Digital Painting video

Here's a short video I uploaded to Youtube. It was originally made in appreciation for Imaginism Mailing List subscribers.

"Two Window Technique"

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland concept art: Jub Jub, White Queen's Horse

Here's a couple more character design paintings from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

Jub Jub designed by me (Bobby)



White Queen's Horse designed by Kei. Painted by Kei and I.


Bonus: In appreciation to our IMAGINISM MAILING LIST subscribers, I (Bobby Chiu) have made a new video on sketching the eyes. We will be sending out the password to view the video today at 3pm EDT/12pm PST Monday March 29, 2010) exclusively to the Imaginism Mailing list. If u haven't subscribed yet, you can sign up now.

9 Hour turnaround, Nancy Pelosi for The Weekly Standard

First, I would like to remind folks out there that my next class on High End Caricature starts April 16th! Please feel free to email me or the staff at Schoolism for more info on this.




I broke a new personal record with this one . . . Nine hours from start to finish.
When you get a call to paint Nancy Pelosi, you take it! Her face was well worth the struggle I undertook to finish this deadline! I was given this assignment late Thursday night. The final art is due by the end of the next day . . .

I didn't get to work until around 8:00 a.m. Did a really quick sketch, got it approved, and by 9:30 a.m. I was painting like a mad-man. To start and finish an illustration in one day is a challenge to say the least. You've got to always be thinking a few steps ahead. For example, I remember that when I was painting the nose, I was thinking about how I was going to paint the chalk board.

There is no time to sit back and reflect, it's just GO TIME! Paint, paint, paint! I realized I wasn't going to have time to eat lunch unless I got some help, and luckily my wife came through for me and bought me a sandwich from Subway, which I literally ate with my left hand while painting with my right.

This type of a deadline can be stressful, but I also find that there is an energy and a life to the work that I really enjoy. I like the painterly look as well. And though there may be little things here and there that bother me about this piece, I truly had a blast, developed new ways to paint faster, and realized new ways "how not to do things" . . . I love my job!







Dunce Pelosi Detail.




Final product.

Bread and Butterflies

Title: Bread & Butterflies by Kei Acedera

This is one of the many paintings we did for the official Disney's Alice in Wonderland gallery show at Arludik Gallerie in Paris France. The gallery show ends on April 17th I believe

Hope you like it!

Bonus: In appreciation to our IMAGINISM MAILING LIST subscribers, I (Bobby Chiu) have made a new video on sketching the mouth. We will be sending out the new video in 60 min (2pm EDT Tuesday March 23, 2010) exclusively to the Imaginism Mailing list. If u haven't subscribed yet, you can sign up now.

Bob Boyle

My good friend Bob Boyle is the Emmy Award winning creator of the Nick Jr. series, Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! and is author/illustrator of the children's book, Hugo and the Really, Really, Really Long String. He also created the Disney series, Yin! Yang! Yo! and was a Producer and the Art Director of The Fairly OddParents. He just released the new children's book Hugo. check out this fun trailer and send him a shout.

Gossiping Flowers Concept Art

Hi everyone,

The flowers were one of my favorite concepts to do from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

One of my original concepts was to have eyes red from pollen and her face cut up and as the wounds grow old and flesh slowly peels away from her face, they turn into beautiful flower pedals.

I seem to remember that Tim Burton loved the idea but I guess it was too creepy in the end.

Bonus: Here's a link to a 5 min video with tips on Digital Painting. Find all my painting & drawing videos.

Join the mailing list so you don't miss the next one. Password is: f1re

Bobby

Featuring the work of Schoolism student Didier Loubat!

Today I would like to feature the work of one my current students
at www.schoolism.com Didier Loubat!

I've got another class starting soon, so I wanted to make sure to let everyone know, and to remind you of what to expect from my class. From time to time I would like to feature a few students here on my blog, to show you what kind of work is done during the course but also to feature the artists themselves as I am very proud of their hard work. It is so exciting to watch a student grow and become better in a span of 9 lessons.


All of the work on this post was drawn and painted by Didier. These sketches and painting will give you an idea of what the students are learning in my course.

My next course at www.schoolism.com will start on the 16th of April. I will be taking on students for an 11 week online course. What can you expect to learn from taking my course at www.schoolism.com?
The way Schoolism works is students will watch a lesson which is usually two hours long. You can pause, go back, take notes, sketch and so on. After watching the lesson of the week, the student is then given ten to 14 days to complete the assignment. This deadline changes from week to week depending on what is expected that week for homework. Once the assignment is finished, the student uploads their home work to the Schoolism site, leaving questions and comments for me to go over with them. I then download their work and record a 25 to 30 minute critique on their work and then upload that critique to their file at www.schoolism.com I work one on one with each student, and as I said above, every student is at a different place artistically, so each critique I do is very different. And one of the cool things about this is that the students at Schoolism have access to the rest of their classes critiques as well as past critiques from previous semesters. So there are literally hours and hours of demos and critiques to soak up while taking the course.

My critiques are honest and to the point. I look for each students strengths and then push them further in that direction, helping to develop their style. We work together to improve on areas that need work, and as long as the student puts in the time and effort, they always come out on top!

Caricature is not only about how much you can exaggerate a person, there's so much more to it than that. My course covers everything from sketching, and the importance of thumbnails . . . developing character, likeness as well as the essence of a person. How to exaggerate and push the features while keeping a strong likeness. Exploring shape and form as well as the unique relationships between the features on the face, finding the weight and so on. The course also covers painting in values as well as color temperature, and palettes. I go over skulls and understanding the anatomy of the face as well as teaching my techniques for painting hair.
Finally, the last three lessons of the course are dedicated to creating a final piece of art that the student can use in their portfolio. These lessons cover techniques that I use for my editorial and illustration work. Putting all the previous lessons together to create one final painting.

Any questions please email me or the staff at Schoolism My next course starts on the 16th of April and seats are filling up fast!

Now, enough talking . . . please enjoy these great sketches and paintings by Didier Loubat!

Stayne's Horse

In the new Alice in Wonderland movie, the Knave of Hearts rode on a bad ass horse we called "Stayne's Horse."

Here's the concept art painting for this character. I remember painting this horse at 4am in the morning absolutely obsessed with his armor. Ahh... the good times.

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Mailing List

Hi Everyone,

We're getting multiple requests to make it easier to keep up with my live broadcasts with Chiustream, new live interviews and contests...etc. So we're going to do this with a mailing list. Nice and simple. You can also choose what kind of mail you'd like to receive.

You can choose from:
-Everything (Free Videos, Promotions, News, Chiustream, Interviews Etc.)
-ONLY Imaginism News, Events, New Products.
-ONLY Schoolism Online Classes
-ONLY Original Art Information. Availability for commissions.
-ONLY Sketchoholic Contests & Interviews

Awesome video of artist meeting his hero

Big shout out to my buddy and fellow Imaginist Stephen Silver. What a great guy!

Free Drawing Lesson with Bobby Chiu

Here's a free drawing lesson about a technique I do for drawing very quick profiles.
I don't know if anyone else does this but this was something I developed over the many years I went sketching people on the subway trains of Toronto. I call it the 'Arrow Technique'.

If you like it, I'll post more in the future.

Photos from the official Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland Gallery Show at Arludik in Paris France.

Here's a few photos from the official Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland Gallery Show at Arludik in Paris, France.

A huge thank you to the owners of Arludik: JJ and Diane for the wonderful time we had. Such wonderful people!

And of course a huge thank you to everyone that came to the show as well!

Happy 5th Birthday Imaginism Studios!!

The milestones don't stop there! -- Imaginism Studios will be marking our 5th birthday! To celebrate, we will be bringing back a VERY limited quantities of ALL of the sold-out open ended prints from our online store as well as rolling out 18 brand new Alice-themed prints! And as always, we ship your purchases worldwide for FREE!

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland: Horsefly, Dragonfly and Caterpillar

Here's some paintings for the Horsefly from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Special thanks to Toby Kwan for assisting me with some of the painting


And the Dragonfly concept art
Special thanks to Toby Kwan for assisting me with some of the painting


Here's a caterpillar that didn't make it but we still like it :)
By Kei and I.

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland concept art: Tweedles, Bandersnatch and Queen

The long awaited release of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland opens today. This was our very first big motion picture so you know Kei and I are giddy as school kids!
Here's a bunch of concept art I'd like to share with you.

Tweedles: I (Bobby) must mention my buddy and fellow Imaginist: Jason Seiler for this one. Here's a little work in progress...
1. One of the many sketches I did...


2. I asked Jason to help me flush it out and here's what he came up with. I love the amazing subtleties he captures in faces. Amazing talent! Thanks so much Jason!


3. After direction from Tim Burton I painted this bald version on top of the last one and I must say... I love these creepy kids!


Bandersnatch by Bobby Chiu and Jason Seiler
Here's one of the initial concepts that I liked for the Bandersnatch character before we got to the final design.
1: Bobby's initial sketch


2: Jason Seiler paints this awesome version on top!


Queen of Hearts by Kei
1: Sketches. In the beginning of the queen design, we were always free to explore the character however we want to. Only one note to begin with: Big Head. Here are some wonderful sketches by Imaginist: Kei Acedera



2. Painting by Bobby Chiu & Kei Acedera. Under direction from Kei, I painted the queen from her sketch. Here's one of the initial concepts.


Here is a little clip of the Alice in Wonderland Gallery show at arludik in Paris, France. At the end of the clip you can see the awesome talented Barbara Canepa. Thank you for coming out to the opening everyone, it was great meeting you all!


For more of the art from the movie check out our gallery show (March 4 until April 17) at http://www.arludik.com and look up super talent Michael Kutsche at http://www.michaelkutsche.com

Tonight is the gallery show for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland!

Tonight is the gallery show for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland!
We're getting ready now. Hope to see you there!

Where: Gallerie Arludik
When: Opening night 18:00-21:30 March 4th, 2010

Visit the gallery website here http://www.arludik.com

The gallery show will run from March 4 to April 17 but we'll only be there tonight.

Arludik Alice in Wonderland iPhone App

The gallery show is tomorrow but you can see all the pieces for sale on the
Arludik Alice in Wonderland iPhone App

Or you can come to the show and see the pieces in person tomorrow!
Where: Gallerie Arludik
When: Opening night 18:00-21:30 March 4th, 2010

The gallery show will run from March 4 to April 17 but we'll only be there tonight.

3 more days until Alice in Wonderland Gallery show at Arludik!

Hi everyone,

Today Kei and I are heading to Paris! Gotta get packing! Looking forward to seeing our paintings framed in the gallery. Paintings always look so different framed!

Where: Gallerie Arludik
When: Opening night 18:00-21:30 March 4th, 2010