On Friday, Oct. 5 and Saturday, Oct. 6, hundreds of SCAD Atlanta students participated in the 12th annual SCAD Generate creative challenge. Founded by the sequential art department in 2006, Generate is a 24-hour event where students from a variety of majors aim to create a work of art from start to finish within a given timeframe, depending on the major. The challenges are often sponsored by companies looking to hire SCAD students after they graduate.
The Connector interviewed several Generate participants about their experiences in this three-part series.
Akira Brown is a fourth-year sequential art student who completed the 24-hour comic book challenge.
The Connector: How did you approach the challenge?
Brown: I tried to take the one-page-per-hour idea to heart but by doing that, I sacrificed proper planning. Instead, I made a quick bullet-point outline to act as a guide so I knew where my comic would head — or at least where my goal was. I only had like ten bullet points, but after I took 20 or so minutes to jot it down, I got to work with the actual pages. As I was moving along I had to figure out “what would happen next” as I was drawing. The bullet points were goals, but how I planned to get there was the wild and spontaneous part.
The Connector: What was the experience like?
Brown: The fact that I tend to over-plan and keep things organized made this extremely different and kept me on my toes. The entire time I was trying not to be too nitpicky about what looked nice and what didn’t because obviously 24 hours doesn’t give you enough time for too much fine tuning. Normally it’s quality over quantity, but in this it felt like quantity had to come first. Then, if you had time, you could fix the quality. I’m sure there’s a balance of the two in there, I just haven’t figured it out. The experience was definitely fun overall. I learned I can make a complete story that makes sense (at least a little) in the course of a 24-hour period.
The Connector: Did you work the entire 24 hours?
Brown: I did work the whole 24 hours! I took a few breaks to stretch my hands and eat food. The illustration department challenged us to paper airplane contests, so that was a really good excuse to take a good break. The challenge is no joke — sitting in one spot for even longer than an hour is definitely not good. I did work the whole period, but I also stopped to take breaks and talk to others. Plus, some of the movies the professors played during the event helped.
The Connector: Do you have any advice for people hoping to participate in Generate in the future?
Brown: Following up from the last question, definitely take breaks! A sporadic 15 or 30-minute break does you wonders is 100% better than taking no break at all. In that break, you have to actually get away from your screen. Take a walk, stand away from the computer and do some stretches.
Obviously, eating is very important. You’re going to be there all day. They have snacks and coffee so there’s no reason not eat. Something I personally found helpful was talking to people around me and making friends. It’s a fun and friendly competition and you meet more people in your major you may not know. Either way, that extra boost of talking with people helps keep your creativity going. But mostly, it helps you keep your motivation up. Everyone supports each other and the amount of jokes you make, especially around 3-4 a.m., keeps you from being miserable while you work. If you’re not having fun, that defeats the purpose of even doing the competition.
Brown’s completed comic will be featured on the Connector this week.
