If you don’t already know, February 1 is a sometimes-beloved, sometimes-maligned holiday for cartoonists called Hourly Comics Day, where we take on the challenge of making a comic for every hour we are awake. I knew about the annual prompt for years before I tried my hand at it, and was firmly in the “who has time for that!” camp—working a full time job, trying to draw my book in the scant hours I had to make my own work every day. I made my first “hourly”-ish comics in 2020; knowing I had to present something new at Zine Not Dead that Feb 29 (not realizing then, of course, it would be my last public event for years to follow), I took detailed notes through my day on Feb 1 2020 and turned it into this slideshow presentation comic (which I still love very much!). Every year since I’ve tried the same thing, either drawing quickly the day of HCD, or taking notes to document the minutiae of the day in a comic as quick as I can afterward. It has become a meaningful challenge for me every year, and a pleasure to look back on as my life changes and my kids get older. Recent years I drew on my iPad to facilitate speed, but this year I drew my hourlies in my sketchbook, the same way I draw my diary comics: no planning or penciling, straight to ink, trying not to be too precious about the quality of my drawing.
There are a few diary comics I haven’t shared here before and after my hourlies, so here’s an hourly comics sandwich.
Love to you all!
xoxox marn
Fantastic!
I enjoyed this so much! Your comics course sounds SO good, what lucky students!