Labbits Labbits Labbits and Red Wolf Hood Update

Labbits are coming to town!
haha..a bit late...maybe. Happy Boxing Day everyone. Hope most of you got what you want. Its been a very long day for me, walked around downtown Toronto all day and night!

You've prob heard about the Munny's and Dunny's. Today, while shopping for boxing day...I was able to get my hands on some of these Labbits from Urban Outfitters on Queen Street, Toronto. They were 75% off from the original price because they are christmas labbits, but you can easily remove the christmas accessories and they can turn back into normal labbits! (yes, the Christmas canes are removable) Super deal! So... I bought a few, some of these aren't mine actually..some are for friends and one is for my sis. But yea..go check em out the next few days if you want, they have lots of em..they should be still on sale so you can still get one i think.

Should be fun when i have the time to paint them and make my custom Labbits!
















And its been a while...since i've updated progress on the Red Wolf Hood Painting. Here's another progress shot..

Lots of things still need to be worked on, and also still need to decide on overall lighting of the piece. Lots of detailing to do as well...hopefully finishing this up soon.

The Darkworld of Joss Kazuki

During this break, I had some time to touch up some pieces I worked on from Thom’s Altered Ego project..so here is one.

Technically what we had to do with this piece is..we were given a photo of a character and then write in a passport application for him/her as well as decide on what their interest's are, their career, and how their personal life is like. Then we create pieces throughout to tell and unfold the story of this person, their past, present and future.

My character is called Joss Kazuki, and he is a half american half japanese guy who is part of a rock band called 'black souls'. It is a band composed of 4 members, 2 guitarists, a drummer, and a singer. Joss himself is one of the two guitarists of the band. From the description I was given for this particular piece..it was something along the lines of 'your character creates and artistically works on his own cd/album covers, his most memorable one being...the one during his 1 year separation with his wife...the album cover..looks...' so with that...i created this piece.
Oh the Guitar i posted earlier was also for this project...there will be more posted later on to unfold the whole story of this character.

So heres the CD album cover i painted...as 'Joss Kazuki' haha..i tried to show the dark world he lives in and the missing piece of the puzzle in his life during the time when his wife left him. There are some writing and possibly hidden messages in this piece. It is actually kinda autobiographical...but a bit personal and too much to get into.

This piece was done with acrylics, inks, and...alcohol..i mean.. haha japanese sake..as i was drinking it.. i wanted to see the effects of it with ink, lol. Finished in Illustrator and Photoshop.

And..if I don't update again before Christmas, I wish all of you a nice warm holiday!

maybe..i will try to update something happier before christmas haha.

Upcoming...

Wow, these few months flew by so fast, now it is near christmas..already..wow.
Anyways, really busy recently with lots of random little things, so I haven't been able to update last few weeks. Gonna be a really busy few weeks from now as we get near the new year.

I'm in the process of touching up some pieces from Thom's altered ego course right now. Hmm for fun here is an old small acoustic guitar i am planning to paint soon..originally it was for thom's altered ego...since my character is a rock star..this is his childhood guitar. i think I will paint an image on the back of the guitar...this holiday. This is the prepped look and gesso texture with ink...should be fun.

I am really having fun trying to paint on different surfaces, vinyl record covers, vinyls, wood, guitars, etc. I will keep trying new ones i think...if i can find more...

Angela Bury?

Here is a new piece I worked on recently for an upcoming group show at the Labyrinth Store in Toronto. I had to take an original old vinyl record album cover and paint over it (as you can see in the before image posted here). It was fun working on this piece, just a simple piece to paint and relax. Had fun playing around with inks and textures.

The group show is called 'Vinyl Graffiti' which will happen sometime in January featuring about 30 artists. Some artists who are taking part in this so far includes Harvey Chan, Jack Shepherd, Hyein Lee, and Elise Trinh. Actually Elise just posted hers up on her blog as well i think, she did a really nice piece so go check it out too.

Random, I was at the movie theatre the other day to check out 'Enchanted' and noticed the movie 'Sweeney Todd'? is apparently coming out i think, now I wonder if I just painted over a potential valuable album cover. Haha

Done with Acrylics and India Ink

Before: (The Sweeney Todd Cover)




















After: (The finished painting)

Works in Progress...

Here are some pieces i've been working on recently in the studio..one is the vinyl cover I started at the Sheridan Art Jam which I need to finish with my friend nick and elise. The other is a painting I'm working on for Harvey Chan. Recently, instead of working at home, I've almost always been in the studio..painting..or drawing...at night..haha, lots of fun though.
Can't wait till I finish these and start some new pieces.















(not a very good photo, but the paint was still wet...so it reflects)

The Yo-Yo Show!

Went to the Art Show @ Sweet Art Gallery in the Distillery District yesterday with a few friends for the Yo-Yo show! It was a great show, lots of people showed up and lots of great yo-yos to see. its going on right now until the end of Dec., definitely should check it out if you're in the area.


















































And...here are some photos I took at the show.

Red Wolf Hood progress

Went to Bobby Chiu and Kei Acedera's dragon sketches show today for the launch of their new Dragon Sketches book and it was awesome! Lots of great originals on display and this new book is for sure now their best book out yet. The show is at Labyrinth so go check it out if you haven't already.

Here are some photos of progress shots of my painting in progress...probably will use it for grad show..if it ends up turning out nicely.

































I also want to mention today about some quotes my friend jinny posted on her blog..you can check them out "here" For the most part, they are quotes with lots of wisdom, its always inspiring to see them. I also want to note about the michelangelo story she mentioned...its very interesting because many of us start doing art late some people compare themselves with young artists whom they think draws or paints better than them...then they start thinking they are not good enough or they won't make it..etc etc. Personally I think it doesn't matter when u start doing art. All you need to know is if you like it..then do it...its never too late to start. I've met a few artists in the past who started drawing and painting when they were 30s or 50s...and with hard work they soon became strong artists. Hard work over talent always.

A few years ago when I was tutoring little children in art, i came across a lady who was around 50 years old and suddenly realized she really wanted to learn...she told me that she never had the chance because she was married early and then had children. There was just too many responsibilities in the house with her crappy job on the side...taking alll of her time away. Finally now, her children are grown up and she has freetime again...so she can finally do something she love, art.

Personally, I have been doing it when I was pretty young. But in my early days, elementary...and most of highschool...i also spent a lot of time on playing games, doing nothing every day, ICQing, and so on...lots of time wasted where i could be doing art. I think back now and there are always regrets. But then i think, ok what if all my time now...I make good use of it? What if i draw 10 hrs a day now? What if i just take a few hours every day and just draw what i draw, then i will never regret about this time. What matters is now, not what will happen with ur art in the future...or what happened in the past. In the end its all about how much u love doing what you do. I truly believe that anyone who has the passion to work hard in something, one day, there will be something rewarding to come.

Sheridan Art Jam 2007

Went to the Sheridan Art Jam on friday night...stayed for the whole thing from start to finish. Time flies when u're painting! Drinks, music, paint, food, unlimited canvuses. Super awesome event and great turn out. There were lots of things to paint on..paints and palettes were supplied........lots of artists...bar was opened...how cool can it be. haha

There were also lots of industry professional guests like gary taxali, anita kunz, jon todd, etc. lots of the illustration faculty like joe morse, kathryn adams, thom sevalrud, marco cibola, the list goes on...
I hope there will be another one next semester...can't wait for that to happen.

Here are some photos i took of the event!

Nicoletta Ceccoli's show at the Magic Pony

Went to the Nicoletta Ceccoli art show at the magic pony with a few friends recently..and it was...awesome! A must see, i think..we were all very impressed with the rendering of the paintings and the details of each piece...very impressive.

Its crazy also how everything was done in acrylics...and was so smooth..without any noticeable brushstrokes...unbelievable.

Here are some photos I took at the show, go check it out if you're in the area. heres the website for more info http://www.magic-pony.com/

Collage Sketches

In business lecture today, Kathryn Adams talked about the importance of updating blogs on a very regular basis....and we really should update 3-5 times a week or it would be a lot less effective. o_O
Guess I really should start updating more, we'll see how that goes.

Heres a little sketch for today. Pen, Ink and Pencil on brown paper.

Little Red Wolf Hood Sketch

Heres a sketch i finished and got approved by Harvey..gonna try to paint this with oils on wood i think as he suggested. Hopefully it turns out good so i can use this piece maybe for my year end show. Hmm and still need some ideas for decorative patterns in this piece..

Nostalgic Bus Stop

Been very very busy. Heres something new i did..if anyone remembers the classic totoro scene..This is inspired by it. This is a painting i am working on for Visual Narrative for Blair..its about my childhood dream. haha. Gonna be a fun piece to paint..here is the rough sketch and the first tonal, still need to work on lighting a bit more.

Hopefully i can finish this soon and post up the final.

Wish you were here

Title: Wish you were here
Drawing by Bobby Chiu (http://www.imaginismstudios.com)
Painting by Me

Here's a collaboration piece I did with Bobby Chiu this summer.

It was a great project and it was lots of fun to work on it.
This is for an upcoming magazine cover for Creation Engine. It is also in Imaginism Studio's upcoming book 'Dragon Sketches'. Its gonna be a really great and exciting book, so go to their site and check it out!

Here are some close ups of the image.



























































Hope you like it!

Working on a little comic thing..it has only 4 panels to tell a quick joke/story/etc. so this is panel 4...more to come..soon.

Here are some studies and rough sketches for a painting i am planning to start soon. I am going to do colour roughs for it first digitally but for the final i will be using a non digital medium to do it in for a change.

Sketches of Girls

Sorry for not posting so long, gotta update more often from now on!!
Sketches...of girls..

been a very long time

sorry for lack of updates..

i will start posting again. once i have some stuff to post up...

A few pieces

a bg painting i did... story 'girl in the hood' which is based on red riding hood fairytale..this is a layout bg i did for it. (Photoshop CS2)

















graphic design
(illustrator CS2)

cg again and some old graphic design work

Here are some Graphic Design work i did recently

cg

heres a piece from a week ro two back i forgot to post on blog..
and a bear sketch pic i did

cg of the week?

ok heres one for this week..an evil girl with no eyes i guess..kinda random.. was playing around in this program called art rage and ended up finishing it in photoshop..

winter breeze finished

finish painting this recently... more to come soon hopefully.

red guitar cg finished

i had fun paitning this in photoshop. with inspiration by benjamin


















also worked on this one a lil more on their faces..anyways heres the final