Comment of coloring, good or bad, here

[Krulle]

Why? What happened?

As some of you may have noticed from my tweets, theres been bunches of craziness happening with Goblins lately. Heres a breakdown

The Goblins Card Game Kickstarter Was Delayed

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Id really rather not get into all the icky details, but there was a legal hiccup involving the Kickstarter that forced us to delay it for a bit. Before you start throwing blame around, its all been worked out and no one needs to be shaking their fists at anyone (well, you can shake your fists at me if you like. I do it to myself in the mirror. Its its surprisingly fun). The Kickstarter is now set to launch on Monday, June 3rd! Wait until you see the sweet, sweet stuff that Evertide Games has set up for this! Well here, check out some of it for yourself.

Goblins Is No Longer With Blind Ferret

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Let me start by saying this Blind Ferret is a great company run by some brilliant people. They create and host comics that set the bar for other comics. If you havent checked them out, go do so now. That being said, we did disagree on some key issues that led to our separation. The last couple weeks have been really stressful for everyone involved and I want to take this opportunity to publicly apologise for my part in that stress. I also want to thank Randy Waxman (Blind Ferret CEO) for his intelligence, amazing communication and level headedness throughout this whole thing. Okay, so by now youve obviously put two and two together and figured out that Blind Ferret had something to do with the Kickstarter delay. I suppose theres no way to keep that part private, since the delay and the separation happened at the same time. But let me say that Blind Ferret didnt do anything wrong. It was simply a disagreement about our contract that took some time to resolve. I honestly stand by my opinion that theyre a great company. Goblins just needed to go in a different direction.

As IÔÇÖm writing this, Blind Ferret is having a slight technical issue redirecting traffic from the closed down http://www.goblinscomic.com site over to our temporary mirror site http://www.goblinscomic.org . Since youÔÇÖre reading this now, either you knew to go directly to our mirror site or Blind Ferret has fixed the issue theyÔÇÖre having redirecting the traffic. Once control of my site is fully transferred back to me (IÔÇÖm told the process takes about a week), weÔÇÖll have full access to http://www.goblinscomic.com again and there will be much rejoicing.

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http://www.goblinscomic.org/wp-content/ ... oicing.gif

But for now, weÔÇÖre temporarily using http://www.goblinscomic.org. I will of course, keep you posted concerning this.

Site Redesign

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Blind Ferret has asked that I remove all traces of the site design (which is only fair, since they were nice enough to pay for it). So for now, weÔÇÖve got bland blackness. But fear not! A new, awesometacular site design is in the works!

A New Update Schedule

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Lets be honest. Goblins is never on time. I mean, sometimes it happens, but not often. Ive been asked many times why dont you slow down the schedule?. Well, without going into too much detail, I couldnt before, but now I can. Heres the deal

For the next two or three weeks, Im going to update the comic once/week. Updates will happen on Mondays at noon PDT (GMT -7). Thisll give me a chance to clean up the mess (regaining control of the site, etc), work on the site redesign, make sure everything is running smoothly with the Kickstarter, finish some more Search For Tempts bonus comics and get the new schedule clock working. Whats a schedule clock? This

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is a schedule clock. Once its set up, itll be prominently displayed at the top of the site, where it will count down to the next update. This will remove my need to adhere to a weekly schedule where twice/week is too much and once/week is too slow. With this baby, I can update every 4 or 5 days and with a quick glace at the clock, youll know exactly how long you have to wait. No more late updates and I can have a day off every now and then! Please note that my plan is to see if I can manage a timely update every 4 days. If not, I will do an update every 5 days. I dont plan to continually switch back and forth between 4 and 5 days. I want to create a steady schedule that you guys can count on for a change. You guys deserve so much better than all of these late updates.

The Goblins Colourist

Our colourist, Forest Rhodes, has left us today. Hes going to finish up a few more pages in the archives, but then hes off. I know, I know he rocks and well all be sad to see him go. But the truth is that in order to keep up with the schedule, he was working himself ragged. I was dumping way too much work on the poor guy and he was pulling all nighters in attempts to keep up. So Forest thank you SO much for everything youve done for Goblins and creating some breathtaking artwork for all of us! Whatever projects youre working on in the future, please let me know so I can point the Goblins readers at it. I know theyll want to see what youre doing! If you want to follow Forest on Twitter, hes right here. I will return to handling all the colouring of the comic. Dont look at me like that. I KNOW HIS SHADING IS BETTER THAN MINE!

Live Broadcasting

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During the last couple weeks, IÔÇÖve been deliberately avoiding live drawing, since I didnÔÇÖt want to have to face questions about current events. But now that things are all worked out, IÔÇÖll be hopping on cam more often whilst I draw. Although I wonÔÇÖt be talking about the situation of the last couple weeks at all, I will be my usual, chatty self and rambling on about crap you honestly donÔÇÖt care about. ItÔÇÖs how I roll, yo.

Thank you SO much for all of your patience and I hope youÔÇÖll enjoy the Kickstarter (Monday, June 3) and a new era for Goblins! And of course, thanks for reading!

~Thunt

[LooksAndSmiles]

Cya, morikahn, and thank you for the fish.

[stevedj]

I echo the same sentiments -- Forest/morikahn, you will definitely be missed.

Now, I do hope you will stay here as part of the forum community for Goblins... er, well, I suppose that means some people might pester you for information on the whys and wherefores and whatnots... but I certainly won't be one of those people needling you to come back (this post being the only exception ). I would certainly welcome your continued voice/presence in the forums.

P.S. I suppose changing your profile name is always an option, if it was really necessary...

[zennyrpg]

I am agreed that Forest's coloring was excellent and that it added a lot to the comic. He will be missed.

[SamWiser]

It did add a great new level to the comic. I will miss it.

[morikahn]

Thanks guys.

Its just time for me to move on. No drama or gossip worthy bits.

It has nothing to do with Blind Ferret (I didn't even realize there was an issue until yesterday). You guys have no idea the mental fortitude an artist has to have to do a comic like this, day in and day out. Thunt is made of some hard stuff to have been able to keep this up for 8 years. 8 months was about as far as I could take it. For those mathmatically challenged, this means Thunt is 12 times tougher than me.

I have my own comic I'm starting work on with a friend where I'll be the writer, storyboard artist, and colorist. Maybe it will work out, maybe it won't, but I can use a change of scenery and pace. It will be a much looser style of art and a completely different style of coloring for me (i.e. a much quicker to do style).

It will also be nice to be able to just enjoy reading Goblins without thinking about it as work

Thunt was great to work with. He's a great boss.

I'll still be around, and you never know, maybe I do a guest coloring thing once in a while

[spiderwrangler]

Thunt is made of some hard stuff to have been able to keep this up for 8 years. 8 months was about as far as I could take it. For those mathmatically challenged, this means Thunt is 12 times tougher than me.

This is the man who listened to Bieber for a whole month... I think that makes him a few hundred times tougher than the average human.

[Belzera]

Thanks for all of the awesome recoloured pages morikahn, wish you the best of luck with your own webcomic.

[TinSoldier]

Huh. Looking back through some of the shaded pages (which I had originally seen unshaded) seems kinda... weird. Still trying to get used to it.

Edit: Dude, when did this start? This goes way back. I guess I should re-read the comic more often.

[Liesmith]

You did a great job Forest, please feel free to enjoy your retirement of eating popcorn and watching the comic from the stands with the rest of us.

For bonus entertainment, think of how confused new readers will be a year from now, when they get to the first pages in the comic that you shaded, and they see the sudden lighting change that appears for eight months, then stopped. I think we all need to agree to tell a suitably fantastical lie when that happens:

"The really detailed pages that popped up for a while? Well, Tarol hired an artist by the name of Morikahn, but they had a disagreement about whether Minmax's head should be shiny or matte. Morikahn was so angry, then he went back and started to upload black and white versions of the comic, all the way from the beginning. Tarol stopped him before he got more than a few pages up, but the damage was done."


Thanks for the eight months of awesome artwork, and good luck with your webcomic; I'm eager to see it!

[Glemp]

Huh. Looking back through some of the shaded pages (which I had originally seen unshaded) seems kinda... weird. Still trying to get used to it.

Edit: Dude, when did this start? This goes way back. I guess I should re-read the comic more often.

Here is the last page done by Thunt, and the next one is the first done by Morikahn

[Tobias F├╝nke, M.D.]

I am saddened to hear about this. I know how it is to have to pull out of something earlier than expected because the act is too tiring...

[WearsHats]

Sorry to see you go, Morikahn. (And just as Thunt is easing up his schedule, too...)

Good luck to you. Link us when you have your comic ready. Whatever else, I know it will look beautiful.

Oh, and the page Glemp linked is the first one Forest did, but I think I remember something about him going back and shading some earlier pages, too, no?

[Rogbull]

Ah this is too bad, I used the 3 kins as my background for quite a while because the work you two did together was superb.

At any rate, looking forward to seeing your comic as well. Got any spoilers what it's about/setting?

[RocketScientist]

No Forest makes baby Goblins cry.

Luck and success, friend. Don't be a stranger.

[morikahn]

Ah this is too bad, I used the 3 kins as my background for quite a while because the work you two did together was superb.

At any rate, looking forward to seeing your comic as well. Got any spoilers what it's about/setting?

Fantasy adventure comic with smurf-like people as the protagonists set in a world that is lexicographically based.

[willpell]

Latest comic is colored now. Did Forest do this one as a going-away present, or is Thunt now coloring the comic in a very similar fashion himself?

[Liesmith]

Fantasy adventure comic with smurf-like people as the protagonists set in a world that is lexicographically based.

I enjoyed every part of that description. Please drop us a link posthaste!

[spiderwrangler]

I know how it is to have to pull out of something earlier than expected because the act is too tiring...

No wonder Lindsay is so sexually frustrated. Don't leave those kind of tasks to a Never-Nude.

[Glemp]

Latest comic is colored now. Did Forest do this one as a going-away present, or is Thunt now coloring the comic in a very similar fashion himself?

He tweeted that he was shading yesterday, so yeah, that's Thunt's handiwork.

[Jotunheim]

I'm not quite sure how that appears similar to you. That is very clearly Thunt's colouring. The shadows are less consistent than in Forest's work, and the highlights are made with pure white and a soft brush.

[Zane0697]

I'm going to miss his awesome shading.

[Alabast]

I didn't know this was a thread until now! So sad to see you go! You brought a lot of life to the comic! And I'm an Art Director. I'm bloody hard to please. ;-)

Good luck in your new venture!

[Occams Meataxe]

I know this is heresy...

The shading is very beautiful and skillfully done. It's a cut above anything I've seen in other webcomics that didn't have a dedicated colorist.
But I actually like the comic better without it.

[willpell]

I know this is heresy...

Then let us burn together, because I agree with everything you said. There are a few strips that are greatly enhanced by shading, but in general I tend to prefer the clean lines and bright colors of the old pre-shading strips, which each new strip has when posted, but is then replaced by something which, although pretty, is a little more "high-tech" looking than I consider necessary. I feel like this treatment is equivalent to the foil cards in MTG, and should only show up like one time in ten that you load the comic, so you can get all excited about it just because it's different and shiny, even though it kind of gets in the way of what you came for in the first place.