YESSSS I love that one so much! Let’s go!

(Read the whole comic here!)

6. What is your favorite part of this piece?

Ooh, that’s tough. I’d probably have to go with the four-part sequence of Frodo falling down in Part Three. There’s just something really fun about drawing in that tiny art style and capturing the sense of motion and exaggerated posing; you get the sense that with a few extra frames, you could watch that sequence as an animatic and it would just flow perfectly.

But honestly, I remember that I had an absolute blast every time I got to draw one of the hobbits splat on their faces 🤣🤣 It’s SO MEAN, and I feel so bad about it, but crazy dynamic poses like that are so much fun (and so hilarious LOL)

13. What Easter eggs/small details are hidden in this drawing?

Good question! In Part One, Aragorn and Boromir’s boots are the only ones the hobbits are using; you can tell which is which by how tatty Aragorn’s boots are contrasted with the fluffy fur on Boromir’s.

In Part Two, we still have Aragorn’s boots in play—in fact, the panels with Frodo and Pippin take place directly after their respective attempts at walking in Part One—but now we also have Gimli’s boots in play, as we can tell by the X pattern and the fact that Gimli is now in socks. I imagine he theorized the hobbits were only having trouble because the shoes were way too big for them, so he offered his own to be closer to the right size, and also lent an arm to Sam for stability.

The last panel of Part Two (pictured above) features Boromir and Legolas in poses from the Chris Evans Laughing meme and Aragorn posed like the Wheeze meme. That was a lot of fun to draw. X-D

My favorite detail is actually in Part Three: After faceplanting VERY HARD in Part One, Frodo makes a tactical decision not to risk the structural integrity of crucial corrective eyewear and sets his glasses aside prior to another attempt. This proves very wise. (Also when Aragorn bends over Frodo, he is of course wearing no footwear but socks, because Frodo has his boots.)

17. What did the drawing process look like?

I’ll be honest, I don’t really remember—since it was such a long time ago and I was drawing SO MUCH stuff back then—but I do recall that Part Three took a lot longer than I thought it would. But I know I was Very Excited to have the opportunity to draw such a hilarious prompt, so I had a lot of fun with it!

18. What was your favorite response to this post?

Probably all the new people who were seeing my art for the first time and saying something along the lines of “👀 nerd Frodo?? glasses?? inspired”. Also the one person who complimented Legolas with a ponytail X-D

19. [X] is my favorite part of this drawing; tell me more about it!

LOL there’s really not much to say! The thing that makes it funny is penny-anna’s brilliant writing; all I did was draw how it plays out in my head. But it WAS a lot of fun to draw those exaggerated faces. Pippin is GREAT for big facial expressions! LOL

ARTIST COMMENTARY ASK GAME!

Ooh, great choice >:-D Let’s go!

(Read the whole comic here!)

4. What part of this piece was the most difficult to draw?

It's exactly what you might expect: Frodo's left arm (the one holding the phone) in the last panel definitely gave me some trouble. I was trying to find a pose that both a) looked natural and b) made Frodo's tattoo visible; you can actually see how many lines I drew and erased in the zoomed-in picture in this reblog.

I also had to try multiple different positions and designs for the tattoo before I found one that I liked. In a few early attempts, the tattoo actually went down the length of his arm! But in the end, I'm glad I kept it contained to the wrist.

6. What is your favorite part of this piece?

Oh man, it's so hard to pick! I love all of the modern designs, and I think most of the drawings turned out really well. (Pippin looks a bit wonky, but that's just because I'm not used to drawing people who are upside down.) In the end, I think my favorite part is just the slew of "Benadryl Cabbagepatch" names. That was a HYSTERICAL day on the Fig Tree Server, and I love seeing everyone's creativity and crazy senses of humor coming together like this! X-D

13. What Easter eggs/small details are hidden in this drawing?

OKAY *cracks knuckles* lemme give you the whole breakdown here.

Usernames and Avatar Icons

Design Choices

Initial Conversation

I did actually plan the chat in the first panel very carefully! If you look at the time stamps beside the messages, you can see how the conversation picks up speed. It starts with Frodo declining some kind of an activity that night, saying he's busy with something else. Pippin responds, asking what he's doing. Frodo replies and sends photographic evidence, calling Bilbo "Beebo". Sam thinks this is very funny and repeats "Beebo". Frodo, encouraged by Sam thinking this is funny, doubles down the joke with "Beebo Bongos". Then Merry jumps in with "Blorbo Bagpipes". By this point, messages are coming in within the same minute, and then the rest of the chaos unfolds. X-D

Anyway, thanks for giving me an excuse to ramble about this comic! I had a lot of fun drawing it and I'm delighted to share the Deep Lore LOL

ARTIST COMMENTARY ASK GAME!

I’m trying to come up with a pun between “ask” and “second breakfast”, but it’s not happening. X-D Let’s go!

(Read the whole comic here!)

1. What made you want to draw this scene?

Oh please, you KNOW how weak I am for Frodo and Sam 🤣 Any time these two are being cute I’m gonna want to draw it.

But I do admit this little pause to reflect isn’t actually in the book. I made it up. Tolkien is very frugal when it comes to writing emotional responses, so in canon, Frodo just answers the Gaffer’s question immediately without a second thought.

But I wanted Frodo to sit there and think about it for a second. I wanted to linger here, savoring the emotions of the journey and how far these two have come. I wanted Frodo to look at Sam and feel the weight of everything this lovely, humble little gardener has done for him.

Which brings me neatly to:

3. What does [character’s] facial expression mean/what’s going through their head?

Oh man, what isn’t going through Frodo’s head right now?

I don’t really think there’s a coherent thought in there except “where do I begin?” I think the entire Quest is flashing through Frodo’s mind at once, playing like a loop film, and all he can do is look at Sam and feel this sudden wave of emotion and affection and gratitude that he can’t express.

It’s not that he wasn’t grateful before. I’m sure, once he began to recover, he did nothing but heap praise and thanks upon Sam. But here, at home, in the Shire, talking to Sam’s father, everything is recontextualized; suddenly Frodo has to summarize a year and a lifetime’s worth of servitude and companionship and comfort and loyalty and courage and utter devotion—in one sentence—to someone who saw none of it, someone who will never understand the true depth of what Sam has done for him.

I think there’s a bittersweet tinge to that, looking at Sam and knowing that it’s their secret; that even if they tell the story over and over, the experience will forever be theirs and theirs alone. There’s something intimate about that. No one else will ever know the tedium and the misery and the grief and the suffering and the love and the victory and the joy quite the way that they experienced it. No one else will ever understand. They are alone in this; but they are alone together.

And as Frodo looks at Sam, he finds that Sam is looking back up at him, with a soft and humble and almost questioning expression. “Did I do all right?” he seems to ask. “Was it enough?”

And the humility of it blows Frodo away. How on earth—after everything they’ve been through, everything he’s done, everything he’s sacrificed—how on earth could Sam possibly think he is anything less than an utter venerable saint?? But that’s just it. Sam don’t think he’s a saint. Sam don’t think much about himself at all. All he wants to know is if Frodo is all right, if Frodo is satisfied with his service, if Frodo thinks he did well, and he’s hanging on his words with all the eagerness of a loyal hound dog hoping for praise from its master.

“Sam, my dear Sam,” Frodo thinks, “where do I even begin?”

6. What is your favorite part of this piece?

Mmmmm yes LOL

Seriously, this whole comic turned out great, and it’s really hard to pick a favorite part. But if I had to choose, I think I’d say Frodo and Sam’s little smiles after the big panel are my favorites. It was very important to me to get their expressions right—it needed to be subtle, warm, bittersweet, and full of unspoken love—and I think it speaks to how much my art has grown in the past year that they turned out so well. Especially Sam’s face. Just. Ugh, I want to hug my boys.

11. What did you learn from drawing this?

I got great practice drawing wrinkles, using crosshatching (surprisingly distinct from hatching!), arranging stuff in the panel in a way that draws the eye where you want it to go, and playing with different “scales” of my art (from teeny tiny all the way up to normal-size). I also learned how to draw spiders, because…

20. Quick! Random fun fact!

…this comic was the first time I’d ever drawn Shelob LOL

ARTIST COMMENTARY ASK GAME!

Hi Windmill!! 😊 Great choice!

(See the original post here!)

3. What does [character’s] facial expression mean/what’s going through their head?

Frodo’s just fainted, so let’s talk about the other two. Faramir’s expression was meant to convey a sort of gentle pity and respect; he’s just now realizing what an enormous burden this little Halfling carries, and it earns his admiration and sympathy and moves him to help. Sam, meanwhile, is only concerned for his master, and trots along ready to help at a moment’s notice. For both of them, their concern is for Frodo.

10. What new technique were you trying in this drawing?

Feets ;u; As I said in the tags, I had to draw Frodo’s bare feet from an angle I’m not used to, and I’m really happy with how they turned out. His sweet little toes, gah.

18. What was your favorite response to this post?

Well, your tags are wonderful, of course X-D Everyone had some really sweet responses to this post, but I think among my favorites are @calliopechild’s tag “oh this one got me RIGHT in the honey nut feelios”, and this gem from @weezlbot:

ARTIST COMMENTARY ASK GAME!

LOL nice choice!

(Read the whole comic here!)

1. What made you want to draw this scene?

The whole Pyre of Denethor is a very tense and serious scene, and while I love a good tasty bit of drama, ya gotta lighten the mood eventually X-P

I wanted to draw every heroic Beregond moment in this scene, which means I wanted to draw the part where he steps between an unconscious Faramir and Denethor with a knife—and because of the way my brain works, the “Stabby” meme immediately presented itself. And I thought, oh. Oh there’s no way I’m not doing that 🤣

3. What does [character’s] facial expression mean/what’s going through their head?

You didn’t specify which character you meant here, so I’ll give you the play-by-play. Beregond lunges into the scene in a panic, trying to deter any potential filicide. In his attempts to deescalate the situation, he goes for a therapy route/distraction—“let’s talk about how you feel”—with his internal monologue being “please work please work I dunno what I’m doing but please work”.

Denethor says “stabby”. The only thing going through his mind is “stabby”. There’s a beat where Beregond is like “Oh. Oh dear. This is worse than I thought.” Slowly, as he tries to work with the answer but also keep Denethor calm, he does the whole “stabbing…isn’t an emotion, it’s more of an activity.”

Denethor is now annoyed with this nuisance who’s getting in the way of him killing his son. His own patience has run out. “Well maybe I feel STABBY.” Beregond, meanwhile, goes from gentle and benevolent worry for both Denethor’s state of mind and Faramir’s health to full-on alarm bells and “NOPE YOU ARE NOT KILLING THIS YOUNG MAN TODAY NO SIR”

Funnily enough, as I was drawing the final panel, my mind was coming up with jokes—as it does while I draw—and one of them was “THAT’S IT YOU HAVE REVOKED YOUR DAD RIGHTS THIS IS MY SON NOW”. So take that as you will. 🤣

8. Did any part of this drawing make you go “AW HECK YEAH?”

Not really X-D It’s a very quick and dirty doodle, and not a terribly impressive artistic accomplishment, and that’s the point of it. But I did have a lot of fun drawing Beregond’s various facial expressions lol

13. What Easter eggs/small details are hidden in this drawing?

No Easter eggs, but some notable small details are Beregond’s black eye—which meant that I only had half his face to work with when it came to making facial expressions—and the way Beregond is holding Faramir in the last panel, basically smooshing Faramir’s face into his chest LOL

20. Quick! Random fun fact!

Had I not gone with the “Stabby” meme, an alternate choice of reference would’ve been the classic: “Lemme see what you have!” “A KNIFE!” “NO!”

ARTIST COMMENTARY ASK GAME!

Ohoho, you were always the one for angst, weren’t you, Maggie? ;-) Nice choice!

(Read the whole comic here!)

4. What part of this piece was the most difficult to draw?

Definitely Frodo’s pose in the first panel. I wanted to create this feeling that Frodo was towering over Sam—sort of hunched over him with this greedy, demanding, frightening presence—but it was really difficult to get that across and also keep him, ahem, decent. I ended up taking a lot of reference photos of myself in the mirror to try to get it right.

A close second is the pose where Frodo is snatching the Ring from Sam. I’m still not 100% happy with that one, but it works for what it is.

15. If you drew in color, what color would [x] be?

You didn’t specify which part of the drawing you’re curious about here, so I guess I’ll just describe the whole thing: Sam’s hair and vest are brown, his trousers tan, his cloak grey, and his skin slightly tanner than Frodo’s; Frodo’s hair is of course blonde with brown roots, but rather dirtied up at the moment, and his skin would be pale except for the red whiplash on his back and the greenish wound on his neck. The Ring, of course, is gold and shiny, and its chain is grey.

But since we’re in the Tower, and it’s dark, and the only light is the lantern overhead, we might actually get a color scheme that looks very similar to the one in Scarlet; all harsh blacks and reds. Very dramatic. Very bright red glint on the Ring when Frodo snatches it. And Frodo’s eyes might possibly look bloodshot in the last two panels.

16. If there is a song or quote associated with this drawing, why did you choose that song/quote?

The only quote associated with this drawing is its caption, “oh no”. I chose that caption because…well, I feel it’s a proper response. X-D Oftentimes I use the caption to add a second joke or something, but with the dramatic moments, I try to be a bit more frugal with my words so as not to undercut the emotions of the scene.

Now, if you’re trying to ask why I chose to draw this scene in particular—well. Because pain, that’s why. >:-D

20. Quick! Random fun fact!

Okay so the reason this took me so long to answer is because I couldn’t think of a fun fact to put here—but finally, I think I’ve got something!

In many other comics, I use nice neat squares and rectangles as the panel shapes. It’s just easy to work with. Here, however, the comic is structured as four large triangles, with tinier trapezoids in sort of a pyramid shape within the second big triangle.

This definitely made the comic a huge pain to plan (lol), but it serves a purpose: the slanted lines and irregular shapes makes everything feel “off-kilter”, slightly “wrong”, a reflection of how Frodo isn’t quite himself in this moment because of the Ring (and in a way, the same is true for Sam!). Everything from the shape and size of the panels to the way they’re battling for real estate on the page reflects the confusion and conflict of this moment.

I especially like the contrast between Sam’s quiet, tiny, “I could share it with you, maybe?” versus the huge visual BANG! of Frodo tearing the Ring away from him in that enormous panel. It’s like a sucker-punch in the gut, which is exactly how I imagine it would’ve felt for Sam >:-3

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