Character Codex - Round 14 - Gnome Sorcerer and Gnome Wizard

Greetings Chroniclers and welcome to the Character Codex!

We're stepping our way through all 77 race/class combinations in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook.  We're showing off the Gnome Sorcerer and Gnome Wizard today.  If you've missed any previous entries you can catch up HERE!

We've finished up the gnomes this week! I hope you all have enjoyed a look at the most maligned race in the core rules. I've enjoyed drawing them and getting to show off some potentially interesting ideas with them.

Next week, we're moving on to halflings. Now, I know, I'm skipping  ahead, but I have a reason that you will all see shortly. After halflings then we'll do half-elves, half-orcs, and finally humans,

Virtual tabletop players, make sure to pick up some free tokens suitable for use in any virtual tabletop environment. Since this is the last week for the gnomes, the tokens will rotate out and you'll be able to start picking up the halflings.

Want to support the Character Codex? Have me draw your own personal RPG character!  RPG Character Sketches are inexpensive and a great way to show off your characters unique qualities.  You can find out more about that HERE!

Okay, let's look at some gnomes!

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Gnome Sorcerer

First up is the Gnome Sorcerer. With the gnomes, I wanted to show how they could be more than just the annoying fey folk. They could be cool, tough, comical, and, yes, even sexy. This is our gnome fire dancer. I would imagine she's from the Choreography Division of the Bureau of Liberal Arts. They're all a bunch of reprobates down there.

This was my first real drawing with my new Surface Pro 2. Not too bad for my first go, but you'll see with the wizard that my line quality was still in transition here. I'm really loving the better sensitivity the Surface has in comparison to my old tablet. I can really tell a difference.

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Gnome Wizard

Next up is the Gnome Wizard. This guy is the head gnome. Chief Librarian of The Great Library and Director of the Gnomish Nation, Norminthallis of the Bureau of Magical Archival Studies. Norm is a venerable sage who seems to know everything. Many such sages retreat to isolated mountaintops but he chooses to continue his work in the Great Library where he is accessible to any gnome with a question. He is often found walking through the stacks offering tidbits of advice to any researchers and looking over their designs. To him, this ensures that the Gnomish Nation moves forward.

Norm doesn't wear the robes of a wizard or sage. He prefers a more presentable three-piece suit (a new design from the Bureau of Fashion!). He does seem to always wear gloves, one of his quirks. Gnome wizards do not typically join the Brotherhood of the Threefold Path like wizards of other races. Gnomes believe that the Brotherhood is more of a political organization and less scholarly than their own bureaus.

That's it for the gnomes! Make sure to check back tomorrow for a new Chronicle strip! We'll see you next week with the Halfling Barbarian and Bard!

The Chronicler's Notes - Biggest Week Ever! (and then karma comes along.)

Greetings Chroniclers!

Wow! We broke all the records last week! Over 700 page views on Thursday! Over 6000 page views for the month and we still have a week to go!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and if you have come back for more thank you especially!

Of course, when Chronicle's biggest week ever happens, something has to happen to even that out.  There has to be balance in the Force.  So, my computer died.  I've drawn Chronicle so far on an old HP tx2000 tablet PC.  It never had a lot of power but it did have a Wacom Touchscreen and it worked great with Manga Studio. It was clunky and heavy, but so am I!

On Friday, the second power adapter in 3 months blew.  I rushed a third power adapter (thanks Amazon Prime!) and plugged it only to discover that the Wacom screen was dead.  I had been having a lot of trouble with it coming on after a power-off.  So, I was keeping it in sleep mode when not using it.  With the power adapter shot, the battery died and that was that.  I spent an hour trying to get that screen to come back on. Nothing.  The data was fine, no art lost (cloud backup, kids!). But I had no way to draw the comic and get it to you guys.

First (really) quick sketch of Autumn on the Surface Pro.

So, I got a new tablet.  A Surface Pro 2 (I know the 3's are coming, but I couldn't wait).  It's fantastic.  I'm sure many of you have heard Mike Krahulik over at Penny Arcade rave about these things so I won't go into great detail about it.  But, let me assure you, as a small time cartoonist who is not getting free hardware, Mike's on the level.  It does everything he says it does.  I couldn't afford the 8gb RAM models, but I have yet to notice any problems with the 4gb. This thing is much more responsive than the old HP, so I have to retrain my hand a bit.  So bear with me if the art shifts around in quality for a bit.

The thing is this came at a tight time in my family's budget. It had to go on a credit card (with no interest for a year, but still).  It was worth it to continue doing something I love and to bring something that clearly people seem to be enjoying (almost 200 direct visits last week!)

But, I have to put my hat out there again and ask that if you truly enjoy what I'm doing, then please consider clicking on the Tip Jar button or at least one of the Google Ads at the bottom of the page.  Even better, let me learn this great new tool by drawing for you!  Go buy a character sketch from the Artist's Shop.  It's cheap and I would rather do that than launching a crowdfunding campaign (which I had planned to do in the second year).

Tip Jar

Also, SHARE, SHARE, SHARE!  Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook. Re-share those posts and let's recruit even more Chroniclers!

Again, thank you all so much for coming here and seeing what I do. It fills me with encouragement to see so many people from all over the world looking at my art.  I wouldn't still be here if it weren't for that.

Thank you.

Than

Character Codex Round 13 - Gnome Ranger and Rogue

Welcome to Round 13 of the Chronicle Character Codex!

I'm  drawing our way through all 77 race/class combinations in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook.  We're showing off the Gnome Fighter, Gnome Monk,  and Gnome Paladin today.  If you've missed any previous entries you can catch up HERE!

Virtual tabletop players, make sure to pick up some free tokens suitable for use in any virtual tabletop environment.

Also, if you like what you see here please consider clicking the Tip Jar button down the page or sharing this on the social media site of your choosing.

We've rounded the bend on the gnomes and this week we're taking a look at the Gnome Ranger and Gnome Rogue.

Gnome Ranger

First up is the Gnome Ranger.  For this one, I wanted to mirror the naturalist version of the druid but a bit more combat oriented.  So I went with the Trophy Hunter archetype from The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game - Ultimate Combat.  This blended well with the notion that the gnomes of Chronicle are the main race to have have black powder and their innate drive to study a science.  I can see this gnome being the kind of naturalist who fills a museum with taxidermy specimens for posterity's sake.  Somewhere there's a gallery with a stuffed owlbear in it!

I gave her some magical gear, though the exact powers of that gear could be changed up, depending on what the player had in mind.

Gnome Rogue

Next up is the Gnome Rogue.  This one's a bit on the nose, but I went with the Trapsmith archetype from the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Advanced Player's Guide.  I know that a tinker gnome being good at disabling traps isn't very original, but sometimes you have to draw the classics and this is my own version of it.

I gave him goggles because a proper gnome has to have a proper pair of goggles.  They're most likely some for of Perception buff.  I like to think the screwdriver is magical (maybe even sonic, eh?) and gives a disable device bonus.

Well, that's it for this week!  Next week we finish up the gnomes with the Sorcerer and the Wizard.  So, come back to see what I can come up with for a pair of mages!

Don't forget to share this on the social media site of your choosing!

The Chronicler's Notes - May 19th, 2014 - Schedule Update and The Tennessee Renaissance Festival

Well met, Chroniclers!

It's another week here at Chronicle, and we've got some good things planned for the week.  However, I want to give you guys a heads up that there will be no World of Chronicle update this week. I'm going to use the time I normally devote to that material to the comic instead.  Last week's art was not my best and I want to make sure I'm delivering quality material.  Also, if any of you are webcomics artists or are aspiring to be one, you will probably know that having a buffer of comics to post is very important.  Mine is getting kind of low, so I need to build that back up.

The Tennessee Renaissance Festival

Now then, it's not comics related (but definitely inspiration material for me), but I wanted to talk about theTennessee Renaissance Festival.   If you are within driving distance of Nashville this weekend, you need to go. It's open the first four weekends in May (including Memorial Day) and it is a must-do at least once in your life.

It's not as big as some of the other renfests around the country, but it makes up for it with heart and dedication.  The people that put it on work hard and you can tell that it's a labor of love.  Also, there is dedication in the regulars who attend.  There are faces of strangers that I recognize year after year because they go that often.

I first went in 1994 with that big D&D group of mine I've talked about in the past.  I've continued to go fairly regularly every year and some of those old friends of mine go every single year.  It gets in your blood and you look forward to it.

There are some things I wish would change.  I wish there was some sort of covering over the jousting field seats.  I wish that there were new  "anchor events" (I love the human chess match, but it's gotten stale).  I wish that there were more lines for Jester Chips and less lines for pulled pork sandwiches.  I really wish I-840 would magically move about half a mile southeast and Mr. Freeman could get the original fair grounds back.

But, there are also things I never wish would change.  Turkey Legs. Questionably-authentic period garb.  Geek boys walking around with their freshly bought replica swords strapped to their backs.  Geek girls walking around with fairy wings and swords strapped to their backs. Axel the Sot.   That wonderful exhaustion sitting in the line of traffic at the Triune four-way after leaving. Mr. Freeman and his passion for wanting to live in a castle and open his home to people who enjoy this time period.

This year I added one more thing to that list.  I never want the look of wonder in the eyes of children (especially my own) to change.  Watching my two boys watch the joust was amazing.  Seeing a little girl kneeling in front of the Queen to be knighted was heart-warming.  Kids love this stuff.  I want to see that encouraged more and the Tennessee Renaissance Festival does that very well.

So, do yourself a favor and go take a stroll through the Renaissance for a day and make sure to thank everyone there for the work they do.

Fun Art Friday - The War Doctor

The War Doctor

This week's Fun Art Friday is The War Doctor, portrayed by John Hurt in the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special, The Day of the Doctor.  

I am a huge Doctor Who fan.  I watched reruns of the Tom Baker and Peter Davidson eras on PBS as a kid and rediscovered the series when it came back with Christopher Eccleston.  So, I was pretty excited to be around for the 50th anniversary.  But, I was skeptical.  Rumors were flying around about no previous Doctors being involved, that they were going to mess with the regeneration order, and that, as the crazy fans are want to scream, Steven Moffat had messed everything up.

Instead, we were given a great episode with a solid story that hearkened to the past and resolved plotlines from the present.  Plus, there in the middle of it all was this new incarnation of the Doctor and he was so great I wish we could have more of him.  Getting John Hurt to play him was genius, he fit the role perfectly.

So, I decided to draw him!  I didn't try to go too realistic.  I wanted to draw him in my cartoon style and have to say I'm pretty pleased with the results.  So much so, that I may do the rest of the Doctors down the line!  So stay tuned for more, Whovians!  I did the side profile thing as a sort of portrait study, but I'm thinking about trying a full body animated pose at some point.

As always, thanks for stopping by and make sure to check out all my previous Fun Art Fridays and my comic, Chronicle!  If you like what you see here, please share it on social media and spread the word!

(**And, yes, that special appearance at the end of The Day of the Doctor kicked me right in the nostalgia so much I may have had a happy tear or two.**)