The Chronicler Returns.

The Chronicler - thumb.jpg

A familiar face walks in and sits down next to the fire. This face is older, with a few more lines and a bit more greying at the temples and in the beard, but it is him. How can this be? He disappeared almost two years ago! Some say he died, some say he burned out and walked away, and some say that he has been imprisoned in a troll’s den these past months. Whatever the case, he has appeared again, ready to continue his story and tell new ones.

He looks over at you and says, “Now then, where did I leave off.”

Your eyes are not deceiving you! This is a brand new post in the The Chronicler’s Notes! I have been gone for some time and have a lot of catching up to do but I am indeed back and ready to get back to it.

First off, let me say thank you to all of you who waited patiently and supported me while I was away. I never stopped thinking and writing about Chronicle, but life got in the way of producing a weekly comic strip. Let me answer a couple of questions.

So, what specifically happened?

Well, lots of life changes. The first was that I got a new job (again) that required a lot of focus as I got into the groove there. My children started school and suddenly we had homework, Cub Scouts, and piano lessons at night! Finally, there was my health. I was finding it harder and harder to stay awake at night to even be able to work on Chronicle. I would literally fall asleep with my stylus in my hand and wake up two hours later with no progress to speak of.

So, what changed?

The good news is that most of this has righted itself. My new job is great and I have lots of co-workers who support my comic. My kids are getting older and becoming more self-sufficient. They’ve also figured out that I’m a comic artist and want me to draw more. My health - well, I’m losing weight and have been diagnosed with sleep apnea. I’m getting it under control, but there’s still a ways to go.

I started writing for Meeple Mountain, a tabletop gaming news site and that stirred the creativity a bit. Go give them some love, they helped me get back on track and are great people.

Also, I just got back from GaryCon XI where I was able to talk to so many wonderful people about my work and they were genuinely interested and wanted to check it out. With that kind of energy boost, now is the time to get back into it.

So, what can you expect from Chronicle?

  • First, weekly strips as often as possible. I can’t guarantee there won’t be a gap, but there won’t be another hiatus if I can help it.

  • Second, I really want to put out more of the RPG material that I’ve written for Chronicle. I have converted most of it to Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition and want to share that with people.

  • Third, new stories! I have a few ideas for Chronicle stories outside of The Chronicle of Thieves. Which leads us to the big one…

  • Chronicle turns 20 years old this year! This all started out as a self-published comic book back in 1999 and has been building ever since! To celebrate, there will be some 20th anniversary material showcasing Chronicle’s roots. More to come on that down the road.

Starting today, there will be a new strip each week and it will begin with the “lost last strip of Chapter 3.”
I actually drew this last strip before I headed off to interview for my new job and I never got around to publishing. That was quite the cliffhanger to leave you guys with!

Come back again next week for an all-new Chronicle strip with some surprise guests!

See you then…

THAN

Chronicle in the New Year!

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

 

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

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

Greetings Fellow Chroniclers!

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

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!

The Chronicler's Notes - Two Months In! - March 31, 2014

Hey everyone!  Welcome to another week at Chronicle!

Thalin, leader of the Lower Haven Thieves' Guild

Thalin, leader of the Lower Haven Thieves' Guild

I've got some good stuff planned for you this week, so please check back every weekday for new content!  Also, as a treat here's a peek at the, as of yet, unseen Thalin.  We'll get to him next week.

I want to take a moment and thank you guys for stopping by over the past two months.  I really didn't expect such a reception and I want to express my gratitude.  

For those curious in stats, we just passed 7,000 page views and 3500 unique visits!  I feel like that's huge for only being two months old.  So, thanks so much for showing up!  It looks like some people like Chronicle enough to keep coming back.  I'm averaging around 40 direct links on Wednesday and Thursday.  Those are, of course, Character Codex and Comic updates.  I can't believe how much the Character Codex has taken off!  If you guys stay interested, I'll definitely do the other half with the genders flipped.

For those of you new to the site let me give you a quick run-down of the schedule.

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 13 so far!

If you haven't seen them yet, there are Virtual Tabletop Tokens based on the Character Codex.  The Dwarf Pack (which includes all 11 dwarves and one bonus bearded bard) is now up for sale at low price of 99 cents!

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.

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!