If you wish to contact me for any particular reason, please click here.

Nov

20

Timawa #3, Post Komikon Thoughts

Filed Under Elmer, Filipino Artists, My Comics, Philippine Comics, Timawa | 12 Comments


Timawa continues on the pages of The Buzz Magasin this December! The third installment is now out, cover dated December 2007. You’ll know it’s the issue when you see the image above hovering above Piolo Pascual’s sensitive area on the cover.

That is probably the first ever Timawa drawing I ever drew, way back November 1993. I didn’t use it before now because I didn’t think it was really any good. See how HUGE he is compared to the rooftop. I make no excuses for it, except perhaps to say that this is probably the only drawing I ever did from July 1993 to July 1994 when I began to draw Wasted. It was meant to be part of a comics anthology I was involved with which was thought up by Ricky Olivares. Other guys I remember being involved was Jaime Fornoles, Sandy Gonzaga and others whose names I forget. We were actually quite close back then. I would go to Ricky’s apartment in Cubao and just talk about comics well into the night.

Yeah, those were great times. I haven’t talked about that time too much. We had a lot of things going on back then. I’ll probably write about it more in the future.

Because I needed more time to finish Elmer #3, I had to be more creative in coming up with Timawa #3. I had to dig up a lot of unpublished Timawa pages, and I ended up using three. It fit with the story I was trying to tell anyway, which was Lolo Tanda relating Timawa sightings throughout the years. The one above I made it appear like it was the cover of a fan magazine from 1978.

POST KOMIKON THOUGHTS

I managed to read a few of the indies I bought at the Komikon and a lot of them are very interesting. Browsing through everything, I get an idea that 80% of all the output is manga influenced. That’s a huge percentage. There’s some of that I liked, specially Joanah Tinio-Calingo’s Cresci Prophecies Book 2, which is probably the best packaged indie I’ve ever seen. Ilog’s color illustration at the back is rather magnificent.

It was my pleasure to finally meet Mark David, when he, Manix Abrera and I engaged in a friendly competition drawing “What If Gambit was based on The Artist Formerly Known as Prince”? I never got to know who won (I’m thinking it was probably Manix), but you can see the entries here.

Personally, I would like to see more artists striking out in different artistic directions next year. Something different and something I’ve not seen before. It would get kind of tiring and boring seeing the same thing over and over every year.

I was very amused when I saw familiar images in some of the indies I bought. For instance John Becaro’s group, “Lapis Ko ‘To!” had a panel that was influenced by a panel I did in Wasted. The artist does acknowledge that it came from me, so I’m very very much flattered by the homage.

Another indie, which I will not mention, lifts some panels or combinations of panels, from ELMER. It’s not acknowledged and although it was amusing and flattering at first to know I’m being copied, that’s probably a compliment to me and my work, but I think it would be much more of a compliment to me if artists try and do something original on their own. It’s like something I said to a young artist who asked permission if he could remake Wasted. It was a nice thought, but I eventually refused because why waste time doing something someone already did? I believe it would be much more creatively fulfilling to create new things.

Comments

12 Responses to “Timawa #3, Post Komikon Thoughts”

  1. Ed on November 20th, 2007 6:02 pm

    ‘Di ako nakaikot sa Komikon pero as of the pictures I’ve seen, marami nga ang mga manga-influenced indies. I think it’s okay, it’s the style they want, but like you said, nakakapagod din minsan. Kahit ako napapagod sa styles na sinusubukan ko, ‘di ako makuntento sa hinahanap kong style.

    Sa tingin ko pagtagal may mga bago na ring styles na lalabas. Sayang hindi ako nakabili ng mga indies. Sana meron akong makita sa ComicOd. :D

    Oh, I’m starting to like the “old-paper” style you’re doing, Gerry. Pero minsan nga lang parang nagiging “maasim” ang pagka-yellow. Opinion ko lang yun. :D

    ‘Di ba may ginawa si Whilce na Timawa, nagamit mo ba yun? Lumabas na ba sa magz?

    -ed

  2. Gerry Alanguilan on November 20th, 2007 6:07 pm

    Naipost ko na yung drawing ng Timawa ni Whilce dito, pero hindi pa sa print. Balang araw siguro. :)

    Salamat sa advice! Napansin ko nga rin.

  3. kccordero on November 20th, 2007 9:06 pm

    pero mukhang bagay ang ganitong old paper style sa the buzz magasin dahil nagsisilbing pampaalis ng pagod sa mata sa sobrang pagka-glossy ng mag.

    -kc

  4. Jaime on November 21st, 2007 12:54 am

    If I remember it right, that comic anthology you mentioned had “Kresh” for its working title. Supposedly the sfx mostly used from Frank Miller stuff.

    Miss ko na yung foodtrip natin doon sa “Joey’s Pares” (parang yun yung name ng carinderia) malapit sa apartment dati ni Ricky.

  5. Gerry Alanguilan on November 21st, 2007 6:45 am

    Jaime! Kresshh Comics nga yung pangalan nung comic “publisher” kuno, and then Pariah ang title ng comics mismo. Haay, nakakamiss din kahit papano. Bilis ng panahon no?

  6. Jerwin Sir on November 21st, 2007 9:37 am

    sir gerry, i think yung style ng writing mo bagay na bagay sa drawing style ko. swak na swak sir. sa tingin ko lang hehe. very filipino kasi yung ginagawa mong stories. like elmer for example, family oriented (chicken family). may pamana pang libro na kasama. pero modern ang setting at theme.

    actually sir kahit yung entry ko sa comic creation, pareho dun sa alamat ng lawa mo. yun sa kin lang alamat ng ilog at sapa. actually na disappoint nga ako kasi nung nalaman ko yung comic creation contest nabuo na sa isip ko agad alamat ng ilog. tapos nung nadiscover ko yung site mo, meron ka palang alamat ng lawa. kaya dinagdagan ko ng sapa hehe. kakapalan ko na sir, palagay ko great minds think alike. ahaha.

    pati sir yung design mo ng timawa. pero lahat dun nauna ka ng malayo.

    sir if you want to see a sample of my work pakihingi na lang po kay edgar tadeo yung 1 page portfolio ko na binigay ko sa kanya nung komikon. high school batchmate ko po siya kaya kilala nya ako.

  7. Gerry Alanguilan on November 21st, 2007 9:57 am

    Jerwin, tuloy mo lang yung Alamat ng Ilog OK lang yun! Yung akin naman is very specific na Alamat ng Sampalok Lake ng San Pablo. Adaptation sya ng mga lumang Alamat ng San Pablo na naririnig ko noong araw pa.

  8. Rod Samonte on November 21st, 2007 10:02 am

    Gerry,
    Actually, he doesn’t look that big compared to the rooftops since you’re only showing a part of the roof. The hollow block looks normal size relative to him. Besides Superheroes are suppose to be big.
    Rod

  9. Josel Nicolas on November 22nd, 2007 1:09 am

    Para ngang astig na para siyang higante sa bubong e.I guess kung kilala mo yung character it would seem wierd, pero if this was your first time seeing the guy, you’d just assume he was like shaq or something. :D imho

  10. gilbert monsanto on November 22nd, 2007 12:05 pm

    wow ang style mo dito ah, dati pa ito? parang Barry whilcesor smith hehe

  11. Rey on November 22nd, 2007 1:03 pm

    It’s very evident in this drawing that you’re still finding your style in this time Gerry. The brush strokes and kind of shading as well as the muscle details are strongly influenced by Whilce’s style. And I guess that’s understandable since you were inking his pencils that time. But it’s been a long time since 1993 and you’ve come a long way to develop a style uniquely yours Gerry.

  12. Chris A on November 22nd, 2007 3:17 pm

    Sir, it is a pleasure to meet you in person back in Komikon 2007. Love my first Elmer issue with your autograph sir. Hope to by the complete 4 books in the next events sir. I am somewhat from the new generation of aspiring artist, and grown to the anime art style of comics. Your works made me appreciate and go back to the first styles of Filipino Comics.

    Thank you for creating awesome artworks.

    Hope you can have the time to visit my humble blog sir… and hope to feature you there after this week (really kinda busy for my thesis).

    http://cmaquest.blogspot.com