Well it's Sunday so that means the Guardian/Observer have just announced the winner of this year's Observer/Cape/Comica Graphic Short Story Prize. Congratulations, of course, to the
winner for her story story 'Colonic'. Of course, I'm somewhat disappointed to have lost. I put so much effort into
this competition that, on reflection, I shouldn't have bothered. I never have any success submitting anything to The Guardian. I should have followed my instincts. I drew my
Wilco Strip which I lost faith in, my
Putin strip which I thought was too silly and political, and my
Elephant in the Room strip which was the most autobiographical but which I ruined by trying to be too clever by sticking a Sparks strip in the middle of it.
In the end, I wrote and drew this fourth story called 'The Old Man In A Tree'. It's about one of my usual themes: people trying to do something different and meaningful in the face of so much mediocrity. A ridiculous amount of time and effort went into this competition (4 strips drawn, one submitted) but here in its miserable losing glory is my story...
[…] The Spine The Old Man Who Climbed a Tree […]
ReplyDeleteCommiserations. I didn't win either!
ReplyDeleteBut I am linking to as many entries as I can find, here: http://myfdrawsapparently.wordpress.com/2013/10/24/jonathan-capecomicaobserver-graphic-short-story-competition/. I've added a link to here; hope that's ok.
And commiserations back at you! I loved your piece. Very funny, breezy, wonderfully drawn, with great style, and a strong message. How going to look through the rest of that post. I'm trying to spot my cartoon on the wall of that coffee shop in London.
ReplyDeleteWell, I feel richer for reading this, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete[…] ← The Observer/Cape/Comica Graphic Short Story Prize Losing Entry […]
ReplyDeleteThis is a thing of beauty. Thanks for putting it up for all to see.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes fear opening comments because I'm sure they will be insulting so this really gave me a tangible warm glow. It's one of the kindest things anybody has every said to me in all my years blogging. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteI didn't win either, but I didn't really expect to. My story went a bit off from the second page. http://benandantiastralbodyguard.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/148/
ReplyDeleteAh, don't be down on yourself! I'm looking at it now and the story definitely doesn't go off on the second page. I think you're suffering from typical self doubt because you're too close to it. It's as good as most of the entries in that Shorties book they published of past entrants a year or so ago and funnier too.
ReplyDelete[…] The Spine The Old Man Who Climbed a Tree […]
ReplyDeleteI hope you have submitted again this year. I see the competition as a goal to make some work. Don't lose faith in your work. Perhaps instead of putting your hard work online you should keep hold of it and look for another opportunity. This is my thinking as I find that anyone who will publish doesn't want work that has been online before which I find terribly unfair. I have a lot of work waiting but ultimately I have always found that Art opportunities will come around eventually. Good luck
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jean-Pierre. It's strange you left that comment because this morning, though a totally unrelated series of events, I realised that this year's competition has just closed. I didn't enter. Last year was pretty bad for my confidence and (frankly) reading the winning entry sort of destroyed my faith in the world. Or, at least, it destroyed my faith in whatever my tastes are. So this year I've only drawn things that have gone into my Android games. Oddly, in the last two weeks, I've started to cartoon again and perhaps next year I might remember the short story prize and try again but I don't know... If feels like so much work for something that is part of a world and sensibilities that aren't my own. Hmm... I'm sounding bitter or depressed when I'm only the latter of those. I was in a bookshop two days ago and I saw the work of David Shrigley and I just gave out an exasperated sigh. I don't understand anything any more. The world seems mad to me. ;)
ReplyDeleteWho the fuck's 'David Shrigley?'!
ReplyDeleteYour strip is too wordy. And tries too hard to be philisophical maybe? Need to liven it all up man! I would have tried to Make the old man more interesting and funny. Nice try though.
ReplyDelete