Rusty Banana Forge

Taking comic book techniques and putting them into a fully colored children’s book about the two greatest national heroes in Philippine history - what an amazing privilege for me to work on such a project!

Below is the (fairly done) illustration for the cover:

Brought to you by Adarna House and written by the prolific Filipino children’s book writer Rene Villanueva, (who has wrote all the commercial children’s books I’ve done so far,) Dalawang Bayani tells the stories of both Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio, side-by-side, from their childhood to their passing.

I felt I was illustrating two children’s books for the price of one!

It is first and foremost a history book (in Tagalog), then given the tension of an impressionistic cartoon-comic style with a cinematic lyricism playing first to children and then to adults - (what else would you expect from yours truly?) And for my English-reading friends, an English translation is also included.

It should be out in stores here in Metro Manila sometime in May 2007. I hope every Filipino boy & girl will be able to read a copy, and I will be very pleased if you will consider getting a copy of this book for your library as well.

Fernando Amorsolo is perhaps one of the greatest Filipino Painters. I was asked by Artfarm Asia to do a pasture setting reminiscent of Amorsolo.

Here it is, still unfinished:

Frankly I’m not going to even compare myself to the master painter. I did learn a lot though trying to emulate his style - on Photoshop. There is always a different color palette to every artist, and when you study another painter’s (more so a master) - it enriches your own.

Of course I still had to pull my own punches. The cloud forms are typical of what you’d see in my previous works. Moreover, the detailing isn’t as refined. Lastly, given that this’ll only appear for at most 2 seconds on a TV commercial, there are no human elements.

If you are interested in Japanese culture, would like to take a trip along Japan (but don’t have the time or the money), and enjoyed the Forrest Gump movie, please watch Kintaro Walks Japan.

It’s a very refreshing and lighthearted journey of an American seeking to discover his father’s birthplace in Japan as well as capturing the heart of his beloved. He WALKS from the southern most tip to the northern most tip of Japan in 6 months! A very inspiring true story! Well edited and entertaining. At the very least, you’d wish you’d walk more often!!

It’s wonderful for me now and then to be involved in real life romantic melodrama. It’s the stuff of a love life - complete with a broken heart.

I got along well with a pretty Chinese girl I knew way back in college. She was Christian, but her parents were not. I saw her now and then at our college, but I definitely wanted to catch her more often - being quite attracted to her.

She’s a real nice lady. We never got together the way couples do, but I would wonder. I wondered for every year after graduating college whether becoming more than friends would work. Unfortunately besides seeing her almost only once a year on her birthday (great timing), wondering was pretty much all I did. I did give her caricatures of her, but I’m not exactly famous yet so that doesn’t count much (YET).

Over the years I’ve witnessed my parents’ marriage survive despite my father’s mental instability, thanks to my mother’s faith & perseverance. I’ve seen my brother’s marriage crumble from day one because of his wife’s (and her mother’s) lack of love & patience. Lately, there are weddings and rumors of weddings going around among my friends. All in all, I consider myself fortunate to learn from everyone who has gone before. What’s more I’ve walked closer & closer with God thanks to the company I keep.

So based on experience and understanding that I had the privilege, as all Christians do, of asking God to reveal to me whether or not my relationship with my college crush would be according to His plan for me.

I got an answer from the Lord 2 days after that heartfelt prayer. I got a text message from my friend saying that her laptop had been infected and she needed help. One thing led to another and we decided to meet. I got the spinal shiver of my life when I find out she’s changed dramatically as well - and not all for the better. The second chill (more like shattering heartbreak) was when I found out she was now seeing someone.

I apologize dear reader if you are not privy to what exactly crushed my impression of her, But I shall go no further with the details as she and I remain friends. She is still very much the sweet sensitive girl I knew, so perhaps it is merely the distance between us that has widened.

I shall tell you however that God does speak, now in this way or another, even if we do not perceive it. It is by His Spirit we hear Him. In joy I told my friend how God answered my prayer, though it was ironic how it made her feel (and it made me uneasy too). I spent my last few minutes with her that night in prayer that God would give her wisdom (among other things) to deal with all that’s going on in her life. We were grateful for God’s peace and the words that were shared, and thus went our separate ways.

The story will not end here, but I can only hope against hope for a happy ending.

One-of-a-kind Nelz Yumul has got his foot into surreal graphic design and painting - tapping the veins of Ashley Wood and Dave McKean, among others. And on March 23, he has got yet another exhibit coming up. You can find more details here:

Twilight Concoction

It’s amazing how his head comes up with this stuff.

Check out these avatars from the folks at Sugoistuff.net!

Better yet just visit Sugoi Stuff, a group blog featuring sugoi (”cool”) stuff in the Philippines and Japan and back again!

It’s fairly new and updated quite often. I find it a pleasant way to stay in touch with all the nutty stuff that goes on in both places.

Gerry Alanguilan’s built quite a reputation for himself, so now Architect Gerry has built his own online store to sell his comics and originals. Find it here.

Perhaps a online one-stop shop for local comic book creators isn’t too far behind!

I’ve been injudiciously tagged by the very weird Jonas Diego.

1. I’ve composed and recorded 13 of my own piano compositions. One of which I played during my Yamaha piano class recital in the old Virramall, (instead of the simple compositions they have graduates do.) But I hate having to read musical notes.
2. I was trained to speed read.
3. In my garden at home, I missed kicking a soccer ball and so flipped and landed on the back of my head. I laid on the ground for a long time, dazed & short of breath. Fortunately no one in the world saw this wonderfully comical incident. Talk about Charlie Brown.
4. When I was real young I was reprimanded for peeking under a girl’s skirt (while in a spiritual retreat no less.) Honestly, I didn’t know what I exactly was apologizing for at that time.
5. I sleep with 5 pillows. I used to sleep with 7. My smallest pillow is approximately 3.5×4.5 inches. I hope it will grow pudgier one day. I guess you can say I see a bit of myself in it.
6. I was part of the University of the Philippines Rayadillo, the university honor guard. It is completely out of my character & my physique to join such troop, but I really didn’t know what I was getting into when I was offered to be a part of it. After it all, I’m proud that I did.
7. Back in high school I would enjoy debating with my Roman Catholic friends that the virgin Mary wasn’t a virgin all her life and that the Pope wasn’t without sin.
8. When I was young I almost drowned trying to swim across the width (yes the width) of a swimming pool. (During a church outing, no less.) It was unique experience. Anyway I was saved, figuratively speaking.
9. I won 3rd place, 20,000php, and a plaque writing an essay about the MRT before it was fully functional. I was in studying architecture then and my professor was quite surprised that an arki student would win such a thing (and award 20,000php as well to the college.) I would’ve won at least second place if not for the Palanca award-winning writer who got top prize. The only competitive contest I’ve ever won anything in.
10. I’ve pulled out my baby teeth all by myself. Sadly, I lost one to the sink.

Now I would like to tag Elbert Or.