on writing comic books and graphic novels

about two months ago, i IM-ed with an old friend (and former CannonCreek Asia colleague), louie climaco. apart from the closing of the old company, comparing compensation benefits in the writing industry, and the merits of doing freelance work versus employed writing, we drifted to comic book-writing.

about five, six-ish years ago, he and i, along with roby amor and joe raganas sat down during lunch break and started toying with the idea of working on a comic book. louie, roby and joe, were passionate about illustration and coloring, and taking the idea to the next level was the most logical thing.

then, i got offered a nice comp package by another company. joe went freelancing, following his heart and did freelance graphics for a while. roby and louie stayed at the company for a while, before it closed down.

i didn't know until later that comic book and graphic novel-making was that big in cebu city. seriously. if it wasn't for ian z. and his mad idea to start a comic book about the local music scene, i wouuldn't have known. and there are a lot -- suede monkey and his merry cohorts are a few of the local lads i've started to follow online recently.

going through their artwork, made me wonder: how will we rate against these guys? i mean, suede monkey is good. and while i'm not a graphic designer, nor an illustrator (and will often leave the "judging" to my more graphically-inclined friends), it's easy enough to see that he's got something really good going here.

the thing i like about blogger.com is that when you sign up to be a follower of a specific blog, you are given access to a lot of other things you can browse through -- not just random browsing like googling, but really following a thread that leads you to like sites. what's really great about it is the rich diversity of these sites -- you'll be able to go through so many sites but know you'll never get lost in the clicking, because they are, really, one online community based on a shared experience and medium.

so it was a fine realization for me to see that there are a lot of cebu city-based comic book artists -- some who will remain unknown till you connect the dots, and others who have gone on to fame and fortune, and have established their own online stomping grounds.

it's amazing... the things -- or people -- you discover now and then, about this little island-cosmpolitan called cebu.





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are you ready 4 PoP?

so Niel Quisaba and i got to talking about his interview with computer arts mag and it was interesting to learn from one of the madmen of digital illustration that cebu city is deeply steeped in traditional art (i.e., painting). while this is a good thing, he concedes, a lot is lost in the transition to the more popular graphic design.

graphic design in cebu city has boomed in the last five to eight years, but more so in the last few months. it's ubiquitous, omnipresent, everlasting. at least, to me, whose world revolves around a graphics design and web development company where i, alone, am the sole writer and editor of my life and the content needs of my office. friends and officemates ian diez, pykee and mike tesch are just three of the many manic movers and shakers of the local graphics design scene.

niel is one of my favorite people. he's a good friend, and a keen observer of human interaction. and he should be, being in an industry where inspiration can come from simply sitting back and listening. and one of our favorite topics is digital illustration because, you can see it in his eyes -- that it's his passion. he had been explaining the poignant story behind his new artwork, when he shares that one of the keys to his success as a digital artist was his training and background in Fine Arts. "Lahi jud kanang naa ka'y training kay makita ug ma-appreciate nimu kung asa nag-gikan ang ilang inspiration ug emotion."

so, PoP 4 is just around the corner. check niel's site for additional information. deadline for graphic designers interested in participating in this annual landmark graphic design event.









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