ARTAN

Hello everyone.

We are Stefano Orlando and Gianfranco Casano and we are two guys who strongly believe in their dreams. “Artan” project begins long ago, and it starts from that primordial instinct we are all born with, that drives us to go towards distant and exotic worlds to live thousand adventures and thousand emotions.

The idea of this project was born part humorously, part seriously, but, after months and months of sacrifice and commitment, Artan has become not only our job, but even our world, where some times we pour our fears and our desires.

How many of you dreamed to do a job you love? That’s it: we are chasing this dream.

What’s ARTAN?

Artan is a Scifi-Fantasy comic entirely realized by three-dimensional graphics.

Its story takes place between two worlds: Barsec and Artan. Barsec is an over populated planet where the population has taken advantage in an uncontrolled way of its planet, destroying both the vegetation and the animal world. For this reason, a large group of rich and privileged settlers left the mother planet to colonize another habitable planet in the same solar system of Nikron: ARTAN.

When the settlers come, Artan is a virgin planet, full of vegetation and living beings. A perfect planet to create a new civilization based on a more rigorous and controlled life style than the one left on Barsec. But when the settlers arrive, they find another species was already living on Artan: the Artakans.

The Artakans, proud and brave community, live in symbiosis with the nature that surrounds them, and without the aid of any technology. At the beginning, the visitors are welcomed with peaceful intent, and the two parties agree with a treaty which allows Barsecans to settle in the south islands of the planet. But during the meeting, an Artakan faction adverse to the agreement, the "Elyfan", by surprise attacks the Barsecans, compromising also the safety of the unaware Artakan delegation.

The Barsecans, in virtue of their technology and their numerical superiority, begin a bloody war. At the end of the conflict, the two sides enter a contractual agreement that allows Barsecans to settle in the southland of Artan, within ten districts.

A peace with Artakans has however three conditions:

1)  The lock by Barsecans of their sex hormone to prevent an overpopulation of the planet

2)  The lock of the boundaries to prevent other unauthorized Barsecans to reach Artan

3)  A total ban for Barsecans to overcome their borders and to reach the North of the planet (which seems to hide something very important).

The Artanians (new name for the Barsecans colonists settled now on Artan), because of their locked hormone, have a low labor force, finding themselves forced to ask for support to their planet of origin Barsec. Thanks to an extension granted by Artakians, the Artanians can ask every ten years for a number of Barsecans guys sufficient to perform the most unpretentious and necessary tasks to support the fully developed Artanians economy. After ten years, however, all those guys are forced to return to their planet, without any dispensation. In return, the Artanians provide Barsec the raw materials needed to allow survival to a dying planet.

Our comic’s history begins 500 years from the conflict. Centuries later, a special girl is coming to Artan on a cargo ship. But the planet hides a big secret that will change the fate of the Galaxy.

Making of

Why was Artan born?

Artan was born from the idea of being able to create something new, never tried before: a digital comic created with techniques used so far only for games and cinematography. The first approach is identical. After an initial study of the characters and the different environments, with classic sketches and drawings, we got to create our characters with the 3d modeling softwares available on the market. Right away, the amount of work and the difficulties were enormous, both for the hardware resources we got available to us (we have to work with millions of polygons for each scene), both for the high costs of the softwares we had to use.

One example: for the realization of some cities (Artancity, Arlea, Rometik, etc ...) we used CityEngine, while recreating the environments we used Vue 2013. The huge number of main characters (about fifty), and extra characters (more than 10,000) and environments (over 300) has led us to work tirelessly for two years on the project. All was made even more complex by a rich and well-articulate storyboard that led us to create a comic with a high number of pages.

Now we made part of the first season with our own means, and it is available on Amazon in digital format, both in English and Italian. But now we need your help.

What are we asking for?

Our first goal is to reach 20000€ to be able to conclude the first season, made by 12 digital episodes, by the end of 2015.

The next goal is to reach 30000€ to realize the second season, made by other 12 digital episodes, by the end of 2016.

The third goal is to reach 60000€ to realize all season.

Our final goal is to reach 120000€ to realize all the five seasons and the printed versions.

Artan’s storyboard was already written: we “only” have to convert it into images. This will only be possible thank to you.

What we offer:

5 € Thank you with your name on our website + high-resolution cover with digital dedication

8 € Thank you on our website + high-resolution cover with digital dedication + Episode 1 (digital Italian or English versions)

13 € Episodes 0 + 1 + 2 + 3 (digital Italian or English versions)

20 € Episodes 0 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 (digital Italian or English versions)+ 2 different A3 prints Cover signed (shipping included for Europe)

25 €  Episodes 0 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 (digital Italian or English versions)+ 3 different A3 prints Cover signed (shipping included for europe)

50 €  Episodes 0 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 (digital Italian and English versions) + 10 different A3 prints  cover Signed (shipping included for Europe)

60 €The whole first season (12 episode digital Italian or English versions)

80 € The whole first season (digital Italian or English versions)+ 10 different A3 print cover signed + t-shirt(Shipping included for Europe)

110 € All the numbers (digital Italian or English versions) with dedication and digital sign on each episode + Artan sweatshirt + 10 different A3 prints cover signed (shipping included)

130 € All the first season (digital Italian or English versions) with digital dedication + thank you on each number of the second season of our work on a global page.

150 € All the first season with dedication (digital Italian or English versions) + 10 different A3 signed limited edition prints+ 2 different t-shirt (shipping included) (maximum 250 people)

200 € All the first season (digital Italian or English versions) with digital dedication + your name for a secondary character + 10 different A3 signed limited edition prints. + 3 different t-shirt (shipping included)– (maximum 10 people).

400 € the payer becomes a digital character in one episode of the second season of the comic and receives all the digital first season + 1 sweatshirt (shipping included) (maximum 5 people)

1000 € The payer becomes a main digital character in several episodes of the second season of the comic and receives all the digital first season + 1 sweatshirt + t-shirt. (shipping included) (maximum 3 people)

1000 € Printed version of Numbers 0 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6  (Italian or English Version) in a book of 500 pages in hard cover + 1 autographed fine art + 15 A3 signed limited edition prints+ all the first digital season + t-shirt (shipping included)

1400 € All the first season printed in two books  500 pages each hard covered, signed and dedicated books, limited edition + 15 autographed prints + 2 sweatshirt (shipping included) (maximum 35 people)

2200 € All the first season + Number 0 in 12 hard covered, autographed and limited edition books + ARTAN t-shirt + 3 fine arts. The hard covered INEDITED BOOK: Artan. The places, the people and the weapons. (shipping included) (maximum 10 people)

ALL VOLUMES HAVE SIZE 20X25 CM (7.75X9.75 IN) PROLINE UNCOATED PAPERS - HARD COVER, DUST JACKET.

The Authors:

Gianfranco Casano:

Graduated at the University of Pisa, he starts immediately teaching three-dimensional graphics in the high schools and at the University of Pisa. Simultaneously he realizes several projects:

He works at Pisa’s University in the “Project Antarctica”.

He writes music for the Project "Francis, the man, the saint, the places" published by Paoline Editions

He realizes a multimedia DVD on Astronomical Photography.

He directs and writes the theme song of the TV program: "Bambino sarai tu" broadcasted by Sky - Italy.

He realizes three-dimensional animations on the Italian DVDs of the award winning show "Farscape".

He has collaborated for several years with the Italian Rotary Club creating DVDs for the International Prize G. Galilei.

Often collaborates with National Geographic.

In 2014 he published the SciFi book "Late Time" on Amazon.

Stefano Orlando:

He is a computer technician who studied engineering at the University of Pisa. Soon, however, he understood that he could not stand out too much from his artistic nature.

This was the reason that led him to study the techniques of three-dimensional graphics and to enhance the creative talents at his disposal. During these years, he has written three books: "The thin life of a poet" "The excluded ones" and "The man who dreamed of the sea", and he is currently working at the fourth: "The apology of the six worlds ", a fantasy trilogy that aims to enter the innermost aspects of our social system and our psyche. But that's another story.

Among his many passions, including photography (http://www.sitohd.com/stefanoorlando/index.asp), astronomy and music, trekking is definitely the one that most of all has managed over the years to bring out its puerile part, that piece of himself that still gets excited and wonders at the little things that the world can offer. That same part that pushed him, along with his friend and colleague, to create Artan.