My goodness, there are a lot of zany misconceptions out there about the supposed meaning behind Thaco the Clown, one of my favourite Witchlight Carnival characters. Let me assure you – he’s just a grumpy clown whose name is a nostalgic nod to an old D&D mechanic.

— Will Doyle (@BeholderPie) October 15, 2021

Thaco the Clown
For D&D’s The Wild Beyond the Witchlight
AD Kate Irwin

Was in the middle of a lot of work this winter but I found time to paint my very first interior D&D illustration. At first a little disappointed it was a clown, but the personality won me over! Appropriate enough, his name is a reference to a time when *I* first played DnD. The brief was simple but for me, evocative. Instead of a "mean" or "sad" character, I envisioned an absolutely burned out one. My personal title for this is "Thaco's on Break" pic.twitter.com/jxMfelD0YX

— Jason Rainville (@rhineville) September 11, 2021

Not sure if I can share the concept art but it depicted a much more whimsical clown, tired-eyed & smiling. I would have followed that as closely as I could but the brief pulled me in a diff direction with a less stylized face. I imagined Shea Whigham as a clown.Shooting reference isn't always (almost never) glamourous, and sometimes involves pushing out the gut for art. Vignettes meant to sit on a white BG are often given softer lighting to IMO read better, so i just had a soft frontal light set up. pic.twitter.com/YZFBCkopdG

— Jason Rainville (@rhineville) September 11, 2021

I loved pushing the small amount of narrative I could play with into a character that I hope oozes a tired sounding "uuughhhh…."

Thanks for reading! pic.twitter.com/MSq8fwGSaW

— Jason Rainville (@rhineville) September 11, 2021

Not content to make sexy mtg characters I have now of course made the sexiest DnD character. More like “Thicco” the clown amirite? These are also the Jerma985 colours by complete accident. It's some kind of coincidence thing.

— Jason Rainville (@rhineville) September 11, 2021