Bonus art – Dance Lesson
No new pages yet, but to mark the day, I’m posting this in-progress piece of a certain Orc and a certain Gnome sharing a dance <3
This will be finished with simple color in the style of the comic pages eventually. And hopefully I’ll have something more to post soon. Thanks, as always, for reading.
Page 49
This is one of those moments where I’m sure, if logic prevailed, Bumble would try to have Tock committed.
Page 42
And here it finally is.
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Also, I made the file a bit bigger than usual, in order to make Bumble’s speech bubble legible. In case it isn’t though, he’s saying “Oh, all my rusted gearsprings.”
And as long as this size shows up okay, I’ll be keeping them this large from now on.
Sketch – The House of White
More of one of the characters from this earlier bonus piece, with two other characters from her own story.
Again, what’s going on here will connect to Tock’s story eventually too, so I hope you keep them in mind.
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Aaaaaaaand we’re back to the argument they were in the middle of when the bird attacked, basically.
Slight change in updates
There’s going to be a slight delay in updates for the next couple of weeks, as I catch up on some paid commission work.
If you want to see what I’m up to in the meantime, I’ll be posting progress on those commissions and some work that’s already finished over on my website and my Tumblr.
Also, I’m thinking of switching the official update day from Mondays to Wednesdays. Any thoughts?
Thanks as always for your patience 
Page 37
And we finally get to see Tock’s outfit from this part’s cover page in full! Probably my favorite clothes to draw so far.
Sketch – (more of) Tock with Faerie
Does anyone remember those fantastic faerie stickers they used to sell at Hot Topic and Spencer’s with art by Amy Brown and Nene Thomas?
I think this is going to become a sticker like that.
Sketch – Gnome Woman with Magic
Not sure how canon her behavior is, but this is someone we’ve seen before and haven’t technically met yet.
Fanart – “More and More of Eleanore”
I’m happy to report that we’ve recieved our first fanart, from GiantPanda of deviantART!
Looks like Tock’s friend Eleanore sized up a bit!
If you have or plan to do any fanart of the series, feel free to message me here, or send it to rachelillustrates@yahoo.com! Thanks so much, Panda!
Tock returns early!
Earlier than expected, anyway.
None of my ideas for Gurukitty’s “Once Upon a Time” anthology have worked out at all, and at this point, its too late for me to start another one (the deadline is March 30th). As is often the case, timing between that and what’s going on in my life is just bad. Honestly, I’m quite disappointed – I very badly wanted to be a part of that project, as it speaks so much to me, but I need to accept that its not going to work out and move on.
That said, the silver lining is that “Tock the Gnome: The Rescue Quest” will be returning sooner than I planned
I’m still going to hold off on bringing back pages immediately, due to certain circumstances in my personal life (more on that at my illustration site tomorrow), but for now the tentative return date is March 1st.
Thank you all so much for your patience during this – even though the reason for the hiatus didn’t work out as planned, I still swear it will have been worth it.
“Rescue Quest” on hiatus
As I mentioned before, current circumstances at my support-job have been really messing with my schedule and draining my energy. This has made it very difficult for me to produce any art work, especially for “Tock.” I’m officially back to Page updates now because I didn’t want to disappoint anyone. But the truth is that the situation has not improved much.
On top of that, I’ve been presented with the opportunity to participate in the “Once Upon a Time” anthology, which – if I get in – means I’d be getting my work published. That would be a first for me, and its a subject I’m really, really passionate about, so its kind of a big deal. The problem is that I definitely don’t have the time/energy to focus on that and continue updating this comic on a semi-regular basis.
Because of all this, I’ve decided to put “Tock the Gnome: The Rescue Quest” on unofficial hiatus, just until my submission for Once Upon is complete. I hate doing this, but I think its for the best and – very importantly – I am NOT abandoning this story or these characters. I still have a lot to say with them and I intend on seeing it through, even if it takes a while.
Submissions for Once Upon are open until March 30, 2012, so we’ll be back to page updates the week after that at the very latest. In the meantime, I’ll still be working on world-building for “Tock,” so please keep watching/reading for bonus posts like that. Also, if anyone has anything they’d like to submit as filler (guest comics, fanart, etc.) please send them to rachelillustrates@yahoo.com, subject: “Tock the Gnome Filler” (thanks in advance to anyone who sends anything in!). And if you’re interested in seeing any of my other illustration work, including design work for my Once Upon submission (if they’ll let me post it), please check out my website/blog, Tumblr, or deviantART sites.
Finally, I want to thank you all for your patience. My circumstances make it difficult to update as regularly as most other webcomics do, but I appreciate each and every one of you that’s stopped in and taken a look. Please keep an eye out for those world-building posts (including the sketch series I started posting last week) and I promise, in Spring, it will be well worth the wait.
~ Rachel
Sketch – Gnome Roles: Soldier
I’ve started a series of sketches depicting Gnomes that are on different life paths than Tock, Bumble, or anyone else I’ve mentioned so far in-canon. Here’s the first, based on this bonus piece from a couple weeks ago.
The woman pictured is the lowest level infantry in the Queen’s army, equipped with standard uniform and a falcata-style short sword (again, as shown before). The sketch below her shows a higher officer’s coat – which is white, not brown – and the “cogs” they pin to the front are ornaments displaying their ranks and accomplishments. Most officers can have up to three cogs. The highest ranking officers – like the Queen’s personal guard – are also equipped with guns.
Page 29 lines
The situation that prompted the filler for the last few weeks** hasn’t been resolved yet, but here this is even though its not finished. It’ll be updated with color by next Monday at the latest.
**If anyone’s curious, I wrote a Journal over on my dA site with more details and news about some other art-related things I’m working on.
Bonus art – Gnome/Dwarf lovin’
So these are not characters who will actually appear in the story per se (and please excuse the bumps in the paper from the scan). I drew this for my amazing girlfriend (and co-creator of Tock’s story) recently and wanted to share.
These two are actually based on a couple of our toons from WoW, drawn as if they existed in Tock’s world. I imagine the Gnome woman is a soldier in the Queen’s army (the jacket should look familiar), and the Dwarven woman is a rogueish individual involved in a kind of black-market trading (due to a certain level of strictness in Dwarven culture – more on that some other time).
This should be the last piece of bonus art before page updates resume! Thanks again for your patience, and for reading
Bonus art – Similar Hats
Something fun for Samhain/Halloween. Blessed holiday, everyone!
Bonus art – Nosebump
Two Gnome women bumping noses, indicating their romantic interest in one another.
In Gnomish courtship, bumping noses is the step before – and just as serious – as the first kiss. Its often used to clarify intentions, if the two involved were friends first. Touching noses is also sometimes a greeting between family members, but obviously in a different context and with different weight.
