Linda’s vivid tale was another completion in the early hours of Saturday morning.  Reliant solely on her images carefully created with the striking and unique pen and quink aesthetic, these scans do better to show the vibrancy of this tri-colour medium and how it was a perfect match for the simplicity of the narrative.  There’s a great deal of innocence in Linda’s piece – and she draws out both the magic of Eden and how the place succeeds in charging the imagination for all.

A narrative inspired by one of the glass domes in the Education Core . A small girl takes on the role of the heroine by entering the world of the specimens on display in the dome and releases them by removing the pins which keep them prisoner. She and the fox become firm friends and allies. It’s also a tale of liberty, loss and friends reunited

During the event I was initially curious and excited. As the night progressed and the pressure increased I experienced anger, hated Eden and wanted to leave, was longing for my bed, experienced feelings of camaraderie, felt tearful as I was so tired, slight hysteria, confusion, happiness when I finished an image, pride, frustration when I couldn’t take an image to the kind of resolution I would have liked because of the time constraints.

Do you have any advice for future participants or members of the public who would like to attempt a similar 24hr challenge?

•    Wrap up warm with lots of layers.
•    Simplify your process.
•    Produce a storyboard before working on resolved images.
•    Be prepared for a rollercoaster of feelings.

Here we have Marcel’s finished comic in all its fast action post-apocalyptic glory.  The untitled narrative works at maintaining a consistent level of intrigue, at the same time as working in some nice Eden-influenced themes throughout the piece.  Yet, perhaps its most pleasing attributes are the way it manages to take some seemingly typical comic-book ideas, then subverting and bending them into an environment which seems eerily like the one in which it was produced.

I don’t think it’s explained very well in the story, but the idea is that scientists and biologists created a giant machine for harvesting natural resources, but it malfunctioned and ended up destroying the local environment by letting anything useful rot and stagnate within its structure.  The scientists made underground stations to help maintain whatever plant-life was left from above, using mirrors to get sunlight underground.  That’s the backdrop, anyway.  The creature/machine was inspired by the giant scrap robot in the Eden Project, and most of the rest of the comic is inspired by all the people and bits and pieces dotted around the area.

It was incredible fun to do, and not as physically damaging as I thought.  I don’t know how good or coherent my story is- I was just pleased I finished my comic at all!  I can’t wait to do it again though, just to see how much better I can do it.

Do you have any advice for future participants or members of the public who would like to attempt a similar 24hr challenge?

Plan as much as you can early on, so that when you’re knackered and sleep deprived finishing it off is pretty much like connecting the dots.  Keep things simple.  When thinking of how you’re going to draw/create your artworks, plan like you have no time at all, so that if you have any spare it’s a bonus!  I had a massive dip in the quality of my work, just because I spent way too long on the first handful of pages, and had to bomb it on the rest.  By the end I was spending about 20mins a page!

Here we have the full scans of Tom Barwick's images.  We can now get a real look at the detail and linework which Tom utilizes so well as an illustrator - particularly in the earlier images when time wasn't so pressing.  That said, Tom was keen to complete 24 pages and in doing so did not compromise on quality but instead managed to simplify later panels.  Yet, as we can see from his comments below, this was perhaps the biggest lesson Tom learned from the challenge.

"The part I got drawn: My idea was to explore Eden's relationship to the community as an educator in an imaginative way. We see a community with strange fungal growths emerging everywhere that they don’t understand. They take a sample to the Eden Project and they examine it, learn about it and explain it to the community.

The part I didn’t get drawn: People of Eden then explain it , re-introduce it into the community and the community learns not to fear it but to work with it and use it by building with it, eating it, using it for fuel etc.

The main thing I have taken away from this incredible experience is a sense that I need to loosen up about my drawing, that I can communicate an idea just as well in a looser more expressive style and that this is not a compromise but is in fact a positive thing. And that if I don’t feel happy when I am drawing then that transfers into the work. Also that there is beauty and wonder right under my nose, that the young child we spoke to at the entrance to Eden, who described it as being full of giant ants and made of cabbages was really the gatekeeper to Eden and what I should of valued and been inspired by. But I missed it, because I was nervous and had my head up my arse. Will I ever learn! SO SO valuable, thank you, I hope I will be able to use this experience to build upon."

Do you have any advice for future participants or members of the public who would like to attempt a similar 24hr challenge?

- Keep it simple.
- Plan the whole piece from start to finish before you start as you will not be able to come up with ideas in the wee small hours.
- Don’t take too much equipment, to many choices.
- Work in a way that is quick and easy to do not really laboured and tight.

Thanks Tom

Here we have - in full-scan glory - Sally Noall's 13 pages of Mr Skelmersdale in Fairyland Eden - a re-interpretation of the HG Wells story of the same name.  On the day I mentioned how, despite not getting to the full 24 pages, Sally's images were certainly some of the most painstakingly put-together and ultimately vibrant we saw.  Now we can see her use of photo, collage, watercolour and comic narrative fully - it certainly is an evocative blend of media, especially for a story which takes place in such a multifaceted environment.  I'm eager to see the completion of the story!

Here are Sally's thoughts:

"Using the Eden project to inspire characters, events and real places/spaces I re-interpreted the HG Wells short story “Mr Skelmersdale in Fairyland”. I am interested in the creation of personal utopias and shared heterotopias, and as soon as I knew the venue of the Eden Project my mind created a link between the venue and the story.

Eden is a small world in itself; once inside you are cut off from the everyday, outside world so time and space become altered and suspended. Eden becomes a complete world but one where you can see its physical boundaries and the “grey area” where the real meets the unreal. In fact what is real and unreal becomes debatable, and I wanted the work I produced to reflect this both in terms of the place (fairlyland/eden) and the characters (the real crow and the character crow). That the story is put into actual visual format enables the unreal to become the physical real, and take existence back in the space of the everyday.

I chose to approach the challenge as an entire process with less emphasis on a finished product. This way I learned a lot about my own practice as it stands but more importantly understanding how I devised new process and techniques of creating to push through the brain-mush barrier in the early hours of the morning.  At some hallucinatory hour I had to make a conscious decision of either aiming to finish the 24 pages or of aiming for quality – it became obvious that I wasn’t going to be doing both! So interesting to learn that I have a subconscious process that tells me when something is finished and that there is no compromising with this!

There was a point where I became quite annoyed with my own body which is a bit strange, I couldn’t forgive it for being tired and it became quite a dialogue with the tired part of my brain and the part that wanted to keep going (fortunately the awake one was more resilient!) Also a really strange thing about 4 o’clock where I could spend ten minutes looking for a paintbrush that was right in front of me... and that this happened for everything – each time I wanted to pick up a pencil, find a tube of paint... it was like really living one of those dreams where you try and run but the pavement traps your feet like treacle..."

Do you have any advice for future participants or members of the public who would like to attempt a similar 24hr challenge?

- A plan is essential for those times when your thinking brain seems to quit – if you have it down on paper then you can carry on working despite this. However don’t plan in too much detail or spend too much time doing so as the work will inevitably change and evolve, and by midway resembles little of what you originally intended. I would say have lots of food around! But probably not chocolate like I did, I was craving some fresh fruit in the early hours, but to feed the mind more than the stomach.

- Use the brain-freeze, the mind-fog or the total breakdown of sense and thought pattern and don’t try to force your mind back into its normal way of working. If your mind is thinking in more abstract terms it’s far more exciting to explore your different mind set and allow the images to take on a surprising life of their own.

- Take lots of short but frequent breaks, stretch your legs and calm your mind after each page or set of images – it allows a short space for reflection and a chance to gather your thoughts again. Also a comfy chair and a blanket is a must - otherwise you end up cold with crampy legs, and you wont even realise until you get up to walk and are hunched over, limping and shivering.

- Enjoy the experience, it’s nice to have a finished product at the end but if you value the process you will learn a lot about how you work and what you regard as important in your creative practice. The challenge is not so much in the event, but as a challenge to yourself.

Above is the completed short film from Rebecca Nash: The Dream Host.  Due to the nature of the medium it was difficult to really get an idea of what the completed piece would look like during the event, but the stills we saw did well to hint at the otherworldliness Rebecca had imbued into her film.  The final product retains this, and masterfully utilizes the unique structures and many sculptures at Eden to create a sinister environment which is part paradise and part nightmare.

Here are Rebecca's thoughts:

"My aim was to produce a moving comic (story) – not an easy feat I later discovered. Using video footage taken within the eden project I constructed a story about a psychotic alchemist who had turned the humans of planet earth into metal using satellite technology. He almost achieved his goal. However, one man, who only partly transformed into metal, had a dream within him, and he knew that if the dreams host was still alive and he could find her, she might be able to reverse the blood to metal process and save the planet. We travel with him (seeing through his fading human vision) as he searches the barren land for what he believes to be ‘the only hope’. I quickly realised it would be hard for me to have a main character unless it was a fellow participant and this is why I chose for us to see ‘through’ my character into the action of the story. As comics are something that continue to build on a story over time I chose not to conclude my comic, leaving the viewer with the suggestion that the host has been located and that the ‘metal’ can now administer the dream. We don’t know if he was successful.

I set myself a hard task, it was a real challenge and when my technology let me down I started to wish I wasn’t so reliant on it and had chosen to use pen and paper. However, with some much-appreciated support I pushed through the technical hiccup and managed to complete the work but time was really tight as nearly 2hrs were lost. Video editing can be a long and drawn out process at the best of times, with much time spent on review and fine tuning and waiting for the rendering process to finish before moving on. I know my process can be quite random, unplanned and last minute so I tried really hard to plan ahead and create a good foundation before shooting, but still I found it hard to hone in on a specific thing and filmed far more than I needed, which resulted in huge amounts of edit time before proper construction could begin. I like to work on a project for extended periods of time however, so the 24 hr concept (although a little too extreme for everyday application) is a good way of getting a huge chunk of work done in a fixed period of time."

Do you have any advice for future participants or members of the public who would like to attempt a similar 24hr challenge?

- Really do get a good nights sleep before hand. Really!
- Be adventurous and push yourself creatively.
- Walk with lots of caffeine!

Thanks Rebecca

Here are the full scans of Emma Carlisle's completed comic, Bananas - a fruity epic about one man's difficult but privileged position and the ultimate prize we no doubt all long for.  Emma was one of the most pro-active artists at Eden, getting down to the task in hand in no time and drawing her pages at impressive pace.  Of all the stories from the day, it is also fair to say that Bananas is one which ties very clearly into the surroundings in which it was produced - and the narrative does a nice job in reminding the reader of the importance of a commodity we may take for granted, albeit in a pleasantly humorous way. 

Let's hear what Emma herself had to say about the day:

"When I was in the biomes I saw a bike used to transport bananas to the roadside, I used this for the start of my story.  I didn't want to produce anything too serious and mindmapped Bananas before I started.  The ending was written at 3am.  I'm sure if I had written it at 3pm it wouldn't have turned out that way.

I'd agree that it's the best work I've done in three years.  Having a set deadline and not having a target audience in mind meant I could just draw what I wanted but I had too finish.  If I'd done the comic at home I would have thought it was rubbish and finished halfway through.  It's definitely taught me to trust my instincts."

Do you have any advice for future participants or members of the public who would like to attempt a similar 24hr challenge?

- 10 minute power-naps are good.
- Have a rough plan for the first 12 pages.
- Make sure you have an ending before 3am.
- Keep going with your original idea, even if it seems terrible at the time.
- Having a 10 minute nap on your work will make you realise its not as bad as you think.

Thanks Emma

Well, everything's been packed away.  The laptop is actually on my lap.  And I feel naked without piles of pictures, and cameras, and printers, and wires around me.  Before myself, Tom and Phil pack the car and head home I should mention that we'll be doing the comprehensive scans and updating the blog over the next few weeks so keep your eyes peeled.  Additionally, don't forget to come to the Liskeard event on the 18th if you can and follow it on the Liskeard livr blog if you can't.  It's been a real pleasure being involved at the Eden project and with such an interesting and demanding event.  I've enjoyed all the drawings I've seen and getting involved in my own special way.  I shall go into more depth as I update further content but it's fair to say there was a tingle of poignancy when watching some of the artists stick their last bits of paper to the massive fridge wall with tiny magnetic letters. 

The above was written by luke, I've relieved him of his duties whilst he helps carry heavy boxes. I can't believe it's already 2pm, it seems like only a few hours ago that the artists were anpacking their bags. 

It's a bit difficult for us to put into words how we feel about the event, we're very very hapoy with the outcomes and think it was a great success. The problem is that this event has been much more tiring because we started later, but also because the three of us, me Tom and Luke first arrived at Eden just over 29 hours ago in order to get ready for the event and start teaching kids about comics.

Luckily though Luke enjoyed bloggint the 24hr Comic excitement so much that he has agreed to post some more thoughts on the Eden event in the coming week or so. That way you'll get to hear more of his thoughts on the experience. You've also good quality scans of the comics and Rebecca's film to look forward to.

So goodbye, farewell, but you haven't heard the last of us.

Phil

Tom Barwick's 24 hour adventure highlighted the need and the challenge of having to change tact in order to fulfill one's expectations in unique circumstances.  It is fair to say that all our artists had to switch up a gear at some point - however, it is testament to Tom's professionalism that although the atmosphere of his work took a distinct change of course into lighter territory - it was delivered with little sacrifice of quality.

Sally Noall turned in 11 labour-intensive multimedia pages utilizing real photos and an illustrated crow, Mr Skelmersdale.  The pictures were some of the richest and vibrant we got, and although we were left yearning for closure, each image seemed to fulfill enough as a respective standalone.  And I'm just plain eager to see more of that memorable old crow!

...also finished on time, right on time.  Congratulations Marcel!  We'll get up some scans of the complete piece (and all the others from the inkin' crew) as soon as possible.  The piece remains untitled for now, and I don't think he's too enamoured with calling the piece DOOMF, either.  Shame.  But it's a great work nonetheless.