Tag Archives: pencil united

Pencil United is giving away digital comic Northern Souls #1 on Free Comic Book Day

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The Independent comics studio Pencil United is making the first episode of the drama series Northern Souls free to download in the Pencil United digital comics app on Free Comic Book Day, May 6, 2017.

The atmospheric nordic fantasy drama series Northern Souls follows the journey of a young man in finding his origin in Europe’s last wilderness, Swedish Lapland, in the year 1940. The tormented man can’t remember where he comes from. Intrusive voices in his head, possible signs of schizophrenia, call him “Mielat” and insist that he has a calling. The man is unexpectedly joined by a female German Red Cross doctor. Gradually it is revealed that this rational and determined woman, named Elke, has her own agenda but also that the fates of the two wanderers are intertwined in curious ways.

Pencil United Releases its Drama Series Northern Souls

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northern-soulsSwedish independent comics studio Pencil United has released its original drama series Northern Souls, available for Apple iPhone 6/6 Plus and later models as well as all iPads with a Retina Display. The English language app for reading comics will be available for download in all of Apple’s App Stores in Europe, North America and Australia.

Pencil United is dedicated to creating comics exclusively for digital reading on iPhone and iPad, the first and only studio in Sweden to do so. Pencil United’s vision is to create a new experience that rises above the static, printed comics but which at the same time keeps and further cultivates the unique qualities and character of the comics medium.

The drawing studio’s atmospheric and enigmatic drama series Northern Souls follows a young man with suspected schizophrenia during his search for his identity in Europe’s last wilderness, Swedish Lapland, while at the same time World War II reaches northern Scandinavia. The story’s main character, Mielat, as the strange voices in his head call him, is haunted by the fact that he cannot remember who he is and where he comes from. The voices insist that he has a hidden calling. Mielat is unexpectedly and reluctantly joined by a female German Red Cross doctor. Gradually it is revealed that this rational and determined woman, called Elke, has her own agenda but also that the fates of the two wanderers are intertwined in curious ways.

As a part of Pencil United’s belief in the power of stories and the importance of learning and creativity for the development of the world, the studio has decided that for each story that is downloaded Pencil United will buy 3 pencils from UNICEF which will be distributed to schools around the world.

Comics Studios Pencil United Launches Digital Comics App

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Northern SoulsAtmospheric, enigmatic and magical, Pencil United‘s digital native graphic drama series Northern Souls follows the quest of a young man, suspected of having schizophrenia, to find his identity in Europe’s last wilderness, Swedish Lappland, at the same time as WW2 reaches northern Scandinavia. The first episode of the interactive touchscreen reading experience is now available for download, exclusively through the Pencil United app which can be retrieved from the App Store for all Retina iPads.

The series’ main character Mielat, as the strange voices inside his head call him, is contained and tormented by the fact that he doesn’t remember who he is or where he comes from. Everything before the point where he found a peculiar piece of bone with metal pendants is black. With the twisted logic of the mentally ill, he believes that the artefact will lead him to the answers while the voices keep insisting that he has a hidden calling. As a result of a life-threatening flight, Mielat is reluctantly joined by a female German Red Cross doctor. Gradually it is revealed that the rational and determined woman, named Elke, has an agenda of her own but also that the two wanderers’ destinies are mysteriously entwined.

Northern Souls is aimed at a broad adult readership and is full of complex and charismatic characters. In addition to the adventure’s dramatic action the story also holds existential, ethical and political dilemmas. The time period during which the drama is set, right at the beginning of the 1940s, is not just the starting point for the progressive welfare state in Sweden but also the start of the atomic age and the series deals with themes such as the soul and materialism.

The publisher sees themselves as similar to HBO when it comes to original comics focusing on a few carefully chosen in-house produced high quality series in different genres. Going beyong repurposed print, Pencil United has decided to cultivate and enhance interactivity and closeness by adding touch-the-panels navigation, dynamic dual-layer full screen graphics, slideshows, panning widescreen images and info hotspots, in order to create an intimate digital native experience unlike anything else on the market. By focusing on this, the company hopes to reach a broad audience that is interested in modern comics culture and a digital experience.

As a part of Pencil United’s belief in the power of stories and the importance of education, creativity and humanism for development in the world, the studio has decided that for each and every downloaded issue through the Pencil United app they will buy five pencils from UNICEF who will distribute them to schools all over the world.

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A small step for comics but a great leap for digital native graphic storytelling

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Northen SoulsThe newly founded studio Pencil United creates comics designed to be read exclusively on touchscreens. Unlike the big mainstream publishers who are stuck with the limitations of printed pages when they digitize comic books, Pencil United embraces the possibilities of the digital medium for graphic storytelling unlike any other. A first taste of the independent studio’s unique reading experience, the drama series Northern Souls, will be available early in 2016 when the Pencil United app is released in the App Store. For every episode that is downloaded through the app the studio will buy UNICEF pencils to support children’s learning and creativity.

The truth about digitally published comics today is that they are still in most cases repurposed print and the reading interfaces are the results of making comic book pages readable on different screens. The business models of print publishers to capitalize on comic books in two different media are causing limitations for the digital experience and its potential.

Pencil United’s basic philosophy is, as Scott McCloud has put it “to embrace the digital environment as the native soil – and plant in that soil what could never grow anywhere else.” The Swedish studio believes that there has long been a curiosity for what the digital medium could add to comics but that it seems as if true innovation is only going to come from small independent creators that are detached from the conventions of the print business.

Pencil United’s reading interface is not an experimental display that makes it hard to follow but rather a smooth seamless reading line where the reader at his or her own pace makes the action of the story float by the window of the screen.

As a part of Pencil United’s belief in the power of stories and the importance of learning, creativity and humanism for development in the world, the studio has decided that for each and every download through the Pencil United app they will buy five pencils from UNICEF who will distribute them to schools all over the world.