I can't believe my submission for a national creative magazine would be choosen as a cover art! Novice is "a platform made by young creatives for the passionate, the wanderer, and the free-spirited." I first knew about them during the elections when they released a printed issue of all works inspired by VP Leni Robredo, a presidential candidate who I am also supporting.

In their 4th Printed Issue, I also submitted some of my artworks which were also featured. In their 12th digital issue, they had a theme inspired by a Filipino cultural icon, the Jeepney. I submitted a digital illustration which i titled "LAKBAY," which means journey. I was informed that it was selected to be featured but little did I know that they chose it to be as one of the covers! What an honor!

This digital issue is also very special as it advocates a very important cause which is the #NoToJeepneyPhaseOut. As a cultural symbol of the indomitable Filipino spirit, we should not allow the government to remove the colorful Jeepneys in our streets. Novice features 180 pages of artwork and literature which pay tribute to the jeepney's impact in the lives and psyche of Filipinos.

Patók stands as a testament to the enduring spirit and cultural significance of the Philippine jeepney. It celebrates the unique identity of the Filipino community, paying homage to the extraordinary legacy that this vehicle represents.

Get the chance to purchase the complete digital issue for just Php 250.00. Your contribution will go to funding The Volume Project: Patók Edition, a fundraising initiative aimed at providing grocery packs worth Php1,000.00 to random jeepney drivers in various locations nationwide. The fundraiser will run from June 30 to July 31, 2023.

To download and donate, visit:

https://bit.ly/44AgbsF or

https://noviceph.shop/products/patok-12th-special-digital-issue

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A while ago I was watching the first episode of "Work of Art", an American Reality show similar to Project Runway but the contestants create artworks instead of dresses. The artists were paired togehter and were challenged to make a portait of their pair. Most of them made a painting showing the personalities of their subject using colors and composition. The unique ones, unfortunately, landed on the bottom three. One was painted on an easle, the other is a type of installation, and the last one is a simple abstract painting. According to the judges, a portrait should embody the subject and show its personality. The astract painter was eliminated because her work was too abstract and it might not translate as a portrait to other people.

Talking about portrait, I went through my files and looked for my self-portraits. I had many of them because it's hard to incorporate my personality in one artwork. Some of these are just plain photographs while others had a little more effort that i put in to. Here's the different sides of me. The last one is my favorite above all. Click on the image to for full view (More after the jump).




Making a self-portait is not just an expression of my self. It's not only for facebook purposes, to have a nice profile picture. The process is what makes it a self-portrait. I am becoming aware of who I am on that moment, and what influence me as a person and as an artist. Sometimes they are created spontaneously and sometimes I am inspired by others to create my own portraits. If you were to create your self-portait now, how would it be? Is it a photo, a drawing or a painting? It is colorful, dull or in black and white?

I want to share my new experimental works that i created in flash during a seminar that we conducted last May12-15. With the use of the pen tool and pencil tools, i doodle different objects and scenes and applied the ukkil effect in the artwork. Ukkil is a technique used in Mindanao, specifically in the Sulu Peninsula. It is a decorative design that is used in carving, basketry, pottery, and weaving with patterns similar to the western style of Arabesque and Art Nouveau.

According to my Humanities teacher, during the Byzantine era, the Iconoclasts influenced the art of the Arabic countries spreading across Asia. Before, it was a sin for Muslims to recreate or paint/sculpt the creations of God such as human or animals. That's why they used geometric patterns, ornamental designs and icons. We can see this in the art of the Tausug, Maranao and Yakans here in Mindanao, which applies shapes and patterns similar to the art during the Byzantine era. Ukkil usually have motifs shaped like waves, ropes, calligraphy, decor and colors.

But today, that belief seems to be gone already. The yakans already has new designs that are influenced by their surroundings like the kenna-kenna, patterned after a fish; dawen-dawen (leaf of a vine) ; pene mata-mata, (eye) and the bunga-sawa (python). In Ukkil, they have motifs of creatures like the sarimanok, horse, insects, fishes, dragons, flowers and even humans.

I personally know one of Philippines best painter who uses the style of ukkil in his paintings and drawings. He is Mr Rameer Tawasil. Mr Tawasil was my teacher in oil painting one summer and he is also my student in photoshop that year. His art is very vivid and cultural. He mastered his ukkil style in painting and now he is known nationally for his style. Here are some essential links that you might want to visit:

Ukkil, Visual Arts of the Sulu Archipelago
Paintings of Rameer Tawasil
my Vector Ukkil Doodles

I can't still move on about this end thing. My last post is basically about my college life. Here i would like to share my latest artwork which i created in commemoration of Earth Day. This is a typographic artwork which i created to remind people of the consequences of our actions today. Because of the things that we do to nature, we are slowly putting it to an end. It is our time to change our deeds and learn how to live green. We can do this by supporting Earth Hour, a worldwide event where people switches their lights off for an hour. It will happen on March 27, 8:30-9:30 PM (here in the Philippines GMT +8:00). Imagine how many kilowatts of energy will be saved if all the lights will switched off in an hour. Earth hour is a special time to save the earth. For more info, visit this website and learn how you can contribute to this special occasion.

Going back to my artworks, i created them one in illustrator and photoshop. The typography is a customized font that i made using the brush strokes and later added colors to create a more organic look. I can't make up my mind on what background to use so i created two versions. The first one is more light and dry while the second one is more intense. Click on the images for full view and credits.

I haven't been exercising my vexelling skills for a while so i decided to make this one. This photo has been in my hard drive for a long time since i discovered it. Its a gorgeous portrait of my favorite model, Katarzyna Dolinska of ANTM Cycle 10. I love this pic because it is so surreal and it is very high fashion. I really liked the hair and makeup in this one that's why i kept this in case i have the mood to vexel it. Since I already finished my projects (did i mention that i'll be graduating 2 weeks from now? weee), i. This is my 2nd vexel of her. Click here to view the first one. Here's the artwork:

Click here for full view :D

Click here to see Katarzyna's model profile.

How do we say that an artwork is a vector? What is the difference between a vector and vexel? A couple of minutes ago I browsed my acquaintance's facebook account where he posted his "vector art". He traced the photos of his friends using photoshop and it looked like comic versions of the photos. In the image he traced a thick black lines for the outlines and blurred or smudged out the skin. I kinda looked like this self-portait that I made years ago.

He also used brushes to create smokey eyes and shadows for the lighting. I just want to clarify to all digital art the misuse of the term vector. Even I myself have misconceptions on vectors. Here is another so-called vector art. Most of the elements are created using photoshop brushes.


Quoted from a forum in dA,

Vector is made using mathematical equations instead of pixels so no matter how far you zoom in it recalculates and and looks perfect instead of a pixel based system. That's the technical definition however it has a specific style attached to it. It is usually either super simplistic or hyper realistic. As for vexel it is technically pixel based art that looks like vector but this too is know for hyper realism.

Therefore, what we see above are not vector art. If it is created using brushes and several tools such as blur or smudge, it is not vector. Vectors are created using the pen tool and shape tools alone. It means when we interpolate (increase the resolution of) a vector image, the line will still look smooth. Usually the file format of vectors are .ai and .eps. On the other hand, we have vexels. Vexels are rasterized versions of vectors. They are usually the jpegs or gifs that looks like vectors but the quality will be lost when we interpolate it. This is one of my favorite and the only vexel art that i made using adobe illustrator and then edited it in photoshop.