2003

Sponsor an artist!
Donations to "Cure Childhood Cancer".

3rd Annual 24 Hour Artist Marathon!
The 3rd Artist Marathon saw some great artwork but not as many particpants. We finished up early and we've decided to change the format and event into more of an artist social. I was very pleased with the work we did.

These "Artist Socials" have been a big success. They have averaged 40 artists who use the evening to network and get inspired by others. We have pursued the Galaxy Man project through these events.

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Class of 2002!
Jason Bullock, Kyle Puttkammer, Olivia Townshend, Anthony Owensly,
Leah Clark, Lewis Cox, Keith Daniel, Mark Duggar, Strat Parrott, Don Thomas, Steve & Robbie Wilson.
May 27th (11am) until May 28th (11am)
A slightly, less roudy group than the first. Some serious art was created. One highlight was Mark Duggar's story "Little Boy Useless" - using clay figures, a digital camera, and his computer!

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Class of 2001
A Review by Michael Gordon.

Monday morning, May 14th, nine men and one woman embarked on a journey. It started in the back room of the Galactic Quest store in Lawrenceville. For each of the explorers, the course that followed was different. One path led to hidden terrors behind closed doors. Another pointed to adventure in a land without humans where animals unlocked the secrets of life and the universe. Yet another toured the famous Halls of Justice to watch Superman and his heroic friends foil yet another villain’s attempt to take over the world. Some rode the path with style and grace, others with humor and fancy, and a few with perseverance and tenacity. For many the final destination was unclear, but all were in hopes that the steps they took would lead them toward self-discovery and personal fulfillment.

And at the very least, they’d be able to tell all their friends that they were on TV.

Such was the event known as “The Artist’s Challenge”. A proposition from Galactic Quest owner Kyle Puttkammer, who admitted that he really only wanted an excuse to get away from his family and other responsibilities and do what pleased him in his youth – draw. Kyle threw down the gauntlet to other likeminded artists to “create a complete 24 page comic book in 24 continuous hours”. It was a feat that few had ever achieved. To sweeten the deal, he added that, like many running and walking marathons, the artists could get sponsors and spectators (for surely there would be those that would want to bear witness to such a unusual contest) who could give pledges and donations. All proceeds would go to the Cure for Childhood Cancer. The challenge was set. The cause was just. All that was needed were the competitors.

Ten illustrators answered the call. Some, like Dennis Goering, Jason Bullock, and Allen Belk, had the same goal as Kyle: to get away for a while and create. Others - like Chris Edrington and Denny Williams, currently art instructors at the GQ stores – attended for fear they would not receive another check from their boss. Professional artists Anthony Owsley and John Calvin Smith responded out of sheer bravado. For Anthony, it was a chance to try something new, while for John, creator of the Rube Press 24-Hour Comics Line, it was an opportunity to go public with something he did “just for fun.” For amateur comic artist Olivia Townshend, creator and self-publisher of “Toy Soldiers”, the challenge was two-fold: to concentrate and illustrate in a room with nine men for 24 straight hours.

The “headliner” of the event was Brian Stelfreeze, professional artist with Gaijin Studios. Brian has illustrated for many of the top comic publishers, most notably the fifty covers he provided for DC Comics’ “Batman: Shadow of the Bat” series. Throughout the day and night, he was gracious, instructive, candid, and entertaining, as well as hard-working - he drew and inked fifteen pages of a story he was creating from panel to panel. The 24 hours was indeed a personal achievement for him, as he’d only previously drawn five continuous pages in one setting and that was with a script.

Anyone who has stayed awake for 24 hours straight will tell you it can be an ordeal. As the body starts to weaken, the mind drifts into the land of dreams. The lines between reality and imagination wash away and the details of exactly what transpired during the 24 hour marathon (particularly during the wee hours) are suspect. Recollections of people wearing vegetables, Japanese singers covering soul tunes, small furry animals attempting to gain entry to the store, large amounts of coffee being poured from cardboard boxes, and inappropriate behavior from large beasts sporting tentacles are to be taken with a grain of salt. Of one thing we can be sure, while one is in the dreaming, the imagery is inspiring, but the hand unstable.

On Tuesday morning, the sun arose over the GQ store in Lawrenceville, and with it came the FOX 5 cameras. The “Road Warrior”, Brett Martin, of “Good Day Atlanta” arrived to document the scene for posterity. The true champions, however, were the ten who had faced “The Artist’s Challenge” and lived to tell the tale. Though not one of the ten completed a full 24 page comic, they crossed the finish line together, after enduring a 24 hour test of their strength and their talent. In one day, over ninety pages of original artwork was produced, as well as a good chunk of change towards the Cure for Childhood Cancer. Each artist had a life experience shared by only a few others. Oh yeah, they also had fun.

And they all said they’d do it again next year.

24-Hour Draw-a-Thon
a review by L.J. Anderson

On May 14th & 15th (10 am Monday until 10 am Tuesday), the Atlanta comics store Galactic Quest (www.galacticquest.com/24hours.htm) hosted some of the most dedicated and enthusiastic artists in Atlanta as they took on, in the words of its organizer, “a lofty challenge” - draw for 24 hours straight to help raise money to alleviate childhood cancer.

The ten artists included store owner/manager (and event organizer) Kyle Putkammer, pros Anthony Owsley, John-Calvin Smith and Brian Stelfreeze, and local cartoonists Dennis Goering, Allen Belk, Denny Williams, Jason Bullock, Chris Edrington and Olivia Ann Townsend. Each was saddled with an additional challenge: try to complete a 24 page comic book within the 24-hour period. Puttkammer latched onto the idea after reading Image Comics’ 2-In-1 March Special by Erik Larsen and Chris Eliopoulos. The issue contained a complete 24-page story by each artist (48 pages total) finished in a marathon 24-hour session in November 2000. Larsen and Eliopoulos, in turn, were inspired by a challenge issued by Scott McCloud at his website (www.scottmccloud.com), which read in part:

“The DARE: To create a complete 24 page comic book in 24 continuous hours. That means everything: story, finished art, lettering...everything!...No sketches, designs, plot summaries or any other kind of direct preparation can precede the 24 hour period...”

Larsen and Eliopoulos not only succeeded, they published the final results. Puttkammer, a father and comics lover, decided that a good cause could be added to the recipe. He contacted CURE Childhood Cancer (www.curechildhoodcancer.org), an Atlanta-based charity, and offered to make the challenge a marathon to raise money for their organization. For every hour each artist worked, the charity would earn dollars pledged by supporters.

At 10 am sharp the participants hunched over picnic tables set up in the back of the store and began producing page after page of inked, finished art. As each page was completed, the artist involved would hold it up to the applause of visitors and fellow artists, then march the work down to a display case in the center of the store. The pile on the display case grew.

It was a sunny, warm day and some chose to sketch outside. Participants kept energized with pizza, sugar, caffeine and humor. Talk started out G-rated, but by 7 p.m. the group was trading good-natured insults and raunchy quips.

“Any artist who has $10 million dollars is a freak!” exclaimed one, busily scribbling.

“So that makes Todd McFarlane a freak?” replied another without looking up.

There was general agreement.

“Anyone who’d pay over a million dollars for a ball is definitely a freak,” countered a third, referring to a baseball that MacFarlane purchased for almost three million dollars.

“Like any man needs an extra ball,” finished the first.

“We started out talkin’ Star Wars, then Star Trek, then movies in general, then religion, then sex, of course,” explained a chagrined Puttkammer, describing how the day had gone. Stelfreeze regaled the group with his definition of “fantinus” (or was it “pantinus”?), a description that involved a deep, authoritative British accent and had his audience doubled over with laughter (and the details of which are best not spelled out here). From there it descended into rude double entendres dealing with magic markers (“You got the Fat Boy marker?” “Which one?”; “Man, and he called her an ‘extra broad’!”) and the sexual subtext of Japanese monster movies.

Other topics discussed while this writer was present included pay levels for various industry jobs (“Marvel/DC pays $140 -150/page for entry level drawing”); living in New York City (“Who the hell would want to live in New York?!”) and the merits of different caffeinated drinks (“So Mountain Dew’s just Gatorade carbonated?”).

Subject matter of the comics being drawn ran from the prehistoric to the far future, with anthropomorphic animals and superhero biography parodies among the projects. Examples of finished work may at some point be displayed at the store’s website (www.galacticquest.com).

For the benefit of visitors who dropped in throughout the event, each artist was identified with a table card upon which they gave a self-description. Owsley’s read in part: “My comic art has been responsible for the collapse of the Japanese economy and major political upheaval in many Baltic nations.” Belk’s read: “The most modest guy in the world. Is kind to animals and respects his elders.” Townsend, the only female in the group, wrote on hers simply “Yes, I am a girl.”

As the evening wore thin, so did the energy levels. There was a 3 a.m. run to Waffle House. Around 5 a.m. punchiness drove the entire group to gather around the display case covered with completed pages, sway and chant “We can do this, we can do this!”

*Did* they manage to draw for 24 hours straight? Yes. (Stelfreeze, in fact, was the last to leave, continuing to draw until 1 p.m., three hours beyond the deadline.) Did anyone complete a comic book in the challenge time? No, unfortunately, though some finished as many as 15 pages.

“I was amazed that everybody stuck with it,” said Puttkammer later. “Artists tend to be their own worst critics, but no one got down on themselves during this. It brought out the best in everyone. And everybody wants to do it again next year!”

Financial figures aren’t in yet for the fundraiser, because money is still coming in through June 2nd, when a kids’ version of the draw-a-thon will take place at the store.

Was it worth it, regardless of how much money was brought in? A resounding yes. According to Kyle, it wasn’t just about beating cancer. “It’s about creative people saying ‘Let’s test our limits, *and* have some fun!’”

“It was a good time.”

originally written for the June 2001 issue of Sequential Tart