If you have been following Stripsearch, but you’re not caught up, this post contains spoilers.

Those who follow this comic very closely will be aware that I have produced nine “Stripsearch home edition” comics in the last few months. These challenges provided 90 minutes to make a comic based on two randomly drawn concepts. I found the format refreshing and fun to approach, no planning just go for it and work as fast as possible.

I think overall, I’ve produced reasonably consistent and readable comics from this format. I don’t think any of them were super weak (apart from maybe “the future / being lost”) – and for much of the reality show, I thought my comics stood up reasonably against the contestants on the show. This is encouraging.

I was a little sad that none of my efforts featured on the penny-arcade site, but you can’t have everything.

The final elimination challenge was issued a week ago, but there was a format change. Rather than 90 minutes to make one comic about two concepts, the contestants were given 86,400 minutes to make a pitch for a whole new comic. That’s 2 months for 6+ strips, 3+ character bios and a T-shirt design.

I AM doing this challenge. Thinking about it, I had a month of reasonably empty space before the collaboration project, which I will be pushing back a month. This gives me the chance to get something out of my head and onto paper that’s been sitting there for a year or so.

One week in and so far I’ve got storyboards, characters, and ideas for the character bios and T-shirt design. Most of the planning is now complete, and it’s a matter of making the thing – so, expect me to be fairly quiet on the social scene during this time.

The comic update schedule will not be affected.