"Si Pagong at Si Matsing" Illustration

6:29 PM
In the Summer of 2021, I bought my first drawing pad after failing to learn how to use my drawing tablet. I decided to take up online courses to learn new skills in creating art and using digital painting techniques. For my first course, I picked "Introduction to Children's Illustration" by Adolfo Serra. It took me a month to finish the course as I was juggling my time for work and business, too. There were four units in the course, first being introduction, learning and sharing about myself as an artist and my influences and inspirations. I created my first self-portait using my drawing pad which is my most recent photo that day. For the second unit, we learned about the concept of Children's Illustrations. We approach the children's illustration with a selection of books. We pay special attention to the relationship between text and image, the composition and the narrative. As illustrators, we reinterpret stories through images. The text is the starting point. We'll read between the lines and find what's hidden through sketches and mental maps.
I chose one of the most popular Filipino children's story, "The Monkey and the Turtle" written by our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. This is a fable he wrote and illustrated himself, which many also considered him as the first Filipino cartoonist. The story is about a turtle and his mischievous friend, monkey. The story has a lot of illustrated and animated versions, and as I was researching I picked up some details that helped me in coming up with my sketches. The character design is based on indigenous animals, the Philippine long tailed macaque and the Philippine Sea Turtle, as opposed to the commonly depicted tortoise which can't swim! I decided to give the turtle tortoise legs so it can stand up for illustration purposes. I also gave them personalities. Monkey has a cap worn backwards, showing his rebellious, naughty and bullish look. While turtle looks like a nerd with specs. I made a concept map to guide me in this process.
In my sketches, I tried to make different compositions, poses, angles, and even lighting to depict the emotion and action of the story. I found it hard to imagine the composition and poses, so I constantly looked back from other illustrations and even character references of monkeys to help me in the sketching process. I think I did pretty okay, but needs a lot of refinement. But this are just the first few steps.

The third unit is the meatiest part of the course. I learned a lot about different traditional illustrations techniques such as using inks for painting, monotyping and creating collages. It's more about getting your hands dirty and experimenting on different techniques to come up with effects or textures that you can use. Unfortunately, I didn't have the materials to do it myself. For the activity, we have to choose a scene and create a final sketch.
For my final illustration, I chose this pivotal scene in my chosen story. The mischievous monkey betrayed his friend and climbed his banana tree and ate all the fruits one night. When the turtle learned about this, he had enough of his tricks so he placed some stingers under the tree. I just love this moment because, for the first time, the turtle is fighting back from his bully. I chose the POV of the turtle who is secretly installing the sharp thorns while the monkey is busy eating. The composition all points to the monkey which represents his focus on his greed. The next activity is applying the different techniques to create the final illustration.
And for the last unit, we have to make final decisions and do the final illustrations. It can be a mixture of everything that we've looked at before or something new combining different techniques. The term mixed technique refers to the process of using two or more artistic techniques together in a single work. We have to choose two other scenes or moments in your story and develop illustrations following the style or technique you have chosen for our first illustration.
Here's the first scene that I chose. In the story, monkey and turtle saw a banana tree and decided to split it among themselves. Monkey, who was the first to see it, chose the upper half with the fruits, while turtle got the lower half with only the trunk and roots. Monkey ate all the fruits, giving none to turtle. Both of them planted their half of the tree. Monkey's tree wilted and died, while Turtle's tree, having roots grew and later produced fruits, too. This illustration shows the contrast of the two characters. Monkey is sitting on top of the wilted tree showing his arrogance and dominance, while turtle is under his tree as if he is the source of its nutrients, showing his caring and humble nature.
For my second illustration, I recreated my watercolor painting into a digital illustration to be consistent with the style of the first illustration. Although this is a night scene, I used lighter colors in the background than dark colors so it will be more cohesive with the other two drawings.
My last drawing shows the ending of the fable. When monkey got angry, he threatened the turtle to throw him at sea or burn him. Turtle shouted not to throw him at the sea for he will drown. Monkey tossed him but turtle surfaced and laughed at monkey. He was a sea turtle, and the sea is his home. Monkey got dumbstrucked and couldn't believe he got fooled by a turtle. And thus my first online course is completed! I learned so much about illustration, and I'm very happy to discover new style and techniques in drawing. I encourage everyone to take up online classes and continue to learn and grow no matter where your passion is. Here's my certificate!
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