Seven Days of Zyn Dweomer: Seven

Bam! Seven days, seven pages.

Zyn Dweomer is now live. The site is WordPress-based with the ComicPress theme. So basically, it works like a regular blog. Right now it is still very rough and mostly out-of-the-box, so I'll need some time to tweak it. But the posting works fine and I'm more concerned with keeping the schedule than anything else.

Out of the gate I'm going for a Monday and Friday update schedule. Based on how long it took to do the first seven pages I think I can knock out two pages a week, even with my regular working schedule and family stuff. We'll see how that pans out. Eventually I might drop it down to one page per week.

Anyway, it's live and the comic is going strong. I'm having a great deal of fun with it. Being off work and focusing on doing pages really reminds me that the old saying "strike while the iron is hot" is very, very true.

Happy New Year!

Seven Days of Zyn Dweomer: Six

Seven Days of Zyn Dweomer: Five

It's weird how some characters morph and evolve right on the page as you draw them. Looking back at just these 5 pages I can see where the Curator changes a little here and there. I think that's because he only has/had an amorphous nature in my mind. Hurke, on the other hand, seemed pretty clear from the start. Even still I guess you can see him changing a little bit with each page.

Don't you love that part of the relationship between artist and creation? Those teasing, fleeting, romantic early moments?

I need to sleep a bit.

Seven Days of Zyn Dweomer: Four

Seven Days of Zyn Dweomer: Three

Seven Days of Zyn Dweomer: Two

I was sketching the character Hurke as a human barbarian looking guy. When I decided to change my approach and use animal characters I wanted to keep that classic barbarian look. The black mane of hair, the leather headband, no armor, loincloth, and a big fat sword...I'm pleased with the design because it taps into that archetypal character we all know so well.

Naturally I have plans for Hurke's character that will add more depth than that archetype's surface features provide.

Seven Days of Zyn Dweomer: One

‘Tis the season of giving and in that spirit I give you a brand new webcomic called Zyn Dweomer. Starting today and for the six days that follow I’ll post a new page of the comic. On the seventh day of this little marathon I’ll put all the pages on www.zyndweomer.com and give the whole thing a proper little kick off.

So without further spanking the simian here is Zyn Dweomer, a dungeon fantasy! Enjoy.

Merry Christmas everyone, Happy Holidays, and be well and wonderful!

Wizard's of Ur Holiday Wish List

During this much loved… and equally… much loathed season of the Big Two (holidays), I thought that I would set aside my humbug attitude to share a few holiday wishes for my brothers here at Wizard central. Yes, despite all this, I will be visited by three ghosts on Kringus Eve.

So here we go:

For the “very animated” Steve LeCouillard:
I wish for much more of Much the Miller’s Son; much more opportunities to draw characters from Much the Miller’s Son and much more time in 2009 to get to know and love the much beloved creator of Much the Miller’s Son, Mr. LeCouillard. That was a bit much, eh?

For the “My house is gonna’ get crowded” James Van West:
I wish much creative joy in his pursuit of webcomic greatness with the forthcoming Zyn Dweomer. He’s been teasing us far too long. Also, I wish the Van West family much love in 2009 for their upcoming new arrival and for the Missus, may the new arrival not come out holding a pencil like her daddy! Ouch!

For the “I draw clouds like it’s no one’s business” Travis Hanson:
I wish for a healthy, confident foray back into the world of sequential art. You can’t deny us anymore, Mr. Hanson! Also, selfishly, I wish for more volumes of fantasy goodness from Travis and his lovely cohort, Aimee Duncun.

For the “Tell me how you really feel” Nat Piekos:
I wish…hmmm? He has a popular webcomic called Atland that is not only loved by many but loved by me. He runs a successful business called Blambot Fonts which I steal most of my comic fonts from. He, without hesitation will tell me I suck, when I suck. He letters about 900 comics from major publishers in the business and is still a nice guy. Hmmm…I wish nothing for Nate. Well, that's not the X-Mas spirit. Ok, I wish for Nate, a lifetime subscription to the Suicide Girls Website!

For the “I rode a camel up the Nile bitch “ Chuck Whelon:
I wish for him to grow an extra set of arms so he can continue to handle all those freelance jobs, give us more Pewfell, tip a cold one and still gloat while he sends me 8x10’s of his wife dressed as Tina. My wife is getting jealous.

For me, I wish for another awesome year of incredible eye candy, behind the curtain frivolity and inspirational banter from the Wizard’s of Ur! You guys rock!

Play Nice!

The City

Some of you astute and loyal aficionados will recognize this basic drawing. It's an oldie. I think I did it around 1999 or something. It's a city I've been tossing around in my head and in a handful of old RPG sessions. Since it was gathering dust and since it fits perfectly into the new project I decided to muck with it and noodle the possibilities.

Zyn Dweomer stuff. Back to noodlin' and doodlin'.

here is a project i am working on - inspired by you guys to try and return to the medium i love

pages 1,2, & 3

i'll post inks and text later

trav

Much book 2 Pinups

Hey Wizards! I'm putting together book 2 in March of next year. I want to take copies to San Diego Comic-Con. If you have the time, I'd love to include pin-ups from any or all of you. Let me know if you're into it and I'll e-mail the page dimensions I need and all that.

Merry Christmas!

Page 33

Atland #214 - Giant Terror Fleas

Looks like this is the last "gag episode" of Season 1, folks. Enjoy it. I think from here on out things are going to get heavy.

I'm really happy with how the coloring on the night sky came out. Finally, 3 years later, I figured out the best way to do it.

The script for panel 1 read something like: "Night. Our heroes fly over Naen on their terror bats" Pretty bland. When I sit down to actually draw these set-up shots I just kind of let my imagination run wild. Started doodling those rock outcrops that look like skulls and formed a little story in my head about the native peoples chiseling them. Those moments of creativity make me happy. There are some days when try as I might, nothing I draw comes out as well as I'd like it to.

Next week is Christmas! Whicih means there will be NO NEW ATLAND. But in TWO weeks, you get your first look at the infamous land of Nilfang as we rejoin the Dwarven forces...

~N

A Dust Bunnie.

I haven't posted anything in a bit because I've been a very busy dude. This is a good thing, I hope. Anyway, I found this little, dust-covered nugget which I thought I would share. This was a cover to a mini comic I had planned on doing many moons ago. I thought that I would share. I was going to do a way cool Wizards of Ur Christmas pic to share and send some holiday joy but, the inspiration isn't there. Humbug.

Play nice. Happy Holidays kids.

Much2 page 30

FInally! An update!

Sketch Dweomer

The Myrmavol Queen



Wisdom From Hurke

Zeetzi and Qomar

Messing around with character designs for the upcoming webcomic Zyn Dweomer.

Stay tuned, true believers.

ELF `n TROLL NEWS!

“Just when I thought I was out; they pull me back in!” My apologies to Mr. Pacino.

Elf `n Troll is now available for your reading pleasure on a brand new webcomic portal called, KIDJUTSU.

“Kidjutsu [kid-joot-soo] is a website for kids to read, discover, and share comics. We have teamed up with creators to bring age-appropriate comics to kids around the world. Let the fun begin!”

“Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Kidjutsu is a project started by Brian Leung to create a one-stop site for kids to read comics. He gave up a cushy leadership role at a small search startup to focus on building a great product. Before working at startups, he worked as a software engineer at Microsoft. Brian is joined by his wife Julia who works part time as the product manager. Between the two of them, they hold five MIT degrees.”

Nothing has changed with Elf `n Troll, it’s just a different way of viewing the comic with a cool, flash based viewer. I encourage you to check out KIDJUTSU, there’s some great, all ages comics up there for your perusal.

Atland #213 - Giant Terror Bats

I think I've drawn the Countess's tower from every angle I can possibly come up with. That's one of the problems with doing a weekly comic -- every page has to have an establishing shot for the reader to reference for the rest of the page. Lucky for me, this is the last time I'll be drawing it.

But as a bonus, I got to introduce/draw a new creature into the ATLAND universe -- the giant terror bat. These beasties were the result of agonizing over how I could get the team to Nilfang quickly -- and avoid using yet another boat to relocate between continents. It finally hit me: the Countess = vampire = bats! Giant bats with saddles!

Next week, our heroes depart...

And in other news, ATLAND Vol. 8 was sent to the printers today!

Time for some more Pewfell:

Atland Vol. 8 Cover

Coming Soon!

Never before seen!

Never before seen online anyway. This is my story from the second Cloudscape anthology. Sorry I haven't updated Much lately. What can I say? I been busy. I'll be back soon though.

Steve

High to Low

The Questing Beast at the Un-Store

Indie-RPGs (The Forge) has launched a cool new independent role-playing games shopping portal called the Un-Store. My game, The Questing Beast, is now listed there. Check it out and get hooked on the coolness of totally under the radar innovative roleplaying!

Seriously. There's some wicked stuff there. If you think your old dusty RPG books had the deal sealed on gaming think again. Some of these guys are turning the concept of RPGs on it's ear and then shaking it.

Atland #212 - I Promise

So we're back from the Thanksgiving hiatus! It was fun to draw Sheila again. I miss drawing the really curvy girls when they're not in the plot line. (Granted, Lily's curvy, but she's a lightweight compared to people like Sheila or the Diva...no pun intended.)

So we knew Bruce wouldn't get out of this without coming clean with his family. It's one of the plot threads I wanted to tie up before the end of Season 1. But does he mean it? And does she believe him? We'll see. But I think seeing his son grown up a bit made the real difference for Bruce. On some level he's always felt guilty, and always wanted to return...if only adventuring wasn't in his blood...

Next week, we return to Blacksaddle.

In other news The 4th is the last day for the Book 8 Back Cover Contest. Get your entry in before midnight!

And in yet other news...ATLAND Book 9 will be the final print issue for "season 1". AND...it's going to be a double-sized issue! I've already discussed it with my printer and it's totally do-able.

And in yet MORE news, I'm filling a sketchbook with new character ideas for season 2. Too top secret right now to preview!

~N

There are several new Pewfell books now available for download as PDFs on DriveThruComics.com. Click the covers for details:

The Peace Patrol

I liked Borin Ironlung a lot when I first created him, but aside from his role in this book of Volume 1, he never really went on to play much of a part in the rest of the series. He's a sort of mix between (in his looks) Freewheelin' Franklin from the Freak Brothers comics, and (in his deafness) Professor Calculus from Tintin. At the time I thought he was pretty funny, but I think in the long-run he just wasn't original enough for me to want to hang on to.




Bob Gnarly is the last of the Peace Patrol members. Like most of the rest of the group he never really hung around beyond the stories in this particular Book. These strips were all done very early on, and I hadn't really figured out that characters really need to be thought-out and well-developed before putting them on the page. Back then I was just making it all up as I went along, hoping things would turn out fine. For the most part they did, but I really just created the characters of the Peace Patrol for the visual impact they'd have when they are first seen at the start of this story. It wasn't until later, when I actually had to come up with dialog for them, that I realized they were all a bit too shallow. I've tried to rectify that a bit in this revised edition and give them their dues, because I do think the overall concept was good and there are some pretty funny episodes involving them all.








Pewfell's wand -- whatever happened to that? I don't think it ever appeared in the strip again. For some reason I just never really want Pewfell to do any actual magic.