BONUS POST: Yet another new fantasy comic pitch ROLLS FOR INITIATIVE! (Patreon)

Behold, dear Patrons: Yet another fantasy comic pitch has spontaneously sprung to life by spinning itself out of an already existing fantasy comic pitch! You might well cry "What the devil???" in response, which would certainly be appropriate given the image gallery above.

A few words of explanation:

To clarify, I am indeed continuing to develop the previously mentioned fantasy comic pitch The Last Party, a series combining earlier Patreon FRPG-ish concepts Hushed Half-Elf and Party of Two that would be written and drawn by me. (I've cranked out something like 40+ very dense pages of story notes for the project since the spring; art development is what I need to work on now.)

Howeva, as of late the roster of the titular Last Party was growing a tad unwieldy. In addition to Party of Two's dwarf barbarian and half-orc healer and Hushed Half-Elf's pointy-eared heroine and mage girlfriend, I had rounded out the adventuring party with a "Devilspawn Bard" somewhat inspired by Devilspawn Bard Hannah from Empowered vol. 12.

Having five main characters—or technically six, as there would've kinda-sorta been two Devilspawn Bards—would be a bit much, TBH, especially considering how many g-d concepts I've generated for each of 'em. 

Ah, but this last weekend the ol' muse hit me with a startling epiphany: Namely, I could spin the Devilspawn Bards off into their own fantasy comic pitch with a different focus than The Last Party—that is, the role of enchantment-powered art and music in a crazed fantasy milieu in which magic has run absolutely amuck. Golly!

Best of all, this new concept lends itself to episodic, "bite-sized" storytelling that could be carried out in "floppy"-type serialized issues or smaller Original Graphic Novels, unlike other, more demanding proposals I've worked up previously. (Such as, say, the original fantasy-RPG comic pitch of mine from 5 or 6 years ago, which was a finite but still hugely sprawling series that would've posed massive artistic challenges for whatever freelance artists I could've wheedled into working on it.)

No, wait, here's the "best of all" part: I would only be writing this new project for someone else to draw—and the hope is, with a less demanding series or miniseries format, I could actually convince an artist to take this task on! (As opposed to the original FRPG pitch's dire challenge of, "So... is your schedule open for the next five years or so?")

Ah, but wait, there's one last twist to this new saga, folks! Years ago, I showed Patrons my early character designs for an insaaanely ambitious and ultimately abandoned SF comic pitch that would've been about art students and freelance artists in the far future:

This promising SF project, with the working title Critique, came to naught because its artistic demands were so ridiculously challenging that not only did I lack the art skills to handle it, but so did pretty much anyone else who would've conceivably been available.

Ah, but as I cranked out the first 8 or 10 pages of story notes(!) for this new FRPG spinoff concept over the weekend, I realized that I could address many of Critique's crazier concepts and wild-ass artistic and narrative flourishes within a fantasy setting because, well, Because Magic. 

(Yes, dear Patrons, you may rest assured that, when the FRPG-ish content I have in mind starts coming out, you won't be seeing warmed-over, regurgitated pseudo-Tolkeinisms, or half-assed, unimaginative D&D knockoffery, or bog-standard, same-old-same-old isekai riffs. S**t is going to be as batcrap crazy and Big-Idea-packed as I can possibly make it, folks, 'cause that's just how I wanna roll in whatever time I have left as a viable creator.)

So, symbolizing this new project's consumption—or, technically, subsumption—of Critique's deranged boldness and ambition, I slapped some devilish horns on those old chara designs:

...as a half-assed stab at depicting one of the the new project's two Devilspawn Bard protagonists:

Actual character and horn design will, of course, be up to whatever artist(s) end up working on this proposed concept.

Finally, lemme close out this rambling post—over an hour in the making, ouch—by hitting you with the new project's proposed title: The Devils' Art! (Note the apostrophe placement, as the series boasts two Devilspawn protags.)

I'd originally titled the concept as The Devils' Music, which is arguably a bit stronger, but I changed the title as the hero and heroine's skill sets broadened from just Bardic musicianship to magic-powered visual arts and illusion generation. Our focus is gonna shift from D&Dish Bard-isms to the role of Art-with-a-capital-A in a fantasy setting infested with world-shaking (and world-shaping) magic. Yay?

Wellp, time to start working up a formal pitch document for The Devils' Art and start nosing around artists, looks like! (In the meantime, back to CSP art tests and working up a new Harley Quinn idea.)

NEXT TIME ON THIS HERE PATREON: Not sure! Could be Distressed Damsels content Wednesday (for the $5+ tiers), or maaaybe the Empowered vol. 12 cover reveal, or possibly something else entirely!