How did Art Challenges came to be? Well, to be truthful, it wasn't originally called Art Challenges.
It was originally called "Art Challenge" (singular) - a name Don came up with before we learnt the formal term "comic jam" (wiki), and we re-named it to "Art Challenges" (plural) because artchallenge.com and art-challenge.com have already been registered by other people.
Don and Jon’s comic journey started in the most casual way. One day, Don mentioned he wanted to get better at drawing cartoons and comics. Jon, always up for a creative challenge, was immediately on board. So, they kicked off their comic jam on Discord, tossing panels back and forth, each one building on the last in ways neither of them expected.
What started as a fun side project quickly took on a life of its own. The stories got wilder, the characters deeper, and before they knew it, they had built an entire world—without even meaning to. They’d start with a silly joke, and suddenly, there’d be an emotional character arc they never saw coming.
The best part? It was totally unpredictable. One of them would set up a scenario, and the other would take it somewhere completely unexpected. The excitement of never knowing what came next kept them going. Their characters started developing personalities, quirks, and backstories they hadn’t planned at all.
They still have no idea how long their comic jam will last, but that’s part of the fun. As long as they have ideas and the energy to keep going, they’ll keep drawing, improvising, and watching their little comic world evolve—one unexpected panel at a time.
We had been doing our comic jam for months, accumulating a collection of sketches and stories. Despite our enthusiasm, we had no proper platform to showcase our work. It was suggested one day that we create a website, and since Don was a senior software developer, he took on the seemingly simple task.
Initially, we imagined a sleek, professional site coming together quickly. Don started with a basic [insert coding language] framework, promising further improvements. However, weeks passed, and progress remained slow. He juggled his job and personal life, while also contemplating the right tech stack and potential features. The project expanded beyond necessity, with ideas like a file upload system with an accessible UI delaying the core functionality. Meanwhile, our comics still had nowhere to go.
Frustrated with the slow progress, we decided to use Google Sites for simplicity. It wasn’t super customisable, but it was functional. Don hesitated, but the realisation that we had no actual website pushed us to act. Within a day, we had a working site with a custom domain, finally giving our comics a home.
This experience reminded us that simplicity often trumps perfection. Our comic jam was about creativity, yet we had nearly derailed it with unnecessary complexity. Now, our site stands as a reminder that getting things done is more important than getting them perfect, and that sometimes, the simplest solution is the best one.
We started drawing comics together almost on a whim. It was supposed to be just a fun challenge, a way to practice and improve our cartooning skills while pushing each other’s creativity. At first, we kept a steady rhythm, tossing panels back and forth on Discord. One of us would set up a premise, and the other would follow up with an unexpected twist. Before we knew it, we had built something that felt larger than just sketches—it was a world of its own.
As much as we loved our comic jam, life had other plans. Between full-time jobs, personal responsibilities, and just the general chaos of adulthood, there were times when a comic panel would sit unfinished for days, sometimes weeks. We’d eagerly wait for the next installment, wondering where the other would take the story. Sometimes, the wait stretched on so long that we wondered if the project had been forgotten entirely.
We never intended to abandon our project, but finding time was always a challenge. Some weeks, we were inspired and productive, trading multiple panels in a short burst. Other times, it felt like everything else in life took priority, and the comic jam was left untouched. The longer the gap, the harder it felt to get back into it, as if we had to reconnect with the characters and the momentum we had built.
More than once, we thought the project had been completely abandoned. A month would pass, then two, and we’d hesitate to even bring it up, worried that the spark was gone. When one of us finally got around to drawing the next panel, the other might have lost interest. The energy and excitement that had fueled us seemed to slip away, and the project was at real risk of ending for good. During those hiatuses, we sketched little strips—fragments of ideas, bits of humor—to keep something alive, even if the main story felt stalled.
Somehow, the project never fully died. A moment of inspiration, a random doodle, or just the memory of how much fun it was would breathe life back into it. One of us would add a new panel, and suddenly, it was like reviving a skeleton, literally a project that became another 'skeleton in the closet', piecing it back together one bone at a time. It wasn’t always smooth, but the joy of seeing the story move again kept us hopeful. It felt like proof that our little comic world still had a future.
We don’t know how long this comic jam will last. Maybe one day we’ll finally stop, or maybe we’ll just keep going indefinitely, at our own slow and steady pace. But for now, we know one thing: as long as we can, we’ll keep drawing. We’ll keep surprising each other, laughing at our own absurd stories, and letting our comic world grow—one unexpected panel at a time.
*bonus panels to close off this 'skeleton story arc'.