Join us for a fireside chat with Jacky Ke Jiang AKA “AutoKite” (Art Director, thatgamecompany) as he discusses the development journey of thatgamecompany‘s highly anticipated upcoming game – ‘Sky: Light Awaits‘, the connection between his own creative practices and art direction of “a game about giving”.

Hosted by Allan Xia (Chromacon Festival Director)

Entry is absolutely free! Register now by clicking on the posters below:

Auckland Session co-hosted by AKLgamedev Meetup and sponsored by AUT Pigsty: 10:30AM-12PM Sunday 25th March | AUT City Campus WA Building, Room WA220

Wellington Session sponsored by Weta Workshop School at Massey University: 6:00 – 7:30PM Tuesday 27th March | ‘The Pit’ – Massey University, Block 12, Level B

The post The Art of Sky: Light Awaits with Jacky Ke Jiang appeared first on Chromacon.

Special thanks also go to the wonderful supporters of Chroma Art Awards:

ILLUSTRATION

Joseph Qiu – Whisper in the Air

COMIC ART

Marc Conaco – haunted.

Animation

Ned Wenlock – Spring Jam

Videogames

Dinosaur Polo Club – Mini Metro

Congratulations again to all our entrants and finalists for all their amazing hard work + inspiration!

The post Chroma Art Awards 2017 Winners! appeared first on Chromacon.

We’ll be back tomorrow with announcement of the final winners!  The finalists are:

ILLUSTRATION

Daniel Ido – Tiger Magician

Jennifer Smith – Tentacle Treat (gumdrop flavor)

Joseph Qiu – Whisper in the Air

Michael Kennedy – Floral Nightmares

Ross Murray – Beautiful Sunday

COMIC ART

Jem Yoshioka – Home and Home

Marc Conaco – haunted.

Matt Haworth – In The Snow

Rachel Smythe – The Doctor Foxgloves Show

Ross Murray – ISIS DELAWARE

Animation

Parallel Teeth (AKA Robert Wallace) – Ladi6 – Beffy

Ned Wenlock – Spring Jam

Chelsey Furedi – ROCK AND RIOT! Love Follies

Dor Cohen & Team – Scraps

Mardo El-Noor – Decades – If It Kills Me

Videogames

Lost Goblin – Goblins of Elderstone

Dinosaur Polo Club – Mini Metro

Justwo Games – Home Story: 1971

Ninja Thumbs – Grabity

CerebralFix Ltd. – Ninja Tobu

The post Art Awards Finalists Announced! appeared first on Chromacon.

Saturday, 8 April @ 2PM – Media Design School Presents: The Short and Curlies of Short Film

James Cunningham is a NZ film director, animator and senior lecturer at Media Design School.
Maybe you’ve talked about making a short film or think you might like to try it one day? Join James as he discusses the medium of short film, what it can do for you, writing your story and the ideation process and more. Includes screening of short film Kitten Witch.

Saturday, 8 April @ 3.15PM – Garage Project Presents: Chromacon 2017 Illustration Panel

Moderated by Tim Gibson
Featuring Paul Tobin, Rachel Smythe, Ross Murray, Stacey Robson, Tomas Cottle

Go behind the scenes of Garage Project’s label art and join this talented group of Wellington based illustrators as they discuss their experiences and the roles and realities of an ‘illustrator’.

These talks are FREE to enter and will be held upstairs, at the Chroma Theatre in Upper NZI. Seats are first come, first served – get amongst!

The post FREE Public Talks @ CHROMACON2017! appeared first on Chromacon.

Resin and polymer clay, silicone and resin, wood, acrylic paint, any found or discarded materials

Years active:

As a sculptor: 4years, as a graphic designer: 15years

Tell us a bit about yourself & what motivated you to enter the creative field?

I’ve always been involved in the arts and in particular interest in lowbrow culture. After completing a degree in Design and Art History I taught Design at Otago University for about 10 years. Teaching was a great opportunity to do research and write on everything within the lowbrow art world from street art to comics, tattooing to designer toys. I dip in and out of these various interests but Designer toys have been a mainstay since I first came across them around 2001. I’d always been in toys; Transformers, Gi Joe, TMNT, WWF, Lego but these were something different. These were toys designed by artists I followed, in limited edition, for display rather than play and mostly geared to an adult audience. I started to get quite heavily into collecting them, spending all my disposable income on figures, which caught me, staying up late for online auctions and releases. It was getting a bit out of control.

Around 2011 I moved on from my teaching job to start my own graphic design business. With being self-employed my income dropped severely and wasn’t able to spend as much on toys as I’d liked. I really wanted to make my own toys but only dabbled in it to this point, but was always doing extensive research on whose is involved, the making process, materials and really understanding how the designer toy industry works.

Designer toys have never really been a big thing in New Zealand, as far as I know there has only been one shop in Wellington, which closed down a few years ago. But I wanted to get into it and do it anyway. In 2012, I went to Los Angles to one of the bigger arts conventions called Designercon, and Chicago and San Francisco to check out some of the more known toy stores. The trip was a turning point and motivation for me to snap out of it and just go for it and do my own thing.

I started to turn my toy buying towards buying materials for making. At the beginning of 2014 I committed full steam to working towards selling my own. I signed up to be a vendor at Designercon later that year. During the year I made a range of toys and had a blast showing and selling at DCon. The Tiny Gallery project also came to fruition during this time, which my wife Colleen and I also took to DCon and later in 2015 transformed to a full show in Auckland.

I participated in Chromacon in 2015 and have been making my own line of toys since. In late 2015 I moved to Auckland and starting working at Yoobee School of Design in 2016 teaching Advanced Digital Media.

What can people look forward to seeing and experiencing at your booth at Chromacon 2017?

I’ve been working on a new line of toys can “Nonimials” which i’m really pleased with as they have been a real creative breakthrough for me. I’ve also got some other original sculpts based on the same character which are really fun and well as soon taxidermy style reproductions as well as soon other surprises.

Balloon Catus and Plump Catus figures

How did you develop your creative voice/personal style and what inspires you to begin a project/work?

It took a while. My work is very concept driven and if I don’t have a good starting point especially one which has wit I find really hard to become invested in it. I have an ongoing list on my phone with probably 200+ ideas jotted but very few of them amount to anything. I did the 100 days project recent to draw up a lot of these ideas if anything to get them out of my system and see if anything actually had potential.

From the 100 I drew only one of them has loosely translated to made toys. What it did for me though was trigger a series of new better ideas which I have followed through with. My style develops from iteration, doing a lot, resolving few. I tend to start very detail focused but as I work through an idea I try to simplify it as much as possible. Although I am very aware of what everyone else is doing I tend to try and not let this consume me and be too influenced by others otherwise, it doesn’t feel special. I tend to be driven a lot by observation and wordplay.

What future development(s) in your creative field are you most excited about?

It would be dope if the designer toy market to really take hold in NZ. It’s always been a slow burn here. Now only crappy Funko Pop toys seem to come into this country which people like but not everyone is into poor quality Superhero / TV or movie toys. As a maker it’s really hard to get hold of materials locally too and at a reasonable price. People always say, why don’t you 3D print your works which is logical but for me takes away from the tactile making process which is why I do it and what I enjoy the most.

Contact sheet of my 100days project – everyday I sketched a new toy concept

Any shout outs you’d like to give for any fellow Chromacon Exhibitors you love?

Not really, there is something at Chromacon for everyone and I don’t want to miss anyone out. But anyway Sophie Watson, Alexander Brown, Toby Morris, Podgypanda, Malangeo, Ema Frost, Pincinc, Yoii, Rebecca ter Borg, Toni Gill, T-Wei and everyone else…

Find more of Scott’s work here:

https://www.instagram.com/goodawful
http://goodawful.co/
http://blog.goodawful.co/

The post 5 Questions with Scott Savage appeared first on Chromacon.

In the meantime, check out these 5 important links to catch up to date with all the happenings!

The post Chromacon 2017 is coming! appeared first on Chromacon.

Clip Studio Paint aka Manga Studio, Wacom Mobile Studio Pro, Pentel Pocket Brush pen, Copic markers, Pigma pens

Years active:

12

Tell us a bit about yourself & what motivated you to enter the creative field?

My name is Michel Mulipola and I’ve been a huge fan of comic books since I was 5 years old. Ever since then, all I ever wanted to do was draw comics.

Everything I’ve been able to do in my life is because of comic books; becoming a comic book artist, working at Arkham City Comics and even becoming a professional wrestler.

I’ve always been fascinated by the bright colours and bold characters of comic books and so always wanted to be a part of that four-colour world.

What can people look forward to seeing and experiencing at your booth at Chromacon 2017?

I am always up for a chat with a new audience so don’t be shy to come around to see me and to discuss all kinds of things from comics to pro wrestling and just life in general.

Other than that, I will be hawking my wares and looking forward to interacting with other artists.

I will have my Headlocked graphic novels, Samoan and Tongan Heroes books, prints for sale at Chromacon 2017. I will also be available for commission sketches that will be drawn LIVE at the event.

And yes, I will have EFTPOS facilities available at my booth.

Backstage at an IPW wrestling event, in full gear, working on a page for the Headlocked graphic novel. Deadlines wait for no man!

How did you develop your creative voice/ personal style and what inspires you to begin a project/ work?

As a kid, I was heavily influenced by the late 80’s/early 90’s X-Men artists like Marc Silvestri and Jim Lee so I tried to ape their style and copy them. As I grew older and drew more, I found my own style. I don’t believe there is any ‘real way’ to develop your style other than creating countless artworks. You slowly evolve through each piece until you find your ‘style.’ The more you create, the more your art better reflects your voice.

Ideas are always percolating inside my head and the run gamut of incredible to silly and daft but I find that some of the silliest ideas end up being the best ones. I don’t have a real process to begin a project/work, a lot of the times it’s just a flight of fancy moment creating spontaneous art.

What future development(s) in your creative field are you most excited about?

I’m looking forward to working on the next volume of Headlocked graphic novels, which have a Kickstarter currently running:

I’m also looking forward to doing the artwork for a back up story with WWE Hall of Famer, ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair.

Other things I have in the works include a couple of Oz Comic Con convention appearances in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney.

Macho Man Randy Savage image for Total Wrestling UK magazine cover

Any shout outs you’d like to give for any fellow Chromacon Exhibitors you love?

One thing I love about Chromacon is catching up with artists you haven’t seen in awhile like Dylan Horrocks, Paul Tobin, Ben Stenbeck, Chris Slane, Jem Yoshioka, Toby Morris, Ant Sang, Anthony Pini, Jason Hong plus countless others I have forgotten to mention. Each artist is fantastic in their own right and we all have our unique styles so anyone attending the event will definitely find something that appeals to them.

Another thing that’s great about Chromacon is seeing new and emerging artists’ works. It’s always great to see what the future of art and illustration in NZ is gonna look like.

Find more of “Michel Mulipola Bloody Samoan” work at:

www.bloodysamoan.com
www.fb.com/bloodysamoanart
Twitter: @bloodysamoan
Instagram: @bloodysamoanart

The post 5 Questions with Michel Mulipola appeared first on Chromacon.

Metal

Years active:

10

Tell us a bit about yourself & what motivated you to enter the creative field?

I love being able to turn my ideas and illustrations into real life using vintage metal and broken appliances.

What can people look forward to seeing and experiencing at your booth at Chromacon 2017?

I will have a display of my hand built assemblage robots along side illustrations and technical drawings. I will be doing some paintings and drawings on site and will give away some freebies. I will be explaining the creative process to people and enjoy showing people what vintage parts I have used to make my artworks.

I also have a collection of prints featuring photoshopped robots towering over quirky places from around New Zealand. This series is called “Robot Road Trip” which is also available in a book.

At my robot show in New York 2015

How did you develop your creative voice/ personal style and what inspires you to begin a project/ work?

I have always had my own style of drawing and making sculpture which is inspired by 1950’s industrial design. The acquisition of a new vintage object usually gets my creative ideas racing and I head off to my workshop to transform it into something else.

What future development(s) in your creative field are you most excited about?

I have a some interesting commissioned pieces coming soon like personalised robots and also an exhibition of photography in the Auckland festival of Photography in June called “Street Style” featuring photos of interesting sub cultures from Brooklyn to Harajuku.

Giant robots enjoying the drag races in Meremere

Any shout outs you’d like to give for any fellow Chromacon Exhibitors you love?

I can’t remember the name of the guy who designed Godzilla style beer labels that were available as large screen prints, but they were amazing.

Find more of Martin’s work here:

http://www.buggyrobot.com
https://www.instagram.com/buggyrobot/
https://www.facebook.com/buggyrobotcom-189534634421196/

The post 5 Questions with Martin Horspool appeared first on Chromacon.