Alec Longstreth

Claire: Part One

Fri 12/21/2012

Twelve years ago I vowed to draw one 24-Hour Comic every year, for the rest of my life. This year, I really did not feel like doing one. Also, I was running out of 2012 in which to do it!

Then, this week I managed to rearrange my schedule so that I could draw all day today. There is a reason I made the vow, after all! Even when I don't want to do a 24-Hour Comic, I should still do one. I might even argue that it's more important to do a 24-Hour Comic when I feel like I don't want to do one. It is a chance to break out of whatever project I am stuck on and try something new. Or a chance to just sit down and CREATE something in one fell swoop. Or a chance to spend 24 hours meditating on one topic, and exploring it through comics.

This year's 24-Hour Comic felt very similar to my 2007 comic about my best friend Gabe. I drew that one the week before Gabe moved to New York City, and I used it as a chance to reflect back on the many different iterations our friendship had undergone.

This time, I focused on my girlfriend, Claire and the story of how we met, and fell in love. We are heading into some crazy new territory together in the new year, so I thought it would be good to spend a day thinking about how we got here. I plan on doing a part two (and maybe three!) in the future.

I'm leaving tomorrow to spend the holidays with my parents, so I drew the comic super small (4.25" x 5.5") and had a maximum of four panels per page - some pages only have two panels - to save time. I was able to draw the whole thing in under 12 hours. I'm glad I did it, but now I need to get ready for my trip and write a bunch of emails that I neglected today.

Anyway, you can read the whole thing over in the comics section. Happy Holidays everybody!