To paraphrase a line from D&D...

Draw your sword and kick in the door. It's time for the Goblins Animated: Kickstarter!

-Tarol

Edit: The title of this blog originally called this a "trailer". That was my bad. Technically, this is not a trailer, but an animatic. Sorry about that.

-Tarol

For the past year or so, we've been working in secret (well, semi-secret) on Goblins the animated series. It's still a ways off from being released, but so much work has been done and those involved with this are all really excited.

The series aims to turn the comic into a professional, high quality cartoon. Co-writing it with me, are Matt King and Phil LaMarr (their names link to their IMDB pages) who will also be doing voice work in the show, along with a list of other big names voicing the various characters. Aside from Matt and Phil, I don't think I'm allowed to officially name any of the actors, the animation studio, who's doing the music, etc. At this point, I'd rather err on the side of caution since this whole thing has like... lawyers involved with contracts and percentages and lots of grown-up stuff like that.

Very soon, a sort of rough draft trailer will be going public. The animation has an unfinished look to it, but it showcases the talents of everyone involved, really well.

There is more info to come out about dates, season one, funding, etc. Follow any of us on Twitter to be kept up to date as new info comes out.

Matt's Twitter

Phil's Twitter

Tarol's Twitter

The Goblins Card Game

The reason for my slow updating lately has been because of this and The Goblins Card Game (otherwise known as Goblins: Alternate Realities) which as of yesterday, I'm super excited to finally be finished. Like 'Goblins Animated', the card game is still a ways off from going public, but after years of single handedly drawing hundreds of cards, designing, playtesting, and designing some more, I have a finished, balanced card game prototype. I know that a lot of you have a ton of questions about the game and I'm working on a webpage that will showcase the cards, the artwork, the rules, a FAQ and offer contact info.

My life is a swirly, crazy mess these days, but my goals remain...

1. Don't let down the people who are owed a copy of that game.

2. Don't let down the people who have attached their names to Goblins: Animated.

3. Don't let down the Goblins readers who have been so supportive for years.

I'm just glad that I can finally be open and public about goal number two! :)

-Tarol

So I'm back to working condition after my surgery. I have another one in April, but that's probably going to be super minor and won't cut into my work time. But at this point, I'm able to work without hindrance, so there's nothing stopping me from going back to posting updates every Monday. Thanks for your patience everyone and I hope you enjoy today's update. -Tarol

I had surgery on my mouth/face. I've been mostly in bed while healing. It sucks, but I'm getting better. Apologies for the lack of content. -Tarol

EDIT: The tutorial (which is over two hours long) is now up on YouTube. Due to a snow storm causing many power outages and me spending too much time this week on the card game (mostly the card game thing), there is no update today. However, I'm about to create some filler that I think some folks might enjoy. My plan is to live stream a tutorial on how to create an awesome tabletop RPG city, filled with quests and lots of stuff for the players to explore (and wreck). I will then upload that unedited tutorial onto YouTube. I'm setting up to start this right now. EDIT: I should mention that since I'm trying to create a fairly tight tutorial video, I won't be joking around or answering questions etc as much as I usually do. Though I will answer questions about the subject matter. Here's the link to the live stream. Here's the link to the YouTube video. The next Goblins page will go up on Monday, Feb 13th (and every Monday after that). Thank you! -Tarol And feel free to follow me on Twitter for the type of rambling that you could find at literally millions of other Twitter accounts!

The next Goblins update comes Monday, January 2nd followed by every Monday after that. At least this is the current plan. You see, I've been lucky enough to hire the award winning artist, Cheyenne Wright who among other things, colours the popular webcomic, Girl Genius (written by Phil and Kaja Foglio). The fact that Phil Foglio's 1980s comic 'What's New', is one of the main things that got me into drawing a Dungeons & Dragons themed comic in the first place, is kinda surreal to me. Goblins has four parents. What's New, Wormy, Heavy Metal Magazine and Elfquest. Anyways, if you'd like to take a quick look at Cheyenne's colouring, click here. So with Cheyenne's help, it is my strong hope that I'll be able to keep up with at 'least' a once per week update schedule. For now, it's every Monday. If this works out, we'll see how it goes from there. Cheyenne is apparently made of art-magic and can colour pages faster than I can type the words "Cheyenne is apparently made of art-magic". Whether or not we can update more than once per week is based purely on my drawing speed. With the new colourist, comes a new look to the art style. I adore what Cheyenne is bringing to the pages and I hope you all will too. Sometime in January, I'll also be working with my new tech wizard, who will greatly improve the look and feel of the website itself. So look forward to massive, visual changes in the website, as well. With a bit of extra time, I'm really hoping to FINALLY finish my work on the Goblins Card Game (which I have barely touched in weeks), as well as a few other responsibilities I have, connected to Goblins. As always, thank you for everything! -Tarol My Twitter Cheyenne's Twitter

EDIT: The position has been filled. Thank you so much to everyone who applied!

It's no secret that I've been struggling to maintain an update schedule that I consider frequent and reliable. For this reason, I've decided to try hiring a colourist for my webcomic, Goblins. I tried this years ago but the artist, through no fault of his own, had to back out before long.

Here's what you'd be required to do...

I'd send you the black and white pages and you'd be colouring them and adding lighting effects, shading, etc. Here are some examples of my colouring style and what would be required of you. Some of these visuals would be very common, while others are fairly rare. (click on the pic for a closer view).

Effects like these beams of light.

The way this hallway fades off into the darkness and the water visuals on the stairs.

Textures like this metal armour or the glass-like tip of his sword hilt.

Rock textures and metallic shine, etc.

Your job wouldn't be to mimic my style. I'd want you to bring your style and skills into it in a way that compliments the feel of the comic. However, I'm not looking for a drastic change in style with a vastly different look. I don't want Goblins to suddenly become a completely different comic, visually. There would be times when a page would require more time consuming visuals and believe me, I understand how that is. In those times, I'd be happy to take on a bit of the colouring workload or listen to your suggestions on how those visuals could maybe be handled in a better way.

Here's what I'm looking for in an artist...

Long Term

Having a new artist add their talents to the comic changes the look and feel. It requires the readers, for better or worse (hopefully better), to adjust to the change. It's kind of like seeing a different actor play a known character in a movie's sequel. So naturally, I'd rather not have this change occur a bunch of times as I hire different artists. I understand that life happens and unexpected changes will sometimes happen. But the artist should be coming in with every intent to stick around.

Experienced

Whether it's professional experience or just a lot of creating on your own, I need someone who's created a lot of work and is very familiar with what they'd be doing. If you're still 'cutting your teeth' with this kind of medium, then you might not be what I'm looking for.

The Right Style

Your colouring style isn't going to perfectly match mine. However, it should compliment the feel of the comic. This can be because your style is very similar to mine or it can be because you're bringing something that, although very different than my style, just makes this particular comic look awesome.

Photoshop, Manga Studio, etc

Goblins is drawn in Photoshop on a drawing tablet, so I'd be sending you the black and white pages to be coloured on your computer and sent back to me. You'll need to be very familiar with using your computer as your medium.

Take Instruction But Not Need It

There are things in Goblins that absolutely need to be shown in a very specific way, so I'd need an artist who is okay with me being annoyingly specific at times. A magic sword might need to glow a very specific way or a scene might require a certain emotional feel with the lighting. Most of the time however, I'd want you to make it yours in your way. If I've hired you, it's because I like your style and I am confident that you know what you're doing. As an artist myself, I completely understand that the more creative freedom I take away from you, the harder it is for you to feel passionate about what you're creating. Faded passion means faded quality and a bored artist makes boring work. Which leads me to...

Passionate About This

You wouldn't have to have read the whole comic or be personally into the story, but you'd need to enjoy what you're working on, on some level. No matter how talented and experienced you are, I can't use an artist who's just looking for a paycheck. If you're not into fantasy styled comics/artwork, then that'll show in your work.

Communicate Well And Be An Awesome, Intelligent Person

I can't imagine this working with an artist who I can't get along with. We've all had to work with someone we didn't like and we know how that goes.

Be Able To Keep Up With The Schedule

I realize how hypocritical it is for me to add this point, since I've been defeated by deadlines more often than the Joker has been defeated by Batman. However, the whole point of this is to be able to have a dependable update schedule. I need to be able to create at least one page per week. I'd love to someday update even faster, but I don't know how realistic that is with this comic. You'd need to have the time to colour one page a week, dependably. Now here's where my message gets a little conflicting... I'm an artist and I know how deadlines can be missed. I know how there will be times when artwork is late. Especially when you are passionate about creating the best work that you can. In fact, I'm nervously hoping that I myself, am not ever late in handing you the black and white page that you need. So while I understand the artist/deadline relationship, I need this to work. So if you're an applicant sending me examples of your work, don't give me beautifully detailed digital paintings that took you six weeks to create. If you know that you can't create that kind of work on the required schedule, then you're not showing me what you'd be creating. Also, if your schedule is really busy, then this might not be best fit for you.

An Adult

Since I mentioned on Twitter, that I'd be placing this ad, a bunch of people have already contacted me about it and some of those people are a bit too young to hire. I've seen the art you sent and more than once, I was blown away. Please, please keep creating. You're awesome and I so need to see that kind of talent continue grow over time.

And now the final details, like...

How Much Does It Pay

The base pay is $125 per page (that's Canadian dollars, so I think that works out to around $100 American). I say "base pay" because there are a bunch of things that can/will alter that number. I just want you to have some idea of what you're looking at before you apply. That's with an intent to make 4 pages per month. I'd be super happy if we could get to 6 or even 7 pages per month, but that might not be possible.

How Do I Apply

Send me some of your work. 3 - 8 examples should be about right, but that's just a guideline. Or you can link me to a collection of your work on DeviantArt, etc. Send your email to thuntsthisland@gmail.com along with a brief description of who you are and what kind of experience you have. I'll be emailing those artists that I think might be a good fit and giving more detailed information about payment, the contract you'd be signing, etc. I'll also be happy to answer any questions you might have for me. After that step, I'll make my decision. I'm not certain how long this process will take, so I can't really tell you when you can expect a response from me. Thank you SO much to those of you who are applying. I really appreciate the time you're taking to do this and while I'm sure I won't be able to respond to everyone, I will carefully look over the artwork you send/link. If you've already sent me your work, please resend it to the email shown here. You can also follow me on Twitter, if you're not already. That's a great way to shoot me a question or keep an eye on what's going on. Thanks so much and I look forward to hearing from you. -Tarol

The folks over at Lost Goblin, have been working on a gorgeous game called Goblins of Elderstone.

As it's unfinished, I have yet to play it. But check out the Kickstarter! This thing looks awesome!

https://ksr-video.imgix.net/projects/2521244/video-710707-h264_high.mp4

But it's missing something... I can't quite put my finger on it, but it feels like there should be something more. Hmmm...

Of course! It needs some Thuntonian Goblins! Well fear not! The folks over at Lost Goblin are already working to add Thaco, Big Ears, Fumbles and Complains of Names to the game! And if the game does really well, they'd love to add more characters, like Minmax, Kin, etc.

So I'm urging everyone to go look at their Kickstarter and give 'em some support. We Goblins gotta stick together, ya know? They're a bunch of really nice people who are bursting with talent and have massive amounts of passion for this project. If you have any questions for them over on the Kickstarter page, I'm sure they'd be more than happy to accommodate.

Now, I want to be very up front about my connection with this project. This is NOT my Kickstarter. This is Lost Goblin's baby and none of the Kickstarter money comes to me. By supporting this game, you're supporting something separate from me and my work. Also, this is not an ad, as I am not being paid to support Lost Goblin or their Kickstarter. However, adding my characters to the game is a business decision, which means that I could possibly profit (financial/exposure) down the line if the game is as successful as we all hope it is. We're still working out the details of the contract, so I can't yet say for certain how that will all work out. I just wanted to make sure everything is all out in the open. :)

Tarol's Twitter

Lost Goblin's Twitter

Mostly though, I just have an uncontrollable NEED to play this game! Hey, maybe they'll let me live stream it sometime!

SQUEEEEEEE! I mean... erm... manly noise of grizzled excitement.

-Tarol

Live Boop People have been telling me that they can never catch my live streams because of time zone differences. So I'm trying out a new schedule in which I broadcast twice, every Mon/Wed/Fri.