Chronicle in the New Year!

January 5, 2015 Than Gibson

Greetings Chroniclers!

It's the new year and time for some updates!

This week we finish up our interlude, A Tough Crowd in Toryavik! I hope you've enjoyed this little story introducing two of our new characters. Kereth and Pav will be making an encore appearance later this year!

January 30th is the First Anniversary of Chronicle! To celebrate, we'll be kicking off Chapter Two of Autumn's story, which now has the official title, A Chronicle of Thieves! To get ready for this, I will be taking a few weeks off to get a few strips ahead. In the downtime, I will be posting up some concept art and sneak previews of things to come. Make sure to follow me on social media to catch some of this!

I also want to thank everyone who stopped by in 2014! Our final page view count was 39,837! Not too bad for a little fantasy comic/art site! We had 17,993 unique visits and 14,095 unique visitors! I know that if I had not faltered in my updates in the back half of the year and did just a bit more promotion we would have hit 50,000. My goal for the next year is to hit 100,000 page views. I know we can do it guys!

Some of you may be wondering what happened with the other material like the Character Codex and Fun Art Friday. Basically, after I got a new day job my evening schedule changed and I had to cut back on things to keep the comic going. I hope to get back to those features this year because I really do love drawing things besides my characters. It will just take some time.

Keep an eye out for some site changes. I will be revamping the archive soon and making some other cosmetic changes.

That's about it! I look forward to Chronicle in the new year and I hope you do as well!

Take care,

Than

Character Codex - Round 14 - Gnome Sorcerer and Gnome Wizard

May 28, 2014 Than Gibson

Greetings Chroniclers and welcome to the Character Codex!

We're stepping our way through all 77 race/class combinations in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook. We're showing off the Gnome Sorcerer and Gnome Wizard today. If you've missed any previous entries you can catch up HERE!

We've finished up the gnomes this week! I hope you all have enjoyed a look at the most maligned race in the core rules. I've enjoyed drawing them and getting to show off some potentially interesting ideas with them.

Next week, we're moving on to halflings. Now, I know, I'm skipping ahead, but I have a reason that you will all see shortly. After halflings then we'll do half-elves, half-orcs, and finally humans,

Virtual tabletop players, make sure to pick up some free tokens suitable for use in any virtual tabletop environment. Since this is the last week for the gnomes, the tokens will rotate out and you'll be able to start picking up the halflings.

Want to support the Character Codex? Have me draw your own personal RPG character! RPG Character Sketches are inexpensive and a great way to show off your characters unique qualities. You can find out more about that HERE!

Okay, let's look at some gnomes!

First up is the Gnome Sorcerer. With the gnomes, I wanted to show how they could be more than just the annoying fey folk. They could be cool, tough, comical, and, yes, even sexy. This is our gnome fire dancer. I would imagine she's from the Choreography Division of the Bureau of Liberal Arts. They're all a bunch of reprobates down there.

This was my first real drawing with my new Surface Pro 2. Not too bad for my first go, but you'll see with the wizard that my line quality was still in transition here. I'm really loving the better sensitivity the Surface has in comparison to my old tablet. I can really tell a difference.

Next up is the Gnome Wizard. This guy is the head gnome. Chief Librarian of The Great Library and Director of the Gnomish Nation, Norminthallis of the Bureau of Magical Archival Studies. Norm is a venerable sage who seems to know everything. Many such sages retreat to isolated mountaintops but he chooses to continue his work in the Great Library where he is accessible to any gnome with a question. He is often found walking through the stacks offering tidbits of advice to any researchers and looking over their designs. To him, this ensures that the Gnomish Nation moves forward.

Norm doesn't wear the robes of a wizard or sage. He prefers a more presentable three-piece suit (a new design from the Bureau of Fashion!). He does seem to always wear gloves, one of his quirks. Gnome wizards do not typically join the Brotherhood of the Threefold Path like wizards of other races. Gnomes believe that the Brotherhood is more of a political organization and less scholarly than their own bureaus.

That's it for the gnomes! Make sure to check back tomorrow for a new Chronicle strip! We'll see you next week with the Halfling Barbarian and Bard!

The Chronicler's Notes - Request For Comment - May 12th, 2014

May 11, 2014 Than Gibson

Greetings Chroniclers!

Wow, last week was great! There were so many new people stopping by to see what was going on here at Chronicle. If you've found that you like what's going on and you've decided to stick around, you will not be disappointed!

Here's what's going on this week:

Tuesday - The World of Chronicle - The Gnomes of Chronicle. We've been visiting the gnomes in the Character Codex, here's your chance to read about the similarities and differences between the gnomes of Chronicle and the gnomes of other fantasy settings. For you gamers, there will be racial stats for them that are fully compatible with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Wednesday - Character Codex - Gnome Fighter, Monk, and Paladin. As I've said before, I'm having a blast drawing the gnomes and this week is no exception. Check out this sneak preview of the gnome fighter!

Thursday - Chronicle - Questions continue to rise as the leaders of the Haven Thieves' Guild deal with the unexpected visitors that have arrived on their doorstep.

Friday - Fun Art Friday - I've got a couple of different ideas for this week's entry. However, I would love to get some feedback from you guys. If you have something you want to see me draw, please leave a comment below. Keep in mind that this is a family friendly site and that I like to use Fridays as a chance to draw something other than fantasy-related. So, if you've got a superhero, sci-fi, anime, video game, or movie/tv that you want to see me draw leave a note below!

Additionally, I want to ask for some feedback from you all about one other thing. The World of Chronicle seems to be one of the lesser popular features on the site, but it's one of the features that takes a bit of work to update. So, here's my question: What aspects about the world that Chronicle takes place in do you want to see? More background info or more gaming info? More races and classes? More Character Bios? Do you want to see more artwork and less writing, or vice versa? Here's your chance to ask about the world!

Finally, if you guys really like what I do, please click on the Tip Jar button below and donate a little bit to help run the site or even better, hit up the Artist's Shop and get a commissioned drawing! There's more stuff coming to the shop soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

Thanks so much for coming to Chronicle and please spread the word! Share the site on Social Media and make sure to follow me on Twitter,Tumblr, Facebook, and Google!

Have a Great Week!

Tip Jar

The Chronicler's Notes - Three Months in and Free Comic Book Day Report! - 5/5/14

May 5, 2014 Than Gibson

Greetings Fellow Chroniclers!

Sketch of the Gnome Cleric from this week's Character Codex

The Chronicler's Notes has returned! We've got several items to talk about today, so I'm just going to dive right into it!

We just passed the three month mark! Chronicle is growing by leaps and bounds and its all thanks to you guys for coming by the site and seeing what new thing has been posted up. Last month I gave you guys some rough stats and I'm going to do the same this month so you can see how much your support has grown. Last month I reported that the site had just passed the 7,000 page view mark and 3500 unique visits. This month we just passed 11,000 page views and 5,000 unique visitors! We're still small potatoes but I appreciate every one of you coming by and seeing what I have to offer you.

Speaking of appreciation, I want to express a huge thanks to everyone who came out to see me on Free Comic Book Day! I nearly ran out of stuff to hand out! It was so nice to meet all of you and do sketches for you. Also, I want to thank Rick's Comic City for putting on a fantastic event and for providing the space for local artists to have a spot alongside the industry veterans.

So, if you're one of the 1500 new visitors that have shown up in the past month or you are checking out the webcomic from that guy at Free Comic Book Day let me tell you what goes on here!

Mondays - The Chronicler's Notes - This blog, where you'll get updates from me about what I'm up to, how the site's going, and where we're headed.

Tuesday - The World of Chronicle - This is where I take the opportunity to let you step into the world of the comic a bit more. Whether it be background information about what you're seeing, RPG material, or short fiction based in the world, Tuesdays are where I flex my world-building muscles.

Wednesday - Character Codex - My continuing project through the classic races and classes of fantasy RPGs. There are 77 combinations and we're only through 24 so far!

The gnomes are currently invading the Codex and I'm having a ton of fun with them!

Thursday - Chronicle - The main feature of the site is the comic. The comic is currently following Autumn, a young thief who is dealing with magical powers she can't seem to control. She and her adopted family are getting involved in the drama of outsiders stepping into their hidden world.

Friday - Fun Art Friday - This is where I draw whatever I feel like drawing. Most of the time it is something completely "un-Chronicle". Whether it be characters from other genres or commissions (which, I am currently accepting) you'll see what else I can do, every Friday!

Character Codex Round 5 - Elf Barbarian and Elf Bard

March 26, 2014 Than Gibson

Here we are with another round of the Character Codex!

In case you're new here, this is what's going on. I'm working my way through every race and class combination in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook. You can see the Dwarves over at the Character Codex Gallery. There are also Virtual Tabletop Tokens if you want to use them in the virtual tabletop of your choice.

It's the Month of Elves here at Chronicle and we're kicking it off with the Elf Barbarian and Elf Bard. I'm trying something different with the elves. I picked up the Frenden Wash Brushes awhile back and thought I'd break them out for the elves. It's an experiment but I'm digging it so far. As we move forward, let me know what you think in the comments.

So up first is the female Elf Barbarian. She's a Saysyn from the Crow Clan. I gave her a glaive and some basic leather riding armor because I can see her riding atop a Dire Raven that she's trained. She can use the glaive as either a makeshift lance while riding her Dire Raven or to slash at opponents from a distance.

I am SUPER pleased with how this turned out. Tony DiTerlizzi is one of my favorite artists and I think I may have "touched the hem of his robe" here.

Up next is the Elf Bard. He's a Celasyn and has been travelling the world performing as a stage magician. This is actually a preliminary design for a character we'll meet later this year in the comic, so I don't want to talk about him too much just yet, but I love the idea of a stage magician trying to get by in a world where magic is so commonplace.

I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of this design. So he will probably look different when he shows up in the comic. But, for now, I think he fits the bill.

That's it for this week! Check back next week for the Elf Cleric and the Elf Druid! Also, make sure to come back tomorrow for New Strip Thursday over at the Chronicle Comic!

As always, if you like what you see here, please share or re-tweet it with your friends on social media. Leave me some comments and feedback. Finally, if you REALLY like what you see, consider leaving a tip in the Tip Jar or picking up a commissioned drawing over in the Artist's Shop.

See you tomorrow!

THAN