Artists I Like: Chuck Whelon

Another great artist for the list!

Also, I need to stress that these artist entries are not meant to be comprehensive. I dash these out on a whim on Saturdays or Sundays and schedule them to post on some future Sunday. I sometimes only say a few words and I sometimes talk too much. But the point is to shine a light on artists who I think do fantastic work.

That being said...

Chuck Whelon... I first encountered Chuck's work way back in the early 2000s with his classic comic Pewfell Porfingles. In those days there seemed to be a lot of cool comics being made online. Boy oh boy we had no idea just how many artists and comics would emerge as the years went on! Back then... it was a smaller group, and Chuck was a prominent name among them.

Pewfell is a wizard. Well... he SAYS he's a wizard. He's part of the wizard community. But he's a wizard who can't, doesn't, and basically won't make any magic. I mean, who wants to do that kind of labor, right? He's much happier being a wizard who hangs out at the pub while his very hot wife Tina goes out every day to slay goblins and earn coins. Oh, and he has an annoying gnome house mate who gives him a lot of hell.

Pewfell was co-written quite a bit by Adam Prosser.

Anyway... Chuck's work is, as many are wont to say, "very cartoony". I love "very cartoony" art. I love Chuck's art. I'm particularly a fan of his lovely weight-varied ink strokes. But he's also no slouch at doing pen and ink work with steady lines. He did a whole series of Where's Waldo-style pieces where you search for items and stuff. Very fun.

A funny coincidence and a testament to what was once the small world of online artists: Chuck started doing work for Goodman Games way back in the early 2000s when I had no idea who GG was nor any concept of the growing "OSR" movement, where gamers were recreating the magic of early D&D. I discovered Chuck through comics, then later realized we were both swimming in the same waters by doing work-for-hire for small TTRPG publishers. We both do work for Goodman Games, for example. Very cool.