Competitions

In my life, I have participated in a lot of competitions (comics, illustrations, tales, grants, posters, ...). I think they are a very good way to make yourself DO things that otherwise you would delay for the future and probably never do. Competitions have two good things: a deadline and an award. If you are like me, the closer the deadline is the more productive you become :). And although the award can be the main motivation, you will soon understand that the work you DO there is always worth even if you don't win them. I also like extending the concept to real life and working with both short and long-term goals.

During the last few months I have participated in several competitions that I would like to list here:

• CAM Creacomic 2008 (comic competition): I wrote and draw a comic about nuclear accidents that happened in Russia after the second world war (check this entry). I won a consolation prize of 500 Euros plus a return flight to Barcelona to attend the Barcelona's Comic festival and get the award in a ceremony. In the picture bellow you can see me in that ceremony.
  
  
  You can read the eight pages of the comic here:
  
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• Portugalete 2008 (comic competition): I started this comic during my trip to the comic festival in Angoulême 2008, then I went on with it during a drawjam session with my friends and finished for the Portugalete's comic competition. I have to admit that I didn't put much effort in the comic so I understand why I didn't win any prize. You can read the four pages of the comic here:
  
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• Basauri 2008 (comic competition): I drew this comic during my trip to Jaca in Easter for the Basauri's comic competition. When I got back home I added color with my computer. I didn't win any award :(. You can read the four pages of the comic here:
  
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• Alhondiga 2008 (comic grant): I applied for this grant which was really good. I didn't get the grant but I think I was close to. The grant consisted of one year working on a comic in the Maison des Auteurs (Angoulême, France) and it was a very nice opportunity to consider the comic as a possible way to earn a living. You can see here the project that I presented with a lot of drawings:
  
  proyecto-comic-alhondiga-daniel-sang.pdf
  


• Lingua Comica 2008 (comic grant): I have just applied for this grant which consists of a collaborative on-line work on a comic with an Asian person during two months and then a trip to Japan to finish it and take part in an exhibition. The grant sounds really good and interesting and it's open to any European and Asian person.
  


• Monbukagakusho 2008 (scholarship): .. and I reserved for the end of the post this great opportunity that life has just brought to me. I have won a Monbukagakusho scholarship and I will go to Japan in April 2009 (for at least two years) to work as a research student at the Center for Embedded Computing systems, University of Nagoya.