THIS IS HALLOWEEN! Contest info

[zerochan923600]

Happy Halloween everyone! Well, not quite yet, but it's October, and that means its time to bust out the ghostly decor, scarves and all those autumn things.

This month's theme, if you haven't guessed already, is Halloween. The prize is this awesome background you see behind me, the Ghoul's Acre. How will you win said prize? Well, first step is to submit a comic. What kind of comic? Here's your prompt:

Take a classic halloween type monster (vampires, werewolves, zombies, witches, Dr. Frankenstein's monster...) and re-envision it. Do a little research, then tweak it into something fresh. Step out of convention, play with stereotypes, step into convention, play with the way the monster looks, what it does, how it acts. Make up a character based on your new idea of this monster and make a comic with it.

Some examples?

IsisMasshiro from DeviantArt makes comics based on the Left4Dead videogames. I hate Zombies, but I absolutely love the ones in his comics, especially the adorable Hunter.
Left4Dead Gallery

If you have a chance to check out a graphic novel called Courtney Crumrin and the Fire-Thief's Tale (collected in vol4 Courtney Crumrin's Monstrous Holiday), it has a rather interesting origin story for werewolves, where the first werewolf was once a wolf who stole fire from Man, and while his brother submited to Man and became the first dog, the werewolf learned how to become man and thus the first werewolf.

I suppose the Twilight series did their own take on vampires, but I much prefer the ones in the book series Cirque du Freak. It provides lots of insight on the nature of vampires as well as their society and such. There is of course a graphic novel version of it, but I much prefer you read the books first.

GaiaOnline has played with quite a few monsters, with glombies and vampires and the pumpkin king himself making appearances in the site's manga.

The idea here is to take a conventional monster and make it fresh. You dont have to completely change a monster, just enough that we can look at it and go "huh, that was clever." For a less halloween-ish example, take the concept of ninjas in Naruto and Nabari. Naruto shonenizes ninjas by dressing them in decidedly un-stealthy clothing (orange jumpsuit, really?) and giving them super powers. Nabari no Ou modernizes them by giving them day jobs and guns. They are both still ninjas, yet have very fresh takes on it, and that makes them interesting. Now try to do it with some halloween monsters!


====Attention Writers!====
Its come to my attention that these contests aren't very writer friendly. We have had a contest in the past that incorporated script writers, so I know you lot are out there.
I'm here to say anyone who is more prone to scripting and doesn't feel they have the necessary art skill to enter a contest is welcome to submit a script in place of a comic.

Keep in mind that this doesnt mean you can just write out an idea for a comic and submit that. A script is not only a potential comic, it is a comic laid bare for an artist so that they can flesh it out. Remember, the whole point of these contests is to help you grow and become better at making comics. If you dont quite know how a comic script should look like, the interwebs is open to you with all the knowledge in the world at your finger tips.

You can also go to the new thread I'll be making that has help for script writing. I dont write a script, but I do draw comics and have seen very good scripts before, so I can tell you as an artist what you can do to improve your script.

Here are some guidelines to get you started:


Good spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Certainly in any creative process, fixing orthography should be the last step, but it is none the less an important one. Please take your comics seriously, they deserve the love. No chatspeak please, if I catch any of you trying to submit a comic like that I will banish you from this guild forthwith.

Consistency in script format.
There are many ways to kill a dolphin, but make sure the style you choose is easy to follow and then stick with it. Come to the scripting thread if you have questions on comic structures and styles, even if I cant help I'm sure someone else can.

Provide info before you jump into scripting.
Make sure you provide the necessary info before jumping into panels. What format is the comic? Is it in color? Who are the characters? What is the setting? All these things need to be in the beginning.

Be original with your ideas.
Don't just copy from your favorite comic and change the characters a bit. Reading comics is a great way to do research for how to do your own, but in the end we want your comic to be your own.

I wish everyone the best of luck!  

[zerochan923600]

Just because you vote for something in the poll dosent mean you have to do it. You can always change your mind later.  

[Catalytic Productions]

OMG, this is such a great idea for Hallowe'en mrgreen Also, someone else who likes Cirque du Freak? High five! I was never much of a one for vampires but lately I've discovered several series which do them really well. Buffy kicks a** and I liked True Blood a lot, as well as the way that both vampires and lycanthropes are portrayed in the Kitty series by Carrie Vaughn.

So yeah, the idea of reinventing them myself for Hallowe'en appeals a lot biggrin No idea which one I'll pick yet, but I voted for Headless Horseman in the poll because dude, that's already really original xd

Also, for another series that likes to buck the stereotypes of mythical creatures: is anyone else here a fan of Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series?  

[Half-Grey]

Aahhh~It's that time of year again!Zombie movies all night,the day my mind's darkest corners creek out,the day the roads are full of sugar skulls and fancy dressed people.Yeeeah~.I should start thinking of something up,does any kind of horror monster count?'Cause I might have an idea.  

[zerochan923600]

XD I cant stand Zombie movies, or any horror film at that. I saw one in my life and that was the Ring. It was annoyingly pointless at first, but afterward scared me to death.

High five! Thanks for posting more examples Cat! I read a graphic novel version of Artemis Fowl. I've always heard its a great book series, and the comic wasnt too bad. It's defiantly something I'd like to actually read if i had the time.  

[Catalytic Productions]

I haven't watched The Ring because I know it would scare the crap out of me xD I'm so bad with horror films and I've never seen a single zombie film. I rarely even watch 18s. The last horror film I saw was Paranormal Activity but oddly, that one didn't scare me much even though it supposedly scared the s**t out of loads of other people. I would like to see more horror films, because I'd like to be able to write horror and I've had some ideas in the past which I think could be good if I could only get the hang of the writing techniques... but I can't watch horror films on my own so it's a case of finding someone willing to watch them with me.

Definitely check out the original Artemis Fowl book series. I can guarantee that the graphic novel isn't as good. xD (Even without having read it myself)  

[zerochan923600]

I wached The Ring as a preamble to Scary Movie 3, and though it did make Scary Movie 3 a lot more fun, i dont know if it was worth it.


ATTENTION!
New info for script writers in the first post, go check it out!  

[anat24]

wait! that means the contest is over D: i was doing a comic but if im the only one competing then i will start the 30 characters challenge mad  

[zerochan923600]

anat24

wait! that means the contest is over D: i was doing a comic but if im the only one competing then i will start the 30 characters challenge mad

The contest goes until the end of the day. If you post your comic you will get the prize item. Think it through, and besides, I would like to see your comic.  

[anat24]

Srry for it being uncolored, you know im so slow sweatdrop and also a little busy crying but still wanted to make the comic so here it is =) wish u like it!



 

[zerochan923600]

anat24

Srry for it being uncolored, you know im so slow sweatdrop and also a little busy crying but still wanted to make the comic so here it is =) wish u like it!

Hey! I just got around to checking back in. November was real busy. I love your comic, the idea of the bat's soul finding a new host is really interesting. I love the guy's face in the "super hearing" panel XD.

You get the item, I'll send it to you as a present! Thanks for posting!  

[anat24]

Thanks so much for the comment and the prize xd heart