Crossed Hearts has been stepping on the accelerator with its various imprints and licenses, and it doesn’t look like they’re letting off anytime soon.
On March 31, the publisher announced the launch of its in-house creative studio called Studio Hearts which has been in development for the past year and a half. Studio Hearts is focused on developing original IP, storytelling, and publishing projects. According to their announcement Tweet, the creative studio will work on stories that range from “creator collaborations never before published in any other language to fully in-house developed original content.”
A few days later, on April 5, the first work from Studio Hearts was revealed. Chiaroscuro is an original fantasy work that follows a princess who suspects she may have been chosen as a sacrifice to save her people from a world-ending disaster. Character sheets and some sneak peek pages can be seen below:
Crossed Hearts describes Chiaroscuro:
As the prophesied Eclipse, foretold to bring about the end of the world, draws near, the empire of Esteria places all its hope in the one destined to stop it: the Sun. But when the neglected and unwanted princess, Lanasia, suddenly awakens an unknown power and is named Crown Princess, she begins to suspect she was not chosen to save the kingdom… but to be sacrificed for it. As divine relics begin to stir, hidden prophecies resurface, and the truth behind the empire starts to fracture, Lanasia finds herself crossing into a forbidden world she was never meant to witness, where she comes face to face with the mysterious People of the Night. There, she meets a black-haired boy with crimson eyes and realizes that everything she has ever been taught about light, darkness, and salvation may have been a lie.
The first full chapter will release digitally in May with a print release of the full volume slated for Christmas.
Source: Crossed Hearts
