Monday, November 15, 2010

Destination 1

Been noodling at this over the past few weekends. I’m kind of tired of it, but I learned a few new things from it! I just wish I gave the guy a more dynamic pose. Next time.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Weekend Arting

Some thing I’ve been toying around with over the weekend! Hoping to get more done throughout the week!

Thumbnails for images I want to work on. The theme is “Destination”. Same character(s), different parts of a singular environment, different palletes.

destination_thumbs

Here’s the WIP for the first image. The colors are partially inspired by “Enslaved”. I really like some of the color choices they used in some of the stages.

destination_wip_a

First time messing around with Sculptris. Pretty fun stuff, so far!

sculptris_fun

Monday, October 4, 2010

“the Road” Screencap Study

Another study from another beautiful film. There were a bunch of parts from “The Road” that I wanted to try to reproduce, but I really liked the mood and the lighting of this one. It was a bit tricky trying to capture the complexity and density of all the set dressing, so I tried simplifying some areas. Once again, the composition and the colors are off. I could have spent some more time tweaking it, but I wanted to get some sleep Smile with tongue out

Ref:
road_ref

Sketch:
road_sketch

Sunday, October 3, 2010

“Sunshine” Screencap Study

I’m going to start doing some screencap studies from now on. I think it’s an excellent way to brush up on just about every skillset an illustrator needs. For me, I’m trying to improve or expand my color palette and mood. I recorded my process for this one (it was a very clumsy process, to be honest), but I ended up spending a bit more time with it afterwards.

Here’s the recording with some Daft Punk playing in the background:

Sunshine Sketch from Robin Chyo on Vimeo.


 

Here’s the reference picture:
sunshine_ref

And here’s my sketch:
sunshine

Obviously, there’s quite a few differences. There’s some minor issues with the composition. Chris Evans head is smaller in my sketch, and I’m sure there’s all sorts of color issues, too. Regardless, I’m fairly happy with how this one came out. But there’s definitely a lot of room for improvement.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

No More Beards

Man, it’s been a while. I felt like I really needed to post something. I’ve been really busy, so hopefully there’ll be some more updates soon. In the mean time, here’s this. (And yes, I’m going to take a brief break from designing characters with beards. Haha)
armord

Friday, July 16, 2010

Monday, July 12, 2010

Flyer Type-A

Something I’m still working on. Just got a few more things to tweak. Creatures are fun!

flyer_type_a_wip

Saturday, July 10, 2010

the art of robin chyo (book)

This month I’ll be heading out to San Diego Comic-Con, so I wanted to be able to bring something with me in hopes of landing some freelance work. I didn’t want to go with the same old Itoya portfolio with plastic sleeves. So I decided on creating an artbook. Not just as a portfolio, but for something people can actually buy (if they wanted to). There isn’t really any new work in here that isn’t already on my blog/site, but for me it’s all about presentation (even though I really rushed editing this book!). Here’s a preview:

Also, save 20% until July 31st by entering in the promotion code: LIBERATION

If there’s anyone that wants to meet up at Comic-Con or take a look at the book in person, feel free to send me an e-mail!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Begin Guy

Finished him up. Now on to fleshing out his weapon design..and perhaps an epic gory battle after that :D

Friday, June 18, 2010

Begin Guy (wip)

Here's my first pass on the character I used in the Begin piece. I need to make him look less grungy, though! :p

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Slumbering Isle of Vastyr

A late night speedy. It started off as the result of an hour-long demo for a friend, but I felt like it had some potential so I took it a bit further. :p

Monday, May 31, 2010

Begin

A concept piece for a sequence I've been tinkering with in my head for the past two years.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Internal Combustion

A speedy I've been working on during my free time. Hoping to get some more done soon.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Point

A quick speedy.

+Sketches

I didn't really get to go out to sketch all that much this past week, but hopefully I'll get some more stuff done soon!

Yeahh..sometimes I might get bored drawing something/someone from life and I'll just let my imagination go crazy. So here's some crazy for you guys!



Nothing like drawing an imaginary man licking an old man drinking coffee at Starbucks. @____@ Pretty creepy now that I think about it.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Intense

Just wanted to try to sneak in a speed painting before my weekend came to a close. I didn't really get to do what I was originally going for, but I had fun tinkering with this.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Sketch X

Been spending the past few weeks drawing at the local coffee shops with my buddy, Paul T. It's been a while since I've spent this much time working with a traditional medium. It's been fun and nostalgic at the same time. :] Looking forward to doing some figure drawing sessions soon!

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Girls

Another late night sketchy. I like Rose Byrne! She's a cutie..but this isn't her. It's kinda her, I guess. Haha.

Flex

Some late late late night sketching. I really had fun doing this and I'll hopefully get a chance to recycle some of these guys.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Chyobot Attacks!

Late night doodle. Haven't done this in a while. Hoping to do more more often :]

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Mech WIP

I was recently inspired by my pal, Josh Kao, to do a mech design. I spent a lot of time playing around trying to get a nice shape composition on this one and did my best to do something that's not based on the human anatomy. I'm not 100% happy with it and I'm sure I'll be tweaking some things around (legs, perspective, head, etc), but I think it's at the point where I feel like I can now render it up.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Fly By + Site Renovated

Hello,  all.

So first off, I wanted to let those of you who haven't been to my main site in the past week know that I've recently changed the look and feel of the site. I was mainly inspired by my buddy, Kevin Dalton's new fancy site. Plus I was looking to get a non-Flash site up soon, seeing as how not many cell phones can access Flash-based sites, yet. So I hope you'll all take a moment to check it out when you get the chance!



And here's a new speedpainting-ish piece I just wrapped up. I had quite a bit of fun with this one. I think I'll be moving onto a character design + illustration combo next. Till next time..poop!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Beautiful/Grim

Wow, it's been a while. Here's my Beautiful/Grim piece. It might go through some slight tweaks, but this is it for the most part.



I'll be doing some more painting this week, so expect some more frequent updates! :]

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Alien WIP

Just to prove that I still do art and I wasn't COMPLETELY unproductive during my vacation, here's a work-in-progress  shot of an alien I've been experimenting with.



Happy new year, everyone! :]

Friday, January 1, 2010

Review: 2009

My summary of 2009:

2009 was pretty much the year where I felt like I was really starting to become a real professional concept artist. Making the bold move to quit my job (and during the recession!) with no opportunity waiting for me was something I can't imagine myself doing a few years back. I got to work with a lot more companies this year and in doing so, I feel like I gained a lot more insight on the industry and what makes a good company and what makes a really bad one. All in all, I learned a lot. Even with the bad experiences.

Many thanks to all my family, friends and colleagues who stuck by me and gave me good advice and feedback. This decade marks the very beginning of my career and I'm excited, scared, and anxious to see what the next decade will have in store for me. :]

====

Best of ....2009

This year there were a lot of things that I got to see and experience that really inspired and influenced myself and my art and so I thought I'd share some of them with all of you. Hopefully you'll get to check out some of these someday! Please keep in mind that I obviously haven't seen or played everything that's come out in 2009, so this list is just based off what I've seen and done (which really isn't that much!) Lots of nerdy stuff, but I wouldn't recommend something that I can't enjoy.

Video Game:
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3), Amazon, Wiki
This game was definitely the game of the year for me. It was just as much as a movie as it was a game. The characters and their dialogue were very natural and fun. The gameplay itself was paced extremely well and at times very nerve-racking. The multiplayer component is one that I even enjoyed (I usually hate playing multiplayer. Especially on consoles). For decades, developers have been trying to make games feel more like movies. With Naughty Dog's Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, developers will now be trying to make games feel more like Uncharted 2.

--Runner's Up
God of War Collection (PS3), Amazon, Wiki
This was actually the first time I played the first God of War, and I'm honestly amazed that a game from 2005 can be just as fun or enjoyable as most other games from the past year. Even with visuals from the previous generation, God of War holds up extremely well and proves that art direction weighs a whole lot more than pure polycount and normal maps. The level of epicness from both games leads me to believe that nobody is going to be prepared for what Sony Santa Monica is about to unleash upon the world with it's follow up, God of War 3 in March. Also, everyone should keep an eye-out on their favorite video game news site in January, as there's supposed to be some new footage from GOW 3 released and I hear it's pretty phenomenal!

Movie/Animation:
District 9 (Blu-Ray, DVD, VOD), Amazon, Wiki
Neill Blomkamp was a filmmaker who I had my eye on for the past few years. I had seen all his shorts prior to the announcement of the now-cancelled Halo movie and the recently released District 9. It's really impressive watching his shorts from years ago. He really does have a nack for blending his CG characters with his environments and at the same time the twist that he puts on his subject matter in his shorts are really intriguing. Before I heard he was going to be doing the Halo film, I was a bit disappointed because I thought he'd make a really good director for a CG/live-action Ghost in the Shell film (especially if you've seen his short, "Yellow" ). But I'm really glad that he got to do District 9. I enjoyed pretty much everything about the movie. The character development of Witkus, the brutality and non-shyness of the violence and gore, the aliens, and the exo-suit. What Blomkamp and company did with $30 million is create something most can't do with $200 million. Along with JJ Abrams, I think Blomkamp will be creating some really interesting work in the near future that will appeal to hardcore and non-hardcore fans of the genres they end up working with. Also, I really enjoyed Blomkamp's humble commentary on the Blu-ray.

--Runner's Up
UP (Blu-Ray, DVD, VOD), Amazon, Wiki
I love Pixar movies. I know you do, too! And UP is no exception to the people like us who love Pixar. Now, I don't love every Pixar movie, but I sure do love the ones that show a hint of darkness to them. The ones that take themselves a bit seriously at times. The Incredibles had quite a bit of this as did Wall-E (although it was a bit more shy about it). UP, on the other hand has a great deal of this. The entire story is based on a man getting over his recently diseased wife! Props to Pixar for taking a bit of a risk on this one. But of course, the movie has a bunch of laughs, really amazing visuals and characters. To me, it's the perfect family movie. My only nit-pick is that the Blu-Ray didn't come with a 3D version of the movie.

TV Show:
Damages (Wiki) + Sons of Anarchy (Wiki)
Big time tie for these two awesome shows. FX has been doing a great job the past few years with their original series. Damages was a show I didn't think I'd be interested in. I guess I usually don't really care for legal dramas, but the story and the cast really do an excellent job. The way they the plot unfolds is really something special and keeps you involved and curious throughout it all. Also, Rose Byrne's one crazy cute girl! :p Now for Sons of Anarchy. Like Damages, I didn't think I'd care for a show centered on a biker gang. And again, like Damages, the cast and story really draw you in. The conflicts built between the different groups in the show is always suspenseful and you always end up wondering how one conflict will affect the other characters. It's pretty much Grand Theft Auto: The TV Series. The recent season finale for SoA really makes me wonder what I should be expecting for season 3.

Music:
M83 (Wiki)
I honestly don't know much about M83, but I love their music. For those who aren't in the know, it's like Sigur Ros, but weirder, and for aliens. Simply put, this music can sometimes make me feel full of energy and wonder, scared, sad, and happy. M83 really knows how to make their audience emote. I first found out about M83 by watching this Youtube video that featured one of my favorite songs by them, "Lower Your Eyelids to Die with the Sun".

--Runner's Up
Muse (Wiki)
Muse's new album this year was quite excellent, but the reason why it's not number one is because it lost a bit of it's charm from the previous albums. It's not as bombastic and potent with energy and rock as their preceding albums. But any Muse album is an amazing album. I'm actually going to be watching their show in April at the Oracle arena!

--Runner's Up
God of War II OST (Amazon)
Yes, a second runner's up and yes, another God of War mention. The music is just really awesome. I used to listen to this on my way to work in order to get my adrenaline pumping. You really feel like you can take on the entire world when you listen to these tracks. I think I had this playing in my car for about 4 months, straight! The reason why it's the second runner's up is because this album was released back in 2007. Still worth checking out, though!