I love participating in the various comic challenges that happen on social media or in person. They're a great way to build comraderie with other cartoonists and work on a lower-stakes project from start to finish to get that dopamine hit of having completed something. There's often online or in-person meetups for cartoonists to work on these challenges together - and if you can't find a meetup, let this be your encouragement to start one! People are always looking for ways to get invested in their local comics scene and often just don't know how to start. I feel obliged to provide a disclaimer that you should be mindful of your time and energy and only participate in these challenges to the extent that you can do so and not sacrifice your health or existing commitments. And now without further ado, here are the comic challenges I've participated in:
Hourly Comics Day is an annual challenge on February 1st started by Simone Veil in 2006. Cartoonists are challenged to draw a comic every hour that they are awake about what they did in the past hour. There are rarely in-person events organized around this challenge, since it centers primarily around drawing the things you're doing during the day - instead, users post to the #hourlycomicsday20XX hashtag on their social media of choice throughout the day. Many creators (myself included) collect their hourly comics for print. You can read my most recent Hourly Comic Day drawings here.
24 Hour Comics Day challenges cartoonists to create a 24-page comic from start to finish in 24 hours. The challenge started as a personal dare between Scott McCloud and Steve Bissett in 1990. On April 24, 2004, the first annual 24 Hour Comics Day took place, involving local events hosted by comic stores across the US. In 2008, organization of the event was handed off to the Comics Professional Retail Organization who have orchestrated it ever since. Today, the event is held annually on the first Saturday in October. For cartoonists who successfully complete the challenge, the Billy Ireland Comics Library and Museum in Columbus, OH maintains an archive of 24-hour comics. You can read my 2024 contribution to the challenge here.
Make a Terrible Comic Day challenges cartoonists to make a terrible comic on purpose. The challenge was started in 2024 by Emma Elliot, and inspired by this skeet by Daryll Ayo. As a newer comics challenge, there are no known in-person events celebrating this challenge. You could be the first! If you organize an event to celebrate this challenge, email me at lief[at]houseoflief.com and I will add it to this website. Traditionally, this event is celebrated by making a terrible comic and posting it to social media using the hashtag #makeaterriblecomicday20XX. You can read my most recent terrible comic here.
Cartoonber is an annual challenge hosted by the Cartoonist Cooperative and inspired by the various prompt-tober challenges (e.g., Inktober). Cartoonber challenges cartoonists to team up in group of 2-4 to practice different roles in comics-making, such as scripting, pencils, inks, colors, and lettering. There are four prompts, and groups are given two weeks with each prompt to produce a finished page. Groups may choose to produce four sequential pages, or four stand-alone pages. Due to the primarily online nature of the Co-op and the two-month run-time of the challenge, there are no in-person events. I recommend joining the Cartoonist Co-op discord server to find a group. Groups are also encouraged to post their pages on social media using the #cartoonber20XX hashtag. You can read my 2024 Cartoonber pages here.
SAWgust is an annual comics challenge hosted by the Sequential Artists Workshop and inspired by the (now defunct) NaNoWriMo challenge. SAWgust challenges cartoonists to draw 100 panels or ~32 pages of comics in the month of August. If that seems like a stretch for you, that's the point - but if it seems impossible, SAW also encourages a Choose Your Own Adventure approach to the challenge, encouraging artists to set their own challenge goals for the month. Cartoonists can sign up for the event through the the SAW website to participate in check-in calls over zoom, receive free stickers in the mail, and benefit from the supportive online community that SAW has cultivated. While there is no mention of SAWgust-specific events on the SAW website, they do have a physical location in Gainesville, FL where they host classes, meetups, and other events.