Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Digital Painting Video

Hi Everyone,

I've uploaded some videos of me painting while talking about things that interest me, how I began my career as an independent artist, our studio "Imaginism Studios" and my learning process that got me to where I am today. Hope you'll enjoy and perhaps leave us some comments as well.

Bobby Chiu

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5

Monday, September 25, 2006

Subway Sketching still going strong!

Hi everyone,

It was another great day to go subway sketching yesterday even though I had a bit of a cold. We've recently lost a couple of our regulars: Jesse S. and Danesh. Jesse moved to Vancouver and Danesh moved all the way to Dubai. We wish them the very best and hope our paths will cross again in the future.
The good news is that we're still going on very strong and have picked up a couple more regulars. My friend Ian R. and a newcomer Shaun (hope I spelled that right) have become the latest regulars to our band of sketchers.

These pages were done by Bobby




These ones were done by Kei

Monday, September 18, 2006

FAIRY ART from our newest book "FAIRY SKETCHES"


$19.99
As always, it's FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE.

Ok here's something thats long over due. This post is all about samples from Imaginism's newest book "Fairy Sketches." I'm extremely proud of this book because this is the first time I've teamed up with another artist to do the book . Her name is Kei Acedera, Imaginism's fantastic art director! We created the cover together as well as 2 other pieces in the book and tutorial.

Guest Artists:
Sergio Aragonés - Mad Magazine legend of legends, creator of "Groo the Wanderer"
Gavin Ball - Great Draftsman and all around nice guy
Linda Bergkvist - No fairy book would be the same without Linda. Multi award winning artist
Kevin Dart - I had the pleasure of meeting this amazing talent in San Diego.
Kitty Fung - Our friend and Anime prodigy
Robin Mitchell - My brother from another mother. Great friend and character designer.
Justin Ridge - A true talent! It was an absolute pleasure to have Justin in my book.

Here's some previews of Kei's super lovable fairies... and some of mine.




Friday, September 08, 2006

Samurai Sketch

Here's a little speed painting I did this morning... Took 40 minutes.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Toronto Comicon Fan Expo 2006 Review and Q&A - how to choose the right schools.

WOW! What a convention! It was a great treat to meet all of you fellow Torontonians and so so many familiar faces. The love I felt from my hometown made me so happy and proud to be Canadian. I was please to see so many talented up and comers from Sheridan and Seneca College displaying and selling their work.

Usually my fellow Imaginists take my wallet from me during conventions so that I don't end up buying up everything I see but this time I was able to hide a bit of cash from them and get some artwork from a handful of these talented people.

Many people have been telling me to write a bit more on our blog about more personal stuff, like voicing my opinion about anything on my mind. I can't promise anything but I will definitely make a conscious effort to do so more often.

One common question I got was how to pick the right art school to attend. Being a teacher myself, I'd like to say that you look for the good teachers but in all honesty it's more about the students. Don't get me wrong. The teachers are extremely important for the students to learn BUT... it seems to me that that's not enough. The students must want to learn.

I've seen many examples of many different schools where the teachers are great but the students as a collective just didn't have the motivation to work as hard as students from another school. If you look at the students of the schools you are choosing from, not only will it be a great indicator of how good the teachers are but more importantly when you look at it as a law of averages it will tell you how you'll end up (most likely). That's not to say that you are destined a to end up a certain way because of the school you choose but I do believe that you could reach a higher potential if you are surrounded by the right people.

That's why people want to work at certain studios more than others. It's usually not because of the supervisors or anything like that, it's the artists that work there - because motivation is infectious. Not only that but you'll learn as much from your peers than from your teachers if you're spending those long hours at school like you're supposed to.

Teachers only teach for a small fraction of your day. Where do you go for help if you don't have your teachers there? To your fellow students. Also sometimes it's easier to understand things if it's explained from a beginners point of view. Teachers sometimes forget how hard it was to learn certain aspects of art which could make it a bit more difficult for the students to learn. Which is why I always picture my classes in the eyes of the students as I write the curriculum. So far it seems to be working...

Anyhow there's my little bit of blah blah blahing for this week... here's a pic out of the Fairy Sketches book... enjoy!