal comic, a 2x2, a 2x3/2x4, and a full page strip.

Comics used:

8-Bit Theater
Annie
Applegeeks
Chaos Punks
Chugworth Academy
Diesel Sweeties
Ice
Kastle Comics
Krakow
Lil' Formers
Little Dee
Lovarian Adventures
Mac Hall
Marilith
Okashina Okashi
Penny Arcade
Planet Karen
Rob and Elliot
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Shortpacked
Skin Horse
Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki
Tracy and Tristan
Tsunami Channel
Unshelved
Venus Envy
Weirdlings
World of Orenda
You'll Have That

Comic Making Tournament 3: Events

The 3rd Comic Making Tournament will soon be upon me. The tournament will have 7 events in all, not counting the pre-tournament event and warm-up. The events are:

Short form Pre-drawn

Students get a set of pages with art on them and blank word bubbles. They fill them in one at a time. There are themes for each one. Unlike the previous two tournaments, the themes have been chosen ahead of time (instead of randomly). Also, kids can match a comic to the theme: they pick which of the comics in their set they want to use for a given theme.

Hybrid

This one has pages with art and one or more blank panels. Each of the comics will have a theme. Like the first event, the themes are picked ahead of time and students decide what comics to use for them.

Original

Students will get 8 blank pages and draw from scratch. This is larger than previous versions, which used 4 or 5 pages.

Non-linear

Kids take a blank template sheet and paste individual panels to it in any given order. Last year, I tried this out with only 1 page. This year they'll do three each.

Long form Pre-drawn

Instead of single page comics, kids make story arcs. Last year, 5 page stories were too easy, as most of the kids finished in about half the time allotted. This year, I've made it more difficult. There'll be two arcs: a short warm-up arc and a longer main arc.

Endurance

As before, kids will get a set amount of time (about an hour this time) to do as many comics as they can.

Round Robin Onslaught

A brand new team event, based on the scrapped ideas for one in the first tournament. Kids will pair up and compete in team versions of three previous events: short form pre-drawn, hybrid, and long form pre-drawn. They'll have a fraction of the time to complete them, making cooperation important.

Comic Making Tournament 3: Pre-Tourney Event 2

Enough students signed up for the tournament that I made another packet for the pre-tournament event. It used:

And Shine Heaven Now
Chugworth Academy
Okashina Okashi
Shortpacked
Sluggy Freelance

I have ~25 students signed up for the tournament.

Comic Making Tournament 3: Pre-Tourney Event

The first event of the third tournament is set before the tournament even begins! The Pre-Tournament Event is a special addition to the tournament that has contestants working at home to create comics that will later be judged at the tournament itself. With the registration deadline of Feb. 21 coming up, this event is almost ready to begin.

The Pre-Tournament Event has its own special grand prize, since it's far larger in time commitment than the normal events. The comics themselves are a mix of original and pre-drawn templates from multiple comics. I've stratified sets by age: young, middle, and teen. This helps balance the difficulty.

Young participants will create a 10 page comic, with 2 original pages and 8 pre-drawn. This lets them do 1 comic every 2 days between the event start and the beginning of the tournament. Middle participants create 20 pages comics with a 4/16 original/pre-drawn mix, translating to 1 a day. Teen participants get 32 pages of 8/24 original/pre-drawn.

Kids will turn in their work at the beginning of the tournament on March 14 so judges can go over it. Overall, I think this will really be a test of the participants' creativity.

Comics used:

Abandon
And Shine Heaven Now
Blue and Blond
Coffee Achiever
College Roomies From Hell
Comedity
Copper
Cosmobear
Demonology 101
Erstwhile
Geebas on Parade
Hate Song
Jellaby
Okashina Okashi
Penny & Aggie
Phineus
Phoenix
Reman Mythology
Seasons of Constancy
Snafu
Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki
Zombies Calling

Comic Making Tournament 3: Preparations 2

The fliers I made for the library and the schools have paid off. So far, 10 people have registered for the tournament. Since I set a deadline of the 21st, I expect this number to increase towards the deadline. The librarians at New Haven Public have been helping me by advertising the tournament when they visit schools, making kids aware.

A key advantage to registration is that it gives me an estimate of how many kids will show up in what age ranges so I can plan accordingly. I also ask them to specify which events they would like so I can gauge popularity. This has helped me when organizing the template groups for the seven main tournament events.

I've tied in a special pre-tournament event to registration. The event is a large-scale mixed form comic. Pre-drawn and blank templates will be sent to registrants with them having to combine them into a single story. To make it harder the pre-drawn templates are taken from different series requiring the kids to find ways to connect what appear to be disparate series.

Comic Making Tournament 3: Preparations

With a little over a month left until the third tournament (March 14, 2009), I've started determining which templates to use for the events. I'm also finishing off some of the remaining archive trawling and template creation.

Comics whose archives I've gone through:

Abandon
Evil Diva
Raina's site
Smithson
The Tempest

Comics I've made templates of:

Abandon
A Girl and Her Fed
Cardboard Angel
Dis
Evil Diva
Finders Keepers
Ganbare Shimura-san
Hamlet
The Path
Project C
Raina's short story comics
Smithson
TV Circuit

2008 In Review

It's typical for comics to do retrospectives around this time of year, so I'll do likewise. 2008 was a very good year for the Create a Comic Project. After a number of workshops, it finally found a home for regular sessions. It began its own line of comic books to help educators. And the project broke new ground in its use of modules and reached record numbers of children.

I'm quite happy with the project's current home at the Collegiate YMCA. While I only have 5 students regularly, they (usually) work hard and are quite creative. It's taken me a few months to connect with them, but I think now we have the kind of bond I had with my students at New Haven. They'll do great things in 2009!

When I first started the project, I wanted to publish materials under its name. I'd already published a two page activity guide through Hess Educational Organization in Taiwan, but I wanted something that could reach the general public. With the help of many artists, especially Ryan Estrada and Erin Ptah, I have begun this task with three comic books so far and more to come!

The two biggest events of the year were the Comic Making Tournament II and the National Public Health Week field trip. CMT II was far larger than its predecessor, indicating an upward trend I hope continues for some time. The lessons I learned in events and organizing are helping me greatly in preparing for the third tournament.

The field trip was the first major excursion for the module form of the comic project. Nearly 200 students lead through a field trip at the Children's Museum, making comics even as they experienced the various events. While it wasn't without problems, it proved that the project could be melded seamlessly with almost any educational endeavor. This was shown again during Healthy Holidays and will lay the groundwork for projects in 2009.

Places that sponsored the Create a Comic Project in 2008:

New Haven Public Library
Community Foundation for Greater New Haven
University of Pittsburgh
Association of Schools of Public Health
Collegiate YMCA
Children's Museum of Pittsburgh
Northview Elementary
Shadyside Boys and Girls Club
Human Services Center
Braddock Carnegie Library
Squirrel Hill Carnegie Library

The project would not be possible without their support, so many thanks go to them. I'll post more detailed plans for 2009 soon.

CMT 3 Fliers 2

I made two more fliers for the third tournament. Unlike the first five, these mainly rely on fanart of various series. The goal is to catch the attention of children in schools, which is where these two will be sent.



Naruto, Bleach, and Avatar are very popular in the age ranges I'm aiming for. I also included Haruhi, Code Geass, and Sailor Moon with a little Kingdom Hearts on the chance that older kids may recognize the titles. Credit goes to Sora-ko, Johane Matte, Jeffrey Anderson, and John Su for most of the art used.

Gallery Update

The Misc. Gallery has been updated with the five new fliers.

I've decided I'll use these five strictly for advertising in the New Haven Public Library Main branch. For schools, I'm going to go with the fanart artists have let me use, since that'll be more likely to draw the attention of kids. I'm working on two more fliers with this in mind and will post them soon.

CMT 3 Fliers

I had some spare time the other day, so I decided to finally put together some fliers for the Comic Making Tournament III. There are five currently, each using images from templates. Once I create templates from the new comics, I'll make a couple more fliers using them.


Comics used: Three Panel Soul, And Shine Heaven Now, Hate Song, and CCP #2.


Comics used: xkcd, SGVY, Questionable Content, And Shine Heaven Now, and CCP Presents: Climate Change.


Comics used: Okashina Okashi, Krakow, Diesel Sweeties, Dinosaur Comics, Chugworth Academy, and And Shine Heaven Now.


Comics used: Kastle Comics, Planet Karen, CCP #2, Zombies Calling, and Sketchies.


Comics used: Versus Verses, Paradigm Shift, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, and the CCP #1 cover.

Each of these is meant to be printed out as part of a double sided handout. The other side will have info on the events, what to expect, etc. I think this will help things run smoother. I'll add these fliers to the Misc. Gallery soon.

The Numbers Game 10: CMT II

In the last leg, I'll apply the lesson efficiency measure to the events from the second Comic Making Tournament. These numbers are more accurate than those posted back in March.

Note that the measure is only meaningful for six of the parts; short-form original and the card game had no expected number of comics produced, so it's not applicable to them.

Warm-up:

Students: 7
Comics collected: 57
Student efficiency: 8.14
Maximum possible produced: 42
Lesson efficiency: 1.36

Short form Pre-drawn:

Students: 10
Comics collected: 45
Student efficiency: 4.5
Maximum possible produced: 40
Lesson efficiency: 1.13

The high efficiency for this event and the warm-up is largely due to the use of two-in-one templates.

Short form Hybrid:

Students: 9
Comics collected: 34
Student efficiency: 3.78
Maximum possible produced: 36
Lesson efficiency: 0.94

Nonlinear:

Students: 10
Comics collected: 10
Student efficiency: 1
Maximum possible produced: 10
Lesson efficiency: 1.0

In this event, each student was only asked to make one non-linear comic. It's no surprise everyone finished one. If I'd asked for more, this may have been lower since it did take some time just for one.

Long form Pre-drawn:

Students: 12
Comics collected: 59
Student efficiency: 4.92
Maximum possible produced: 60
Lesson efficiency: 0.98

This number is surprisingly high, given the difficulty students had with this event in the first tournament. I'll probably be expanding the long form event in response.

Endurance:

Students: 12
Comics collected: 536
Student efficiency: 44.67
Maximum possible produced: 720
Lesson efficiency: 0.74

Given a half hour, students were able to produced an average of 45 comics each. In the next tournament, I'm going to try and increase this to a full hour. So I'll give each student 90 comics to start, since I know roughly half of them should be able to finish those and more. And if the lesson efficiency remains constant, then I can expect about 68 comics for every 90 given.

Create a Comic Project Wins Grant

On June 24, 2008, the Create a Comic Project (CCP) was awarded a Small Neighborhood Grant from the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven (CFGNH). The award will go toward sponsoring the Comic Making Tournament III, the CCP's major annual event where children wield their imaginations to create their sequential art masterpieces.

This is the third major award the comic project has won and the second from the CFGNH. The Community Foundation previously awarded the Create a Comic Project with a grant in 2007 to support the Comic Making Tournament II. In February 2008, the Association of Schools of Public Health awarded the CCP a "This is Public Health" Campaign Award to support the project's role in public health education and awareness.

The Comic Making Tournament III is planned to take place in either March or May 2009. Like the previous tournaments, it is aimed at the population of disadvantaged children in New Haven. The tournament hands out prizes that these children would not normally be able to afford, such as art books and supplies, as well as graphic novels and webcomic apparel.

The tournament will feature a number of events for the kids to compete in, such as creating single page comics, multi-page comics, and arranging panels in nonlinear fashion. The tournament, like the comic project, will use two types of templates for its events: blank comics for children to draw their own and those with art but without words for children to provide the dialogue.

3/8/08 CMT II Videos: Award Ceremony

These are the videos from the conclusion of the second tournament: the award ceremony! With the first tournament, I forgot to take any pictures or video of the awards. I corrected that mistake this time. These videos let you see the audience, while the pictures in the image gallery focus mainly on the winners, giving you two perspectives on the same event.

Award Ceremony 1



Award Ceremony 2



While these are the last two videos from the Comic Making Tournament II, they're not the last videos that will be uploaded soon. The 4/10 and 4/15 modules both have short clips that I'll be posting.