After highlighting the runner-up in the Platform Comics 10k Challenge, it’s time to take a closer look at the winner, Hannah England. Like the other participants, England was given 10,000 minutes (about seven days, FYI) to make a comic from scratch. AIPT was happy to help sponsor the competition, which ended up with 12 creators featured in the new anthology that’s free to read right now.
The winners were selected by a treasure trove of creators, including Terry Blas, Tailor Esposito, Erica Schultz, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. Below, enjoy our chat with with England, who created the story “35 Years” about coming to grips with getting older. She also discusses her creative process and some handy drawing tips, among other tidbits.
AIPT: How does it feel to win the 10k challenge two years in a row?
Hannah England: It feels great! It’s very validating.
AIPT: Tell us a little about yourself. Where in the world are you located, and how long have you been making comics?
HE: I’ve lived in Virginia, USA, for most of my life, though I moved around the state for school and jobs. I got a lot of my adventures through books, both with and without pictures, and knew I’d have to do something with storytelling eventually. Drawing ended up being only slightly more of an obsession than writing, so I naturally ended up finding comics as a medium that I enjoyed a lot. I didn’t read them much growing up, aside from a handful of early webcomics that I could access for free, but I really found them intriguing once I was in college.
I’ve started a couple of unfinished projects since then and made a few short stories, but I don’t have a ton of actual hands-on experience with comics. I just absorb a lot of information about subjects that are of particular interest to me, and comics are one of them! Books like Scott McCloud’s series on making comics and YouTube creators like Jake Parker, who freely share their comic knowledge, have been integral in helping me understand how to make comics that work.
A page from “35 Years.” Courtesy of Hannah England.
AIPT: Who are some of your inspirations in comics or in art in general?
HE: I’ve been gathering visual inspirations my whole life, so some artists who have influenced me a lot I’ve probably forgotten about, even if I carry their creative DNA inside me. Some I can mention for sure are Walt Disney, Natalia Pierandrei, Jake Parker, Edgar Degas, Jed Henry, Jason Brubaker, Junji Ito, Yuko Shimizu, and Lorenzo Etherington. There are also dozens of artists on Instagram who provide me with daily inspiration and cool ideas. Not all of them are comic-makers, but I think artists should find inspiration in all kinds of places, not just other comics.
AIPT: Given you only have 10k minutes to complete your comic, did you prepare at all going in either by thinking up stories, sketching ideas for characters, or anything like that?
HE: I can’t do any prep work beforehand because I don’t know my theme or the line of dialogue yet, so it’s all done within those 10K minutes! I spent the first day coming up with an idea and writing the first draft of the script. I also started the thumbnails that day and finished them the second day. At that point, I started on the actual artwork and did one or two pages a day whenever I had the time. I happened to be taking some time off work for unrelated reasons, so that certainly helped! The final day is all about adding the words and tweaking them to be just right. I’m definitely a planner, and I think it helps me get tighter narratives.
AIPT: Given the time restraint, are there any tips you might give a future creator who might submit for the 10K Platform Comics challenge or a similar time restraint comic competition?
HE: I have three tips.
- First, trust yourself. You don’t have the luxury of a lot of time, so go with your gut.
- Second, do at least a rough draft of the dialogue and thumbnails before you begin your art; it’s easier to change a big story problem in a rough draft than to redo entire pages because they aren’t working.
- Third, make sure you’re completing a story arc within your pages. I’ve seen a lot of short stories that feel like they end in an unnatural spot, or the pacing felt kind of off. Getting those pages to work for you and tell a full story is important.
Thumbnails for “35 Years.” Courtesy of Hannah England
AIPT: With the time restraint of 10k hours, did you find yourself redrawing panels or entire pages, or is it about pushing forward no matter where you placed a caption or dialogue balloon?
HE: A little bit of both. Like I mentioned in previous answers, I do some planning on the first day, and I find that planning is an important part of making the short story and the layout of the artwork come together in such a short time. For the 35 Years story, I had all the pages planned out as thumbnails with dialogue from the first day, and even then, I changed a few things around. The nice thing is that, because of the thumbnails, I was able to work out those problems before I started drawing the final pages, so while I did several iterations of the thumbnails, I only had to draw each page once.
The biggest kink in the plan was when I was on the second-to-last page and realized that the story wrapped up too quickly. It felt like I just kind of rushed the ending. So I redrew some thumbnails and decided to add a whole other page to tie things up a little more cleanly. It meant more work for me, and it’s not perfectly executed, but I think the story flows better for it.
Thumbnails for “35 Years.” Courtesy of Hannah England.
AIPT: Your story features a 35-year-old woman reflecting on Amenhotep and how they died at the same age. The story is filled with self-doubt, what made this the right story for the competition?
HE: My initial thought when I got my prompt (Death of an Egyptian Pharaoh) was to do a historical story of a pharaoh’s death. I even considered Rameses from the Bible because that’s the story I know the best. But with the time constraints, I didn’t want to use all my time researching historical events and visuals, so I decided a museum setting would be a good compromise. I still used a real pharaoh and drew real artifacts, but the research time was far less. That gave me the freedom to interpret the prompt very differently, which I think made for a unique story. I was going through a lot of self-doubts at the time I made the comic, actually, so it was therapeutic making this comic! I also wanted to do something different than my colorful, silly comedy from last year. Making it a bit more serious and letting myself show off my art skills was something I really wanted to accomplish.
AIPT: Are you going to go for a hat trick next year and submit again?
HE: Ha! I feel like I have to at least try at this point! My first win was for a surreal fantasy comedy, and my second was a modern slice of life, so I need something like a romantic action space adventure next time. Gotta fill out those genres, right?
Characters from Hannah England’s “Lampblack” graphic novel. Credit: Hannah England.
AIPT: Do you have a dream job in mind when crafting comics? Would you like to create for the DC or Marvel, or maybe Fantagraphics?
HE: I honestly think I’d be happier making indie comics or at least working for someone that would let me both write and illustrate them. I wouldn’t be as happy working on someone else’s story, and I like drawing too much to let someone else take over all the artwork. I wouldn’t mind someone else coloring it, though – inking is my favorite part!
AIPT: Where can readers find you and your work? Give us the plugs!
HE: Certainly! My website is www.StudioHannah.com, and I’ll be updating it in the autumn with some more comic-centric works. My Instagram is my most active social media, and I’m @studiohannahart on there. I also have a YouTube channel that I intermittently update, which is [located here]. I’d be delighted for people to come to say hello online!
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