Hard Boiled to the Max

Tutorial

2008-04-21T23:33:00.000-07:00

Since I get so much request for tutorial from student and professional alike, I'll just post this "Memories Lost" This was done a while back, early 2007 I think.

The artbook have arrived

2007-07-19T13:30:00.000-07:00

You can get your signed copy here: http://liquidbrush.com/store.asp
I might not be able to make it to San Diego Con. Got too much stuff on
my plate at the moment.

New Art book

2007-07-11T00:15:00.000-07:00

Ah! been so busy lately working on a bunch of projects. Hopefully it'll come together and I can update. In the meantime here is one project that coming together, my latest art book. I'm co-publishing it with Alberto Ruiz over at Brandstudios http://processjunkie.blogspot.com/ The guy is brilliant!

The book is on its way; not sure when I'll get it, but here is some info:

Price: $24.95 US Dollars, 48 pages Full-Color, 8.5"x12" Full-Bleed, Hardcover, Perfect bound-Sewn Pages

Latest Award

2007-03-27T01:15:00.000-07:00

I've just received an award from CGtalks for my latest piece "Blond Gaijin" Yippee!

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=137&t=464305

Award

2007-03-27T00:47:00.000-07:00

Also included are some of my previous award from CGtalks, I'm so vain :

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=137&t=242971

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=137&t=302674

Tutorial for Imagine FX magazine

2007-02-21T20:34:00.000-08:00

This piece was done as a tutorial for Imagine FX magazine (issue #15)

Cover

2007-02-18T13:23:00.000-08:00

Here is the cover, Happy New Year!

Imagine FX magazine

2007-02-18T13:11:00.000-08:00

I recently did the cover and a tutorial for Imagine FX magazine (issue #15) Will post the cover soon.

2dartistmag interview

2007-01-27T15:18:00.000-08:00

Here is my recent interview in the latest issue of the http://www.2dartistmag.com/ (Jan. 07')

Little Red

2006-12-19T00:17:00.000-08:00

My latest painting.

Spectrum 13

2006-11-25T17:02:00.000-08:00

2 of my arts was feature in the latest Spectrum 13 The quality seems to goes up a notch every year.

Memories Lost

2006-10-16T17:43:00.000-07:00

I'm getting allot of milages out of this picture. It's feature in the latest issue of www.2dartistmag.com

Barnes & Noble

2006-09-28T13:32:00.000-07:00

My book is now on sale at Barnes & Noble. Yippee!
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ISBN=0978722205&pdf=y

An international exhibition of digital art

2006-09-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

Two of my paintings have been selected for an exhibition at the Lyceum Theatre Gallery. I'm pretty excited about that, since it was chosen from all the entries that were submitted, by artists from all over the world.

http://www.artofdigitalshow.com/

An international exhibition of digital art at the elegant Lyceum Theatre Galleryin San Diego's historic Gaslamp Quarter
Exhibition: October 6 - November 19, 2006
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 7th
Judge: Hugh Davies Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
Curator: Steven Churchill

Bud Plant Store

2006-08-29T14:57:00.000-07:00

My book is on sale at Bud Plant, one of the best place to find artbook from all over the world.
http://budplant.com/product.asp?pn=HAHS

CGbrainchild

2006-08-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

My work is feature over on http://www.cgbrainchild.com/
a place for inspirations, really cool site!

Books

2006-08-18T22:53:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of the books:

Tutorial

2006-08-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

Allot of people have been asking for a tutorial and so here it is.
I made this for CGTalks a while back, click here if you haven't seen it:

http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=3230

Sketchbook part3

2006-08-14T00:53:00.000-07:00

I should back up and start with the layout of the book. Like I said before I love looking at original works at the scale the artists intended it to be.

So with that in mind, I wanted to create a book that would give the audience something to remember. To give everyone a chance to see the original work at the same scale. I then divided the book up into three sections; character and concept designs, pin-ups, and a work-in-progress comic.

The concept works was comprised of my own original game and comic characters. Stuff that I was thinking about for years, most of these drawing was done over a period of ten years. Some pieces are in various stages of completion. And the reason I decided to includes these were to show my thought process and my approaches to finishing them. Maybe on my next book, I'll show my step by step techniques.

Next up are the pin-up that was commissions by various fans (Ok, I actually have more than 2 fans) These were fairly simple, pretty girls in different costumes.

The last part is the comic book that I've been working on and off for the past decade. Just could never get myseft to finish it. Anyway presented here for the very first time. So, after many months and years of hard works. The book is finally here (see picture above)

d'artiste concept book

2006-08-13T23:51:00.000-07:00

Got my book over the weekend and my art work "Memories Lost" was feature in the latest d'artiste concept art. Published by Ballistic http://www.ballisticpublishing.com/books/dartiste_concept_art/

I highly recommend it, one of the best concept book I've seen in a long time. Click here to see all the arts from the book: http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?threadid=392930

business card

2006-08-10T23:10:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to designed my own business card. Looks pretty good if I do say so myself :)

Feature Portfolio

2006-08-07T10:35:00.000-07:00

My portfolio have been selected for the "Feature Portfolio" this week (over in CGtalks http://portfolio.cgsociety.org/ ) It'll be up for about a week. Yippee!

Sketchbook part 2

2006-08-04T01:26:00.000-07:00

After playing around with the layout and pondering what my next step was...

I've decided that its just looks too cheap going with Kinko. Not that there anything wrong with going this route; it just didn't appeal to me. The quality will not last, plus I'm thinking big here.

The biggest thrill for me (when I attend these comic conventions) is cruising around the artist alley and checking out their works. Nothing beat seeing the original up close and personal. To see the art at their original size (11"x17") so much is lost when you see the final product. Sometime the end result is just not there, due to: time constraint, bad coloring, cheap paper, bad artists team-up, or whatever...

So I've decided to print my book at 11"x17" inch size, printed the art one-to-one scale. No reduction in the artworks, its going to be glorious! Started to check out various printers. I found out about the print-on-demand (POD) possiblity. Which makes allot of sense, if your on a limited budget. I found a bunch of them and had some sent me samples and quote. And after reviewing the materials, I had to make a pass. It looks cheap and the quality just isn't there, I guess you get what you pay for. So off I go to look for a offset printer...

HOLY SMOKES!!! its frigging expensive! But I was still determine, I figure if you give them quality, they'll come back for more. My next plan was to created something similiar to a sketchbook that you buy at the art store, you know one of them spiral binding sketch pad. Similiar to this (see picture above)

By now i've settled on a printer. So I got them to sent me a sample of the spiral binding. I didn't like it, its not what I've envision, plus at that size the pages seems to come off. I've told them to give me a perfect binding softcover. Another problem arise, the weight of the paper and spine just could not support it at the 11"x17" size. Crap! My next step was to go with hardcover.

By this time the cost have gone up dramatically, from spiral to softcover to hardback binding. The cost have quadruple from my initial quote. Shit!

I guess the artist in me have taken charge, quality all the way, not a sound business plan. And
after talking with my better half, I forged ahead (I've told her we'll make it all back, wishful thinking :P)

For the next few months, back and forth between me and the printer, I've made so many changes and ask for so many quotes, I'm supprised they didn't hang up.

To be continue...

sketchbook

2006-08-04T01:09:00.000-07:00

So, I've been wanting to do a sketchbook for the longest time, just never got around to it. I have a few fans (maybe one or two) been hounding me about a sketckbook, so I've decided to take the plunged this year. I was going to prepared it in time for the 2006 San Diego Convention. Maybe I can sell about 200 to 300 copies, enough monies to pay for the trip and some beers :P

So much for that huh? the convention came and went, I missed it by 2 weeks. And my book is still in transit. Oh well, maybe I'll be better prepare for next year. The Wonder Con. is coming up though...

Anyway, here is the run down of my adventure into publishing. What a great learning experience it has been for me. I learned so much about self publishing and I barely even scratch the surface.

I've started out preparing something that allot of comic artists do now-a-day, making personal sketchbook. I've bought a few of them myself, some of the arts are awesome, but the quality isn't so great. Its pretty much the same as making xerox copies of your work and having Kinko collate and bind them. So I set out to do the same, I figure the cost won't be too much and its something I can whipped out in no time. I've even layout the cover and did a mock-up of the book. And was pretty proud of it too. But, (to be continue... getting sleepy)

Comparison

2006-08-01T23:43:00.000-07:00

Here is a comparison of an earlier version. OK, that's enough of this piece. Time to move on, I promise to post the latest and greatest soon.

I got allot of stuffs brewing in the background, standby...

Close-up

2006-07-30T00:02:00.000-07:00

Here is some close-up of the painting, the hand are a bit big, but I guess its a matter of preferences.

Eternal Sorrow's painting

2006-07-27T17:32:00.000-07:00

Been working on and off on this painting, mostly it was an exercise in frustration. I could never get the result that I wanted. I started using Tria markers, but it was too hard to control. So took it into Photoshop and after many iterations I'm sorta happy...

Testing

2006-07-24T15:15:00.000-07:00

Not much of a blogger am I? just testing...