Chi-Yun Lau – Illustration

I’ve been neglecting this blog lately. Obviously I’ve had my hands full with the kid, but I do admit to some laziness. With that said, here’s a dump of a bunch of pieces I’ve recently completed.

These are some spot illustrations I did for the Improper Bostonian’s Fall arts preview. Each person is someone known in Boston’s arts and culture scene. For example, Keith Lockhart (second from the last, in the tux) is the conductor for the Boston Pops.

Here’s the latest Beer Advocate piece. Obviously it’s about Thanksgiving.

And lastly, a fun personal piece that took way to long to finish. I’ve become a big fan of A Place to Bury Strangers and I got the idea of doing a poster that visually interpreted their ‘wall of sound’ approach.

A guy I drew at work the other day. I was playing with my new #4/1.2mm rapidograph and some prismacolor markers.

The latest Beer Advocate piece called for an illustration that showed the mixing of seasonal beers and how they seem to come earlier and earlier. Here, Fall is being supplanted by Winter.

I thought I’d show the process of creating the last Beer Advocate editorial.

Here, we start with the thumbnail sketch which is sent to the editor for approval.

I was having some trouble finding the exact angle of the starship Enterprise that I wanted (google image search failed me!), so I made my own reference in 3DS Max.

Here, I rough out the background.

Here is the pencil version of the ship which I drew on tracing vellum over a print of the 3d model.

Inked with a #3 and #1 watercolor brush.

And the final inked version! I actually did the background in Painter since it’s easier for me to get the Kirby crackle digitally, and the colors added in Photoshop.

The latest Beer Advocate illo speaks for itself I think.

My wife, Nancy, has started a blog about our crazy life as parents! Check it out here!

The latest Beer Advocate piece:

And a little piece I did for the NY Spirit about surviving the recession.

Obviously I’ve been sneaking in some street fighter 4.

A character I’ve been working on for the Stylus summer project.