Project Description

INKTOBER 2025 Day #11: STING.

“I read ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy at a fairly young age. They were the longest books I had read at the time, and I chose them for school book reports at a time when my peers were complaining about having to read a 100-page book. I fell in love with Tolkien’s world, and the stories had a big impact on my developing creativity. I would say it ranks second behind Star Wars as far as my creative influences. It really got me thinking about world building for the stories I dreamed of telling. Tolkien created a world with a complete history, with unique languages, different races/species, etc. I wanted to create world’s that felt that complete, that real.

I enjoyed Peter Jackson’s movies, but not as much as others. My first experience with Tolkien’s work in movie form was the animated version that first aired in 1977 (the year I was born, as well as the year Star Wars was released.). I loved the animation style and I loved seeing that story come to life. Having just done my best to draw Bilbo in that style, I was surprised at how many little details there are in his character model, particularly his hair. That must have been challenging to draw several thousand times.

Anyway, for those that are unfamiliar with Tolkien, Bilbo finds a magical sword called Sting that glows when orcs are near. This was not my original idea for the prompt (though it did involve a similar reference). This one hit me the night before I sat down to work on it and I immediately knew I had to go with this idea instead.”

Do you enjoy these silly pen and ink illustrations starring Plunger Monkey? Wish you had a whole book full of them to gaze at lovingly whenever you wanted? You’re in luck! Get a copy of Inklings to satisfy that need: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1733734716/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1AO28074KOTGC&keywords=inklings+by+toby+gray&qid=1689026488&s=books&sprefix=inklings+by+toby+gray%2Cstripbooks%2C103&sr=1-1