iStockphoto to Launch the Collective Comic Project at the WIRED Café at Comic-Con 2012

Community Created Comic Celebrates More Than a Decade of Stock Illustration Sales and a Revamp of Feast, iStock’s Online Gathering Place for Creatives

San Diego, Calif.: July 12, 2012 — Today at the WIRED Café at Comic-Con, iStockphoto announced the beginning of its Collective Comic Project, a community-driven digital comic progressively illustrated by ten leading iStock artists. The comic’s storyline will be developed with input from event attendees and members of Feast, iStock’s online gathering place for creative people of all types.

Starting today, Comic-Con participants, iStockers and comic fans the world over will have the opportunity to choose the story’s hero, villain, location, genre, love interest and problem by visiting feast.istockphoto.com. There they will be presented with a series of options for the various components of the story and will be able to vote for their favorites.

Deviants, misfits and non-conformists will have the chance to submit their own original ideas as well. The final concept for the comic will be driven by the most popular selections as well as any other suggestions that are simply too awesome or crazy to pass up. At that point, the first illustrator will have seven days to create a set of panels and advance the story before the next artist takes over the following week. Ten artists. Ten weeks. One amazing comic.

“iStockphoto is home to some of the most incredible stock illustrators and illustrations from around the globe and we were looking for a unique way to celebrate both,” said Rebecca Rockafellar, senior vice president of E-Commerce at Getty Images and general manager of iStockphoto. “Throughout history, illustrations have been one of the most effective ways to tell a story graphically and, in many ways, there’s no better way to do that than through a comic.”

Voting will continue through July 17 and the results will be revealed on the Feast site on July 25 along with information about each contributing artist. The first panel will be uploaded on August 1. Each week the newest panel will be available on the site for viewing and public commentary, which may then be worked back into the story. The comic will be completed by the end of September. 

A Feast for the Eyes
The Collective Comic Project coincides with a redesign of Feast, iStock’s popular online gathering place for creatives to share, collaborate and learn. Feast provides information, articles and inspiration on current creative themes that change regularly. Membership is free and open to everyone.

August and September’s theme will focus on visual storytelling and will feature articles about the use of visual metaphors, cutting-edge advertising, illustration trends, editorial illustration and photography. 

About iStockphoto
iStockphoto offers inspiration with millions of hand-picked, royalty-free creative and editorial photos, illustrations, video, audio and Flash® files. Using the most advanced search in the business, customers download a file every second from more than ten million files for creative, business, marketing and personal projects. iStockphoto started in 2000, pioneering the online micropayment photography business model, and has become one of the most successful and profitable user-generated content sites in the world. iStockphoto is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Getty Images.