Chromacon indie arts festival 2019!

The biennial Chromacon indie arts festival returns to Auckland in 2019, offering the public 2 FREE days of arty market goodness, with some of NZ's finest art creators selling and showcasing: Illustration, Comics, Concept Design, Animation, Board Games, Sculpture, Designer Toys, Mural & Street Art, Video Games and more!

Taking place at the Aotea Centre from June 1st - 2nd (Queen's Birthday Weekend),this year the event boasts 188 exhibitors, including special guests: Concept Art/Designer Andrew Domachowski [Canada]; illustrator/animation guests Cloud Yang 人狼 and Clover Xie 无言  [Wolf Smoke Studio | China]; Eisner Award-winning cartoonist Katie O'Neill [New Zealand]; and Illustration/Mural/Street Artist Nate Frizzell [US]. You can find a full line-up of exhibitors HERE.

Hosted alongside Chromacon, the Chroma Art Awards recognises creative excellence from Aotearoa’s leading and emerging independent creators.This year they will celebrate the best independent work across 5 disciplines, with Open and Student categories for each award: Illustration, Concept Design, Comic Art, Animation, & Video Games. Winners will be announced at the Chroma Art Awards Evening, 1st June 2019. The Awards are open to all New Zealanders of all ages (no, you don't have to be a Chromacon exhibitor). Entries close this Friday, 24th May (11:59PM NZST), so get submitting now as there are some great prizes up for grabs! Check out the full details HERE.

It's going to be a great weekend of creativity, so save the date on your calendar and visit the Chromacon website for more details HERE.

- AK!

EVENT: Chromacon 2017

Chromacon, the indie arts festival returns this weekend! Taking place at the Aotea Centre in the heart of the Auckland CBD, Chromacon celebrates the coming together of creativity, artistic excellence and community. Freely open to the wider public, Chromacon connects all New Zealanders with the best homegrown illustrators, comic artists, designers, animators, game developers and more.

At Chromacon, you will find original artwork and creative projects from independent creators of different media, styles, and genres. You will also be able to purchase self-published work or even one-off originals directly from the creatives themselves. The intimate nature of the event offers you the chance to meet and connect with creatives you may already admire or others creating new and exciting work that you weren't aware of. Furthermore, the event will be hosting live events, drawing/painting demos, and artist talks/panels on a variety of subjects throughout the weekend.

Chroma Connect will be returning in the form of industry sessions running in parallel with the main festival - featuring top local and international speakers. International guests include: OJIRO FUMOTO aka 'MOPPIN' [JP]  - Creator of the award-winning indie hit game Downwell, JOHN MUELLER [US] - Art Director at Blizzard Entertainment, creator of OINK - Heaven's Butcher and founder of Skyshine Games, creators of BEDLAM, KEI ACEDERA [CA] - Award-winning artist specialising in concept art, visual development, and character design for film, Art Director at Imaginism Studios, BOBBY CHIU [CA] - Award-winning artist, Founder and Creative Director of Imaginism Studios, Schoolism and host of the CHIUSTREAM, and DAVID FOLLETT [AU] - Prolific character designer, comic creator and illustrator. Creator of Uncle Silas published by Dark Horse Comics. 

On the local front, cartoonist Toby Morris - best known for his regular non-fiction comic, The Pencilsword (serialised on ‘The Wireless NZ’) - will be discussing his creative journey from developing his craft to quitting the day job and pursuing an independent artistic career full-time. Toby will give his personal insights into his life as an father, illustrator, cartoonist, comic artist and using comics as a medium for accessible journalism, social advocacy and raising awareness of important social issues. His talk will be hosted by Hicksville author, Dylan Horrocks.

NZ animation studio Mukpuddy will also be giving an in-depth retrospective of their animated series, The Barefoot Bandits, from development process/pipeline and 'script to screen', to designing memorable characters and bringing this ambitious passion project to life.

For tickets and information on the Chroma Connect talks, visit the Chromacon website HERE.

Anyone with an interest in art, in particular storytelling in visual and interactive mediums, is invited to this weekend celebration of Kiwi creativity. Whether you’re a fledgling artist yourself, or simply curious about the amazing original work created by independent creators right here in New Zealand, this event is for you! There is over 100 local creatives attending - check out the full line up HERE, so make sure you clear your weekend schedule and bring some cash to pick up some one-of-a-kind artwork!

Chromacon is open April 8th - 9th at the Aotea Centre, from 10am - 5pm daily. For more information and updates, visit the Chromacon event page on Facebook HERE, and the official website HERE.

- AK!

Chromacon returns for 2017!

Chromacon, the indie arts festival with a difference, will be back for 2017! Taking place at the Aotea Centre in the heart of the Auckland CBD, Chromacon celebrates the coming together of creativity, artistic excellence and community. Freely open to the wider public, Chromacon connects all New Zealanders with the best homegrown illustrators, comic artists, designers, animators, game developers and more.

At Chromacon, you will find original artwork and creative projects from independent creators of different media, styles, and genres. You will also be able to purchase self-published work or even one-off originals directly from the creatives themselves. The intimate nature of the event offers you the chance to meet and connect with creatives you may already admire or others creating new and exciting work that you weren't aware of. Furthermore, the event will be hosting live events, drawing/painting demos, and artist talks/panels on a variety of subjects throughout the weekend.

Chroma Connect will be returning in the form of industry sessions running in parallel with the main festival - featuring top local and international speakers.

Everyone with an interest in art, in particular storytelling in visual and interactive mediums, is invited to this weekend celebration of Kiwi creativity. Whether you’re a fledgling artist yourself, or simply curious about the amazing original work created by independent creators right here in New Zealand, this event is for you!

For more information and updates, visit the Chromacon event page on Facebook HERE, and the official website HERE.

- AK!

Recommended Reading: Chroma Art Awards 2015 - Comic Art Winners

Above: Artwork by Jem Yoshioka, from Folding Kimono. cc-by-sa Jem Yoshioka Creative Commons NZ 3.0 license, 2015.

The recent Chromacon Arts Festival celebrates excellence in local illustration and comics each festival with the Chroma Art Awards. This year's top prize went to Jem Yoshioka for her comic Folding Kimono, an autobiographical comic about being a Japanese-New Zealander, and discussing the barriers to engaging with heritage across distance and generations through the gift and care of a traditional kimono. You can read the full comic HERE. This was Yoshioka's second consecutive win at Chromacon, previously taking the 1st place at the 2013 Comic Art Awards with her comic Sunshine, which you can also read HERE.

Above: a page from Ricky & Lyle by Ralphi. Copyright Lauren Marriott 2015.

Ralphi aka Lauren Marriott took second place with a tale from the hilarious take-no-s#!t duo, Ricky & Lyle, which you can read HERE. Rachel Royale aka Rachel Smythe placed third with her evocative fairy tale The Maiden, which you can read HERE.

Above: a page from The Maiden by Rachel Royale. Copyright Rachel Smythe 2015.

The runner-up finalists included: Kayla Oliver with The Cat and The Fox, which you can read HERE; Cory Mathis with My Wife the Mastodon, which you can read HERE;  and The Blue Masque by Theo Macdonald which you can read HERE.

And as an extra bonus, you can also view the other comics entires for the Chroma Art Awards: Snap by Sarah Lund, Two Ducks' Down by Giselle Clarkson, Complaining Coffee Cup by Nick Baillie, Jenny Music by Eddie Monotone, Defence by Jonathan King, Marioff by Bell Miura, Ballard of the Bushwhacked by Stuart Hallam, The Great Budgie Switcharoo by Austin O' Connell-Milne, and comics by Thomas Bailey, Simon Ripley and Gabrielle Westerlund.

So while you're wrapped up inside this weekend as the winter weather rolls in, take some time out to read some of these fantastic local comics. Congratulations to the winners and all the cartoonists mentioned here for producing some really great stories, and enjoy the weekend reading!

For more information on Chromacon Arts Festival, you can visit the website HERE.

- AK!

The Coming of Chromacon 2015!

After a year on hiatus, Chromacon is back for 2015! Held this weekend at the Auckland Aotea Centre, Chromacon is an indie arts festival that celebrates the coming together of local creativity, innovation, artistic excellence and community.

This FREE event connects New Zealanders with the best homegrown illustrators, comic artists, designers, animators, videogame developers and more. At Chromacon, you will find original artwork and creative projects from a range of media, styles, and genres.

You will also be able to purchase self-published work such as prints, art books, comics or even original artwork directly from the creatives themselves.This event was conceived by Auckland artist/illustrator Allan Xia, who felt there was a lack of accessible local events for artists/illustrators to showcase and sell their work at outside of exclusive design/advertising events like Semi-Permanent, which aren't always affordable for emerging new artists or the general public. 

The first event in 2013 was a great success, and Xia has taken the extra development time to really fine-tune and expand the event, starting with this Friday's Chroma Connect –  a creative summit focused on professional development, and the sharing of ideas to promote networking amongst local creatives.

Attendees will have the opportunity to attend master-classes, panel discussions, case studies and networking opportunities. Key areas to be examined include: established and emerging traditional/digital creative practices, transmedia strategies and business models. Chroma Connect enables participants to explore past insights, analyse present challenges, and identify future opportunities.

Chroma Connect will feature four internationally renowned creatives, exclusively attending this week's events:

J.A.W. Cooper (USA): Illustrator

J.A.W. Cooper was born in England and grew up in Africa, Sweden, Ireland and various other locations throughout Europe and California. J.A.W. Cooper currently lives and works as a freelance illustrator, gallery and sketch artist in Los Angeles, California.

Jacky Ke Jiang (USA): Animator

An experienced animator who has worked for Disney Studios and the Cartoon Network on award-winning movies and cartoons like Frozen, Wreck it Ralph, Paperman, and Adventure Time.

Benjamin (China): Illustrator and cartoonist

Benjamin is a prolific Chinese Manhua (Chinese Comics) Artist and illustrator whose work has been published in many different countries and languages.

Wenna (China): Illustrator

Wenna specializes in large-scale mural arts, illustration, ceramics and sculpture. Her diverse living mural projects can be found across major cities of China (Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Nanchang, Jingdezhen, Leshan etc.) as well as Taiwan, Europe and many other nations and cultures.

All four guests will be giving talks during the event, as well as talks from local art and animation guests: including Mukpuddy animation, and Weta concept artist Paul Tobin. There will also be panel discussions on New Zealand Indie Games and of coarse, New Zealand Comics.

The New Zealand Comics Panel will be an informal discussion with four great local cartoonists including: Jonathan King, Li Chen, Gregor Czaykowski (aka Loading Artist) and Jem Yoshioka. 

Above: An illustration by Jem Yoshioka. cc-by-sa Jem Yoshioka Creative Commons NZ 3.0 license, 2015.

Jem Yoshioka is an illustrator and cartoonist from Wellington. Her work is influenced by the city and her Japanese heritage, and she uses visual narrative to explore themes of human nature and culture. She works both digitally and traditionally. And at the last Chromacon's in 2013 she won the Comic Award for her story Sunshine. Other comics include Concrete.

Above: An illustration from Loading Artist by Gregor Czaykowski. Copyright Gregor Czaykowski 2015.

Gregor Czaykowski is the cartoonist behind the very successful webcomic Loading Artist, which thanks to his Patron supporters he is now able to work on it full-time.

Above: An illustration from Extra Ordinary by Li Chen. Copyright Li Chen 2015.

Li Chen is of the cartoonist behind the webcomic, Extra Ordinary, which has had a series of highly successful Kickstarter campaigns which have allowed her to publish 3 collected editions and work on the webcomic full-time.

Above: An illustration from Threat Level by Jonathan King. Copyright Jonathan King 2015.

Jonathan King has contributed to Faction Comics, including the upcoming Climate Change special High Water, and is also the film director of the films Black Sheep, Under The Mountain and Realiti.

They'll be talking about their work, art process and upcoming projects.

There will be over 40 local comic creators exhibiting at this weekend's main event, including: Ant Sang, Aimee Cairns, Amy Her-Lee, Anthony Pini, Ben Stenbeck, Benjamin Gary Richards, Braden Gordon, Brendan Boughen, Chris Slane, Cory Mathis, David Ogilvie, Dylan Horrocks, Li Chen, James Davidson, Jason Upchurch, Jem Yoshioka, Jeremy Hanna, Jonathan King, Joshua Drummond, Kayla Oliver, Kirsti Hogan, Ralphi, Linhan Ye, Loading Artist, Marc Streeter, Michel Mulipola, Nick Fedaeff, Orion Mabelle, Pablo Espinosa, Rachel Smythe, Sam Orchard, Simon Fletcher, Sloane Kim, Stacey Robson, Stuart Hallam, Stuart Thomas, Tim Gibson,Toby Morris, Zak Waipara, as well as small press publishers and collectives: Earth’s End Publishing, Pikitia Press, Funtime Comics, and Square Planet.

And that doesn't even include  the animators, illustrators, sculpture and craft creators, concept artists, videogame creators and so many more attending the event. So if you're looking for a short of creativity this weekend, or to stock up on some great local comics before winter sets in, Chromacon is the place to be this weekend - and it is FREE to attend!

I also had Allan Xia join me on the National Radio Nights show to talk about the upcoming event. If you missed it last week you can listen to the full interview HERE.

For more information, on Chromacon and Chroma Connect, visit the event website HERE.

- AK!

EVENT: Chromacon 2013

Above: The Chromacon poster, as created by event organiser Allan Xia.

This Sunday, the Aotea Centre in Auckland will be hosting the first (hopefully annual) Chromacon - an arts festival showcase the best of New Zealand illustrators and cartoonists. Featuring over 65 artists, showcasing their work and selling comics, art prints and more. Best of all, the event is completely FREE of charge!

Above: Art from some of the cartoonists in attendance: Top Row: Dylan Horrocks, Ben Stenbeck, Karl Wills. Second Row: Tim Gibson, Ant Sang, James Davidson. Third Row: Toby Morris, Chris Slane and the Sheehan Bros.

The event features a stellar line-up of New Zealand's finest cartoonists including: Dylan Horrocks, Ant Sang, Toby Morris, Karl Wills, Chris Slane, Tim Gibson, the Sheehan Bros, James Davidson, Ben Stenbeck, Richard Fairgray, Czepta Gold, Marc Streeter, Michel Mulipola, Sophie Oiseau, Cory Mathis, Sarah Laing, Matt Emery and Pikitia Press, Gregor Czaykowski, Faction Comics and myself.

Above: Art from some of the illustrators in attendance: Top Row: Allan Xia, Ema Frost, Henry Christian Slane. Second Row: Nick Keller, Stacey Robson, Sanjana Baijnath. Third Row: Rebecca ter Borg, Watermark and White Cloud Worlds.

There will also be an eye-poping range of illustrators at the event, including: Allan Xia, Rachel Smythe, Ema Frost, Stacey Robson, Rebecca ter Borg, Henry Christian Slane, Sanjana Baijnath, Paul Shipper, Nick Keller, Paul Tobin, Svet Mateev, Tom Robinson, White Cloud Worlds, Watermark and many more!

There will also be live art demonstrations and discussion panels throughout the day.

Starting at 9am, Jason Hong will kick-off the first hour of live art demos, followed by Ben Stenbeck (Hellboy, Baltimore), Czepta Gold, Rachel Smythe, Tom Robinson and Sloane Kim.

Above: From Earth's End: The Best of New Zealand Comics announcement image.

I'll be hosting the first panel discussion at 10am on Level 4, with my publishing announcement for From Earth's End: The Best of New Zealand Comics, which promises exactly what it says in the title! This will be an exclusive look inside the first major book to be published on New Zealand Comics - the creators, the unrevealed history, the comics. Its all here waiting to be discovered. With special guests: Sarah Laing, James Davidson and Toby Morris!

This will be followed at 11.15am by Crowd-funding Your Dreams, a discussion on crowd-funding your creative projects, with Faction Comics founders Damon Keen, Anna Guenther and Allan Xia.

After lunch at 1pm the panels will continue with The Art of Visual Storytelling, with White Cloud Worlds editor Paul Tobin, Jim Auckland, and Watermark founder Simon Shaw.

And the final panel of the day, Webcomics and the Future of Publishing. This will feature Tim Gibson, creator of the webcomic Moth City, Dylan Horrocks (Hicksville, Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen), Gregor Czaykowski (Loading Artist) and Li Chen (Extra Ordinary Comics).

Its rare that these kind of events take place for free - other similar event charge huge amounts for panel guests and demos like this ((cough, Semi-Permanent, cough!)). So if you have an interest in illustration or cartooning, come along and meet the creators and purchase some fantastic artwork!

Chromacon takes place this Sunday 12th May, from 9am-5pm at the Air NZ Foyer, Aotea Centre, Auckland. For more details, visit the official website HERE. See below for the event map to find your way around.

-AK!

News From Earth's End: February Edition

Above: Mr Unpronounceable Adventures by Tim Molloy. Copyright Tim Molloy 2013.

Tim Molloy will be releasing his next comic collection Mr Unpronounceable Adventures, at the 'Big Arse 3' comics launch taking place in Melbourne on March 2nd. Other NZ comics launching at the event include: Awakenings #2 by Jesca Marisa, and Adversaries by Matt Emery. You can find more about Big Arse 3 HERE. Tim also has an art tumblr that you can check out HERE.

Above: Former Gotham Comics employees Jeremy Bishop and Michel Mulipola rise from the ashes....

The end of January saw a major shake-up in the management of Auckland's much-loved comic store, Gotham Comics. This resulted in a mutual parting of ways between the store owners and long serving manager Jeremy Bishop and employee Michel Mulipola. While the future of Gotham Comics may be uncertain, Bishop and Mulipola aren't going dwell on the past and already making plans to set-up their own brand new Auckland store, Arkham City Comics! 

More details are still to come, but you can join the inmates at their Facebook group HERE (over 300 inmates strong in just over a week!). Here at Earth's End we wish them the best of luck with their new endeavour, and I'll be updating with any news of the opening when it happens.

Above: Thor: The Mighty Avenger by Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee. Copyright Marvel Comics 2013.

Despite a parting of ways last year on the issue of creator rights, Marvel Comics are releasing a paperback collection all of Roger Langridge's Thor: The Mighty Avenger stories in one volume. This should be available now from your local comic store, or book retailers/Amazon etc in early March.

Above: Rocketeer: Hollywood Horror #1, variant cover by Roger Langridge and J. Bone. Copyright IDW 2013.

Langridge is currently writing a four issue mini-series based on Dave Stevens' Rocketeer for IDW. With art by J. Bone, the first issue of Rocketeer: Hollywood Horror is in comic stores now.

Above: New guests added to the Chromacon artists line-up. Top row: Paul Tobin, Chris Slane, Henry Christian-Slane. Bottom row: Michel Mulipola, Richard Fairgray and Kayla Oliver.

The line-up for May's Auckland illustrator event, Chromacon 2013 continues to grow with some impressive new additions in the last few weeks. Paul Tobin, artist and editor of the White Cloud Worlds books will be in attendance, along with award-winning cartoonist Chris Slane, and Chris' son Henry Christian-Slane proves talent runs in the family, fronting his own impressive artwork.

Michel Mulipola will be on hand, as well as Blastosaurus creator Richard Fairgray, and Hawkes Bay illustrator Kayla Oliver. Chromacon is a FREE event which will be taking place at the Aotea Centre, Auckland on the 12th of May. For more updates visit the Chromacon website HERE.

Above: An illustration by Tony Renouf. Copyright Tony Renouf 2013.

One of the major figures in the Dunedin comics scene in the 1980s and 90s, Tony Renouf has a new online presence at his blog HERE. He's posting new work and mussing about his life and times working at a second-hand record store.

Above: Sci-fi stickers from Tip Top's Galactic Bar Ice-cream range, featuring artwork from Colin Wilson. Copyright Tip Top Ltd 2013.

From the depths of the internet comes this nugget of rare NZ comics memorabelia: a set of stickers featuring sci-fi artwork from the great Colin Wilson! Created in 1977, the set of 10 stickers and game poster could be collected with each purchase of the Galactic Bar Ice-cream. The Galactic Bar featured a similar promotion tied into the release of the first 'Star Wars' movie.

 

More images of the Galactic Bar posters and wrapper. Copyright Tip Top Ltd 2013.

Its likely that this set was created to continue the success of the promotion without the expensive royalties attached to a tie-in product. In any case, the stickers are very rare now and can only occasionally be sighted on TradeMe.

To address the lack of resent updates: I'm currently very busy working on a publishing project that is taking up a great deal of time, but will make readers of this blog VERY happy...so keep your eyes peeled for a big announcement in early May.

-AK!

And lo, there was Chromacon!

This week saw the announcement of Chromacon, a New Zealand Illustration and Comic Art Festival, taking place at the Aotea Centre in Auckland this coming May. This non-profit event plans to showcase the latest in local illustration and comics talent, with a focus on fostering the creative community by interacting with the public in a relaxed and accessible environment. Exhibitors will be promoting their artwork, along with selling comics, prints, art books and more; along with drawing/painting demos, workshops and talks on a variety of subjects taking place throughout the day.

Above: Artwork by Allan Xia. Copyright Allan Xia 2013.

Exhibitor applications are now open, and there is already a promising line-up of top-draw talent including: Dylan Horrocks, Karl Wills, Cory Mathis, Czepta Gold, Tim Gibson, Allan Xia, Nani Mahal, Stacey Robson, Tom Robinson, Anthony Pini, Jason Hong, Svet Mateev, Marc Conaco III, Daniel Zhang, Des Gibson, Matt Haworth with more to follow!

Above: Artwork by Stacey Robson. Copyright Stacey Robson 2013.

Best of all, this one day event will be completely FREE of charge!

Organised by illustrator Allan Xia, I think this event has the potential be a real game changer. 

It seems to me that this event occupies a a very fertile 'middle ground' between the two extremes of popular culture events in New Zealand, like the giant Armageddon Expo and the likes of Zinefest and the manga/cos-play oriented Overload. While these are all perfectly fine events in themselves, they have a tendency to appeal to a very specific audience; one that isn't always easy to relate to or become a part of without some prior knowledge.

Chromacon offers a great opportunity for curious punters to be introduced to a variety of artists and their work in a relaxed atmosphere without the distractions of corporate sponsorship, or the 'secret handshake' of pop sub-cultures - a beginners guide, if you will. 

I think the New Zealand illustration community stands to gain a great deal of awareness from events like this one, and hopefully create some life-long fans in the process, because we could all use more of those.

Chromacon 2013 is taking place at the Aotea Centre (in the Air NZ Foyer) in Auckland, on Sunday May 12th, from 9am-5pm. For more information and updates visit the official website HERE. You can also 'LIKE' the event on Facebook HERE.

-AK!