Comic Con 07 Rocked!

Kei: Thank You to everyone who came down to our booth at the con! It just gets bigger and bigger every year, I can't wait till the next. We're glad to say we had a successful con-- we sold out of almost all our books and prints! And what a great time we had hanging out with old and new friends.

We had dinner one night with 30 of our friends at this churrascaria called Rei do Gado, one of the best resturants in San Diego! As you can see from the bill we ate very well! If you ever swing by San Diego, you have to try this resturant, they have the best brasillian steaks in town!



Bobby: Honestly I had so much fun hanging out with everyone, it almost made me want to move to California!

For me, fondest memories were always at dinner. On Tuesday Kei and I arrived in San Diego and rented my favorite car (Mustang) and peeled down to the Hilton, checked in and went to Denny's. Had a nice quiet dinner and conversation and decided to go to Sea World! Animals always amaze me so the trip was off to a good start. I haven't been to see world for over 20 yrs!

Wednesday we met up with our ImagineFX friends that came all the way down from the UK and enjoyed a nice little meal at a swanky Chinese restaurant called "Red Pearl" I believe...

Then came Thursday night - Brazilian BBQ. How the heck did a little party of 10 grow so fast??
Here's a list of some of the lovely company we were lucky enough to dinner with that night:

Freedom fighter Alberto Ruiz and his lovely daughter Megan

Our good friend Dan Merisanu - great supporter of all independent art book publishers and all around nice guy

Octavio Rodriguez - Imagine Vin Disel meets Robin Mitchell... and then put a sketchbook in his hands.. hehehe. jk.

Sean "Cheeks" Galloway - My half-Taiwanese brother! First time I met him, he completely surprised me by speaking Chinese to me! Multi-talented indeed

Kandrix and Laurie - a couple of our fellow Canadians!

Matt Stewart - another awesome artist from Canada!

Francisco Herrera and his lovely bride to be

Our good friend Stephen Silver of course

Deanna Marsigliese - another awesome artist from Canada!

Martin Hsu - fantastic artist and designer!

Vin Teng - INCREDIBLE sculpter

Pascal Campion - Flash animating GENIUS!

Our buddy Patrick Morgan!

Our friend John Giang from ILM

Our friend from wayyy back Robin Mitchell and many many more.... my head is spinning just trying to remember everyone. Better stop before I throw up. I think I'm still full from all the steak. Anyhow it was wonderful to share a meal with such a talented group of people.

The next day our little crew (Dan, Robin, Deanna, Silver, Cook) ended up going out to Bella Luna with our new friends Donnachada, Scott Wright, Jeremy Bernstein and Morgan Kelly. They are part of the wildly talented animation team at Dreamworks. Can't wait to see Kungfu Panda! Later on that night we had the pleasure of even more company from Dreamworks Maggie Kang and Griselda Sastrawinata and their friends. Unfortunately Kei and I had to call it a night at 1:00am... we were exhausted that night.

Saturday was a very long day at the con. By the end of the day my throat was getting a bit sore from talking so much. It was nice to share a meal with a nice dinner with Justin Ridge and his crew, Alberto, Matt Stewart, Silver and Heidi, Kandrix and Laurie. Afterwards, it became party time at the Marriott. I don't drink very often at all but the vibe was great that night so Kei and I decided to party it up a bit! Good times indeed.

Sunday we had dinner with our buddies Dan Merisanu and Robin Mitchell and our new friends Pascal Campion's crew. Afterwards, it has become a bit of a tradition to get together with Robin and reminisced about old times and new times and took a few minutes to just sit around and be thankful for all that is good in our lives. A very nice ending to a great trip.

The collection..
There were so many beautiful books this year. Too bad we couldn't take even more with us!
Out of alllll the books we received, here's my top ten list:

Chris Sanders - this one was only $10! I couldn't believe the amount of amazing sketches in this book. It is a MUST HAVE.

Bill Presing - let me put it to you this way... we bought 3 copies because it's THAT good. If anyone is wondering who got his number 1 of 100 limited edition verisons... it was me hehehe... Kei got number 21 of 100.

Jakob Jensen - Love love loved the humor in this one! Beautifully drawn and superb sense of humor. Genius!

The Ancient Book of Myth and War - I got the limited edition. It's wonderful to have an original piece from Scott Morse, but not only that... the book is signed by all four contributing artists - Morse, Romano, Shank and Wragg. Beautiful illustrations!

Dean Yeagle - Mandy's Shorts. Always loved Dean's Mandy drawings. Incredible poses! But this one is his best one yet! Hardcover and in full color this time!

Donnachada Daly's Crush - Here's a real gem! There's true genius in his simplicity.

Pascal Campion - There's so much beautiful artwork in there that you really have to slow it down and stare at every image to really appreciate it.

Gabriele Pennacchioli - AMAZING storytelling!

Robin Mitchell was nice enough to give me a book even though he knew he didn't bring enough. Wonderful drawings!

Louie del Carmen - is in my top ten list as well but his Steel Noodles book got me too interested and ended too fast. What a tease!! So now I'm going to have to bug him to get the next issue done.

Martin Hsu - Wonderful illustration and style!

Humberto Ramos - Awesome style, awesome artist and all around nice guy!

Francisco Herrera - Amazing comic book sketchbook!

Patrick Morgan - Loved the robots!

Kevin Dart - his first book! A must have.

Alberto Ruiz - These are always automatic purchases for me. Love this man's art!





Sea World was wicked!












best trip yet,
Kei & Bobby

Some *must save* links!
Darryl Young
Bob Rissetto
Kandrix & Laurie
Jim Zubkavich
Craig Berry
Martin Hsu
Tae Soo Kim
Goro Fujita
Donnachada Daly
Jakob Jensen
Jeremy Bernstein
Scott Wright
Morgan Kelly
Pascal Campion
Deanna Marsiglisese

Online Art School - Schoolism.com

Online Art Classes - Schoolism.com

Here's an interview I recently did with the Character Design Blog --> LINK

Classes available for registration:
Character Design by Silver





The Art of Caricature with Jason Seiler



Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu





Please visit SCHOOLISM for more details.

San Diego Comicon - Table A5. Who's going??

Hi All,

It's that time of year again, where artists from all over travel from all over to go to the San Diego Comic Con.

For those that have never been there, this comic convention is so BIG that we just call it "Comic-Con."

It's sooo big that if you are standing in the middle of Comicon, you can't see any walls! Only the ceiling.

It's sooooo big that you NEED more then one day to see the whole convention.

It's sooooooo big that you'll probably get lost just wandering around the place. Not to worry though... all you need to do is remember one important letter and one important number.

A5 - We'll be happy to give you directions :)

Can't wait to see everyone again!
So where's everyone else sitting? Leave your info in the comments so we all know!

Alberto Ruiz H3
Bill, Jeff Pidgeon, Scott Morse booth 4800
Cheeks - E2
David Colman - H5
John Nevarez - H9
Jose Lopez - H somewhere I believe...
Justin Ridge - 1035
Louie del Carmen - ??
Kevin Dart - E4
Patrick Morgan - H somewhere I think...
Octavio Rodriguez - ?? with Louie del Carmen I think...
Robin Mitchell - E9
Stephen Silver - H6

Imaginism Studios (Bobby & Kei) A5

Here's some more pics for our next book "Dragon Sketches"
These original sketches will also be available for purchase at the con starting from $65.

Jason Seiler Caricature Classes Online

2008 is going to be an exciting year.

There are going to be some amazing teachers joining Stephen Silver and myself at Schoolism.com.

This is one of them - JASON SEILER

His class "The Art of Caricature with Jason Seiler" is coming January 2008.


Here's a snazzy little video I took off his BLOG

Digital Painting Class September 20th is open for registration.

Digital Painting Classes with me are now open for registration!

Classes start Thursday September 20th, 2007.
Lessons: 9
Assignments: 9
Duration: 14 weeks
Fees: $798 USD
Pre-Requisites: None. This course is for any skill level.

Seats available: 15

Please check out SCHOOLISM for more information.

On another note, San Diego Comic-Con is quickly approaching. A couple of months ago Arthur Suydam asked me if there would be any original sketches available for purchase. Well, I'm not one to say no to an artist like Arthur so I've been taking apart my sketchbooks and preparing a little collection to sell at Comic-Con. Kei and I will be at Table A5 so if you're coming to the show, come on by and say hi!

Here's some of the sketches that will be available.


These are a couple of sketches from our next book "Dragon Sketches"

the Strange Behavior Challenge

Here are some concepts for a new piece I'm working on. It's for Cgtalk's new "Strange Behavior" Challenge! more updates soon..







-Kei

August 7th Schoolism digital painting classes are FULL

August 7th digital painting class is FULL.

Next class will begin September 20th, 2007.
Registration begins Monday July 16th, 2007.

Join the mailing list and you will be notified once new classes are open for registration.

Bobby

Animation Mentor Newsletter

Hi everyone,

I'd like to give a special thanks to our friends at Animation Mentor. I'm featured in their Newsletter this month! Along side my buddy David Colman.

In case you've never heard, Animation Mentor is by far the best online animation school out there. They have real professionals teaching their classes. That's what art teachers should be... real pros that are successful at what they do.

Check them out and sign up for their classes!

You can see the article HERE

Bobby

Bigfoot 's New Friend or Yeti 's New Friend?

Hi all,
Here's a piece I did call "Big Foot 's New Friend" but now that I think about it... shouldn't it be called "Yeti 's New Friend"? It's just that I like the words - Big Foot. It just sounds funnier.
I did this initially as a demo for my digital painting class on SCHOOLISM (Shameless plug.. sorry about that) but after looking at it for a while I thought Big Foot looked lonely so I put in a little buddy for him.

Anyhow it's a painting about love and friendship :)

I also submitted this to Exotique 3 so wish me luck guys!

By the way, anyone interested in the August 7th Digital Painting Techniques class... there are 2 spots left.

Bobby

And some more must see links!
Thierry Martin
Eric Canete
Dustin Nguyen
Dan Panosian
Jeff Matsuda
Joshua Middleton

EXPOSÉ 5 - Excellence Award for Big Bad Bunny Eater

Yay for the Big Bad Bunny Eater! It one an 'EXCELLENCE' award in EXPOSÉ 5 for the 'Humorous' category. Thanks very much Ballistic Publishing!





And here's some links you won't want to miss!
Adam Rex
Enrico Casarosa
Victor Navone
John Beatty
Francisco Herrera

Hollywood Zombies

Kei and I were honored when asked to contribute to Topps new trading cards: Hollywood Zombies.

I had heavy deadlines at the time this series was being produced but it sounded like too much fun to pass up so I crammed a card into my schedule. I did Minced Vaughn and Owen Killson, a parody of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson from the Wedding Crashers. Hopefully next time I will be able to contribute more than one image. Here's my humble little contribution to this wonderful collection.

Thank you everyone for coming!

We would like to thank everyone for coming to our humble art show--and for buying books and prints..It was really great to see both friends and new faces! We really appreciate all your support. Thank you for making it a wonderful night.

much love,
Bobby & Kei