New Art Style for future CoI F.T.W.'s

This was a concept sketch for the new art style I planned on using with the CoI F.T.W. strips following the one that I'm currently working on. My intention is to simplify every aspect from the writing, to humor, to style. I'm hoping that doing so will ultimately result in a faster turnaround time from concept to posting. I will no longer for the time being use the traditional comic page layout in lieu of a faster 2-4 panel comic strip.

Daggerborn is the leader of the Children of Iluvatar, and Adanailo is his second in command. By Lord of the Rings Online terminology Daggerborn is a Guardian and Adanailo is a Minstrel. They share a bizarre symbiosis in that Adanailo keeps Daggerborn's spirits up in combat when he should be overwhelmed by the odds he faces, and Daggerborn keeps enemies from turning their attention to Adanailo. There is two sides to Adanailo's personality. There is the upbeat, classical/folk music playing healer-mode (usually indicated by his plumed hat) and the heavy-metal (or Middle-Earth equivalent) shredding, guttural growling, damage-dealing, Warspeech mode (usually indicated by the long black hair hanging down over his face). They have had their beefs with each other but in the end they are there to keep the other going for the sake of their kinship.

Until next post,
-Darrick