A fantasy buddy comedy, starring Knight, an angry young girl who wants to be a hero, and Beard, a gentle giant that hates conflict
Knight & Beard is a fantasy buddy comedy starring Knight, an angry young girl who wants to be a hero, and Beard, a gentle giant who hates conflict. The two of them work as lowly guards in the big city of Newport and their miscommunications land them in all sorts of trouble. With a big ensemble cast and a vibrant colorful style, Knight & Beard is an all ages book with themes of empathy, friendship, and more.
Read Knight & Beard on Tapas, Webtoon, and Comixology!
Volume 1 picks up with Knight and Beard performing a series of seemingly simple tasks. Unable to be trusted with actual guard duty, the two are found performing at a puppet show, wrangling up stray pigs, and just trying to keep out of trouble. But the mismatched pair can’t help but wreak havoc wherever they go! Particularly Knight who has an aggressive determination to prove herself as a hero to potential naysayers around her.
However, as Friendship Day, the world’s most celebrated holiday approaches, people from all over the globe come pouring into the city, and Knight and Beard have to step up to perform their duties as guards. As the festival nears, the two start encountering all sorts of people: new friends, old foes, and a legendary hero.
At its core, Knight & Beard is a story of empathy and love. And Volume 1 marks the beginning of this journey that our titular characters take to understand themselves, each other, and the world around them.
Knight & Beard Volume 1 will collect the first seven issues of Knight & Beard. Printed 7” x 10” with 192 full color pages and a spot gloss cover. Includes an exclusive illustration created by our flatter, Tanner Simmons!
The Knight & Beard Sketchbook Volume 1 collects concept art and sketches created over the course of the past five years. Printed 5.5” x 7.75” with 36 full color pages.
Two original 5 x 7” postcards created exclusively for the Kickstarter campaign. Announcements for the designs will come shortly!
And here’s a quick breakdown of the rewards tiers!
How will the money be used?
The majority of the earnings will go towards the printing and shipping the book, sketchbook, and postcards, but we also include a section for artist pay.
This series wouldn’t be possible without the help of Tanner Simmons who has helped us with flatting and editing the series purely out of the kindness of his heart. With this Kickstarter, we’d really like to be able to pay him a fair wage for all the work that he’s done for us.
In addition, we couldn’t have put together a book of this size to print without the help of Rhiannon R.S, who we also hope to pay through the success of this campaign.
Any additional earnings will go towards stretch goals and to the production of future issues of Knight & Beard.
Described as a real life buddy comedy, long time friends Tara Kurtzhals and Sarah Bollinger met during college and instantly began collaborating on creative projects. Best known for their auto-bio comic Girls Have A Blog on Webtoon, these two young women have used their experiences as friends to inspire their stories of empathy, friendship, and more.
Author/Illustrator of The Whatever Chronicles and This is Jim. Aspires to moonlight as a masked wrestler. Check him out at: http://www.tannersimmons.com/
Formerly a Prepress Technician at Dark Horse Comics, Rhiannon’s freelance credits include illustration, design, prepress, editing, and visual development for companies such as Ascend Press, Beyond Press, Hiveworks, Chromatic Press, and Iron Circus Comics. They can be reached via email at rhi.rose at gmail.com
The book is print-ready but there may be delays or unforeseen challenges with the creation of the merchandise. We have enlisted the help of Rhiannon R.S. to oversee the task of finding a printer and assuring the quality of our files for print.
Prior to this campaign, we have been self-publishing individual issues, handling pre-orders, printing, and shipping on a smaller scale.
However, as this is our first Kickstarter, it is inevitable that we will be learning as we go! We hope to communicate and be open with all of our backers in order to make this process go as smoothly as possible.