In Between Panels

Vincent Van Gogh's "View of the Sea at Scheveningen".

I feel like this painting. You can't spell painting without, "pain."

Labels: art, art related, curios, discovery, paintings, waxing poetic

Because, Hollywood.

Labels: aha, art related, movies, whatever

MANILA, Philippines - The Central Bank once designed a P500-bill featuring former President Marcos, Fe Dela Cruz, Director of the Corporate Affairs Office for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) confirmed recently. 

However, such banknotes did not reach the circulation stage," she said.

The P500 bills we know from the 80s to this day instead feature Marcos' arch-political rival, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr.

Go to P500-bill with Marcos face was never circulated to read the rest of the story.

Labels: aaahh, art related, controversial, cool, curios, discovery, history

KOMIKON SUMMER FIESTA 2009
UP Bahay ng Alumni, UP Diliman
May 16, 2009, 10am-8pm, Saturday
entrance fee: P50.00

with Special Guests...
Wilson Tortosa (Wolverine: Prodigal Son) and Manix Abrera (kikomachine)

Join our PALARONG PINOY including our first ever "KOMIKON IDOL"!!! (para sa mga mahihilig bumirit)

see you all there!!!

Labels: aha, art related, awesome, comics, comics related, cool, entertainment, events, feast, happy gathering, launching

Resumption of the West Side strips continue after a 2 year hiatus. Woohoooo! This is the short version of the original which was done in a two-part extended version to celebrate the come back, (you could see by clicking the image). I aiming to post one strip a week so I could stick to a schedule and keep on churning strips on a regular basis. Then as soon as I get back on the groove I'll go to posting twice a week and dare I say, three times a week. O ha?! O ha?! In the meantime I'll be posting random bonus strips online which didn't come out in the paper when the mood strikes. Anyhoo, I hope you guys like this one for the new year!

Labels: art related, awesome, comics, cool, funny stuff, West Side comic

New laugh-out-loud strip from my friend, Andrei, which I discovered while browsing through his blog. Belatedly.

Labels: aaahh, art related, awesome, comics, cool, funny stuff, pang-asar

Just discovered they finished doing my Fan Friendster profile. Awesome!

Labels: aha, art related, awesome, cartoons, comics related, cool, discovery, launching

Do any of you remember that animated segment in Sesame Street where a small girl holding a balloon narrates her daydreams with, "What would happen if...?"

Now imagine what would happen if Adobe Photoshop came in a box and you'd have to set up everything manually?

Yeah. It looks crappy but what if the package comes with an undo button too?

Labels: art related, awesome, cool, cute, funny stuff, pang-asar, uh-huh

See you all there!!!

Labels: art related, awesome, cartoons, comics, comics related, cool, discovery, entertainment, events, feast, happy gathering, launching

You are cordially invited to "TSUBIBO"
Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan's 17th annual exhibition

Opening night:

WHEN: Tuesday, Oct 28, 2008

WHERE: 4th Level, Shangri-la mall, Mandaluyong

TIME: 7pm

Ang I.N.K.’s "Tsubibo” opens at Shangri-la Mall

Children's illustrators group Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang-InK) opens their 17th annual exhibition titled "Tsubibo" on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at the 4th level Shangri-la Plaza Mall, Mandaluyong City.

“Tsubibo,” explores one of the most popular attractions for children and children at heart: the carnival, in a showcase of over 30 works from Ang I.N.K. members using digital art, paper sculpture, drawing, painting and mixed media.

Ang I.N.K. treats its audience to the sights and sounds of the carnival as “Tsubibo” presents the carnival’s wild and wacky cast of characters, and delves into the thrills and chills of rides, arcade games, and other sideshow attractions.

Founded in 1991, Ang I.N.K.’s roster includes full-time freelance illustrators, graphic designers, painters, writer-illustrators , visual arts teachers and students, and artists working in publishing companies, design-related firms and advertising agencies. Apart from children's books, Ang I.N.K. members or "INKies" continue to produce workbooks, textbooks, murals, animated features, product designs and merchandising, both individually and as a group. Several INKies are recipients of local and international awards and continue to make names for themselves both here and abroad.

Presented by Adarna House, OMF Literature, Summit Media, and Oishi, "Tsubibo" runs until Nov. 14 at the Shangri-la Plaza Mall, followed by a 1-day exhibition at the UP College of Fine Arts Art Bazaar on November 15. For inquiries, e-mail blooey@gmail. com.

Hope to see you there!!

Labels: art related, awesome, cool, events, happy gathering, launching

Two new locally produced animated movies are coming soon on the silver screen. The first is Dayo ("Wanderer"), one of eight official entries in this year's Metro Manila Filmfest:

Jessie Lasaten, multi-awarded music composer and arranger for Filipino films "Anak," "Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa," among others, heads Cutting Edge as its Chief Executive Officer, and Executive Producer of "Dayo." Through the production of "Dayo," he challenges his pool of creative minds, and animators to compete on a regional scale by way of content creation.

Its narrative centers around an 11-year old kid named Bubuy (voiced by Nash Aguas) who is out save his beloved grandparents abducted into Elementalia -- a fantasy land abounding with strange flora and fauna, and a host of popular creatures from Philippine lower mythology.

Bubuy meets Anna manananggirl (voiced by Katrina Legaspi), a hyperactive teener with a special affection for all things human -- but not of a tummy-filling kind. Both Bubuy and Anna take on a wild, will-testing, and wonderfully funny adventure all over Elementalia -- from a massive falls teeming with gravity-defying merfolk; to an awe-inspiring crystal cave that houses a swarm of colorful alitubi; to a grand old tree that's home to a motherly female kapre; and finally to a majestic mountain guarded by a big pack of hungry aswangs.

Sounds interesting. Another animation working on the same premise as "Dayo" is from Creative Media and Film Society of the Philippines (CreaM) set to be shown maybe early next year:

From Bessie Badilla del Castillo, Imee Marcos, Mina Caliguia and a number of very talented Filipino artists from Art Farm Asia, check out this first all-Filipino-talent anime of one of the Philippines' famous folklore "aswang". It is making quite some noise in the international anime scene from Hong Kong to Cannes, France.

Fly Aswang - Filipino animation series based on Philippine Mythology. Against their mother Bessie's wishes, her three Filipina-American daughters travel to Manila for a cousin's wedding. Instead they are trapped in a vampire or aswang ritual and their family's history of supernatural power until Bessie come to save them.

Originally conceptualized for a 13 episode TV series. But because of it's story and the quality of work done by the artists and members of Creative Media Philippines (CreaM), the group is now challenged to make Fly Aswang into a full-length-featured anime with a 90 minute running time. It will still be in Tagalog and Tag-Lish and will be subtitled when it is submitted for international competition.

The original will be in Tagalog except for the three girls, Isabel, Blanca and Ines who will be speaking Tag-Lish. The Hong Kong version (for HK anime/film fest April 2008) will be in English as requested by HK film makers. French version will be in the original format with French subtitles which will premier in Cannes in July 2008. ~ From arkitekfhc's "Fly Aswang" Trailer - An Original Filipino Anime post

Both movies look promising judging from the trailer both animation studios are obviously seeking to break out from the old tradition of full length locally animated movies released before like Adarna: The Mythical Bird (1997) and Urduja (2007), both official MMFF entries. I do hope this jumpstarts the trend for local animation studios to churn more quality indie film features worthy of international standards.

Labels: art related, awesome, cartoons, cool, curios, discovery, entertainment, launching, movies

This confirms it.

'Opus' creator to retire from drawing comic strips
The Associated Press
Oct. 8, 2008, 3:25 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Berkeley Breathed is retiring, leaving a hole in the Sunday funnies and the hearts of "Opus" fans.

The last strip featuring the beloved, large-beaked penguin will run in about 200 newspapers nationwide Nov. 2. Breathed announced Monday he's calling it quits after a comics career that has spanned nearly 30 years.

Amy Lago, comics editor of The Washington Post Writers Group, said Breathed will pursue other interests, such as writing books and screenplays.

Starting and stopping popular strips is old hat for Breathed, who lives in Santa Barbara, Calif., and has a children's book, "Pete & Pickles," due out next week.

The writers group unveiled his "Bloom County" strip in 1980; he went on to win the Pulitzer for editorial cartooning in 1987. He ended that strip in 1989 and the same year began the Sunday-only strip "Outland," which he quit in 1995. In 2003, he launched "Opus."

Breathed began his career as a college student with a strip in the University of Texas newspaper.

News of his retirement won't be too shocking for true fans — recent strips have alluded to "Opus" ending. Even so, Lago said, fans are disappointed.

This Sunday's strip will include a contest in which Breathed asks readers to guess the penguin's fate. Details on how to participate are not being released ahead of time. The answer will appear online after the last "Opus" runs next month, Lago said.

So it ends again and this time it looks as if it's really for good. He already said his goodbyes the first time in 1989 (with the premise that Donald Trump bought Bloom County forcing other characters to seek work in other strips), continued on with "Outland" until 1995 when he ended it without much funfare (Opus went to Antarctica to reunite with his long lost mother), and finally this.

Out of all the comic strips, Berke Breathed's "Bloom County" was the first, and obviously, still has the biggest influence in doing my comic strips. And I mostly agree with most, if not all, his political opinions too. I also read in another blog that, "You just can't get this kind of stuff today - too un-politically correct. Besides it's too smart to be wasted on today's youth." And I agree. Too much political correctness drove out most of the humor from entertainment leaving us with mostly bland, colorless sludge that passes itself off as comedy. Which leads us to Mr. Breathed's reasons for finally putting the penguin out to pasture:

“30 years of cartooning to end. I’m destroying the village to save it. Opus would inevitably become a ranting mouthpiece in the coming wicked days, and I respect the other parts of him too much to see that happen. The Michael Moore part of me would kill the part of him that was important to his fans.”

“With the crisis in Wall Street and Washington, I’m suspending my comic strip to assist the nation. The best way I can help is to leave politics permanently and write funny stories for America’s kids. I call on John McCain to join me.” ~ Berkeley Breathed says goodbye to Opus: 'I'm destroying the village to save it', LA Times, 02:04 PM PT, Oct 6 2008

We'll never see another comic strip with the same caliber as Bloom County did in the 80s (or the recent "Opus") as these two hilarious samples show:




Of course there are exceptions here and there but I would boldly say there will never be another cartoonist as far reaching in his influence as Mr. Breathed did for his generation, which I was lucky enough to be included. If you like what you've read then you can browse through other samples here, here, and here. I took the liberty of copying and posting below are the strips leading to the end (I hope Washington Post doesn't mind... click to expand in a new window) :

Labels: aaahh, art related, cartoons, comics, comics related, events, history, reminiscing, sad news

"You know you grew up in the 80s when..." You can't wait to grab Arnold Arre's new Graphic Novel and start reminiscing!

The book's retail price is Php 500 but interested readers can avail of the special pre-order offer --

Receive a signed copy of the book at P50-off and have it delivered straight to your address a week before its official release!

For the how-tos, you may visit the website: http://www.martiallawbabies.com
or send an email to preorders@martiallawbabies.com

Az got the "Ninoy" teaser, I got the "New Wave" version! Woohooooo! Go New Wave! Yeah!

Babaw ko.

Labels: aha, art related, comics, comics related, cool, discovery, launching, reminiscing

Hilarious take on the Watchmen (copied from ComicBookMovie.com):

Who Watches the Watchnuts?
Good Grief! Charlie Brown as Doctor Manhattan?!!

Young art star Evan Shaner mimics cartoonist Charles Schulz by combining his Peanuts characters and the Watchmen. The drawing includes Charlie Brown as Doctor Manhattan, Linus as The Comedian, Schroeder as Ozymandias, Lucy as Silk Spectre, Snoopy as Rorschach, and Pigpen as Nite Owl.

Labels: art related, awesome, cartoons, comics, comics related, cool, cute, entertainment, funny stuff, movies

Now I get it.

After reading through the entire 416 pages of the graphic novel which I borrowed from my friend, Lee, yesterday, I finally got what the hullabaloo is all about. Whereas before I was so opposed to all the excitement and hype this movie was generating ("That's a batman rip-off!" "The Comedian? He doesn't even look funny!" "Silk Spectre?! What kinda name is that?" "Who's that blue guy?" "Booooring!") reading the graphic novel finally made me change my mind, or at the very least, understand where those who've already read the novel are coming from. In fact I now know why that smiley face button has blood splatter on it.

I totally loved the story, the characters (Rorschach and Nite Owl II stood out for me) and everything else despite the noise inside the venue (you'd think rock bands would, at least, reserve their set for a more appropriate venue, like say, far from the selling area. As in very far). With the images still fresh in my mind I went online to watch the movie trailer again and compare the actors against those artist Dave Gibbons had created in the comic. The scenes turned out to be extremely cool after seeing it coming from a more informed stance. Not that I'm raising any and all expectations after this, in fact I'm still leaving it at the "It's gonna suck, it's gonna suck! I just know it!" level.

People are split on what they think of the film based on the initial images being shown in the trailer. Now I heard that writer, Alan Moore couldn't care less about the movie and vows to spit venom all over it for months to come. Which comes as no surprise since he also said prior to the aforementioned statement that he finds, "film in its modern form to be quite bullying." But I do hope he changes his mind. I do hope that he would soften his stance actually see the movie with an open mind and criticize it based on its own merit. If it goes down in flames then so be it. If it works, then by all means write a statement of commendation to the production team. It's not like we haven't seen the other side of Mr. Moore before:

He drove his point with his rant against Hollywood studios and greedy executives but then Spiegelman was also right in saying he has to lighten up too. After all, no man made institution's perfect. You just have to look really hard for the good things that crop up once in a while.

* On a related note, here's an interesting article regarding movie directors following the visuals of comic books closer than necessary: Watchmen Objections - Storytelling and the Storyboard By Hervé St-Louis

Labels: aaahh, art related, awesome, comics, comics related, cool, curios, discovery, entertainment, movies

First workshop from Robo Monkey Pixel Fighters (RMPF):

FIRST WORKSHOP

The RMPF Workshop Series is proud to present our first workshops to be offered together with our partner institutions, Euphony Music Studio and St. Vincent Tutorial Center, both located in Makati City.

We're offering the Cartooning for Kids Workshop and Cartooning Workshop to be offered at both locations at the following schedules:

EUPHONY MUSIC STUDIO

Cartooning for Kids Workshop
For Elementary School Students
Saturdays
9:00-11:00 AM, 1:00-3:00 PM, and 4:00-6:00 PM

Cartooning Workshop
For High School Students
Sundays
9:00-11:00 AM, 1:00-3:00 PM, and 4:00-6:00 PM

SAINT VINCENT TUTORIAL CENTER

Cartooning for Kids Workshop
For Elementary School Students
Saturdays
9:00-11:00 AM, 1:00-3:00 PM, and 4:00-6:00 PM

Cartooning Workshop
For High School Students
Sundays
9:00-11:00 AM, 1:00-3:00 PM, and 4:00-6:00 PM

For those who are interested you can get in touch with either Euphony Music Studio or St. Vincent Tutorial Center with the following contact details:

EUPHONY MUSIC STUDIO
FI-A Mezzanine
MCS Commercial Complex
Chino Roces Ave., Makati City

CONTACT DETAILS
Landline: (02) 844-5289, (02) 752-0006, Mobile: (0918) 563-7669
Look for Lynne Albay

SAINT VINCENT TUTORIAL CENTER
Lower Ground 11
Cityland Pasong Tamo Tower
Chino Roces St., Makati City
In front of the Don Bosco Technical Institute

CONTACT DETAILS
Landline (02) 894-4498
Look for Emmanuel Dino

Labels: aaahh, aha, art related, awesome, cartoons, comics, cool, discovery, entertainment, happy gathering, launching

Now working on the contribution for second issue of Nosebleed Magazine. The authorities gave me permission to create other titles more suited to the topic at hand. This one's for the Halloween thing. By the way, launching of the magazine will be this weekend at the Book Fair at the SMX near Mall of Asia.

Labels: Always Saturday, art related, cartoons, comics, comics related, cool, funny stuff

Condense everything you love and hate about noontime shows. Add a bunch of non-sensical ideas and craptastic fun. Dash a bit of we LOVE emo jokes (why not?). Put some interactive doodle, picture, caption gaming procratisnating enjoyment. Mix in a ton of fart jokes and toilet humor galore. Sprinkle with komiks. Top lightly with saracasm and references to artistas that may have existed in the 80s. Then, transmute all the delicious crapness into magazine form.

Presenting the country's first
interactive humor publication...
PSICOM Publishing Inc's
Nosebleeed Magazine.


AVAILABLE SOON IN BOOKSTORES EVERYWHERE.

This September 2008,
THERE WILL BE BLEED!

New magazine coming out middle of this month with full page colored comics by some of the best cartoonists around like me! Further announcements with regards to the launching will be coming soon.

Labels: aha, art related, awesome, comics, comics related, funny stuff, launching

This was taken along the shores of the gorgeous beach of Pagudpud in Ilocos Norte more than two years ago.

Labels: art related, awesome, nature, reminiscing

Here's an unfinished one comic page (CLASS) for a new up and coming local comic magazine. I haven't incorporated this much manga-ish elements in a very long time (the last being close to ten years ago in GLITTER Magazine pa) so you could probably tell I really enjoyed doing this one. In contrast to my gig in West Side where coming up with an idea and drawing it has become quite a chore. It's also interesting to note this will be the first time CLASS will be published in full color. Yay!

Labels: art related, cartoons, comics, cool, funny stuff