Rusty Banana Forge

Ah good ol’ 80s cartoons. Back in the day when everyone had no cable TV or Internet… When you could talk with your friends about the latest episode of whatever cartoon, and they’d be watching it too.

They made Transformers into several movies. I’m hoping there’d be a Thundercats one. I was a lot more fascinated with Thundercats. (And besides, Cheetara was hot.) The animation is spectacular and the relationships between the characters made it more human than Transformers ever will be. (I mean you’d balk over the idea of a big hunky robot having romantic scenes with a human, right?)

Although I did read that there will be a “new” Thundercats. Can anyone confirm this?

Mark Santos invited me to speak at the Xavier Grade School Library about illustration. All in all around 60 students attended from grades 2 to 7 (except for grade 6, they were on a field trip.) I discussed what an illustrator/illustration is as well as how a book gets done. Here’s that handout I gave the students.

The students were very well behaved and got rowdy as only boys can. They are free to email or YM me if they like. Man for others, that’s me.

The trip was also nostalgic for me, seeing a very different Xavier School during the daytime (my last time there was evening, for the Golden Jubilee.) The libraries impressed me the most. The facilities were very up-to-date. They had computers set up for the internet, and the audio-visual rooms have expanded. They even had comics and my children’s book “Zohn’s Tale to Tell” in the Grade School Library! I should’ve taken more than one photo! Gaaaah!

This photo is of me and my favorite “arcade” game back in Xavier. This is the oldest thing I could remember from my stay in Xavier. I guess that’s why I just had to have a photo taken with them.

Those tables behind me are what I now call as the “Marble Attack” tables. Two opposing players at opposite ends of the table set up their toy soldiers and then take turns rolling marbles to topple them down into the deposit. Kinda like bowling with marbles. This was before Street Fighter.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Isorena!! I haven’t seen him since Grade school! He is still every Xavieran’s art teacher (since, I can only guess… the 80s)!! Art class was my favorite class, of course. As I understand it, his art club is even involved with sculpting.

I also had the honor of shaking hands with Father Mena, who now quietly works at the Xavier archives. He said he remembers my face but not my name. That’s what I told the other faculty I met during that day!

Of course I finally discovered the name for that cute stallion mascot of Xavier School: HOOFY!

Here’s a site that’s just full of the good ol’ days. The Nostalgia Manila blog features popular culture from 1960 - 1980s Manila. I wouldn’t be able to tell whether it goes beyond that to the 1950s Manila… because that’s already alien to me. Baka puwede pa ang 60s…

You don’t have to be in your 30s to take this nostalgia trip. Nostalgia Manila is great resource material (check out those mint condition items!). It’s got those pop culture oddities that writers today can make use of - kaya biyahe na!

Courtesy to Gerry Alanguilan for posting this up.

When I was a child, I was not influenced at all by Pinoy funny comics - quite unlike many of my contemporaries here in the Philippines, nor was I ever hooked on any American superhero. My passions often lie in the process - of the unfolding of either an piece of art or story.

John Stanley’s teenage humor comic book back in the 60s, published by Dell Comics. My aunties collected these - along with many other books. The books were only going for 60 cents!!

Thirteen Going on Eighteen has very expressive characters and wholesome American 60s humor. Call me a over the hill swing & disco baby, but I enjoyed watching the characters move and reading their gags. The Archie’s (which are still in print today) pale in comparison chiefly because their lines are too “sticker” &”poster” and don’t sing like Val & Judy’s hip curves.

There are webcomics these days that often have characters whose expressions are either weak or all too easily resort to manga expressionistic devices. At times character anatomy is butchered and then their parts cut & pasted into the required poses for the sake of expediency. Gratuitous use of photographed backgrounds in cartoon strip panels doesn’t convince me as a style - only as a timesaving device. The word “busy” has primarily decided the artistic fate of many webcomics and “economy” is a word not far behind. (I’m guilty of this.) Maybe it’s a far cry from the cartoonists of yesteryear, or maybe it’s because the cartoonists of long ago didn’t have as many distractions, a PC, or a digital camera. These days anyone can be a cartoonist and even the good ones (with few exceptions) have to keep a day job.

I’ve been a big fan of art that shows illustrative expertise since I first picked up my first copy of Thirteen Going on Eighteen. The story and comedy are still appealing to a degree, but it’s the art that made me scan a page and post it up. Now everyone’s got their idea of “illustrative expertise”. The idea that it’s all about communicating separates the draftsmen from the artist. But the same idea lets “artists” get away with their poorly drawn crap. Frankly, based from my experiences as an illustrator, illustration not only has to communicate - it has to sing.

Digging up old stuff to sell I came across my old Wooly Willy toy. It’s got a face, iron filings, and a magnetic “wand”. The face and the iron filings are underneath a plastic shield - and you simply use the magnetic wand to put hair onto the face. Quite novel. I wonder if they did a female version (imagine all that facial hair).

Probably made obsolete by Hetch-a-Sketch and Magna-Doodle (also magnetic). But I would say it subconciously influenced my present use of magnets (ie Wacom Intuos tablets) in creating art and my fascination with the human face.

The Wooly Willy toy still works even for the condition that it’s in. But even if it didn’t work or if it were in mint condition - I won’t be selling it.