With about 30 students, three SDA alumni, and art teacher Jeremy Wright taking their spots to get one page down per hour, the largest group yet of cartoonist returned for this year’s 24-Hour Comic.

The project started with American cartoonist and comics theorist Scott Mccloud’s 24-hour comic contest against his friend and fellow artist back in 1990 which since has become internationally recognized. Inspired by Mccloud’s work, Wright brought the project to SDA for the first time in 2006. The idea is to motivate participating artists to finish their pieces, instead of leaving artistic works half done.

Artists participating in the event dedicate themselves to the art, Wright said. Mandatory meetings and small projects are required before the final 24-hour event to prove willingness to participate. Especially with the time constraints, Wright said that he is always impressed at how dedicated and well-behaved the students are during the event.

Starting at 12 noon on Saturday, working for 24 hours can be painful. Her second time participating in 24 Hour Comic at SDA, Kelly Luong, senior, said “You can sleep if you want and have time. I slept for maybe 30 minutes around 5 a.m.”

When asked how they cope with the lack of sleep, Luong said that talking with friends and having fun is helpful. Dylan Chow, junior, added that everyone screams at midnight, which is another fun way for the artists to decompress.

Stuffed with pizza and food from the community table, the cartoonists go through the process of storyboarding, sketching, and inking all within 24 hours. Luong said, “Last year I planned [the cartoon] out and that was a huge waste of time. So this year I just had a concept and I winged it.”

Luong used a personal experience for the inspiration for her comic this year about the throwing team on SDA’s track and field team. “We are scrawny people on SDA’s throwing team. It’s funny to make fun of ourselves, to embrace our life,” she said.

Cartooning is fun for many artists because of the freedom it allows. “I like to draw fun stuff. It’s completely different from painting and sculpting, which is somehow more serious,” said Luong. “But for cartooning, you just have fun. It’s okay if you are just messing around because even if you are it ends up cool.”

Despite the physical toll 24 hours of working and focusing has on a person, Wright says that he loves the event because it is very characteristic of SDA as a school and is always a lot of fun.

Luong and Wright’s cartoons, along with several other artists are on display in the Gallery, east of the Mosaic. 24 Hour Comic will be in the Gallery until Wednesday, May 3.