I decided to do another re-draw from the TAZ: Petals to the Metal graphic novel (written by the McElroy family & illustrated by the amazing @careydraws !) I loved this panel of Taako so much I just had to draw it in my style!
I had so much fun reading through the new @theadventurezone TAZ: Petals to the Metal graphic novel! Taako is always my favorite part, and I loved this panel so much that I felt compelled to draw it in my style! @careydraws did such a wonderful job on the original as always!
i know we’re all excited for crystal kingdom to come out (i am too!!) but when it does, please keep in mind:
- the artists for the fanart gallery were originally offered $100 which, from a bestselling publishing company, is unacceptable. we would never have been paid more if people hadn’t spoken up about it.
- we submitted our work in mid october and were told we would be sent our contracts within two weeks. i was finally paid less than a month ago.
-some people still haven’t been paid.
- personally, this was hands down the worst freelance i have ever done. the level of stress and anticipation and not-knowing was awful and i know i’ll question working for any major company in the future.
-this is not the mcelroys’ fault, however first second has a history of not treating their artists with the respect and professionalism we deserve and it clearly hasn’t gotten any better.
Yo, this sucks to type and I was hoping I wouldn’t have to keep waiting beyond this point, but I have yet to be paid for my contribution to the TAZ gn, and I have no idea why.
All the paperwork was processed back in June. I assumed it would take at least a week to distribute all the payments. And I was moving apartments at the time, so it wasn’t a high priority focus. But when the beginning of July rolled around with no change, I thought, “this isn’t adding up.” I emailed one of the directors at First Second to ask about it, but that was right after the 4th of July, and I got an autoresponse that said that the office was closed for the holiday. Which was disappointing, but I thought, “Okay, I’ll wait a few days and try again.”
I sent another email last Friday, which got another response that the director would be away until the 13th. The emails of their assistants were included in that one, so I sent an email to one of them first thing this morning. I am still awaiting a response. So. Yeah. My excitement has been pretty severely dampened because of the whole deal.
(TAZ Crystal Kingdom Graphic Novel stuff ahead so if you don’t want to see that yet keep scrolling)
I would like to talk about this page in particular
(Please ignore my finger, I’m not pointing at anything, I’m just keeping the page open at the right angle so I don’t have a glare.)
Here we see the Goddess of Death, popularly known as The Raven Queen but renamed for the graphic novel. She is presented to us in something like a picture frame, which is adorned with skulls. Appropriate.
But there’s other frames on the page! Who are they for?
In the top left corner, we see this frame is adorned with leaves. If each frame is for a different god or goddess, it seems easy to assume this one is for Pan.
To the right of Our Beloved Death Goddess is another frame. The contents of this one is mostly hidden from view by another panel, but the frame is adorned with hour glasses. What little we can see inside the frame looks at first like it could be a snake…or perhaps a very long scarf? This frame is almost certainly for Istus.
But the last one…
On the far right side of the page, we see the corner of a forth frame that features…party hats.
This frame is for none other than Reggie Fitzpatrick, God of Parties.
I wanted to draw attention to this because I’ve always loved the tiny details Carey Pietsch includes in the graphic novels, but this one especially proves that she knows her shit when it comes to TAZ. Also because I absolutely lost my mind laughing when I figured it out.
[Id: Digital drawing of the main characters from Taz:Balance in Eleventh Hour. Magnus is pointing forward, with a clock hand behind him. He is brown-skinned man with very long, thick hair. His white shirt is open, and he is wearing cargo shorts.
Taako is a tan, chubby elf with big ears holding the Umbrastaff. He is wearing a maube skirt and a green vest with a white shirt. Behind his head is the outlines of a pocket watch.
Last is Merle, he is a white, chubby dwarf with glasses, and an arm made of wood. He is wearing socks and sandals, reddish pants and a light green shirt.
Background is dusty yellowish grey, with outlines of explosions, crumbling pieces of town, diamonds and junebugs.]
That’s right folks it’s Book Tour 2: Electric Boogaloo! I got to go to the book tour at SDCC last year and I’m so so lucky that I get to go again this year for Murder on the Rockport Limited! If you see a low-budget Lup come say hi because it’s probably me!
Also! Here’s the piece I made when I went last year (x)
way belated but here’s my annual “yay the new taz gn is here” piece. drawing taako and kravitz together is hard because it ends up looking like a scene out of kingdom hearts with the discrepancy in realism
in light of the newest reveal of our favorite sugar reaper I have a request: carey I am fucking BEGGING that merle naming the taakitz ship is included. Please. PLEASE. it’s a fucking monumental point in taz history and also an added punch to the face when you realize the guy playing merle is fuckin 60 years old and yet knew comprehensively what shipping was sgjgjgsskgxkg
Hard to believe, but TAZ: Petals to the Metal GN will be out TOMORROW!! You can order it shipped from your local bookstore or at theadventurezonecomic.com!
I’m really not on tumblr anymore, but I did want to share some of my favorite promo snippets from the past couple weeks here, too. I can’t believe this book is nearly out in the world, but I also can’t wait!!
I’M SO HAPPY we finally get to share a new 10-page excerpt from The Adventure Zone: Petals to the Metal graphic novel!! I LOVE HOW THIS BOOK TURNED OUT, and I can’t wait for it to be out this July!!
here are some tiny snippets of ref sheets for the main trio & lucretia that I made for myself partway through Rockport! this is a weird process thing of mine: instead of making expression sheets up front, I wait until pencils to pull together faces that ‘feel’ right & check those when inking if something feels off. I like doing it this way bc it means I can let the acting/ emotion take priority for thumbnails, then figure out exactly how that maps onto specific features later. the tradeoff is that characters don’t really get 'consistent’ (relatively speaking) until late in the game!
[ID: Digital drawing of Taako, Magnus, and Merle, seen in their null suits from The Crystal Kingdom arc; they look like spacesuits with spherical glass helmets. Taako is a blue-skinned elf with blonde hair. Merle is a stout, dark-skinned humanoid with curly white hair. Magnus is a light-skinned human man with brown hair and a full beard. Magnus is standing at the front of the group, holding an axe in one hand and glaring dubiously down at something. Behind him, Merle appears to be flying backwards with force as he casts a spell; thorny plants grow from his outstretched hands. In the back, Taako is seen in profile, arms thrown back as he casts a spell. The Umbra Staff, which he holds in one hand, conjures blue lighting. Behind all of them is a glowing blue moon and pink crystal. /ID]
