🎨 September Production Update, 🐦‍⬛ Working in the World of All The King’s Men 🐦‍⬛ (Patreon)

I’m excited to finally talk a little more about something I’ve been working on behind the scenes: I’ve been collaborating with Black Rook on projects set in the world of All The King’s Men, or ATKM. ❤️

Rather than working on just one story, I’ll be creating a number of comics and illustrations that explore different characters, locations, ideas, and corners of the world of Theria, while working closely with Rook to make sure everything fits naturally within the setting and its lore.

Two of the projects you’ve already seen beginning to take shape are The Heretic’s Relic and The False Trail.

🔮 The Heretic’s Relic (SFW)

This one follows Alwyn Thorne, a young rogue mage whose theft of an apparently dormant ancient relic begins as little more than another assignment for Witch Hunter Eugene.

Unfortunately for Eugene, and eventually the Raven Knights, it quickly becomes clear that Alwyn is much more than a simple relic thief.

The deeper I’ve gotten into this comic, the more it has turned into a proper fantasy mystery/thriller: investigation, arcane experimentation, ancient technology, strange magic, and Alwyn cheerfully making himself everybody else’s problem. XD

It’s also been especially fun because this story has given me an excuse to dig much deeper into ATKM’s magic systems, institutions, history, and the way ordinary people actually live within the setting.

🐾 The False Trail (NSFW)

On the other end of the spectrum is The False Trail, featuring Kohkari and Zandaka.

This story leans much more heavily into fantasy erotica, mistaken identity, Cubi lore, and character chemistry, while still giving me room to explore another side of ATKM’s world and its supernatural creatures.

So while both stories exist within the same universe, they’re very different flavors of comic, which is honestly part of what has made working with ATKM so enjoyable.

📚 More Than Just Comics

One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about collaborating with Rook has been learning just how much thought has gone into the world itself.

ATKM has its own magical disciplines, cultures, religions, political institutions, ancient civilizations, technologies, creatures, cities, and history, and working within all of that has been a really fun exercise for me as both an artist and storyteller.

It has also pushed me to approach comics differently. I’ve been doing more pre-production, environment design, maps, character research, lore checks, background planning, and storyboarding than I usually would.

And I’m genuinely loving it.

These aren’t meant to replace my own projects or characters, they’re another creative avenue I’m excited to explore, and a chance to tell stories inside a setting that has a lot of room for them.

So expect to see more ATKM artwork, comics, character pieces, worldbuilding, and behind-the-scenes material from me as these projects continue to develop.Posting schedule: ATKM updates will be released steadily, usually one finished page or a small batch of pages each month, depending on the project and production schedule.

Thank you all for following along while I experiment, learn, and make increasingly elaborate fantasy mouse problems. ❤️🐭✨

— Zandaka, Art Tanuki