CHROMACON, New Zealand’s largest festival of homegrown illustration, comics, animation and videogames, returns for the third time to Auckland’s Aotea Centre across two days on 8 and 9 April.

Free to the public, the event connects lovers of these genres a curated showcase of over 100 New Zealand independent creators and their self-produced works.

Festival Founder and Director Allan Xia says, “The diversity and talent of exhibitors at Chromacon 2017 is simply amazing. Through drawings, paintings, graphic novels, vinyl toys, zines, games and much more – they are breaking boundaries, crafting unique stories, building immersive experiences, and sharing their innovation and passion across the globe.

“Chromacon is a great chance for everyone to directly connect with our best homegrown creatives in person, support those they may already admire as well as discover amazing fresh talent,” he continues.

Chromacon 2017 also welcomes five leading international creatives to this year’s festival: Ojiro Fumoto (Presented by Asia New Zealand Foundation) AKA ‘Moppin’, Ojiro is an independent game developer based in Tokyo. Globally respected for his work on the critically acclaimed Downwell (2015) for iOS, Android, PC, Playstation 4 and Playstation Vita.

John Mueller (Presented by Takapuna Art Supplies)
John is an award-winning author, illustrator, and Art Director with a prolific career spanning 25 years.

John began his career in comics working with such intellectual properties as Swamp Thing, The Crow, Judge Dredd, Loaded to name a few. He has also worked for such video game studios as THQ, NCSoft, Epic Games, Ubisoft, and is currently the Art Director for the legendary Diablo franchise for Blizzard Entertainment.

John is also the creator of OINK, Heaven’s Butcher, a critically acclaimed graphic novel originally published in 1995, digitally remastered and republished via a successful Kickstarter campaign. He is also the co-founder of indie studio Skyshine Games, creators of BEDLAM.

Bobby Chiu
Toronto-based artist Bobby Chiu is an Emmy winning creator, founder of Imaginism Studios as well as Schoolism.com. Internationally renowned for his fantastical, quirky characters and creature designs, Bobby has worked on many Disney, Warner Bros., DreamWorks, Sony, Universal Studios feature films, including acclaimed designs in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland as well as Men in Black 3.

Kei Acedera
As Art Director of Imaginism Studios, Kei Acedera specialises in in concept art, visual development, and character design for film. She is known for her imaginative character designs for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and her best-selling children’s book illustrations for HarperCollins.

Dave Follett [Presented by Watermark Ltd]
David Follett is a South Australian-based award winning illustrator and comic artist. He is the creator of long-running Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph comic strips Harry the Dog - NewsHound and Kookabarry as well as the award winning science fiction graphic novel Uncle Silas: GENETIS (Dark Horse 2010).

When not creating comics, David is an award winning freelance Illustrator through www.watermarkltd.com, illustrating for editorial, packaging and publishing, as well as storyboarding, visualising and character designing for television commercials, animation series and movies.

CHROMA CONNECT also returns to facilitate professional development, creative inspiration, emergent innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities for New Zealand’s creative sector, through artist talks, workshops, and panel discussions.

On Saturday evening, the CHROMA ART AWARDS will take place, celebrating the best homegrown talent to emerge across indie illustration, comic art, animation and videogames. Prizes include $500 in cash for each category winner and gift packs supported by Wallace Arts Trust, Garage Project, Media Design School and ArtRage.

Across both days, attendees can purchase works from local artists, ranging from prints and art books to comics and original designs. Throughout the weekend, there will also be live art, hands-on activities, interactive experiences, screenings, and artist talks.

Chromacon 2017 is proudly supported by: Auckland Live, Auckland Council, Creative Communities NZ, Asia New Zealand Foundation, The Online Printer, Garage Project, Takapuna Art Supplies, Media Design School, Watermark Ltd, ArtRage, Wallace Arts Trust, Auckland Libraries, and White Cloud Worlds.

Chromacon is also supported by art-lovers contributing directly to the festival’s crowdfunding campaign live on Kickstarter.com: http://kck.st/2mxACF8

Ends

For event information, please visit www.chromacon.co.nz For exhibiting artists, please visit www.chromacon.co.nz/artists Please like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChromaconNZ