Tom Kilian

37. The best Miyazaki movie is either Porco Rosso or Spirited Away (depending on your criteria), but Castle In The Sky is my favorite.

36. I don’t really get the appeal of most actual play RPG content. The game mechanics make the audio drama too slow, and the needs of an audio drama gets in the way of showcasing the game.

Storks are in my wife’s top 3, so they’re not forgotten in this house

35. The second-best bird is the pigeon. Third-best are the owls.

34. Little songbirds like sparrows and wrens are my favorite type of birds. The way they fly looks so brave.

33. I like tilapia because it fries nicely and from what I understand it can be farmed pretty sustainably (at least compared to saltwater fish).

32. I feel like superheroes kinda got it in one with Superman.

31. I have seen enough dark takes on fairies. I would actually like to see more little sparkly guys with butterfly wings.

30. Buying music and storing it locally on your device is better than streaming. The practices of curating your music and listening to a full album are both good for you.

29. I would bet money that partway through the initial fanfiction version of Naomi Novik’s “His Majesty’s Dragon” somebody commented that it was kind of fucked up for people to breed intelligent, talking dragons.

28. If you want orcs to be people in your fantasy setting, the thing I’d emphasize isn’t size or “savagery,” but that they’re nocturnal. Orc/human conflicts are basically “I Am Legend” — somebody is always at a disadvantage in a way that makes the other side seem scary.

This happened to me in third grade with Chris Wooding’s “Broken Sky” when my teacher turned to a page where two characters kiss. I hadn’t read the scene yet and had no idea what it was I was supposed to explain.

27. Many people will go to bat for young Robin Williams, and they’re right to do so. But I am brave enough to say that Pam Dawber was insanely hot on Mork & Mindy.

26. It’s often better to tell than to show! Similarly, I think a lot of fantasy fiction would be improved if we spent less time in the character’s heads.

Ranks of elf spearmen... now with cloaks!

Ranks of elf spearmen... now with cloaks!

Ranks of elf spearmen... now with cloaks!

Ranks of elf spearmen... now with cloaks!

The wood elf troops now come with optional cloaks

5 variant elf spearwomen

5 variant elf spearwomen

5 variant elf spearwomen

More elves

Thanks! In my sketchbook I think I've got a solid approach for the elves and dwarves, but I still haven't figured out the right balance of cartoony and historical for the lakemen.

5 elf spearwomen

5 variant elf spearwomen

5 more variant elf spearwomen

I think I gave the girlies better corsages

elf spearwoman 1

elf spearwoman 2

elf spearwoman 3

The wood elf spearmaids are going faster since I'm repurposing most of the stuff from the spearmen

"After all, why shouldn't I keep it?"

Future me deciding to add 10 more headswaps to the human troops

In terms of production, 30 boys and 30 girls was probably too many. Future troop types might only have 20 each (men), or not have the gender parity of the elves (goblins).

With 30 troops, that's all the boys done*

*sort of, I still have to assemble their back sides and swap in the different unit heraldries

It is. My goal for this project is to be able to play out the battle of five armies using the Oathmark rules, but this guy came out looking a lot like Link from one of the earlier Zeldas.

How did your kid like The Hobbit?

100% funded in less than a week! Thank you guys so much for your support in bringing this book to life! So excited to get these dragons into your homes! *I am not liable for any damage to your knick knacks, sofas and carpets that may happen as a result

#dragons #smaugust2025 #kickstarter #artbook

An elf spearman mini

And many a fair elf that should have lived yet long ages merrily in Kokiri Forest

25. Tough luck for me personally, but increasingly I think that more abstract illustrations are important (especially in kids’ books), because they stretch your brain.

24. On the game side of 40k: I get why they stopped, but providing stat blocks for units it had no intention of making models for was very cool. It invites DIY and kitbashing as a core part of the hobby.

23. From an artistic standpoint, Warhammer 40k shouldn’t have an ongoing plotline and many of the setting’s most interesting questions should have remained unanswered.

I don’t give a shit.

22. A good independent movie theater is worth its weight in gold, because one of the great joys in life is being surprised by a movie you would never have found on your own.