Look what i found in my archive of works. It is the initial concept cover for Marejada 2009. Marejada is the literary folio of Ateneo de Zamboanga University under its official publicaiton, Beacon Newsmagazine. It is a collection of peoms, short stories, and artworks revolving on a certain theme such as "Memories", "7 Deadly Sins" or "Back to Basics". For 2009, the theme was "?" which was really unique. This was my last third and last time to be the creative director and layout artist for marejada. For the cover, we want to incorporate a sense of wonder, curiosity and imagination with the design. We had a photoshoot with three models that was used as digital art for the dividers. This particular photo gave me an idea for the cover. I really wanted to use cool and dark colors that reminds us of space or the deep blue ocean. As you can see the girl doesn't have an eye which i intended to give it a surreal feel. It also symbolizes our blindness about the truth, thus, sparking curiosity which leads to discovery. She is holding a light bulb which is a typical symbol for an idea or knowledge. We intentionally excluded the name of the book "Marejada" in the front cover to add more curiosity. Instead, we just used "M" that blends with the smoke.


However, there was an issue raised about this design. Accordingly, it is to feministic and they don't want a person to represent Marejada. I still want to stick with the "M" with the smokes and the color scheme so i just made few revisions. I replaced the photo of the girl with objects and symbols randomly floating in space inspired by surreal artist Salvador Dali's painting "The Persistence of Memory." We are all happy with the final design and it was aleready approved for printing. We are really pushing the boundaries for this folio since it is the last year for most of the staff. Instead of the usual glossy paper and matte cover, we had it printed in book paper but in hard bound matte cover. It is was the most ambitious and complicated folio we ever made in Beacon. Aside from the vague cover, we also deviated on how we arranged the contents. Usually, it is divided into three groups: poems, short stories, artworks. We also also want to give a story by using the order of the entries. We grouped them into four categories: Wonder, Confusion, Dream and Inspiration. It was well-conceptualized and all our creative plans were realized. Thanks to our ever-supportive and genius EIC, Ate Maimai, our collaborators, the writers and artists who contributed their masterpieces published in this folio. I really miss doing stuff like this and i won't ever forget my beacon years :') Here's the final covers together with the spine.

It has been a fruitful year for me. 2009 was a year of economic depression, poverty and calamities yet we managed our problems and still wake up for a new beginning. I am so proud to be who i am today and i will never regret the things that i have done the past year. There are many first times and some of them are good and bad. I want to share the highlights of this special year. From day 1 to day 365, i just wanted to do the best out of my life everyday. But its impossible of course coz there is always a time to be happy or sad, time to work, to rest, to grieve, and time to celebrate. Generally, this year is a "last" year for me. Last year in college, last year of a decade, last year to be a kid. So here are some special moments i had this year.

January: I had my starbucks 2009 planner and i continued by daily doodle project. My planner is also a diary, scrapbook, notebook and an artwork. I spent my first day of the year with my family at the beach at Patalon named "Aplaya Bonita." Start of ABDC season 3. Wedding of Ate Janelyn. Midterms. ADNU talk. School projects. Digital arts.

February: Wella's debut. I filed my candidacy as a governor for our college under the Buklod Atenista party headed my Ajhay and Robi. Pressure pressure pressure! ICT week Preparation. Overnyt at Jan-jan's (fun). Nominated for DSA awards.

March: ICT Week. 2nd Digital Art Exhibit at the Gallery of the Peninsula and the Archipelago. Quest Crew wins ABDC, ANTM starts. Recognition program, Gold medal for Fine Arts and Service, certificate for Leadership and Journalism. Overnyt kina Jan2 part 2. Travel! Zamboanga to Dipolog to Dapitan to Ozamis to Bohol to Cebu to Zambo. Chocolate hills!

April: Centennial Logo proposal. Family vacation @ Camiguin. Cold spring, white island, falls, hot spring, El Salvador City, Iligan City. I became a resource speaker for Illustrator and Flash during the WMSU Summer ICT Seminars and Photoshop for the Gallery Summer Workshops. Last presswork for Beacon Newsmag :(. Overnyt kina Jan2 part 3. I became the Governor of the College of Science and Info tech and became part of the new student government, El Consejo Atenista.

May: Pacquiao vs Hatton (Hatton loser!). Lola's Bday. Preparation for OrSem. First time magpa Thai massage. Met new people s consejo. AFST and Marejada presswork. Finish na ang mga seminars, sweldo mode.

June: Busy sa AFST, Enrolment, OrSem. 4th year na talga ako. Classes begins. Preparation for CSITAO activities. Nagparegister for 2010 elections. Karaoke kina tennyl pag wla klase. Seed Interactive Opens.

July: CSITAOlympics every saturday afternoon. Losers talo s Tug-of-War kalaban ang mga 2nd years. Mac2's bday. Fortfolio [sic]. Poster making for Iggy week. I got my new laptop. We met Anthony, aunty Merlinda's friend from Australia. Ate Judith gave birth to Aaron.

August: HipRock theory: CSITAO Acquaintance Party. Cory Aquino dies. my 19th birthday. Went to manila for Graphika Manila. Midterms. Very busy for the CSIT Week. STYLE 09. Naligo sa abong2 river.

September: Jolas' Bday. Worked for Mr and Ms WMSU. OJT for MCTV starts. We will produce 5 episodes of Guatsinanggo a short animated series. I am the lead animator. Jojie's bday. Overnyt kina Jan2. crazy nyt. ABDC season 4. Miss Zamboanga work. Bagyong Ondoy. Mama's bday.

October: OJT mode. UZ Centennial Celebration coverage. Bagyong Peping. Fiesta Pilar. Mr and Ms UZ. Mis Zambo. Streetdance Competition. Finals week. Bloggers meetup. Sem break. I served as the Creative director of the Buklod Atenista Leaders' Summit. Sta Cruz Island! El Consejo Atenista wins TAYO (Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations).

November: 2nd Sem starts. Preparation for Ateneo Fiesta. Practice for Popdance. Guatsinanggo and Mayari became finalists for Animahenasyon. Papa's Bday. Animahenasyon Tour with Losers and Sir Roms and Sir Tooks. We did not win but still had fun! Starbucks, MOA, ADMU, PBB house!

Decemeber: Ateneo Fiesta 09! We won 3rd place sa popdance, 2nd place sa org shirt design. Xmas Tree making with Losers. We won 1st sa xmas tree making and lantern. CSIT wins 3rd place overall winner sa Atfest :D Christmas Parties. Family reunion/xmas party at Talon2. Reunion with High school friends. Family reunion at Safety. New year countdown at Paseo. Best last day!

Thank you for everyone who made my year. Each and everyone of you make me who i am i can never imagine a life without you. I also thank God for giving me these blessings in life. I hope 2010 will be a great year too. Happy new year!

Wow! We were featured in the online magazine about Zamboanga. Thank you for sharing to the world our experience in representing Zamboanga for the first time. The animation industry in the Philippines is developing and we hope that in the future Zamboanga will be the animation hub in Mindanao. I hope next year mas marami na ang sasali. Ipakita ang galing ng mga Zamboanguenos! Here is the post >> link.

I am really excited to have my fourth trip out of Zamboanga this year. I will attend Animahenasyon which is a four-day event where I can watch amazing works of stdents, amateurs and professional animators and participate symposiums about the animation industry. The highlight of the event is the Awards night where entries will be given recognition for being the best in their category. Fortunately our team had 3 entries which made it to the finals. My entry is "Mayari", a stop-motion animation which I and my team created last year for our midterm project. The second one is Tennyl's Demo Reel. And finally, the 1st episode of Guatsinanggo, headed by our director, Jervin Yap. Actually, I am not expecting our entries to win because in our category (Short Film), there are almost 20 finalists! I will be really really happy if a miracle will happen!

Anyways, I want to thank our teachers for supporting us! To Sir Romz and Sir Tookie for guiding us always! Thank you also to our chair, Ma'am Ai for the financial assistance and showing your support to our batch! I will be with my 6 other friends and 3 teachers on the trip. We will depart on Tuesday, Nov 24 in the morning and arrive on Sunday, Nov 29 in the afternoon. The event will be at the Gateway Mall Araneta Center. Well, I hope that everything will be alright in our 5-day trip! Godbless to the team!

Two years ago, I went to Manila, for the first time to join the 2nd Graphika Manila, a national graphics design conference with speakers ranging from photographers to illustrators. It was held at the Centerstage of the Mall of Asia last August 11, 2007, a day before my 17th birthday. It was really memorable because it was also my first time to ride a plane.hehe. Anyways, the speakers were awesome. On the right is Electrolychee, a duo who inspired us about the Filipino's talent and how we should make others inspire. There were also international speakers like Steve Tirona (photographer), Hue Visual Lab and The Asylum. They were really fun speakers and their works are very awesome. Here are some snapshots during the event.

































Last year, I ran out of tickets so wasn't able to attend the conference. I hope i can go this year. Recently, I visited the site of Graphika Manila and there are no announcements yet about the venue and invited speakers of this year's graphika manila but the date is already set on August 15, unfortunately, 2 days before my midterm exams. However, they are planning to have a book which will be a 64-page color book that will be given away to the participants during the conference. The good news is that we can submit any artworks and they might include it in the book. If you want to contribute, email your works to drew@graphikamanila.com. For details, read the announcement below.

Since I won't be taking summer classes this year, I took job opportunities given to me by my generous mentors. I already finished one week of a series of ICT seminars in WMSU (Western Mindanao State University) for BS ComSci students. I gave a 2-day workshop about Adobe Illustrator and taught them how to create logos, icharacters, illustrations and 3D graphics. Here are some of my favorite outputs of my students.








For more photos and information about the ICT Seminars go to http://wmsuict.multiply.com/