Subway Sketching Postponed until Sunday Jan 4th

Subway sketching has been postponed until Sunday Jan 4th. Everyone is away on vacation and I came down with the chickenpox!!

Digital Painting Video, Schoolism Online Class info and Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!

Schoolism.com updates:
Online classes open for Registration...
Jan 05 - Character Design by Silver
Jan 23 - The Art of Caricature with Jason Seiler
Feb 16 - Digital Painting Techniques with Bobby Chiu
Feb 20 - Building a Powerful Comic Book Portfolio with Alvin Lee

Jan 26 - Storyboarding with Kris Pearn - FULL

Also for those interested, our own Thierry Lafontaine will be conducting another digital painting class at Sheridan College
Location : Trafalgar Campus (Oakville)
Sessions : 09
Days : Tue : 07:00 PM to 10:00 PM
StartDate : Jan 13
Price: $323.02
Sign up HERE

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Now I'd like to post something that's been long over due... a new videocast

This one is about random thoughts and things I think help to make a successful artist.

Topics for this video is creating your own luck, recognizing the important moments in your life and other topics...



Here's the finished sketch. The painting took an hour and 40 minutes but was sped up to match the audio.


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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!
I was sent this the other day. I thought it was interesting so I'd like to share it with all of you.

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary..

My confession :

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees... I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a crèche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem. We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.


My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,


Ben Stein

Andy Bernard Sketch!

This is Ed Helms as Andy Bernard from the show "The Office".

The other night I received and email from Ed, it was a really cool surprise! This is what he wrote.


"This is Ed Helms. I was alerted to your recent blog posting featuring a very fat-necked version of me. Part of me thinks I should be mad at you, but I'm too busy laughing. The fact is, I am completely enamored with your caricature of me!! It is absolutely hilarious and I'm flattered to be one of your subjects. As narcissistic as it may be, I'd love to get a version to frame in my office. Even just a copy. Is that possible?
Meanwhile have a great holiday!
A new fan -
Ed"

Merry Christmas Wolf!

Happy Holidays everybody! Just a little something I did for our cards this year :)



...and Little Red said to Wolf,
"Merry Christmas!"
and forgave him for eating her grandma.

7 x 10 1/2 inches, pencils on paper

<3 Kei

Midnight Swim

Hi everyone!
This is my first post since I joined Imaginism Studios. I'm happy to share with you a new piece I collaborated with Bobby Chiu. The little boy is in a mysterious swamp preparing for a midnight swim!

Hope you like it!

Peter

How to Talk to Girls... more news!

From NBC's Today Show - more about 'How to Talk to Girls' by Alec Greven. Illustrated by our own Kei Acedera.

Click on the image to see the video


Alec was also on the Ellen Degeneres show earlier this week.


From CNN..


and from The NYPost

We just wrapped up the last semester of my character design by Silver course at www.schoolism.com and I wanted to share with you a couple of the students work. I give my students an assignment on week one before I teach them anything and then by week nine they take another stab of it with the knowledge they have acquired. the image on the left is from week one and the one on the right is from week nine. If you are interested in taking the course, the next semester begins Jan.5th 2009. Also here are a couple comments my students have made from the last semester.

This course was a great experience! I think any one who draws characters can benefit from it. It was packed with exercises and lessons to help push my drafting skills. It also was very encouraging to have a Skilled professional go over my own drawings, giving helpful advice along the way. This was money well spent!

-Alan Stewart

I'm very grateful to have learned so many things from this class. I really do not think I would've learned many of these things anywhere else. This course has opened my eyes to many aspects of art in general, including rhythm, balance, appeal, and breathing life into characters through shapes, poses, line art, and much more. I can safely say that these lessons have indeed improved my drawing abilities, and given me a different outlook when it comes to designing characters. All of the lessons, great tips and advice you gave have a permanent place in my mind, a database if you will, of information that I refer to whenever I am drawing characters. What I'm most happy about is the fact that I am now able to bring more life into my characters. And although, I'm not quite as good as I'd like to be yet, I have a better design sense than I did before, and I know this will help me grow. Thanks for all the awesome lessons and fun course Stephen!

- Dave Han

How to Talk to Girls

A couple of months ago, I had the pleasure of illustrating this really cute and funny book called "How to Talk to Girls" by 9 year old author, Alec Greven (and published by the wonderful people at Harper Collins!). Just to show you how adorable and charming this kid is, here is a clip of his interview with Ellen DeGeneres.



It's amazing that it all started from a school project!
I'm also thrilled to say I'll be illustrating 3 more books of his...so keep an eye out! They're definitely nice books that not only kids, but adults should read.

I was so excited to receive the books..here are some photos!








These are the earliest concepts I showed the publishers and editors at Harper Collins:





This is the final look they chose..

and some of my rough sketches..


I'm very happy about how the book turned out. HUGE thanks to the Harper Collins team for making a wonderful book! If you're interested in purchasing it, you can pre-order a copy at Harper Collins or Amazon. The book will be in stores on Nov. 25th.

<3Kei

Storyboarding with Kris Pearn on Schoolism.com

One of the finest teacher/artist/person I know. Here's a sneak peek of 'Storyboarding with Kris Pearn'.

Kris has worked for many years as a Storyboard artist in Television and Feature Animation in both the United States and Canada. Born on a farm in Southwestern Ontario, Kris attended Sheridan College and studied Classical Animation, graduating in 1996. From there he worked in Toronto and Ottawa as a freelance Animator, Layout Artist, Background and Character Designer. Moving to Phoenix Arizona, Kris worked for 20th Century Fox Feature Animation studios on projects such as Anastasia, Bartok the Magnificent, and Titan A.E. While living in the desert, he trained as an Animator but eventually made the switch to preproduction to follow his life long ambition to become a Story Artist. Following the career of a Story Board artist, he moved back to Toronto after the studio in Phonex was closed, and worked on many TV productions such as Rescue Heroes, Jacob Two Two, Franklin, Braceface, 6Teen, Handy Manny, Hoze Houndz, Maggie and the Ferocious Beast, King Weirdo, and The Ripping Friends to name a few. In 2003 Kris moved back to the States to work at Sony Pictures Animation studios in Culver City California (where he is currently employed). During his time at Sony he has worked as a Story Artist on Open Season and Surf's Up. He is presently Head Of Story on Sony's upcoming Feature, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs which is slated to hit the screens some time in 2009. As well as working professionally in the Animation industry for over ten years, he has also taught at Sheridan College in the Classical Animation program (and had a lot of fun while being on the other side of the desk). In 2006 Kris was nominated for an Annie Award for his work on Open Season, and was also featured in the 2007 Hollywood Reporter magazine's Crafts issue, highlighting up and coming talent working in the industry behind the scenes (as all storyboard artists are definitely "behind the scenes").
Kris lives with his Wife and two loud Children in a wooden box near a beach in Southern California. He has a German Shepherd and is often found rollerblading with the slobbering beast late at night in the general proximity of LAX.
He likes Cowboy Movies and good Zombie flicks.

Early Bird Promo Code on Schoolism.com for Storyboarding with Kris Pearn!

Hey all,

Since there's been such a great response to the last promo code, Schoolism.com is doing a special promotion for 'Storyboarding with Kris Pearn!' There is a 10% off promo code for early bird registered students ending on November the 30th, 2008.

Just enter the code: S76R48

Sign up now at Schoolism as spots are filling up and Kris Pearn will only be taking 15 students for the course on January 26, 2009!

Register at Schoolism.com

Weird little creatures

I'm making a series of these weird little creatures for the Pet Monsters book.
I wish I had a magic brush so after I painted this little guy, he would come to life. He would be my little buddy and we'd watch tv together.

Jason Seiler wins the Gold Nosey Award!

Guest of Honor Award for Outstanding Work. Awarded by Ismael Roldan
2nd Place Outstanding Digital Technique

1st Place Caricature of the year!
4th Place Caricature of the year
8th Place Caricature of the year

1st Place for Most Outstanding Portfolio
1st Place for Best Studio Caricature

And finally the big Sha-Bang . . .

He won the 2008 17th Annual International Competition. Gold Nosey Award
Caricaturist of the Year Competition. This puts Jason in the Master Caricaturist category.

Congratulations Jason! err.. I mean Master Seiler :)

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Awesome link --> Joe Vriens

Early Bird Promo Code on Schoolism.com!

Hey all,

Just wanted to inform you all that Schoolism.com is doing a special promotion for Building a Powerful Comic Book Portfolio with Alvin Lee! There will be a 10% off promo code for early bird registered students ending on November the 30th.

Just enter the code: AL3R7

Sign up now at Schoolism as spots are filling up and Alvin Lee will only be taking 15 students worldwide for the course in Febuary!

For those who do not know, Alvin has been a comic book professional for over ten years now and will be passing on my industry knowledge to students who are willing to learn. It will be a unique learning experience as you will be taking a private online course from Alvin Lee and completing class assignments. Alvin will be grading all of your assignments, critiquing them and also screen capturing the corrections over your own work! It will be an exciting experience to see all of your progress and growth in creating a powerful comic book portfolio. If you are willing to learn, Alvin is willing to teach you!

Check it out at Schoolism

Dragon Sketches sold out!

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone for taking the time to look at our art, buying our books and visiting our blog.

So long "Dragon Sketches". Hope all of you found happy homes and nice shelves to sit on.

It's weird because I feel happy and sad at the same time.
Same kind of feeling I get when my college students are off for the summer except this time they're never coming back...

Sketch Crawl Zoo Drawings

I spent most of the day with Kei and a bunch of others sketching Meerkats.




This one was painted digitally at home


I spent the rest of the day playing Tetris on DS vs a couple of my students. They beat me repeatedly... but I had fun.

Building a Powerful Comic Book Portfolio with Alvin Lee is open for registration

NOW OPEN FOR REGISTRATION AT SCHOOLISM.COM

Course Name: Building a Powerful Comic Book Portfolio with Alvin Lee
Start Date: 02/20/2009
Seats Available: 15
Pre-Requisites: Good knowledge of perspective and human anatomy
Cost: $998

Register at SCHOOLISM.COM

Nine Lessons in Total.

Lesson 1: Introduction to Tools and Script Analysis

In this lesson I will begin by running through all the necessary tools you will need for this course. From the proper drafting pencil to use, using a french curve, down to basic photoshop skills to scan and remove non-photo blue from the penciled page. All of the different tools you will need as a professional will be covered during this lesson. After you have been familiarized with the tools I will move forward to analyzing a script with you where you will be thumb-nailing layouts of a page, providing me with several different variations of trial and error until you have the strongest layout and why. Strong storytelling will be the foundation of this assignment.

Lesson 2: The Hero
You will be introduced to the hero and his unique features. I will cover the basic anatomy of a Hero and from there you will be completing a turnaround of the Hero that I provide for you mimicking my own personal style. This will be a test of consistency and accuracy, you will learn the fundamentals of having to draw the same character repeatedly in different angles. I will teach you how to do render a proper turnaround with the usage of guidelines which will be repeated on the hero's face.

Lesson 3: The Heroine
I will introduce you to drawing the heroine and the delicacy of a woman's figure. More importantly which lines to keep, which to take away. You will be repeating the same process and completing a turnaround of a full figure drawing I provide for you. Again you will be replicating my style but doing so in different angles to test your ability to create consistently out of your own comfort zone. I will also be covering the alluring features of a woman's face.

Lesson 4: Exaggerated Proportions and Foreshortening
After you have been accustomed to penciling the fundamentals of a comic book character we will then move on to explore the excitement of exaggeration. During this lesson I will show you interesting ways to encourage your creativity with human anatomy, especially for comicbooks. I will be providing you with a drawing of a disproportionate figure and you will be analyzing that in the form of a turnaround. After that is completed we will move on to dynamic foreshortening. I will be showing you different techniques to really make something look like it is coming towards the viewer. We will be completing a study on both arms and legs and how to foreshorten them properly.

Lesson 5: Dynamic Hands
The complete penciler must know how to draw not only realistic hands but also powerful ones. In this lesson I will be showing you tricks I have learned during my career to help you understand hands, how they work and how to exaggerate them to create a desired emotional effect. During this lesson you will also be doing a study on the expressions of your own hands and using them as your own lifedrawing tool. Those principles will be applied to a set of exaggerated comic book hands, to test your understanding and consistency.

Lesson 6: Detailing and Textures
This lesson will cover everything from the basics of light and shadow to the intricacies of detailing a page using different comicbook styles. The different techniques covered will include using hard shadows to define a character, crosshatching to create shades of dark to light, minimalistic lineart and texturing for different surface materials. Those individual comic styles will be put to the test on basic shapes to demonstrate each's properties which will then be applied to the human figure.

Lesson 7: Lightboxing and Perspective Guidelines
During this class you will learn the techniques of using a lightbox when enlarging a thumbnail. I will show you how to complete an accurate perspective grid so that you characters coincide with the backgrounds properly to avoid mishaps. I will be covering the importance of using the copy, trim and bleed lines on a comicboard and lastly I will have you enlarge your own layout previously provided to me in Lesson 1 and prepare the page for the penciling phase.

Lesson 8: Backgrounds
In this lesson you will be introduced to the establishing panel. The one panel that will showcase your versatility in drawing environments that surround your characters. I will be showing you different techniques in using perspective grids and also the application of textures for different surfaces. I will be providing you with a floorplan of an environment in which I will be helping you create the elevation. I will also be showing you tricks of the trade in making backgrounds easier for you, especially when you are limited in time. Also I will be covering a brief segment on the usage of speedlines.

Lesson 9: Penciling
Everything we have covered during the previous 8 lessons will be culminated into this final lesson! Just to give you an idea, you will be applying the light and shadow techniques in lesson 6 on the layout you provided in Lesson 1 on the page you enlarged in lesson 7. The Hero and the Heroine from lessons 2 and 3 will be drawn on the final page using one of the unique comic penciling styles and the end result will be a completed penciled page, packed with everything a powerful comicbook portfolio should include!

Spotlight: Carlos Rubio

Here's a shameless plug... but it's something I wanted to share.

His name is Carlos Rubio. He's a fellow Toronto subway sketcher and a student on Schoolism.com.

Carlos took the "Art of Caricature with Jason Seiler" and in a few months his paintings and skill levels have improved dramatically! While I know he's a hard working guy, it's still very impressive.

Side note: he was one of the 50 really dedicated artists that came to the zoo last Saturday despite the rain. We're proud of you Carlos and everyone else that came!

Here's his BLOG. I hope you'll take a look.

Comic book artist Alvin Lee teaching online comic book course

Schoolism is pleased to announce that Comic Book artist Alvin Lee is going to be teaching a Comic Book Fundamentals Workshop starting February 20th, 2009.

Pre-Requisites: Good knowledge of perspective and human anatomy.

15 Spots available. Registration will start some time this week so keep checking back for updates.

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Other classes open for registration,
The Art of Caricature with Jason Seiler - starts Oct 31, 2008
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - starts Dec 08, 2008
Character Design by Silver - starts Jan 05, 2009
Storyboarding with Kris Pearn - starts Jan 26, 2009

Visit Schoolism.com to register.

Toronto Sketchcrawl at the Zoo!

What a great turn out it was! Not even the gloomy weather and rain could stop us--that's what being an artist is all about, right?! It was really great to see friends and new faces come together and sketch whatever they saw. I just wish the zoo stayed opened for a lot longer, but it just makes me want to come back more regularly.

Also check out the Sketchcrawl forum for more awesome sketches around the world!

And here's the link for the Toronto Sketchcrawl thread...so start sharing what you saw!

<3Kei

the meercats


mandrills


cute halloween kids!


.. our fine group!

These are some sketches from the other night @ Bob Kato's Drawing Club. He does this every thursday from 7pm- 10pm it is a great time, not to mention you get to drink some nice cold beer while you draw. check out the site @ www.thedrawingclub.com

Sketchcrawl at the Metro Toronto Zoo this Saturday

Looks like there's going to be a whole bunch of people coming to the Sketch Crawl this Saturday in Toronto!
We're meeting at 12:15pm Saturday Oct 25 at the front entrance of the Metro Toronto Zoo.
Here are directions if anyone needs them
http://www.torontozoo.com/AboutTheZoo/Directions.TTC.asp
We'll post pictures next week sometime.

Here's a little sketch of a monkey with a banana :)

Having fun with conte!

Here are more from life drawing class this past week..As I was drawing these, my main objective was to just simply have fun drawing with the conte by using different edges from really soft to hard.
I've just been so uptight with my self lately with work and other projects.I needed to get loose and draw more intuitively--I find that there's more ease and pleasure when you draw without worries :) and still keeping in mind of the fundamental structure of what you're drawing.
But really I think if its practiced more often, those fundamentals will just flow out of you more naturally, because its already embedded in your technique and methods..hope that makes sense.
These are from 1 min to 10 mins...

I've also started getting back into painting with gouaches and will post those soon :)


<3 Kei

Podcasts

Answering Emails Part 1
Answering Emails Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Part 1
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Part 3
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Part 4
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Part 5
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Asian Woman Part 1
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Asian Woman Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Asian Woman Part 3
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Borat Part 1
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Borat Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Borat Part 3
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Borat Part 4
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Flex Part 1
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Flex Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Flex Part 3
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Flex Part 4
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Part 1
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Sketch Part 1
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Sketch Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Sketch Part 3
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Old Man Sketch Part 4
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Samurai Head Part 1
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Samurai Head Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Samurai Head Part 3
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Tiger Bird Mouse
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - New Year 2008 Part 1
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - New Year 2008 Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Little Creatures - Part 1
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Little Creatures Part 2
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu - Little Creatures - Part 3

from lifedrawing...

Hi!

Bobby's been bugging me to post some life drawings so here are some..(Thanks Bobby!)
These are actually from last year but I'll post some newer ones soon when I get the chance to scan them all :) Its just been so crazy these past weeks!

<3 Kei

Life drawings Part II, Schoolism and Sketchcrawl in Toronto!

Schoolism update:
Caricature with Jason Seiler - Oct 31, 2008
Storyboarding with Kris Pearn - Nov 25, 2008
Character Design by Stephen Silver - Jan 5, 2009
Digital painting with me - Full
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Kei and I are going to attend the Toronto chapter of the Sketch Crawl on Saturday Oct 25th! We're going to be meeting at the Metro Toronto Zoo for the day! Come on out if you're in the area! There's going to be a whole bunch of us going. We're meeting at 12:15pm Oct 25th.
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Here's a few more life drawings of a couple of my favorite models - Shell & Ina.
Some are good, some are not so good but I liked a part of the drawing. Today was an 'open session' which means no instruction today but if a student needed some guidance then I'm there. Otherwise, I'm just doing my own drawing and people could come and watch if they wish.













Some more links!
Alex Chechik
David Hwang
Kevin Yan
Matt Lau