Founded 2004 | Type of business Comic publisher | |
 | ||
In person sean o reilly arcana studios
Arcana Studio was founded as a comic book publisher by former Coquitlam, British Columbia school teacher Sean O'Reilly in 2004. In 2012, Arcana opened up its animation division.
Contents
- In person sean o reilly arcana studios
- Overview
- Arcana titles
- Select titles
- All ages titles
- Films television series and shorts
- Animated films
- Live action features
- Animated television series
- Short films
- Motion comics
- The Intrinsic
- Awards
- Kickstarter The Steam Engines of Oz
- Notable peoplecompanies
- Charitable work
- References
Overview
Arcana formed in 2004 when Sean O'Reilly first published the comic book series Kade.
Arcana is Canada’s largest publisher of comics and graphic novels in Canada, with over 300 titles in its current library, covering all genres and age groups. Arcana’s titles have been translated into many different languages, including French, Italian, Greek, Spanish and Polish.
Arcana is also an animation studio, opened in 2012, with its workforce located in Vancouver, B.C. It currently has an animated feature film in post production, Howard Lovecraft and The Frozen Kingdom, which is based on the graphic novel of the same name. Howard Lovecraft and The Frozen Kingdom is slated to be released on Halloween 2016. It is based on the graphic novel of the same. The inspiration comes from the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, regarded as one of the most significant 20th century authors in the genre of horror fiction.
Additional recent projects include Kagagi: The Raven, which airs on APTN and made its debut in 2014, and Pixies, an animated feature, released in 2015. Pixies is based on the previously released graphic novel of the same name. Pixies is written and directed by Sean Patrick O'Reilly, who was nominated for the 2016 Leo Awards for best Direction in an Animation Program for his work on the film.[17]
Upcoming projects include The Steam Engines of Oz, Howard Lovecraft & The Undersea Kingdom and Howard Lovecraft & The Kingdom of Madness.
Arcana titles
Since its founding in 2004, Arcana has produced and acquired over 250 titles.
Select titles
All ages titles
Films, television series, and shorts
Arcana began producing content in 2012 with the TV series Kagagi. Arcana receives tax credit benefits for Canadian content productions.
Animated films
Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom - This is Arcana's most recent production, based on the graphic novel of the same name by Bruce Brown. It is the first feature film to bring the works of HP Lovecraft to the big screen.
The Clockwork Girl – In joint production with Legacy Films and Luximation, The Clockwork Girl is Arcana’s first full-length animated film. It is based on the graphic novel written and created by Sean O’Reilly and Kevin Hanna, and published by Harper Collins. This steampunk "Romeo and Juliet" tale features the voice talents of:
Pixies – This is Arcana’s first fully created feature film, based on the graphic novel and short film of the same name, created by Sean O'Reilly.
Live-action features
Paradox - Based on the graphic novel of the same name, Paradox is the story of homicide detective Sean Nault, set on a parallel Earth whose technology is powered exclusively by magic. Sean investigates a baffling series of murders committed by a means he's never seen before: science. This television movie was aired in 2010 and the cast includes:
Animated television series
Short films
Motion comics
Arcana has turned some of its comics and graphic novels into motion comics:
The Arcanaverse is the world all the Arcana characters live in. Currently over 3000 individual indexed characters and creatures call the Arcanaverse home. From the Arcanaverse stem new stories and adventures, including the comic book series The Intrinsic.
The Intrinsic
The Intrinsic was debuted on Free Comic Book Day 2012, and was the first Arcanaverse title. The series features hit Arcana characters Kade, Philosopher Rex, Kore, and Candice Crow, as well as cameos by many others. The Intrinsic also made a guest appearance in the animated TV series Kagagi (2014). Volume 2 of The Intrinsic debuted at Free Comic Book Day 2014 and was written by Sean O'Reilly and Chris ‘Doc’ Wyatt.
Awards
Arcana won the Shuster Awards for Publisher of the Year in 2005.
Arcana was a finalist for the CMEs two years in a row.
Arcana has been awarded a Mom's Choice award for three titles: The Clockwork Girl (2010) The Gwaii (2010), and Pixies (2013).
Arcana was named Most Promising Company at the 2013 Digi Awards. Arcana’s CEO, Sean O’Reilly, was also named a finalist for Executive of the Year at the 2013 Digi Awards.
CEO Sean O’Reilly received Playback’s Ten to Watch award in 2013.
Arcana was named Best Visual Features 2013 by Arlene Dickinson's YouInc.
Kickstarter: The Steam Engines of Oz
In Arcana’s first experience with a crowd-sourcing project, The Steam Engines of Oz was first introduced for Free Comic Book Day, 2013. The idea was to release issues FCBD, 1, 2, and 3 of the collected trade, and then if the Kickstarter campaign proved to be a success, a second volume of the comic would be released. The Steam Engines of Oz: The Geared Leviathan was successful and was produced, thanks to the supporters on Kickstarter.
Notable people/companies
Arcana has worked closely on projects with the following people and companies: