Light My World

Aside from being an engineer, a programmer and an indie comic artist, I also work in 2D animation and some of the projects that I am part of are “I Got A Rocket,” “Land Before Time,” and “Fantastic Four.” One thing that is most important for us artists is light. Yes, the light. Without it, it would be hard, if not impossible, for us to draw. There are two basic lights that we use that without it we’re in big trouble. The first is the light under the table or the table lamp or what is commonly known is the light box. The second is the overhead lamp, the kid of lamps that you use when you are studying or lamps that you use on your bed side table or much commonly known as desk lamps. These two types or lighting or lamps are very important to us artists.

There are times that you have a lot of pages of drawings to create and you must go home to bath or eat, or whatever important reason why you must go home, you bring your drawings at home. Below this paragraph is a photo of mine, showing how I draw at home. Yes, I am having a very difficult time finishing all the drawings and not to mention that I must produced the best quality of drawing or else my drawing will all be rejected. Consequently, all my effort will end just for naught. The area where I draw is a big issue, though it would be great if I can have a drawing table of my own. But my problem is with the lighting. You see I am using two colors of light - the orange and the white colored lights. It sores my eyes and stressed my eyes so much that I am usually having migraines in between and after work. The result is that I won’t be able to work the next day.

There are actually a lot of lamps or lighting available on the store but it’s hard for me to look for the best quality at an affordable price that fits a small time artist like me. So I log online and search the web for advice on what light works best for me. I came across Farreys.com page on the net offers a wide range of type of lamps and lightings of almost all brands at a very affordable prices. You could simply pick and choose what you want. If that’s not enough there was a search bar there where you could type what kind of lamps you are looking for. Yes, very convenient indeed. It helps me a lot in finding the suitable lighting for me. The next time I might need a lamp or lighting like lamp shades perhaps, I will just visit Farreys.com for advice and inspiration on what to choose.

Vector Art : Pic

My third vector art. This is the black background version:

This is the white background version:

This is the original photo:

Part Two (The 2nd Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards)

It's time once again for the The 2nd Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards by Fully Booked and Neil Gaiman. The categories with its prizes accordingly are as follows:

Comic Book Writing Contest

1st Prize – Php 100,000.00

2nd Prize – Php 30,000.00

3rd Prize – Php 15,000.00

Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Writing Contest

1st Prize – Php 100,000.00

2nd Prize – Php 30,000.00

3rd Prize – Php 15,000.00

The contest starts on September 1, 2007 and deadline of submission of entries is on October 31, 2007. We only have less than a month to go before the deadline so for those who are interrested better turn on your light bulbs to spark ideas into your brains now.

You can download your application forms here and the contest guidelines here.

Goodluck!

Broken Lines

I've been so occupied with programming for more than 4 months now that it ate up most of my time. When I arrived home from the office I got so tired already that my only consolation is to create vector art before going to sleep. I am not able to draw (the most important part of my life) anymore because I am already too exhausted to hold a pencil and scribble at my paper. I miss drawing so much that I felt guilty whenever I saw other people able to draw despite their busy schedule. There are times that I am so afraid that I won't have the same line quality as I have before. I am terrible. From now on, I will exert a lot of effort to try to draw even if I won't finish the whole illustration in one sitting. I will try my best to draw again everyday. I just felt so sad realising how I took my skills and love for the craft for granted. I will find time and do my best.

Vector Art : Labing

Here's another vector that I finished last night. That's my sister and I tried to be more ambitious this time around. I added more colors and more shapes. This took me 4 days to complete because I only got to do it after I went home from work. I work about 2 to 4 hours a night. Yes, this is more difficult for me to vectorized. This has about 813 layers in total.

Again, I can't decide what background color to use. So here's the black background.

And here's the white background.

This is the original photo.

1st Vector Art : Hillary Duff

I've noticed that there are so many artist who are into vector art. I can almost see it everywhere. Posters, logos, websites, and just almost everywhere. I looked up into the Wiki to know what's vector art or graphics. And here's what Wiki says about it: Vector graphics (also called geometric modeling or object-oriented graphics) is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and polygons, which are all based upon mathematical equations to represent images in computer graphics. It is used in contrast to the term raster graphics, which is the representation of images as a collection of pixels.

Now that I know what vector art is, I tried it myself. Below is the result. I think I did ok. What you think? It took me quite long to finish this one. It took 568 layers in order for me to conclude that the art is done. I hope you all like it.

Here's another version, just a white background.

Here's the original photo that I took from the net. She's Hillary Duff from the Lizzie Mcguire TV series at the Disney's Channel.

2D Animation

More than a year has gone by and I already have 3 animation shows in my bag (that I am part of). The latest of which is the animated version of Fantastic 4 (at DQ animation studio) which you can watch on cartoon network during Saturdays. This is perhaps the most challenging show by far. More movement, almost-real-type, and one of my favorite comic book heroes. It's really a big thing for me to be a part of this show. I am so proud obeing part of it.

I also had the opportunity working with The Land Before Time animation at Toon City animation studio. This is a bit simpler (much simpler as compared to Fantastic 4). I also love this show because the movie version was a very big hit when I was little. It's really fun to work as a clean-up/in-between artist especially if the show is something that you love since you were much younger.

And how could I ever forget the I Got a Rocket show. This is our baby. We're the first who draw the pilot and succeeding few seasons. This show is the product of our rigorous training. Much simpler (compared to the 2 shows mentioned above) but this is where I learnd everything so I owe my career in animation to this show.



Right now, I take a hiatus on doing animation to concentrate more on comics and illustrations. I am also busy being a web developer for a government project. If time permits (soon), I'll probably get some folders (to draw) and do it at home. I can't leave animation just like that, afterall it helps me a lot in improving my skill as an artist.

Issue 02

We will be releasing our second issue at the ToyCon (Toy Convention) 2007 at Megamall on June 16 & 17, 2007. I do hope you will support us. Below is the cover and preview pages inside.

IV by Joseph Canave

Mutya and the Book of Answers by Henry G. Anima II

Savage Monkey Vicious Dragon by Kenneth Chan

This piece of art is created by Kenneth Chan, a former artist in 2D animation when we were still working at Sunwoo Animation Philippines. It's his lineart, colors by me.

Wolverine by Gerry

Colored Gerry's original Wolverine pencils.

Wonder Woman by Cakes

I happen to come a across a Wonder Woman lineart by Cakes and decided to color it.

Enjoy.

Coloring Adam Hughes' Lineart

I'm a fan of Art Nouveau and I saw that Adam Hughes has a lineart using the said style so I decided to try coloring it.

Disclaimer: This is just a trial so I am not claiming the original lineart of Mr. Hughes. I just want to color it.

So here it is:

I did not put so much details on the piece of cloth so that it won't get the attention away from the main image.

I had fun coloring it so I hope you like how it turned out.

Sketch

Below are the sketches I got from:

Gerry

Carlo

I wasn't able to scan the sketches from Leinil and Wilson because they were borrowed by my officemate. I'll post them later.

Batman by Whilce

WOW!

Animate Me... Us...

Here is a sketch made by Kenneth Chan,one ofmy officemates at Sunwoo Animation Philippines. He sketches more or less 30 of us including 2 of our trainers. If you'll see all the sketches and saw the actual peoplebehind it,you can't help but burst out laughing. He's also deviant account. Just click this link: Zerochakra