Kronos City Facebook Group

Hi everyone!

I've just set up a Kronos City facebook group. It's fairly empty now but I'll try to upload some goodies to it.http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/pages/Kronos-City/188703555669?ref=ts

Invite your friends!

Andrew

Kronos City is Winner

Alex and I have just returned from the Thought Bubble Convention in Leeds. We had a brilliant day, beginning with a talk by Nigel Dobbyn about the way comic art has moved from traditional to digital, with the pros and cons of each. We also attended the cosplay event, to see what everyone had come up with. It wasn't quite to the same standard as the London MCM show, but we still has a great time. My personal favourite was Laguna from Final Fantasy VIII, who began shouting the fanfare and the whole room joined in.

Alex and I were able to meet Jim for the first time, which was brilliant. The Karl pictures were brought along in a portfolio and shown off. We'll definitely have to run another of those at some point!

In the evening we attended the after show party with friends and went to the Dr Sketchy Leeds Burlesque Life Drawing. It was incredibly fun, beginning with 5 quick sketches and leading into two competitions. The first was a left handed (or right handed if you are left handed) competition, which Alex won! The next competition was drawing in the style of your favourite artist. As I didn't have acrylics, canvas and varnish and a good few days I decided to go with the event and draw in the style of whoever drew Jessica Rabbit. On telling my friend Lou this, she asked if that was Beatrix Potter, so that's what I ended up with. I was given second place for my efforts and was awarded with a balloon dog, which Alex and I named Dogsvin.

Overall? A brilliant weekend!

How Do You See Karl? The Results!

Well, this has been a fun fortnight watching the entries come in! I think all of us were very worried when we started this non-Competition that there would be nothing to show here! The idea of creating pseudonyms and new art styles was tossed around, but luckily it did not have to come to that. There's a really different range of art here, which was exactly what we were after! We'll be taking all of these to Leeds tomorrow so we'll be posting soon after to show how it all went!

All of us at Kronos City want to say a great big thank you to everyone who got involved. We know a lot of you who sent in work have a lot on the go so we really appreciate the effort. We'd also like to say a special thank you to video game folk punk band Elfonso who all got involved!

The entries are listed in the order they were sent in, with Joe Willes doing his Karl the day after the non-competition was announced, and Stephen Downey sending his literally minutes before we put this blog up!

Keep checking back to the blog, as there will be more of these non-competitions to come, and who knows, we might even turn them into actual competitions, with prizes!

Stephen Downey's Karl

Artist

Steph Murtha's Karl

Illustrator

Mark Hanna's Karl

Illustrator

Jessica Knight's Karl

Illustration for Children (MA) Student

Reggie Chamberlain-King's Karl

Writer

Josie Clouting's Karl

Fine Art Student

Aiden Smith's Karl

Illustration for Graphic Novels Student

(the background is the 1981 ablum 'Heaven Up Here' by Echo and the Bunnymen)

James Reekie's Karl

Comic Artist/ Graphic Designer/ Illustrator

James is working on the upcoming Insomnia novel "The Ballad of Frank Sartre" by James Peaty.

Mark Morris' Karl

Illustration Student

Nathan Sharp's Karls

Illustration Student

Rory Muldoon's Karl

Graphic Designer

Louise Barr's Karl

Illustrator

Joe Willes' Karl

Studio Engineer

The Kronos Process

Hi folks! We thought we'd post a blog outlining the Kronos City art process. Above is the base of operations for Lauren and myself. On the right hand side is our lovely little Macbook which I use to view the script and find the odd reference image. (Also, note the lovely comic page by Nigel Dobbyn hanging above my desk - a continuing source of inspiration for me).

Anyway, on this side of the desk I take Andrew's script and from that make a quick sketch (too shameful to picture) to plan composition, flow etc. Once this is done I rough out the composition on the actual page. Once I'm happy with the sketch, I neaten it up with a mechanical pencil, scan it and zip it over to Andrew for approval (see below image).

In this instance Andrew had a few ideas about the page.

"Can you add in a couple of different shapes, like hexagons and rhombuses, rhombusususes, um, rhombi? Apart from that, this is good to go!"

Good idea Andrew - the page looks much nicer for it! Pictured below is the inked up version complete with background shapes!

The inking is done with a Pentel Pocket Brush. This lovely little brush pen was reduced from £12 to £6 and I LOVE IT! It may not be the most expensive brush pen in the world but it does the job just fine! It's really nice to use - much nicer than the cheap disposable brushes I used to use at uni! The finer details like the bubbles and shapes are done with a 0.3 and 0.1 fineliner.

Once the page is inked, I usually scan it, arrange it on the digital page and then Lauren does her thing. This page however is set under water and the colouring technique for water in Kronos City is a little different than straight forward digital colour. At this stage we need to take a trip to Staples - which is actually really far away! Here we get the page photocopied onto heavy weight matt paper. This is so that when Lauren adds the water colour the ink doesn't run.

I'll hand over to Lauren to talk about the colouring.

In Kronos City I used two different styles of watercolouring, messy and neat. In this scene Sally is fully in the water so I use a style that I hope shows this. It's done in the same way that the first few pages of the book are painted, as here all the images are formed from the water. In other scenes the Kronos water is just part of the images, for example page five of Chapter One, so the water colour is quite neat and contained.
When it came to this page, I already knew what colours I would be using as this page preceded a scene I had already coloured. So the blue and yellow? So far I've been told that the Kronos City colour seems to be brown/red. As this scene and the ones after are set after a huge storm I decided to give the next seems some fresh colours, to show how a storm can really change and cleanse things. I like to layer up colours to create more depth in the picture, which is something that can be seem in the bubbles and shapes in the water.

Back to Alex.

So there we have it, from pencils to coloured page!

And on that note, I'm off to pencil page 6 of chapter 3.

By for now,

Alex x

How do you see Karl?

Alex's Karl

Andrew's Karl

Lauren's Karl

Recently Team Kronos City decided to compare their characters. Everyone sees a character differently so here are our versions. Here at Kronos City, we'd also like to see your ideas of Karl, which will be published here on the 19th of November, just before the Thought Bubble Convention where they will also be on display. Here's a description of Karl:

'Karl is a vampire, but one of the Donor Movement ones so he doesn’t hunt. He’s actually kind of anorexic, and doesn’t really eat at all. He’s about as threatening as a kitten wearing a top hat. He’s tall and very, very skinny. He wears very tight black t-shirts and jeans, so tight that you can practically see the bones through them. He has a cute button nose and tiny fangs. Vampire eyes are bigger than human eyes, and very expressive, but they are totally black, no whites or irises, and the pupil is a white dot. He has very pale white skin and pronounced cheekbones, and black spiky hair that looks like he spends far too much free time on it in the mornings and far too much money on hair product on it. He moves very gracefully, almost effeminately. He has pointy little ears.'

Please send all your pictures to kronoscity@googlemail.com, along with your name and any internet contact details you'd like us to link to. Hope to see the interpretations!

EDIT: previously the submission date was the 20th, please send it by the 19th to ensure it can be printed for saturday! Thanks!

Doodle Planet

Just some Kronos City doodles I did at Doodle Planet - Telford's Warehouse, Chester 29-10-09

Kronos City on PSP

In the blackest hours before dawn, when all good comic readers were tucked up in bed, the Insomniacs crawled into their dreams.

What were they whispering into the darkness? What did they wish for, lost in the sleep of the innocent?

No less than:

• To be able read Insomnia comics anywhere, at any time
• Take their entire comics collections wherever they went
• To listen to their own music while reading
• To navigate pages their own way
• To find and buy comics easily and access content instantly from the PlayStation®Store

All this will be on offer for PSP owners in December 2009, with the opening of the Digital Comics Store on the PlayStation®Network.

Red Eyed and bushy tailed, Insomnia Publications will be standing proud on launch day as our critically acclaimed books take their place on the virtual shelves, next to world famous names in comic book publishing.

Insomnia Publications’ graphic novels will be presented in the store as single-issue length chapters, following the publication of the book. The first chapter of every book will be offered free to readers as a “taster” of the story.

Crawford Coutts, Managing Director of Insomnia Publications, says:

“We are incredibly excited to be partnering with Sony in the launch of the Digital Comics Service. 

Insomnia is committed to nurturing the very best new art, new writing and new concepts in its original graphic novels and the unprecedented scope of this Comics Store will connect independent publishers and readers around the globe.

The help and guidance we have received from Sony throughout truly demonstrates their commitment to support the medium, the publishers, the readers and the comics industry itself. 

Many of our creators are gamers themselves and so were delighted to hear that their work will be offered through PlayStation Network.”

With the first Insomnia titles available right from the December launch, you will be able to:

• Unlock Cages
  
• Fall into Cancertown
  
• Dissect the bloody history of the notorious Burke and Hare
  

With a growing range of titles to choose from and the phenomenal scope of the Digital Comics Store, this is just the beginning.

Come and visit our stand at the MCM Expo on 24th to 25th of October to learn more.

Notes:

• The Comics Store will launch on the PlayStation Network for PSP in December 2009
  
  
• Official Sony Press Release and video demo
  
  
• For further information, interviews and comments please contact Crawford Coutts, MD 
  
  
• Insomnia Publications can be found online at:
  Website: www.insomniapublications.com
  Blog: www.theredeye.co.uk

The Meeting of Kronos City

BICS is over, and after a long sleep, I'm ready to discuss the whirlwind that was BICS. The day was such a fantastic one. At one point Andrew, Alex, Stephen Downey (Cancer Town and Slaughterman's Creed) and I were in a lift with Darth Vader. Alex and I were able to catch up with our old uni, who had a stand there.

But most importantly, Team Kronos City was able to meet for the first time. As the picture above shows the three of us (Jim sadly turned invisible) together with our Karma Inc. flyer (and for all those who have read the Chapter One Preview, you'll know all about Karma Inc.). In case any one doesn't know, the photo goes left to right, Andrew, Alex and me. With the amount of correspondence we've all had over the pst 6 months, it felt more like meeting up with an old friend, than meeting someone for the first time ever. And oddly enough, Andrew and Alex both own the same car, so this team was clearly meant to be.

If you want the ultimate report on BICS, go to the Insomnia blog, as Nic tells the story better than I ever could.

I hope anyone else who went enjoyed the weekend, and I look forward to seeing you all at the London MCM Expo!

Kronos Promos

Andrew, Alex and I will all be at BICS this weekend ready to talk about Kronos City! And in honor of the occasion we've had some Karma Inc. posters made up. If somethings not going right in your life, just visit Finnegan Vedant, 13 James Avenue, Kronos City (Andrew's mind).

BICS

BICS is getting nearer and we're all very excited about going. Alex and I will be on the Insomnia stand drawing on the Saturday and Andrew will be on hand to talk about Kronos City all weekend.

Insomnia will be having plenty of convention specials on their new and current books.

Here's the word from them:

"As usual we will be doing a number of convention specials on new and existing books.

This year the offers will be:

• 3 for £20 on all standard edition books
• Any special edition + one standard edition for £20

Standard Editions Con Prices

• Burke and Hare (RRP £12.99) Con Price £10
• Cancertown (RRP 14.99) Con Price £10
• Cages (RRP 10.99) Con Price £8
• Layer Zero Choices (RRP £9.99) Con Price £7

Special Editions Con Prices

• Buskers (RRP £14.99) Con Price £12
• MILK (RRP £19.99) Con Price £15

You can pre-order to collect on the day, or to be sent out by post (paid by cheque or paypal) so long as you order by 3rd October.

MILK and Buskers special editions are limited to 100 copies.

To reserve for pickup or to pre-order and for payment details you can email me at nichola[at]insomniapublications.com"

We're looking forward to seeing you there.

A Present From Kronos City

With Insomnia Publications announcing on their blog the release of the Kronos City preview, we thought we'd give our followers a little treat. This is a page taken from Chapter Two, and quite a nice one, we think.

Chapter One

As promised, Chapter One of Kronos City is now available online. It will be officially announced on the Insomnia blog on monday, with added stuff from all us creators, but here's a sneak peek for the Kronos City blog followers.

It's amazing to see all the pages come together, and see our little part in the process combined with everyone else's. It actually looks like a real comic book now!

Hope you enjoy it!

Back in Business!

Okay, so we've been a bit quiet recently. What with art shows, musical holidays, and just plain old relaxing holidays, we've fully recharged and are back in business! And luckily, the break was totally worth it:

"Your holiday seems to have agreed with you. These are fantastic. There seems to be even more fluidity and vibrancy here than i your earlier pages."

Andrew Croskery

Here is a taster of chapter two. I'd have loved to show you a full page, but don't want to give too much away!

Also:

With Chapter One now finished and lettered (wonderfully by Jim Campbell) its only a matter of time before its up in all its ebook glory. So keep a look out.

The Allure of Azure

Recently Alex and I had our work on display at the New Designers Show in Islington. While there we saw a girl who we simultaneously named as Azure, a character who will soon become much clearer when the Chapter One e-book preview is online. Azure is the fairy receptionist at Karma Inc.

After completing this picture, it became more apparent that this is what Azure felt like to us, maybe not so much how she looks in the novel. It's more of an alternative concept. Maybe she's having a tough time in Kronos City and hasn't the time to do her hair, whereas this is when she goes to a photo shoot. I'm going to go for that as a reason anyway.

I'd like to thank Rhiannon Ellis, for letting me take her photo. I'm sure I scared her a little, and I felt very nervous asking for the photo, but luckily for her Kronos City does exist and we haven't done any weird Photoshops to her face. Thanks again Rhiannon.

Rhiannon Ellis

Chapter 1 Azure Preview

Letters Ahoy!

We'd like to announce the signing of letterer Jim Campbell to the Kronos City team. Jim had sent us some really nice, thoughtful samples in different styles that really suited the feel of the book and the art. I think he'll make a mightily fine addition to the team.

Andrew

Clipping from The Red Eye

"A big welcome to letterer Jim Campbell who will be joining the Kronos City team, for starters. In the past Jim has worked with Classical Comics on their range of graphic novel adaptations of classic literature, and for Zenescope's Grimm Fairy Tales.

Jim's sensitivity to the art in devising his lettering styles is exquisite, and I'm incredibly pleased to have him on board."

New Website!

We're happy to announce that the new Kronos City website is up and running! It's now found at www.kronoscity.co.uk. This used to be the address for the blog, but that has its new home at www.kronoscityblog.com. I hope everyone enjoys the new site.

We're all working very hard on the novel right now and the art for Chapter One is nearly finished!

More Site Art

As the new Kronos City site draws ever closer, here's another glimpse of the art made for the site. There's always something just slightly off with these paintings of mine, but hopefully any one who knows anyone pictured above will be able to see the similarities! Enjoy!

Sci-Fi Comics and Cards Fair

We've just returned home after the fair. The day started with a real 'I've got a bad feeling about this' vibe. It could have been the star wars marathon we embarked on the night before, or the fact that we got so lost that we ended up doing a U-ee in a Youth Offenders Centre with great big green gates in front of it (disturbingly open). When we arrived from our chaotic (and slightly scary journey) the place wasn't quite what we expected. It was a little bit small, in the back room of a Nautical Pub. Still we went in and explored the collections they had on offer. My greatest find was a Marvel Earth X comic going for ten pounds; I already have a few from that series and the Universe X (that I won in a comic competition a while back) that are signed, so there's something for the rainy day fund!
Overall it was a very fun outing, though mostly for the company and the explosions of road rage from Alex. I'm looking forward to the Birmingham International Comics Show far more, and can't wait for it!

Initial Website Art

This is the initial black and white art for the new and upcoming Kronos City website, painted by me. It will become the animated background. Hope you enjoy.

Kronos City Postcard

Greetings from Kronos City!

New promotional postcard for Kronos City.

Sci-Fi Comics and Card Fair

On the the 4th of July Alex and I will be attending the Birmingham Sci-Fi Comics and Cards Fair. We aren't on a stand, but we'll be milling about the place, handing out Kronos City postcards. If you see us about we'll be happy to talk about the progress of the book etc. Hopefully the fair will be good fun, and we wont return bankrupt!

Q Con Belfast

Andrew 'Kronos City' Croskery and Stephen 'Cancertown' Downey will both be at the Q Con in the Queen's Student Union in Belfast at the weekend. We'll be selling copies of Cancertown and have copies of Cages and Layer Zero on the Friday evening and all day Saturday.

We'll also be running a Kronos City colouring competition with a graphic novel of your choice up for grabs as a prize for our favourite. We'll put the winner and any special favourites up on the blog.

As we did at the 2D festival a few weeks ago, we'll be doing a bit of a sketch corner where you'll be encouraged to do some sketches for us as we do sketches for you, and we can put them up on the web as well so you can show all your friends!

Kronos City Cover Art???

While the position of Cover Artist (and Letterer) are still unfilled, I wanted to show off the work submitted in application for the job. This awesome speed paint was submitted by Rory Muldoon, a graduate of the Concept Art for Video Games course at the Norwich School of Art and Design. While it is currently unknown as to whether Rory will be appointed as Cover Artist, I still felt that this picture deserved a mention. 

For more work from Rory, check out his blog and make sure to view his epically moving animation, Dakota.

First View of Kronos City

Here is the first view of Kronos City. I think that says it all really.

Strip!

The art team, Alex and Lauren, were recently interviewed by Resonance FM, for their show Strip! During this interview, they discuss Kronos City, and their work on it, work on 'Wolf Like Me' a strip for Accent UK (written by Insomnia writer Michael Moreci), and give advice on how to become comic artists.

You can listen to the interview here.

Kronos City Preview

The art work has now started on Kronos City. Pencilled by Alex.