Monday, December 20, 2010

Christmas Cards 2010!


One of my favorite things to do around the holidays is to make xmas cards.
Here are this years! Each card was hand painted with gold paint.





I wish everyone a safe and fun holiday season!!!

-Kei

Friday, December 10, 2010

Clown Be Gone





New painting "Clown be Gone" painted as a promotional piece for Richard Solomon Artists Representative.











I need to thank my good friend and talented artists Anthony Kosar for lending me a clown mask that he designed and made. I used his mask for reference and decided to keep my character close to his design as a nod to him and his great work. Check out Anthony's work here. Thanks Anthony, you da man!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Imaginism in Spectrum 17

We are very happy to be part of this year's Spectrum 17 book, which is now available on sale in stores and on amazon.com

Here are some photos of our images in the book this volume:









Tuesday, November 16, 2010

A Christmas Shopping Message from the Purchasing Dept.

Hi everybody!

First of all, we'd like to thank you all for your patronage of our site, our blog, and our store this past year!

In 2010, we launched our 12th book, "CHIUtensity/Whispers", and over 20 new print images, all of which were enthusiastically received by you. We are truly humbled and grateful for everyone's support!

As you know, the holiday season is fast approaching and always, if you choose to visit our online store for your gift-giving ideas, we will always ship your purchases for FREE worldwide via Canada Post regular airmail.

As advised by Canada Post, due to the increased postal volume during this time of year, to ensure that your purchase will arrive to you before Dec. 24, please kindly complete your order by the following dates:

Nov. 22 for Africa, Central & South America
Nov. 29 for all other locations worldwide

If you have any questions regarding holiday shipping, please do not hesitate to email us at purchasing[@]imaginismstudios.com!

Happy Holidays!

Purchasing Dept.

Monday, November 15, 2010

CTN Animation Expo 2010 - Table T-34 and 35



Imaginism Studios will be at CTN Animation Expo November 19-21 at Table T-34 and 35.

Saturday, November 20th at 3:30pm Bobby Chiu will be giving a talk called "Getting noticed. Social networking and other essentials for today's freelance artist"
Description: Bobby discusses how to get noticed as an artist. How he used social media and other essentials to attract top character designing and illustration jobs as a freelance artist living in Canada.

Special CTN price on prints -> $20. (Regular price $30) This is only for the people that buy prints at our CTN booth.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Sky Doll Gallery Show Nov 13



This Saturday begins a tribute to Sky Doll exhibition at La Galerie Nana in Paris France. Sky Doll co-creator Barbara Canepa asked Kei and I to contribute a piece each.

Here's just some of the amazing artists participating in the show:
Alessandro Barbucci, Barbara Canepa, Bill Presing, Enrico Casarosa, Kei Acedera, Bobby Chiu, Manuel Arenas, Claire Wendling, Benjamin

For inquiries, please contact info@lagallery.ca


Title: #1 Fan
Artist: Bobby Chiu
Size: 6.8'' x 7.8''
Material: Pen & Watercolor


Title: Sky Doll
Artist: Kei Acedera
Size: 5.4'' x 6.7'
Material: Gouache

Monday, November 01, 2010

Imaginism Studios presents the New Artistsketchbooks.com

Hi Everyone!

Imaginism Studios is excited to announce our newest project - ArtistSketchbooks.com!

Ever wanted to discover new sketchbooks and artbooks from your favourite artists? Artistsketchbooks.com has a wide selection and database of artbooks as well as iphone apps, take a visit today!

The featured artists, apps & books on the homepage are determined by how many "Likes" are received.

Click on the image below for more info:

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Drawing and Painting High End Caricatures at Schoolism

It's that time again! Another semester of my caricature class at Schoolism is nearing it's end, and the next is about to start. Click here to find out more about how to sign up for my class. I'm so proud of the hard work my last semester has produced and when they finish their final assignments I'll post them here to share with all of you. If you're wondering what the class is like, you can read student testimonials on the Schoolism site. If you have any questions please feel free to email me and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. This class is not only a class on caricature, but also a class on drawing as well as painting. We also cover anatomy, how to capture a person's character, building confidence and overall, how to create professional and original art work.

My next class starts November 12th 2010, there are only a few openings, this semester is selling out fast.



Example of students work, skull studies by Eric Lebreton



Example of students work, Forest Whitaker by Magnus Igland Moller.

Here are two testimonials of past students of mine.

Jason Seiler's class The Art of Caricature is fantastic. I was apprehensive going
in because I really haven't taken an art course since Jr. High. My art background
is based in photography and 3d. Jason's teaching style makes it easy to start from
scratch and build from there. There also were students in the class that obviously
were pros or close to it. I think they would agree their work improved over the
course. It's great to have the ability to learn from an entire class even though it
can be treated as a one on one experience as well. The blog is a great way to
participate and see how others work is coming along. Most of all though it's
great to see the world through Jason's eyes. He makes you see how true the
statement he often uses really is. "It's funny because it's true".
--Lee Fraser


This course has without doubt helped me greatly improve my work, both in
terms of technical ability and in terms of motivation and dedication.
Jason packs the lessons with lots of great techniques, tips and advice
that I'm sure will be invaluable to everyone taking the course. He also
provides fantastic feedback and constructive criticism all the way
through. Great teacher, great course!
--Neil Davies

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Creature Tattoos

Here's some awesome photos of creature tattoos sent to us from Rosemarie Thole from Cologne Germany. Wow! The tattoo artist is Guil Zekri of Reincarnation Tattoo-Studio in Cologne.


Thursday, October 14, 2010

Pixel Show 2010 - Sao Paulo



And we're off again! This time it's to Sao Paulo, Brazil for the 2010 Pixel Show. Oct 16-17th.
Looking forward to meeting all the awesome Brazilian artists!

I'll try to post some images while we're there!

New Bobby Chiu Original Art Available!

Hey Everyone,

We have just made available a number of Original artwork by Bobby Chiu in the 'Original' section of our Imaginism Store.

With every purchase you will receive a Certificate of Authenticity that is signed and dated by the artist.

To purchase an item, please email us and tell us the title of the item you'd like. We will then send you a request for payment. Items are available at a first come, first serve basis.

Whenever we have original art available, we send out preview newsletters for our collectors who have subscribed. To join the mailing list and be notified for future previews of originals, please click here.


Title: Rockin' Cowboy
Artist: Bobby Chiu
Size: 6.5'' x 10''
Material: Ballpoint Pen on paper
Price: $80


Title: Help Me!
Artist: Bobby Chiu
Size: 8'' x 10''
Material: Ballpoint Pen on paper
Price: $200


Title: The Chase
Artist: Bobby Chiu
Size: 8'' x 10''
Material: Ballpoint Pen on paper
Price: $150


Title: Mother and Child
Artist: Bobby Chiu
Size: 6.5'' x 10''
Material: Pencil on paper
Price: $80


Title: Parenthood
Artist: Bobby Chiu
Size: 6.5'' x 10''
Material: Pencil on paper
Price: $80


Title: Ink Sketch
Artist: Bobby Chiu
Size: 5'' x 7''
Material: India Ink on paper
Price: $60


Title: Big Belly
Artist: Bobby Chiu
Size: 5'' x 5''
Material: Pencil on paper
Price: $80

Monday, October 11, 2010

Ringling College & Dragoncon

An update!

A beautiful view from Sarasota Florida during our visit to Ringling College of Art & Design






Our POV of the wonderfully enthusiastic students during one of our talks at Ringling a couple of weeks ago.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Some pics from our trip to Atlanta. These are from the aquarium that Kei & I went to during our stay. Great convention. 2 thumbs up. Highly recommended.


Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Elton John & Leon Russell for Rolling Stone



This week I finished my second painting for Rolling Stone. "The Union" Elton John & Leon Russell, for the reviews section. I had a blast painting this one! It was a challenge for me to hold back and not exaggerate . . . it took a lot of focus to ignore the caricature monster who shares my studio space with me . . . but I fed him some cake and he finally left me alone long enough to finish the painting.

The issue will be on stands next week. The version above will be the version in print.



Originally, I thought that my "hand idea" had been approved, but I misunderstood and went ahead anyways . . . whoops, my fault. So, I now have two versions! :) Whenever I can, I think it's important to add hands, it can be more interesting to look at and like faces, hands can also be expressive. Also, it's quite challenging and I always enjoy a good challenge. I think the painting works well without the hand, and even though the hand won't be in the printed version, I still have a version for the 'ol portfolio . . . my glass is half full baby!




Face detail. These days I'm not interested in painting photo realistically . . . I don't really see the point? I'm more interested in having a voice, a fingerprint that exists in my brushwork. I want my work to look hand-made, to feel painted . . .



My sketch.



I saved steps while working on this painting . . .



. . . perhaps I'll do a small tutorial?

Monday, October 04, 2010

New York Comicon table A9



Imaginism Studios will be at New York Comicon October 8-10 at Table A9.

Special Comicon price on prints -> $20. (Regular price $30) This is only for the people that buy prints at our Comicon booth.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Visiting Ringling College of Art and Design

Kei and I are off to Ringling College of Art and Design tomorrow (Wed).

Wednesday
8pm-10pm Bobby Chiu will be giving a 2hr digital painting demo
10pm-11pm Kei Acedera will be reviewing & helping people with their portfolios.

Then on Thursday...
11:00am Lecture on how to start being an independent artist: self-promotion, how to attract or get clients, how to quote, how to run your own business, etc. "The things I wish I knew when I first started Imaginism Studios"

-Bobby

Friday, September 24, 2010

Schoolism Rewards Program

Hi Everyone!

I'm very happy to introduce the Schoolism Rewards Program!

Get the word out about Schoolism.com and start earning points towards Schoolism classes today.

Watch the video below for more info:

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Lil Wayne for Rollingstone



Here's my first of hopefully many portraits for Rollingstone. I am having the time of my life. Working for Rollingstone has been a goal of mine for some time now, it has been a dream of mine since I was at least 15. So to finally have the chance to paint for them was an awesome experience to say the least. I'm also very glad that they wanted me to paint a portrait rather than caricature, as it is something that I would like to do more often.



Here's a close up for all you detail lovers out there! BTW, I was called by RS Monday morning and finished the painting early Wednesday morning.



My sketch.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Bobby Chiu visiting Seneca College on Monday September 27



Attention Seneca College art students: I will be visiting Seneca College on Monday Sept 27 1:30pm (Upper Kaleidoscope room 2168) to do a digital painting demo. Tips & techniques... Q&A... It'll be good times.
You can ask my friend Werner Zimmermann if you have any questions.

Bobby

Monday, September 20, 2010

New Sketchbook


I wanted to share with you that my latest book "Stephen Silver's Sketchbook volume 2" is coming out next month. Within the pages are notes that I wrote to myself during the process, they became a constant reminder to me of what it is I needed to think about as I developed my skills. It is spiral bound to make it look like a sketchbook. If you would like to PREORDER you will receive FREE shipping anywhere in the U.S http://www.silvertoons.com/store.html

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

The Familiars - Magic Isn't Just for Wizards Anymore



Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to illustrate Harper Collin's new children's novel titled 'The Familiars'. The book has finally hit the shelves yesterday.

'The Familiars' is a kid's story about three young wizard apprentices who are kidnapped by the evil queen of a distant land and it is up to their familiars, their magical animal companions -- a street smart alley cat, a precocious blue jay, and a bumbling tree frog -- to save them.

I had worked on the cover and illustrated the interior pages as well. It was quite a challenge, but I learned a lot from this project and it was a very amazing experience. Currently, started working on the second book and it has been a lot of fun!

In 2012 the book will also be made into a feature film by Sony Pictures Animation and directed by Sam Raimi. Excited to see the book translate into the film.

Here are a selected few illustrations that I worked on:







To find out more, please click here to browse inside the book.

Follow @the_familiars on twitter for future updates on the book.

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Contest/Interview with Comic Artist Lynn Johnston



INTERVIEW WITH CREATOR/ARTIST LYNN JOHNSTON
We are excited to announce that 10am on September 9th, 2010, Bobby Chiu will be interviewing the Creator of "For Better or For Worse" - Lynn Johnston on Sketchoholic.com..

Time: Thursday, September 9th, 2010
10am ET -New York
7am PT -Los Angeles
For times in your area, use the Time Zone Converter

CONTEST
Topic - Create a piece of art based off the theme "The Family Dog"
Prize - An illustration from Lynn Johnston based on the same theme!
Due Date - Thursday, September 9th, 2010. 10am ET / 7am PT
Rules - all entries must be NEW and uploaded to Sketchoholic.com before Thursday, September 9th, 2010. 10am ET / 7am PT
Vote - for your favourite submission during the first 30 minutes of the interview.

Just like every contest, it's free to join so hope to see you there!

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Baby Dragons for Dragoncon this weekend!





These were a collaboration between Kei Acedera & Bobby Chiu.

Kei drew and Bobby painted it.

It was commissioned by the wonderful people at Dragoncon in Atlanta happening this weekend! I believe it will be available on tshirts...

Imaginism Studios Table BT15

This weekend September 3-6th is Dragoncon in Atlanta.

We're also giving away a Cheshire Cat drawing to the best dressed Alice in Wonderland costume.

Special Comicon price on prints -> $20. (Regular price $30) This is only for the people that buy prints at our Comicon booth.