The Carver's House

I think it all started in late-2021. I had been feeling huge bouts of depression in the years prior to that, which had prevented me from making comics. But a friend gave me a tip that enabled me to reassess what I had been going through, and that helped a lot. I ended 2021 with writing and drawing a short comic "Zsazsa Zaturnnah sa PNU," commissioned by the Philippine Normal University. It was a breakthrough for me, as the last comic I was able to finish was in 2016. You can read it here. After that, I dove into finishing the much-delayed "Zsazsa Zaturnnah sa Kalakhang Maynila." I spent the first seven months of 2022 working on the last 50 pages of that story alongside my teaching job at the College of Saint Benilde. I also spent time and energy on the pre-production and promotion of the book. You can download a PDF version for free (or pay-what-you-want) through my Gumroad page . For Philippine residents, you can purchase a physical copy of the book through Shopee ...

The special ordering page at the Avenida Books website is live for international orders as well as special orders. You have to register with the site so that you can order. There are two ordering pages. For both pages, you can add your special discount code AVENZZ150 when you check out. (Gumroad peeps can use their special discount code.) You will be emailed about payment options and shipping charges. The website says international orders will be billed separately for the shipping charges. Please email MyAvenidaPHshop@gmail.com for more information. 1) BOOKS ONLY CLICK HERE if you want to get unsigned copies of the book. Just choose whether you want "Local Delivery" or "International Delivery" from the dropdown menu. Note that Philippine-based peeps can still order via Shopee through THIS LINK . 2) BOOKS WITH SKETCH AND/OR SIGNATURE CLICK HERE if you want to get your books with a signed sketch or a signature. There is no option for a dedication. J...

Image from Pixabay, Pexels . In the previous blogpost , we went through the first step in becoming more creative, which is Loading. What I need to add here is another important source of information, and that is our interactions with people, whether they be family members, friends, co-workers, or any person we engage with in everyday life. In many instances, you might find that the experiences of other people can enrich your creativity as well. Let's now go to the second step of enhancing your creativity, and that is Meaning and Connection. MEANING AND CONNECTION No matter how much you load up on information, they're just that--information. What's crucial at this point is finding their significance or their value, and attaching feelings to them. It's true that we remember things more vividly if we're emotionally connected to them, and these feelings don't have to be of the sad sort. They can be happy feelings, or feelings of awe and fascination. When you watch a...

Photo by  Vanessa Garcia  from  Pexels In my line of work, creativity is a non-negotiable. I draw, I design, and I write stories, so the more creativity I can tap, the more I'm able to do what I do. Even the less "artistic" fields, say teaching and instructional design, which I also do, demands a good level of creativity. In fact, it's not even bound by work. Creativity permeates across many aspects of life. When I talk about creativity, I'm referring to problem-solving. How do we make the most of what we have? What can we do when we're given certain boundaries or limitations? The basic principle behind this is increasing the connections within the brain. It's pretty much established that we can rewire our own brain (unless there are physiological conditions that prevent us from doing so). When we try to learn a new skill, particularly something we're not very well-versed in, and we dedicate a substantial amount of time to it, our brain will do its thi...

Academic Year 2018-2019 was the beginning of my journey as a college instructor. Specifically, for the De La Salle - College of St. Benilde's Multimedia Arts Program. As of this writing, I am now in my fourth year with CSB. Admittedly, my main reason for taking this leap is financial in nature. While I do call myself a professional freelancer (with official receipts and an accountant at that), I've hardly done any hardcore marketing or self-promotion. I don't even have a website. I'm very fortunate that I've survived not having a full-time paycheck for ten years since leaving Summit Media. The projects that I've handled were mostly through referrals, relationships, and some level of buzz because of my work in comics and theater. Still, I needed something more stable, so teaching was a strong option. Not that I didn't like to teach. My mom and dad were teachers, and I had thought earlier on that that's where I'd end up, too. But I had envisioned it ha...

Mock-up of a Cover for the anthology (It's not done yet.) It all started in early-2019. I have no memory of what I was doing on that day. All I remember was drawing a tikbalang and posting it on Facebook.  It wasn't the usual way one would draw a tikbalang. Normally, this half-man, half-horse creature would be trim and slim and toned and naked. In other versions, he would be wearing some kind of fantasy armor. The one I drew, however, was in a camisa chino with a straw hat, and carrying a couple of bayong, looking as if he had come from a shopping trip to the wet market. Oh, and he had a paunch. After I posted it, some people were amused by it, calling him "Thiccbalang." So I decided to try another image, that of a manananggal, but in a pose that resembled that of a bird, perched on a tree branch. That, too, got some attention. But nothing substantial. I also remember feeling particularly on edge at that time. I had not made anything substantially creative, and it was...

I woke up at around 1:15 in the morning. It had just rained, so the air was quite cool. I'd normally wake up sweaty, especially during the summers even with the fan on. Last April, I finally, finally, invested in an airconditioner, an appliance I swore I would never need or buy, but the heat was getting in the way of work. Sad to say, the first thing I do is pick up my phone and check social media. My current phone (purchased early-2020) is a Samsung A50, one of those mid-range models, which I bought only because of the camera. I had wanted to start producing drawing tutorials at the time,  not knowing that I'd go full swing into it because of the pandemic. More on that in another blogpost. I couldn't access Facebook. I thought there was something wrong with the connection. But Twitter confirmed that Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp were down . I began to think again about how humanity had become dependent/addicted to social media platforms, especially to the tech behemoth...

Last January 18, "Rick and Morty" creator Justin Rolland sold digital art on the online auction platform Nifty Gateway . His collection earned him  over a million dollars.  Selling digital art for gobs of money has been a huge challenge for many artists. However, there appears to be a new hope. At least, for the more tech-savvy. Digital art, by nature, can be duplicated. And by conventional art appraisal standards, this nature has prevented digital art from standing shoulder-to-shoulder with traditional art when it comes to value. Among many factors, the price of traditional art is dependent on its scarcity. So how can a piece of bits and bytes command a high price when anyone who has access to the file can just hit copy-paste? Yesterday, I stumbled upon an online discussion on non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which is based on blockchain technology. An NFT is, essentially, a digital asset that cannot be duplicated or converted. What this basically means is, when someone buys your...

Trying something. I ripped the pattern off of Vectorstock, but I'll be replacing it for the final (if ever I get to it). I've also added the original drawing. It's a concern many young artists have: "How do I find my art style?" And I addressed this concern in a Facebook post some months ago. You're familiar with the elements of art --line, shape, form, texture, shade, color, space. And every art style is based on these elements. Not only that, art styles also cover composition, themes, and preferred subjects. Even the materials you choose to use figure into your style, as each medium can create a special effect or result that other media can't. In a nutshell, an art style is about how you interpret life. When you look at two drawings from two different artists, you'll see that each artist would have their own personal takes on the elements of art. One artist might use mostly thin lines, cross-hatching, and angular shapes, while the other artist might ...

In the mid-2000s, well over a decade ago, a friend of mine told me something about life cycles. I don't remember if it was a Chinese thing or some other, but it was one from an ancient tradition, the kind that certain folks come up with by observing the patterns of people's lives. Yes, them ancient folks had enough free time to do that. It basically says that the peaks and lows of a person's life happens in nine-year cycles. I also don't remember when these cycles were supposed to start, but once he applied that nine-year cycle rule to my life, my next slump was supposed to start in my late 40s, valleying at 49 or 50, with the next peak happening at 54 or 55. I didn't think of it much, me being in my mid-30s then, as these sorts of prognostications were amusing at most.  But, lo and behold, I'm in a major slump, at least for the personal projects. I have to pump out those creative energies for my contractual work, but when it comes to the stuff I want to do for ...

On many occasions, I've expressed (quite desperately) wanting to quit comics, and for many people, it would seem that all I've been doing is being dramatic about it. On one end, I understand the sentiment, as it brings forth my indecisiveness, and on the other end, it's true. I've been quite dramatic about it, to the point of self-sabotage. But I don't regret it, because keeping mum about it would betray how passionate I am about the art form. Those who know what it's like to both write and draw a story with a certain quality would understand. Among all the art forms I've explored--acting, writing, and drawing--making long-form comics is really HARD. And that's why I feel this "ninth art" deserves more respect and patronage. But that's not for me to declare. What I really like about making graphic novels is that it is a multi-faceted art, bridging writing, design, illustration, theater and, eventually, film, taking principles from each and ...

I'm the kind of person who believes that age is but a number. Even though I turned fifty last month, I don't feel it, at least mentally. It's only when the physical manifestations of age creep up and make themselves known that I briefly acknowledge the fact that half a century has passed. Half a century. That seems like a long time. And it is. But more than that, there's something about that halfway mark that prompts me to assess how I've spent all that time, not counting, of course, those innocent formative years. I grew up drawing. It was a purely a hobby. I had no intentions of turning it into something substantial. Becoming better at drawing was never a conscious pursuit, and I never wanted to make money off of it anyway. But, things happened. Choices were made. Projects were planned and executed, and... boom. I became a professional illustrator. I've done illustration work for magazines, newspapers, marketing and publicity materials, and books. It seemed li...

A number of you may heard that Visual Print Enterprises, or Visprint, the publisher of my books, will be closing its doors in 2021. They will no longer be accepting new manuscripts, and will be focusing their efforts on releasing their last batch of books and selling off old stocks. My final project with them will be Zaturnnah sa Maynila Part Three. The reason for their closing is simple enough--the owners are retiring. While we can say that this reason is not enough to close a company--after all, the owners can simply pass the baton--we have to take it for what it is. Another publishing house is closing, one less channel for new books to see the light of day. Many have said that Visprint has made a significant mark in the Philippine book industry, as its portfolio boasts of a powerful roster of authors. And as Dr. Isagani Cruz once said, Visprint has one of the best publishing contracts around. I'm not so worried about the authors, though, as they will surely be able to find...

There's a nip in the air today, and a drizzle. It's been drizzling all day, in fact, somewhat unusual this time of year. But I'm still going to the mall, pay a utility bill, get some dog food, and maybe catch a Metro Manila Film Festival entry. This year's festival has the following films in its line-up: Aurora  by Yam Laranas (Horror, Thriller, Suspense) Fantastica by Barry Gonzales (Fantasy, Comedy) The Girl in the Orange Dress by Jay Abello (Romance, Comedy) Jack Em Popoy: The Puliscredibles by Mike Tuviera (Action, Thriller, Comedy) Mary, Marry Me   by RC delos Reyes (Romance, Comedy) One Great Love by Eric Quizon (Romance, Drama) Otlum by Joven Tan (Horror, Comedy) Rainbow's Sunset by Joel Lamangan (Family Drama) Note that five of them are comedies and three of them are classified under romance. I won't say yet what I'm going to watch. For many years, the attacks aimed at the MMFF have been consistently vitriolic, particularly fro...

In January 2017, I posted a note on Facebook where I talked about quitting comics. That post got a lot of exposure, more than what any of my posts usually get. With that kind of response, one would think that there's still hope. However, close to two years later, yesterday, I posted this on Facebook . Unless a miracle happens, I'll be stopping after Zaturnnah sa Maynila. Making comics has been an interesting roller coaster ride, with its highest of highs and lowest of lows. Thanks to everyone who supported me every step of the way. May you be blessed always.. Note that I'm still wishing that a miracle would happen, though miracles tend to be, well, rare. I've wrestled with this over the past two years to the point of depression. Yes, that's how much making comics, a twenty-plus-year relationship, meant to me. When I would be that close to throwing in the towel, something surprising would happen, a sort of sign that would prop me up into trying again. Just t...

It's been more than six months since I posted. I blame the time-sucking black hole that is social media. :-) Here are some of the highlights from last year: 1) "I Heart Davao," the 40-episode television series aired on GMA 7. I was given the opportunity to write a number of episodes for that show, but I insisted that I could only do ten. My primary reason was that I had never written for television before, so I didn't want to dive headfirst into unfamiliar territory. Our headwriter was Chris Martinez, and the writing team had me, Dwein Baltazar, and Eljay Castro Deldoc. Our director was Marlon Rivera. I wouldn't consider my experience as representative of what really goes on in television writing in the Philippines, but it was an eye-opener. I never imagined that I'd be able to write more than two hours worth of script (five episodes) in two weeks. It was thrilling, to say the least, seeing how the script was brought to life in the finished product. ...

There are a lot of people who want to make comics, or have tried to make comics but end up frustrated. I certainly struggled some when I started out, and it's no secret that there have been bumps on the road now and then. I'm just curious to find out from you: What aspects of making stories and comics do you find yourself struggling with? If you write your questions in the comments section, I'll see if I could answer it. Game?

For the 2017 digital edition, I changed the cover. Back in 2001, when social media wasn't a thing yet, I self-published my first comic book called "One Night In Purgatory." It's a simple story about a gay guy and a straight guy--best friends--who spend a night talking about a turning point in their friendship. That 56-page story earned me my first book award citation, a finalist slot for a Manila Critics Circle National Book Award. I wasn't able to earn back my investment, but it gave me a taste of going about the whole comic-making biz on my own. Now, 16 years after I first released it, I converted "One Night in Purgatory" to digital format. If you want to have a copy (in either PDF or CBR format), you can get it for the ridiculously low price of Php60, or less that $1.30. You can get it through Gumroad . No registration necessary. All they need is your email address and payment information. Once you've made payment, you will receive an em...

I wrote this post as a note on Facebook. Surprisingly, it was shared 160 times as of this writing. I'm copy-pasting the text here. - - - - - - Let me begin with a story. Yesterday, I met with the organizers of Komikon, and during that meeting we talked about the challenges that local comic book makers are currently facing. Suffice to say, there's a lot. Later that day, I was in a coffee shop and ran into a couple of dear friends I haven't seen in a long time. During our conversation, one friend talked about a medical procedure he had gone through, a procedure that cost him quite a bit of money. After we parted, I began to wonder what would happen if I suddenly had an emergency and I needed a significant amount of money. Money that I didn't have. And when you reach a certain age without a retirement fund, without a backup when something goes wrong, things become very scary. This is the reason why I thought of quitting comics. Sure, I've had great succes...

Thanks for dropping by! If you're interested in getting your own giclée print of the Zaturnnah artwork that appears on one of the October covers of Esquire Philippines, please read the information provided below. A giclée print (zhee-clay) is a fancy term for an image printed on archival paper using one of those huge top-of-the-line inkjet printers that most of us can't afford. Those who specialize in making these prints will tell you that the color quality is supposed to last for decades. Professional artists and photographers turn to making giclée prints to sell and share their work. The "Zsazsa Zaturnnah: Cover Girl" print will be exclusively produced by Giclee Manila. For the  Zaturnnah "Cover Girl" print , there will be four sizes. Size A:  18.5" x 27"  Price: Php 3,000 Size B:  15" x 22"  Price: Php 2,250 Size C:  12.5" x 18.5"  Price: Php 1,800 Size D:  10" x 15"  Price Php 1,450 ...