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May

25

Exactly Where I Want To Be

Filed Under Comics Artists, My Art, My Comics | 12 Comments

Designing houses, that’s what I should have been doing. Not my first choice, but that could have been the career I’ve had. In my life I’ve designed several houses, a couple of restaurant interiors, an apartment, and a resort. Some of them are still standing. But even while I was an active practitioner of Architecture, I escaped as often as I could to Filbars to get my weekly fix of comic books.

I should have seen the signs. Even as I attended high school my notebooks were filled with little doodles and comic strips. In college, my Architecture presentations were filled with comic book people straight out from New Mutants and Daredevil.

Even as I supervised the construction of residential condos in Escolta and restaurant interiors in Robinson’s Galleria, I always carried a portfolio of my comic book art with me.

My only failing was perhaps I was too young and too immature to realize what I really wanted. I wanted to be a comic book artist. I wanted to be IN comics. I wanted to be involved in it as a reader, and as a creator. I didn’t fully realize in those younger days that comics could have been a career as early as I wanted it.

I had blamed my parents for steering me to Architecture, but ultimately, it was my choice and I could have insisted on what I really wanted. But as I said, I was too young. I didn’t know better.

I started to have a sense that I could do comics for real when I met Whilce Portacio. Something just clicked. I realized I could do this. That this was what I really wanted.

In the meantime an old classmate of mine who was working in Makati invited me to apply at an animation company over there. He reasoned that since I was into drawing cartoons, drawing for an animation company is probably a good fit for me.

Yes, there is a perception that animation and comics are similar, but they’re completely different things. They’re completely different discplines and completely different sensibilities. I didn’t want animation, I wanted comics.

Other people have told me to go ahead and enter animation since it’s supposedly a natural progression from comics. After all, many active animators today have come from comics. I respect that it is a belief that many artists may have, but that is not what I believe. To me animation is not a progression from comics. To me they’re different but equal things. One is not a stepping stone to the other. I’m in comics because I love the medium of comics, not the medium of animation. I love telling stories in comics form, not in animated form.

Other people have also told me to move on to film. Once again, I’m told it’s a natural progression from comics. I wish them all the best of luck in their cinematic endeavors, but no, I’m not here to create film. I’m here to create comics. I don’t believe comics is a stepping stone to film, and I don’t believe film is in any way a step up, a progression or any way superior in telling stories than comics. To me they’re completely different but yes, equal things.

I can sense eyebrows raising, aching to disagree, but please feel free to do so. I don’t expect anyone else to agree. But as far as I go, that’s what I believe.

The pattern is repeated over and over with other fields of art. Painting, music, sculpture, architecture, literature, etc.

Many artists seem to feel that every other art is a natural progression from comics. As if comics is something a child would do before they grow up to be adults. They feel other art is finer, more lofty, more important and more culturally significant. And they may all nod their heads in acceptance and agreement.

But I’m here to say…. “Not for THIS artist.”

I respect the opinion and regard that other artists may have for their chosen field of specialization, but I hope they offer me the same respect when I say that comics is not substandard to any of these, that comics is a true art form that is as important, as culturally relevant and significant and is not in any way inferior to any other form of art.

Comic book pages (including balloons, letters, captions, drawings, panels and all), and not simply pinups, are in themselves works of art and are worthy of exhibit and appreciation as any painting, mural, sculpture, illustration, engraving or print. It takes keen artistic insight to create stories told through consecutive panels, and history has now proven that these can be windows through which our very history and culture can be expressed and perceived.

Just look at the numerous comics pages I have displayed in this blog for the past several years. Each komiks page can take you back in time be it the 50s, 60s or 70s, and you can see how Filipinos lived, how they talked, what they wore, what they rode on, how the dressed. Through the stories you can see what lives we have had, what traditions, customs, and beliefs we held on to. What issues we faced, what distractions we had in our daily lives. If this is not art, if this is not TRUE art at its most fundamental, I don’t know what is.

As far as my life and my career are concerned, comics is the ultimate goal. It is the pinnacle to which I’ve always aspired to reach. Now that I’m here, creating better stories and art for better comics is what I’ve set out to do. I never aspire to be an animator, filmmaker, painter, book writer or sculptor. I am exactly where I want to be.

Comments

12 Responses to “Exactly Where I Want To Be”

  1. ringjo on May 25th, 2011 2:23 pm

    This article made me wonder a lot whether I’m exactly where I want to be or not. I graduated in college with a degree in Architecture. Though I didn’t get to be a full fledged Architect like you, Sir Gerry. Because right after graduation I ended up as a CG Animator and has been an animator since. Animation is one of my passions in life (the other being drawing comics). At first I thought that I’m lucky that I’m doing something that I’ve been dreaming about since I was a kid. But years later I feel like my true love is still with comics. Now I can’t seem to get out of this rut since animating has been bringing food to the table and comics has taken a back seat to merely a hobby.

    It’s nice that you have reached what you’ve always dreamed of becoming, sir. Good luck in your future endeavors and here’s to hoping you win that Eisner. :)

  2. JOSH on May 25th, 2011 3:52 pm

    I Here ya, sir.

    I can’t say much for I’m totally don’t know anything about art. To be honest, I also used to think that way that comics is the starting point of all then it branches out to any paths that an artist wanted to take… but not that I’m belittling the comics, its just that I guess that’s how I initially thought it was (probably most typical people would also thought the same)

    But one thing’s for sure after reading your article now… I believe in your passion, sir. I always believe that whatever the person’s goal, as long as he/she has a passion for it, he/she will definitely succeed.

    Just do your stuff, sir. Do whatever you want ;)

  3. auggie on May 26th, 2011 2:34 pm

    Doesn’t matter what you took up in college Gerry. What matters is that you are exactly where you wanted to be and excelling in it. BTW, the great Nestor Redondo, was an architecture student too.

  4. andoyman on May 26th, 2011 7:10 pm

    awwww…nakaka-touch sir gerry.

    hay, nakaka-relate ako. hindi ko rin alam na pwede palang maging career ang pagko-komiks. at, dumating ang college. first choice: computer engineering; second choice: fine arts. at pagkatapos ng apat na taon, naging computer engineer ako…buong akala ko hindi ko pagsisisihan pero mali pala ako.

    dapat pala nag-fine arts ako para kahit papaano, malapit sa komiks. gustung-gusto kong gumawa ng komiks, yung full time, na tulad [p sa inyo na nasa bahay gumagawa, yung hindi na kelangang pumasok pa sa opisina at uulit-ulitin sa buong buhay ko ang gawaing hindi ko naman gusto pero dapat gawin dahil magagalit ang boss at para may sahod panggastos araw-araw.

    hanggang ngayon, tingin pa rin ng mga magulang ko at ng ilang kamag-anak ko na “walang kwenta ang komiks,” kumbaga, wala akong mapupuntahan diyan kaya dapat wag na ako “diyan.”

    pero matigas ulo ko, haha, mas malakas sigaw ng puso ko.

    NAPAKAHIRAP bumalik sa daang gusto at dapat kong tinahak noong una pa lang.

    pero noong november last year, sa wakas, nagawa ko rin ang pinakauna kong komiks. ansarap sa pakiramdam.

    ngayon, graphic artist ako at nagpupursigi pa ring matupad ang pangarap kong maging matagumpay sa paggawa ng komiks(at maging full time dito) na dasal ko e darating din balang araw. :)

    salamat po sa blog post na ‘to, nakaka-inspire sobra.

  5. plsburydoughboy on May 26th, 2011 7:38 pm

    From now on, every time I pass by the restaurants in Robinson’s, I will be thinking of you XD

  6. Joanah t.c. on May 26th, 2011 8:21 pm

    Good for you sir. :)

  7. Pao on May 26th, 2011 11:38 pm

    Tama, ser.

    Komiks is its own art form. This is the only medium that can convey the combined magic of sequential image and the written word. It should not be treated as a stepping stone to other art forms.

    That’s a good place you are in right now.

  8. Gerry Alanguilan on May 27th, 2011 8:00 am

    The restuarant is no longer there, Ryan. It used to be the restaurant that was there before the shabu shabu place on the 4th floor near Toy Kingdom, pero pati yung shabu shabu wala na rin doon. I was even able to design a large metal mural for a round wall inside.

  9. Julz on May 27th, 2011 9:59 am

    I can relate with you in a way Gerry. Back in the day, when I was trying to figure out what uni course I needed to put food on the family table and eventually on my own table, I took the road more traveled hoping that it would pay much better someday. I took up computer engineering. But when I got into the compulsory drafting class (CAD in particular), my interest in producing drawings came back and the rest of the subjects just took the back seat. So after four years of learning what I can on computers, I ended up drafting for a construction firm. I wasn’t paid much but I loved every minute I modelled in ‘anything’ in 3D.
    Now, I’m here in another country practicing the skills I acquired along the way, skills I needed to be good at what I do and the same skill set to keep me from being booted out of my passion.
    If you have the passion for something dear to you and if you’re given (or create) opportunities, you will be where you want to be.

  10. Jose Mari Lee on May 27th, 2011 1:59 pm

    I can’t blame people who think that comics is the stepping stone to TV or Motion Picture. It is, indeed, a gate – to TV and Movies.

    Comics involved words and series of pictures to tell a story, exactly what Television and Motion Picture are. The only difference with TV and Movies is the utilization of persistence of vision; and spatialization of time and dynamization of space.

    Comics, series of static images guided by words. Motion Picture & TV, series of moving images and spoken words.

    When you write and draw comics, you become adept with building scenes and dialogues, albeit more concise, but truncated, to fit the panels. What’s lacking in the words, you can fill in through the use of powerful illustrations. And this is the best part of making comics. You can both SHOW and TELL. You can even create a thinking balloon to tell your readers what a character is thinking.

    On TV and Motion Pictures, however, you’re more compelled to SHOW, than tell. If you can tell something through the use of thinking balloon in comics, in the movies and TV you have to find a way to reveal the inner thoughts of your character. Just like in Stage Plays, MOTIVATION is the key for every character, and the things he is thinking should be revealed by showing images and action, the revelation of the intrinsic via the extrinsic factors.

    TV (now that we have digital 16:9 ratio and the screen could go as wide as 9 feet by 4 feet in your home theater), and the movies are much BIGGER THAN LIFE. Bigger sound, bigger scenes, bigger music.

    Comics is intimate. Small. Quiet. A reliable companion wherever you go. It’s like a book you carry in the park, the woods (if you’re a nature lover), even on beaches while getting a tan :)
    It’s like having chicken soup when you have a cold. It’s something that would make you feel warm inside.

    The movies, you have to go to the theater, or to your own home theater to watch it. You can watch it using your laptop, but it’s not the same when it’s bigger than life in a theater. You find yourself as if in a RAVE where everybody’s using drugs while partying in a huge warehouse. He-he.

    Indeed, comics can open doors to a manunulat and katha’t guhit creator – migrate to TV and Movies. But we seldom find someone who was doing movies and TV and migrating to COMICS.

    The only setback I see with some komiks writers who turned TV or Movie directors, is the confusion between these two different art forms. If a writer creates a movie script that’s sounding and looking like comics, his work will fail. Comics is unique, but it won’t work as a movie if lifted as is from the pages of komiks. They have different paradigms and they both utilize different devices.

    And if a comics creator is happy with his medium, so be it. After all, human beings have choices to make. To each his own. What’s good for the gander, may not be good for the goose. And nobody has the right to order someone what to do with his art.

    And in your case, Manong Gerry, you hit it right on the nose. We have to go where we will be happy. That’s all.

    And for those who are doing animation, well, that’s their own decision as well. I’m pretty sure many animators are doing it for the money. I don’t know in RP, but here in Canada, animators can make from $80,000 to $140,000 a year working for an animation studio. The more you know Maya and After Effects, the more moolah you make. I would find animation these days quite boring to do. I won’t be caught dead doing animation in an animation studio, sitting there in front of the computer for 7 hours because apart from drawings, it also involves those boring codes that as artist would turn me off. I mean, I do a lot of FLash animations, especially for intro and opening/closing credits for the shows I am writing & directing, but the only code I would use is STOP, because it is a necessity to make the movement stop. Other than that, I would like to do the artwork and animate it and add the theme music as well.

    I would not be caught dead working for an animation studio, sitting in front of the computer for 7 hours everyday, dealing with those gobbledygook codes that looks like MODERN MATH. I have a MATH PHOBIA, so, Yuck. Of course it’s more fun to do comics. You create your own world in a universe of your own creation where you don’t have to keyboard those nasty codes.

    Basta. Komiks pa rin ako. Sana, kayo rin.

  11. Kat on May 27th, 2011 4:05 pm

    My day has just been filled with reading about one’s life, ambition and path. This caps it all. Salamat sa post na to.

  12. Ferres on May 28th, 2011 4:43 am

    Comics is the perfect medium for the Author/Artist. Anywhere else, you’ll have to compromise a lot.