OUTLINE:
“The All-New Adventures of Twelve (or There Abouts)” (“Tale of Twelve” to its friends) is a comic written and illustrated by a succession of people.

Each week a willing participant will have one week to complete the 4 following tasks.
The next week it will go to the next person. ….and the next …and the next. Anyone can have each go provided that they haven’t already contributed to any of the current partial squares.

It is based on the now world-famous “The Tale of Four” and aims to create a similarly unpredictable story, yet hopefully more coherent and better paced, with artwork which can be experimental but will ideally hang together as a whole. The whole thing is still for fun, but maybe with the idea of being a little more….. I dunno…. Hmmmm….. “Serious” is not the right word, but I don’t know what is.

This is not a criticism of “The Tale of Four”. It’s just something a little different. The tale is a purer form of my idea. This is just a different experiment!

BEFORE STARTING:

Read the existing comic.
Try to make sense of it.
Then read the annotated version.
Hopefully this should answer any questions.
If not, then contact me and I’ll do my best.
Write on the annotated version any point that your interpretation of the comic is different from mine.

THE FOUR TASKS:

| | COLOUR | V	| | INK | V	| | SKETCH | V	| | WRITE | V

THE FOUR TASKS:

1) Colour the third to last filled batch of squares (which should already be inked but not coloured). Try to experiment while holding the overall look of the page in mind. I think it might be nice if we all use watercolour by default but feel free to incorporate elements of other media into this for effect where required.

2) Ink over the sketch in the second to last filled batch. Don’t use any colour. Try to keep any characters looking consistent with previous squares and the existing sketch. Use a waterproof pen such as a permanent marker to avoid problems when it’s coloured. Finally erase the pencil sketch.

3) Remove the post it note. Use a pencil to Sketch your impression of the contents of the post-it. Transcribe any dialogue. By default you will take up a single line of squares, although you can take up as much or as little space and whatever shape you require for your concept. If this is the first batch of the page then you can decide whether the page will be landscape or portrait. There’s no need to divide your batch into a specific number of squares. I have put guidelines for the default squares on the template, but these can be ignored. Feel free to overlap or combine squares, or dispense with outlines all together. The guidelines can always be painted out later. Try to keep any character’s looking consistent with previous squares, but otherwise use your imagination.

4) Write some dialogue and/or description on a post-it note (or few) and stick it onto the first blank space. Try to be clear and consistent, yet use your imagination. Try to write as much as you think would reasonably fill one line.

(The phrase “last filled batch” is used for the square with the post-it note attached)

(If the batch being described by a specific task does not yet exist, go on to the next task. There will be chances in the future for another turn.)

(When I feel the time is right, I will specify an empty future square as the last and all following participants will have something to work towards)

(For each task you can be as faithful or otherwise to what the previous person has done as you like.)

(A culture of leaving your preliminary sketches and notes in the folder seems to have built up. I think this is fun! Please leave any you might have done, and feel free to look through everyone else’s!)

Lessons from the Tale of Four:
1. Read and understand what has previously happened and ask me if you don’t understand anything. The attached document, “twelve – what’s going on?” may also help.
2. Try to progress, explain or twist existing elements of the story in preference to adding new elements wherever possible.