ooops

I was having a bath before going to work today.

I turned the taps on and then my phone rang. And when I'd finished talking I remembered the running bath...

It was literally full to the brim!

One more minute on the phone and I would've had a very wet bathroom floor.

Red Riding Hood

Here's a painting I did for a contest I'll be conducting on CGHUB.com in the near future. Stay tuned!

It's a twisted version of Little Red Riding Hood. In my version, little Red Riding Hood is actually an alien and the wolf is her obedient alien servant.

You can make up the rest of the story... :)

Bobby

a question for YOU

I just have to say MY GOD IT IS BORING TO BLOG WHEN VISITORS DON'T LEAVE THE SLIGHTEST LITTLE COMMENT!

I mean, fair enough if you only stop by once or twice, but those of you who are here often... Like you very secret person from Västerhaninge (who visits my blog on more or less daily basis) you have never left one little comment. How come?

Just wondering...

Half Minute Horrors

Here's a collaboration Bobby and I did for Harper Collins Publishing. This is a sneak peek of the cover for a book called "Half Minute Horrors" by Susan Rich. It's full of short stories meant to send chills up the spine :)
Hope you like it!

Peter

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Schoolism News
BUILDING A POWERFUL COMICBOOK PORTFOLIO with Alvin Lee - BEGINS MAY 29, 2009
CHARACTER DESIGN by Silver - BEGINS JUNE 8, 2009
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REGISTER AT SCHOOLISM.COM

balcony business

The cats are loving the warm weather and sunbathing on the balcony. I have put Kif's favourite basket outside, and one of Tylor's favourite blankets too.

Last week I headed to IKEA as I wanted some more bits and bobs for the balcony area, but still thought something was missing.

During a looooovely lunch at my friend's house today, my friend told me about this sale in a shop nearby. So on my way home I stopped off by the shop and had a look. I didn't find anything that took my fancy. However, walking to the bus stop to go home, I passed a florist's. Outside their shop was loads of plants on sale for the garden/balcony, and I bought a few:

2 tomato plants

1 rosemary plant

1 honey plant

3 wild strawberry plants

I have also bought a solar cell lamp (seen in the right hand corner above the table) and put down the very expensive woolen rug that the cats have ruined by sharpen their claws on it. On the balcony floor it doesn't look too bad, actually.

Looking pretty OK, eh?!

Vinyl News: Assassin by Kei Acedera

MINDstyle's ASSASSIN By Kei Acedera
Version: Based on Her Original Artwork
Size: 8 Inches Tall
Color: Green Dress
Edition Size: 250 Pieces Worldwide
Material: Vinyl
SRP: USD $79.99 Per Figure

Release Date: Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Stay tuned people!

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BE SURE TO CHECK OUT SHANE GLINES' BLOG!

What the what?

Question 1: Is this the dumbest thing I've ever posted? Probably.

Question 2: Is this the nerdiest thing I've ever posted? Almost certainly, but I have every intention of trying to continually out-nerd myself.

Question 3: In spite of being both dumb and uber-nerdy, is this also the most awesome thing I've ever posted? I think so, yes.

For reasons unfathomable even to myself, here is Darth Vader, if he were an Alpha Lantern of the Sinestro Corps:

click above for larger view

If you're still reading, you're probably still asking yourself, why? Well, I've been enjoying Green Lantern since the Sinestro Corps War, and I really like the idea of the Sinestro Corps having high-profile members like Superboy Prime, Mongul II, and Hank Henshaw. So my naturally nerdy brain was scanning its archives for other characters capable of instilling great fear, and since I had already crossed over Star Wars with the Green Lantern mythos, once or twice--I came up with Darth Vader.

Before you protest--yes, I'm aware that this concept wouldn't really work in the continuity of either Star Wars or the DC Universe due to the fact that Darth Vader died a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... long before the Sinestro Corps had ever been formed. If I had to come up with an explanation, I would say that the ghost of Anakin Skywalker was psychically controlled/driven insane by Parallax, and had regressed into the psyche of Vader once more. With his spirit trapped in the hollow shell of his suit of armor, and powered by a yellow power battery, Darth Vader is now forced to serve the Sinestro Corps as perhaps their most powerful enforcer.

It had occurred to me that Vader could have made a good Red or Black Lantern. However, I'm not so into the Red Lanterns, and I'm not entirely sure how the mechanics of the Black Lanterns work. Overall, I find the fear-based Sinestro Corps to be more compelling.

The really scary thing is that these hyper-nerdy thought-processes basically all occur without conscious effort. I'm just walking around doing normal things, like drinking Vitamin Water and playing with Legos. Meanwhile my brain is running these dorky match-ups between continuities in the background, and I'm only aware of them in a vague semi-conscious manner. BAM, next thing I know, I'm drawing Darth Vader with a yellow lantern embedded in his chest. It's a blessing and a curse, people. A blessing and a curse.

party hair!

Yesterday I woke up late. Had a lazy breakfast on the balcony with the cats. Decided to clean up a bit of the mess from changing the floors... Pottered around for a bit.

Then I jumped into the shower. Despite my disguitingly dirty hair I put a shower cap on, as I was due an appointment at the hair dressers. With a little help from a hair band and lots of dry schampoo I managed to venture into town without being too embarrassed about my filthy hair.

I went to get a bottle a wine. Bought a new pair of shoes. And then headed to the hairdressers.

- I've got an appointment with Mia at 4.45, I told the receptionist.
-No, you haven't? she said, sounding a bit confused.
-Yes, I do, I insisted. I booked it last Monday.
-Well, I'm sorry, you're not written down here. Perhaps you forgot to tell us who you wanted to book with? she tried.

It was quite obvious she didn't know me. Knew nothing about my super-scary memory. I quoted the whole phone conversation I'd had with her a few days ago. Word by word. She looked a bit baffled as she was flicking through her book to see if she'd written my name somewhere.

-Oh, she said, relieved, you're booked with Wendy!
-Well, I do not cut my hair at Wendy's, I told her, Mia is my hairdresser.

She looked at me, giving me a "stop being so bloody awkward" look. I looked back. I told her I was going straight from the hairdressers to a dinner party, and needed my hair styled at least. Could this Wendy wash and blow dry?

And this Wendy could, according to the receptionist. For the same price as if she'd cut and blow dried my hair!!

I told her it was a rip off and she could shove it up her rectum and walked off. I was fuming. And dirty. And on my way to a dinner party looking like a birds nest in my head. I decided to go back home and sulk for the rest of the evening.

As I walked towards the station I saw a Hairdressing drop in. And they washed my hair, made it look lovely!

I went to the dinnerparty. Drank wine. Had a lovely time. Went dancing in a night club. And my hair looked fab all evening!

update

Still no test results from the dr's... My stomach is agony and everytime I eat the food decides to come out just as quickly.

This has resulted in me not daring to eat, and needless to say I feel exhausted, light headed and generally shitty (mind the pun).

However, on a good note: the floor is done!!! A new, wonderful wooden floor has now replaced the tacky, smelly, old linoleum flooring in the kitchen and hallway. It's been hard work (with the great help of a friend's boyfriend), but it was well worth it.

I will try and find photos of the "before floors" and show you the difference it's made!

Say it with me...

IT'S CLOBBERIN TIME!!! Here's the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing, the Fantastic Four's cantankerous, yet endearing tank:

My year has so far been filled with plenty of travel (not bad) and illness (not good)--I'm feeling fine now (with no further travel on the horizon), but I'm still playing catch-up. So, tonight's post is a quick exercise in the rare (for me) traditional media. I sketched it in red and brown color pencil, colored it in marker, then went over the lines again with color pencil, and finally added some highlights with a white color pencil. Scanned it, managed to adjust it to match the original pretty closely, and here we are.

Any real understanding I have of color theory has been picked up while working in Photoshop, so it's a refreshing change of pace to apply what I know to traditional media. I think this piece needed more contrast to bring out the larger forms of the Thing's features, like his brow, nose, and cheek bones (cheek rocks?). Recently, I feel like I've been struggling with contrast... having trouble getting it right the first time, and making a lot of adjustments. My sense of color is a bit off too, again, something that I've been getting wrong on early tries and making many adjustments to.

My artistic senses might be dulled as a result of doing a lot of cheap blogs that don't require artistic brainpower, and also banking a lot of blogs ahead of time rather than working continuously. When it comes to drawing, taking moderate breaks can actually help me out--when I come back to it, I feel energized. I suspect coloring is something that I'm still drilling into my brain, and I need constant exposure to the act of coloring, or I start to regress.

Just thinking aloud here, carry on...

Calgary Expo and Jab, Strong, Fierce Show this weekend

Title: Street Fighter Kids
Artist: Kei Acedera
Material: Gouache on Arches watercolour paper
Size: 22 1/8 '' x 28 '' Framed


Title: Chun Li and Blanka
Artist: Bobby Chiu
Material: Watercolour on Arches watercolour paper
Size: 22 1/8 '' x 28 '' Framed

On Saturday April 25th, 2009 the original artwork shown below will be in the "Jab Strong Fierce" (Street Fighter Tribute Show) at Nucleus Art Gallery on 210 East Main St, Alhambra, California.

If you are interested in these pieces, please contact Nucleus Art Gallery.- info@gallerynucleus.com

These original paintings come with a Certificate of Authenticity that is signed and dated by the artist.

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Also this weekend is the Calgary Expo! Kei and I (Bobby) will be there so come say HI if you're going!

Here's a painting Kei did for the Calgary Expo Artbook.

Title: A Little Break
Artist: Kei Acedera
Material: Gouache on Arches watercolour paper
Size: 12 1/8 '' x 16 ''

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Awesome link Aaron Hartline

it's me!

Looks like I'm famous?!

Baby Alien

Did a fun 24hr poll yesterday on our Deviantart page which one I should do a "Cute Version" of: Predator, Alien or Pinhead.

Honestly when I was posting the poll I was thinking I would love to do a little baby Predator with big round eyes or a Pinhead as a cute 3d anime-ish version but the crowd has spoken and "Alien" won it by a landslide.

But once I started painting little baby Alien, I really enjoyed it! So thanks everyone that participated!

Bobby

poo and pooped

Saturday I got back my dodgy tummy, which has been going on since before my trip to China. I will spare you the details, but the title says it all. And the colour of this text.

By yesterday it had gotten so severe, plus I was exhausted after not eating anything, I decided to visit the doctor.

.

the dr: have you been abroad?

me: yes, but my problems started before my trip!

the dr: but the symtoms got worse abroad, yes?

me: no, it got better in China and worse once back home.

I tried to explain my symtoms are exactly like they were the time I had salmonella in Bolivia.

.

the dr: have you been eating chicken?

me: well... Yes? I eat chicken about 3 times a week?

the dr: oh. Had you been eating chicken just before your symtoms started?

me: probably. I eat chicken 3 times a week and this was about 4 weeks ago...

Then she told me to wash my hands after going to the toilet ("oh really??"). To avoid milk products (I avoid all foods at the moment).

She asked me to lie down so she could feel my stomach. The pain was unbelievable.

the dr: Oh is that sore? That's your large intestine. If it's that sore it's inflamed.

Finally she took some blood samples and checked my fluid levels, established the fact that I indeed was quite poorly and sent me on for further tests. "To check what I'd picked up in China".

Jeez.

Poison Heart Bear

I had a 24 hr poll yesterday on Deviantart.com about which character to paint as an "Evil Version". The choices were:
- Pikachu from Pokemon
- Care Bears
- Slimer from the Ghostbusters
- Momo from Avatar

It was a closer one but Care Bears ended up beating Pikachu in the end.

So here's my "Poison Heart Bear". Don't know what went wrong with this bear but none of the other Care Bears want to play with him.

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I also have a new 24hr poll going on right now. Which one should I do as a "cute version"? Predator, Aliens or Pin Head from Hell Raiser? vote here --> http://imaginism.deviantart.com/

Actual Size (Okay, not really)

My ally today has been Mucinex.

This is not an endorsement. Consult your physician and clergyman before using drugs, didgeridoo, or mustelids of any kind. Side effects may include blogs of poor quality, typing in small italic print, and writing satirical side effect warnings. Other side effects may include technically inaccurate use of the word satirical (but you get the point), and excessive rambling on. Do not operate heavy machinery while under the effects, including, but not limited to, Zambonis, Mazinger Z, or your mom.

This is a pretty poor representation of a Mucinex pill actually. Other than the fact that the real pills do not advertise my blog, i also got the shape pretty wrong. And the face of the tablet should be noticeably convex. However, it was a decent painting exercise, just for larfs and practice.

an update

Sorry about the absence... After returning from China, I have been busy busy busy. And then, this weekend, the jet lagged finally hit me.

However, inbetween work and being jet lagged, I have managed to get quite a few bits done!

I've bought a new settee and a new armchair (arriving in approx 6 weeks time). I have bought new floors for the kitchen and hallway (will be put in this very week if all goes to plan). I have spring cleaned the balcony and bought table and chairs for it, flower pots and so forth.

I've hosted a little get together for the three generations of cat owners for Kif and Tylor.

And now I'm pooped. But happy. And relaxed, believe it or not.

The rest of the week I'll be attending a course. Friday night I'm out dancing the night away. After that I'll be back. I promise.

Digital Painting Video of Princess Mononoke

I've been getting a lot of emails about this so I figured I'd share my thoughts on creating financial security for today's artist.
The painting is of Princess Mononoke and has been sped up to match the audio.

New TLAD & CW Artworks

Patrick Brown strikes again with two new Grand Theft Auto related artworks. The first one features Johnny Klebitz from the recently released The Lost and Damned, who wasn’t entirely happy with the progress of the race and decided to “remove” some of the competition the only way he knews how. The hit made the poor soul to collide with an oncoming traffic.

The second image is of Huang Lee from the brand new Chinatown Wars. Looks like our new friend run into a "little" trouble and as a result earned himself 6 star wanted level. Each piece took the author a long time to complete, but they were worth it. Both look just amazing, as every artwork from the P-Meistar.


Source: patrickbrown.deviantart.com

an amazing story

I found this on the internet today. I am still teary eyed. Few things I've stumbled on has touched me like this story...

http://www.dayswithmyfather.com/

Little Demon

Did a little concept this morning of a baby demon. I gave him a little ball to play with to keep him out of trouble.

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Digital Painting Course starting soon at Sheridan College (Oakville, Ontario)

Teacher: Thierry Lafontaine
Term : Summer 2009
Location : Trafalgar Campus (Oakville)
Sessions : 09
Days : Tuesdays 07:00 PM to 10:00 PM
StartDate : May 05, 2009

Sign up HERE
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Building a Powerful Comic Book Portfolio with Alvin Lee
Start Date: April 24, 2009
Sign up at Schoolism.com

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A couple of great people to check out
Jason Chan
Denis Zilber

Star Wars Lite (6 of 6): Ukle nyuma cheskopokuta klees ka tlanko ya oska.

To wrap up this series, here's everyone's favorite Corellian smuggler:

And for your enjoyment, here are some wallpapers, available in both fullscreen and widescreen formats:

click above for 1280 x 1024 (Fullscreen)

click above for 1920 x 1200 (Widescreen)

His name is Char

Drawn by the talented SHAZ LYM!
Painted by yours truly.

Part of a pet project we've been working on....
Hope you like it!

Bobby

Star Wars Lite (5 of 6): If you buy a translator be sure that it speaks Bocce...

I was just reading over the past few posts and realizing how monotonous I have become with saying how I had nothing to say. And yet, I have nothing to say! Here's C3-PO:

See you on Friday for the conclusion of this series. I'm not sure what will follow immediately, but I have a bunch of Street Fighter pieces in the works, a neverending supply of He-Man stuff (naturally), and a smattering of other random nerdy sketches. And as always, thanks for looking in!

My trip in pictures

Star Wars Lite (4 of 6): You must do what you feel is right, of course.

The great thing about Star Wars (I'm talking Original Trilogy), is that the characters really require no introduction.

I'm feeling so laconic these days, so I guess you're spared from my yammering once again.

back home

So I'm back home. There are plenty of stories to tell, plenty of photos to show. However, my head is pretty mushy and jet lagged. Photos need Photoshopping before I can show them (as my camera broke and all pics are a funny colour).

Until I get it all sorted, I will tell you about my trip back to Sweden. It was a strange one:

I got into a taxi at the hotel. Airport, terminal 3, I told him and also made sure he turned on the meter (lots of taxidrivers try and rip off westernes in Beijing). As we drove off he said something in Chinese which I kind of understood as something along the lines of "When does your flight take off?"

I pointed at my watch, said "one o'clock" and showed the number one by putting one finger up in the air. He nodded, turned his Chinese hip hop up on his stereo and drove for a bit.

As we got on the highway there was a traffic jam from hell. Cars didn't move at all. So my taxi driver decided to drive on the side of the road instead of on it. As we got passed the worst of the traffic jam he got back into the road and drove 160 km/hour inbetween the cars in the different lanes.

I sat back and tried not to think, breath or nothing. No seatbelt. No way of controlling the situation. He turned the music up full blast, handed me a cigarette and got one himself as he continued driving like a lunatic, laughing his head off. I realized he must've thought I'd said "My flight is in one hour" instead of "at one o´clock."

At the airport he turned his ignition off before I had a chance to see the taxametre. "200 yuan" he said. I knew the trip would cost no more than 100. I shook my head. He laughed. "Taxi fast. Fun! 200 yuan" he laughed. I gave him 150 yuan and left.

At the check in desk I asked for a window seat. The girl smiled and said of course. Could she also please put me next to a Chinese? I asked. (window seat = easier to sleep when you can lean your head against the window. Next to a chinese = bigger chance not having to talk to the one next to you the whole trip).

She did better than that. I had both window AND aisle to myself. I slept like a baby across my seats all the way home.

Star Wars Lite (3 of 6): The princess? She's here?

This series of sketches basically requires no explanation. Here is today's:

Due to exhaustion, words fail me. Peace!

Phil Mickelson for GOLF Magazine

I can finally share the art that I did for GOLF Magazine! It's out on stands now, page 87. This was a fun piece to work on. Since the article I was illustrating for was mostly about the crazy golf course "Whisper Rock", I chose to make the background just as important a character as Phil Mickelson.

The fun that I have while creating these pieces is in creating something that didn't exist before. I used references of Phil Mickelson, but created the expression by shooting photo references of myself as well as spending a good amount of time making faces in a mirror. The background is fictional as well. For the background, I read up a bit on the course and found out what makes it unique and different from other courses. I then gathered up some visual references of the course and then created my own version . . . a "caricature" of the course.

*Fun Fact* The golfer in the very back is my little brother Jeremy.

To see more of my process in creating this piece, please visit my blog.

Cat bus, Imaginism news and new schoolism info

Here's a little sketch of the Cat Bus from Totoro :)

and some news...

- FREE SHIPPING on our books again! After many requests we're now selling our books on our site as well as Brand Studios.
If you don't mind waiting a bit longer so you get free shipping you can buy the books from our STORE.
If you buy from Brand Studio then you'd probably get your books quicker but might have to pay for shipping.

- 8 more originals for sale in our STORE

- The Conceptart.org workshop was amazing. If you ever have the opportunity, definitely make the trip. It's so inspiring and fun. Thanks to everyone that came! It was great to meet and speak with many influential people in the industry and feel honored to have been a part of something so pure and wonderful.

- It looks like the Pet Monsters book is going to be a bit delayed... we just want to make it perfect and it's been taking much longer than we anticipated. The good news is that at the same time we've been working on our Life Drawing book and that's been going much better since we do life drawing so regularly. So it looks like the Life Drawing book is going to come out before the Pet Monsters book.

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SCHOOLISM ONLINE CLASSES:

- Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu is now registering for class starting on June 22, 2009.

- Building a Powerful Comic Book Portfolio with Alvin Lee is now registering for class starting April 24, 2009.

- Character Design by Silver is now registering for class starting on June 8, 2009.

- The Art of Caricature with Jason Seiler is now registering for class starting April 10, 2009.

- Storyboarding with Kris Pearn is now available as SELF STUDY course.

More info at SCHOOLISM.COM

Elvis Costello

With this painting my goal was to paint loose, blocking in with shape and color. To some viewers of this blog "hyper-realism" is impressive, but to me it can be lifeless and boring, and it's not as challenging to me as brushy painting seems to be. To quote my friend Jan Op De Beeck . . . "You can train a monkey to render".

I'm more interested in creating art and I prefer paintings that hold life within the brushwork. I love that through the mess of brush strokes and overlapping color, an image can appear . . . that's why I paint, to understand and experience more.

On another note, I'm happy to announce that my painting of George Lucas was accepted in Comminication Arts Annual 2009!

Star Wars Lite (2 of 6): It's not wise to upset a Wookiee

He's puzzling over a Dejarik problem, I think:

Me being busy = you being spared my pointless words. Soak it in.

Stitch and Digital Painting Video

Earlier last week I had a little 5 minute poll on Deviantart to see what people wanted me to paint more... Stitch or Momo?

Stitch won by with 57 votes to Momo's 33. Then I checked it a few hours later and Stitch was leading with 800 something votes! Jeez... well since so many people wanted to see this, here you go. This time I basically kept to the same design simply because I love Chris Sanders' original design. Perhaps next time I'll go crazier with...... MOMO?? :)

Here's a new VIDEO of me talking while painting Stitch! Hope you like it.
Bobby