It all really began in October of 2009 when projects that I had been working on for years finally came out. The ELMER collected edition, which I started working on in early 2006 finally came out. “Where Bold Stars Go To Die”, a story I wrote in 2000 which struggled to find the right artist came out at the same time. And the digital restoration, compilation and republication of Francisco V. Coching’s “EL INDIO”, which my studio had been working on since 2004 finally came out as well.

I immediately started sending ELMER out to editors, writers, artists, journalists, reviewers and publishers abroad. I felt that Elmer could have a life outside of the country. I had nothing to lose anyway except shipping expenses. Of course, I hadn’t realized that postal rates had quadrupled in the last few years. Sending one copy of the collected Elmer set me back around 500 pesos, which is worth more than twice the book costs. INSANE. I was used to losing money to the post office anyway, ever since I started sending submissions to Marvel on a regular basis starting 1986. Such expenses are part of the process, I guess. Most of the time you don’t get a return on it, but to get a return on it at least once, all of the trouble and expense becomes worthwhile.

Very soon I had TWO publishers who wanted to publish Elmer. One was SLG in the US, and the second was Editions çà et là in France. I almost didn’t get the latter one because of the freakish nature of the Internet. The email from the editor found itself in the spam folder of my email. If I deleted my spam unread, there would be no French edition of Elmer. But thankfully enough, it’s become a habit of mine to check the spam folder regularly. Thank goodness!

I spent the entire 2010 waiting in excitement for the release of Elmer abroad. Both of them eventually came out in November. Wait, rewind. Let me go back to January.

Philip Tan had a wedding on January 9! Superstar Marvel and DC penciller Philip Tan was in town and got married at the San Agustin Church in Intramuros.

I like weddings. Well, I like weddings now. I used to hate them back when I was Wasted. Nowadays, I love them. There’s something about new beginnings that hold so much potential and promise. In attendance was future president of the Philippines, Jiggy Cruz. Well, Jiggy will probably freak when he reads that, but I can see into the future. (Well actually I don’t.) I just like saying it.

February wasn’t very good. Actually it was pretty bad. It’s the only truly bad thing to happen in 2010, and it’s a big one.

My good friend Arlan Esmeña passed away on February 18 due to cancer. He passed away less than a year after he found out he was sick. Towards the end, he mounted an incredible effort and drew “Where Bold Stars Go To Die” from start to finish where he displayed an outstanding growth as an artist. We lost in incredibly good artist that day, and I lost what I realized was my best friend.

The night of February 18 I was on the air at NU107, on the program RockEd Radio to promote the Renaissance comics event. I was touched when they dedicated the show to Arlan, and I broke down when I spoke about him.

Photo by Anvil.

The Renaissance event was held a few days later on February 21. It was a special event to launch the Renaissance book, part of the proceeds of the sales would go to benefit Komikeros in need. Little did I know that the earnings of the sketching sessions would go to Arlan’s family, which touched me incredibly.

Early that month, on February 13, the first Comics Convention in Los Baños was held, the Komikstrip event, co-organized by good pal Jonas Diego. Sputnik! in Cubao X had a grand relaunch on February 6. I attended both events. Arlan almost attended the Sputnik! relaunch, but was too sick at St. Lukes Hospital a few kilometers away to make it. Instead, he signed 20 copies of Bold Star on his hospital bed. Looking at those autographs, you would never know Arlan was sick.

March was interesting. It was the month Lolcat came into our lives.

Lolcat is this stray tabby cat who wandered into our backyard while he was in heat. I distracted him with food, and he stayed.

I met and hugged Neil Gaiman.

And that wasn’t so easy. I’ve wanted to meet Neil Gaiman since he came to visit the Philippines in 2005. I stood in line for 9 hours just to get his autograph at Greenhills, but I never got a chance to talk to him. I’ve been sending him Elmer through the mail because I was genuinely curious as to what he thought about it. If he didn’t like it, I would gladly accept it. But I was ecstatic to learn that he did, through a post card that he sent. When he came back to do a series of signings in 2010, I racked my brain for ways to hand him the collected Elmer book, as well as talk to him. Not fleeting small talk, but really talk to him. When I was invited to judge the Neil Gaiman and Fully Booked’s Graphic Fiction awards, I accepted right away because I knew I would get to meet Neil properly. It was so awesome finally meeting one of your heroes. I didn’t wash for days after.

In March, the Province of Laguna gave me this thing.

“Gawad Pinakamaningning na Alagad ng Singing” para sa Sining Biswal.

Now I didn’t want to say what it was when it first happened back in March so people won’t have the opportunity to protest. ha!ha!ha! (Little inside joke there.)

Also, the dirt road outside was finally paved with concrete. FINALLY. It’s election period that’s why. However, they didn’t bother to finish it. There’s some five meters more of dirt road between this concrete road and the road outside. Magnificent.

In April I finally got my life long wish. Playboy Philippines visited me to yeah, take pictures of my naked body for the entire country to see. No they didn’t. They just came to talk to me about comics. They did take my photo, but they balked when I hinted I wanted to show some skin.

April 17 was Summer Komikon!

Photo by Roi Fernandez.

Much thanks to Oscar Gailan, Timawa superfan! Now I really don’t like using the word “fan”. I’ve never used it before to refer to anyone who likes my work. I don’t know. I just don’t like to. I only use it this time because Oscar really really likes Timawa. As in I’ve never met anyone else who likes Timawa as much as he does. At almost every event he brings along stacks of The Buzz Magasin for me to sign and I love doing it, not just for Timawa but for any other work of mine anyone else would bring. I never sell my original art (Timawa, Elmer, Humanis Rex, Johnny Balbona), but for Oscar I’ll gladly make an exception.

May was extraordinary. Easily one of the best months of the year for me because I got to act in a short film!

Photo by Jonas Diego.
Teenage Heartthrob, that’s me!

“Tin-tin, 15″ is a short drama film, directed by Lem Garcellano (Batibot) where I got to play a bad guy. A really bad corrupt cop type guy who likes em ladies! Oh yeah!

It was shot for 3 days here in San Pablo, and I was there on the location for 2 days. I probably would not have been able to participate had it been shot elsewhere. It was a long and exhausting two days. We were there from morning up until around 4 in the morning. I would go home, and return early afternoon, and be on hand to shoot, this time well into 5 in the morning.

I was there for only two days, but I was able to form friendships with a few people who I’m still good friends with today. There’s something about intense experiences like that that tend to leave an indelible mark that you carry with you for a long time.

Hot on the heels of Laguna, San Pablo City also gave me this thing on May 7:

As with the Laguna thing, what makes me happy about things like this that I was given the opportunity to do my parents proud. For many years I went around with a cloud over my head believing I had let my parents down for seriously pursuing a career in art. There were definitely moments in the past that I can consider low points in my relationship with my parents because of the decisions I’ve made. I’m old and mature enough now to know that they were only so passionate about what they wanted for me because they didn’t want me growing up destitute and regretful of my youthful and immature decisions.

I’m at least very glad that I had the chance to show them that I knew what I was doing and I knew what I wanted in life. Even if they were wary of my decisions, they nevertheless supported me in the end and it is really for them these recognitions are for rather than for me.

By this time I was back fully into inking comics with Ultimate Comics Avengers and later on Superior, both with Leinil Francis Yu. After being away from inking for years, I realized I had missed it a lot. I also realized how much more detailed Leinil’s pencils had become. While they looked spectacular, it took me longer to ink each page compared to say, a typical page of Superman: Birthright. But nevertheless, it’s a job I love having and love doing.

It was also around this time I realized that I was really getting old. I had hit 40 a couple of years ago, and like turning on a light switch, my eyesight suddenly became blurry. I can still see perfectly when I look around me. It’s just when I read or draw, anything really close to my eyes tend to become blurred. I was aghast. I thought I just need to rest my eyes, wash my face, take a nap or something like that. But no, my eyesight has indeed decreased. I went to an eye doctor and I was prescribed reading glasses. The results were stunning to say the least. Once I put those glasses on, my eyes can suddenly see clearly. I swear, I can see more clearly now with these glasses than I could see before. It’s like lines in front of my eyes become magnified somehow, and I’m actually inking better because of it.

Towards the end of May I decided find happiness in everything I do.

Nothing much happened in June. Well, I did waste time at an event in Manila and was kind of surly during my short stay. This is the second instance my time was wasted in this way and I’m no longer waiting for a third. However, I did get to hang out with a good friend who I don’t get to see all that often nowadays.

June also saw the first public showing of “Tin-Tin, 15″ at Mogwai, Cubao X.

July brought with it one of the biggest surprises of my life. I was invited to give a talk on comics at St. Paul University in Manila. I thought I’d just give a talk and go, but it turns out it was something so much more.

The students were actually cosplaying my characters! It was amazing! I actually got kind of teary eyed at some point.

August was Metro Comicon and I was stunned at the reception us artists got at our panel.

On January 2009, I uploaded this seemingly innocent video on You Tube:

For more than a year it sat at You Tube, content but almost forgotten with a couple of hundred views. I myself had forgotten all about it. By 2010 my interest in making videos on You Tube was kind of waning, specially since comics was making me a little too busy to make them as regularly as I once did.

Suddenly, for some weird reason, views for the video skyrocketed overnight. I didn’t notice it at first. Then someone downloaded it, reuploaded it at Facebook, and retitled it “Lakas Tama ni Manong”. Since Facebook doesn’t count views there’s no way to know how many times it was viewed, the comments nevertheless reached the thousands. I was flabbergasted. In the meantime, insanely enough, the video reached a million views on You Tube. Crazy! By the end of 2010, it’s gotten more than 2.5 million views at YouTube! Bizzarro world!

The thing pretty much evolved a life of its own. I’ve received emails from people telling me that it’s been shown on TV in the UK, Spain, France, Japan and so on. A Japanese TV station even sent a director here to the house to interview me for an entire day about the video and about my comics.

Here’s a video from Fox News:

It was getting so insane that people were recognizing me at SM when I wanted to hang out and relax with the wife. It’s died down a bit, and I’m just so relieved because I didn’t want it to start getting in the way of doing comics. I’ve had to decline another visit from another local station because those things just take too much time. And lately, I really don’t have that much time to spare. There’s really just so much work to be done.

September saw me and Ilyn taking a trip to Cebu! We went there for vacation, but at the same time we went there for the first Cebu Comics Convention!

Photo by Carlo Pagulayan.
With JOHN AMOR.

In October, my mom cooked her specialties for Ilyn’s birthday!

Kulawo. San Pablo specialty.

Ampalaya Salad. Always becomes everyone’s favorite!

The end of the year was just pretty much me burying myself in work. I didn’t even go to the 6th Annual Komikon in November because I had to stay home and ink. It’s the first time I ever missed a Komikon and I missed it. I monitored uploads and status updates from Facebook and Twitter all day from people who went just to be updated what was going on.

ELMER finally came out in the US and Europe during the second half of November. I was extremely nervous because I had no idea how it would be received. At the same time I was also paranoid because I didn’t want SLG and Editions çà et là to regret having published my book because it bombed. I believed in my comic book though. I worked hard for a couple of years to make it the best I could possibly make it. I had no regrets and there’s not a single page I simply hacked out. Of course, there are things I see now that I want to change, but it’s too late for that, and there comes a time I have to move on or else I’ll never get things done.

Thankfully enough, the reviews have been quite positive. Massive relief. Already, SLG and Editions çà et là are asking what other books I have that they can take a look at.

Christmas Day is family reunion time!

My nephew Robin (the one in black next to me) is such a huge comic book fan. I gave him a three-story volume of The Adventures of Tintin and he flipped. He’s a hardcore Tintin fan now. He’s about the same age I was when I was flipping out myself on Tintin.

December 28 was our 8th wedding anniversary.

We planned on a massive date which involved Tagaytay, Mushroom Burgers and Ferris Wheels at Enchanted Kingdom, but the van we were to rent broke down so we settled for a massive date right here in San Pablo.

First we went on a window shopping spree at SM San Pablo, then we had a long walk at Sampalok Lake, and then we spent early evening and had dinner at Ultimart.

In the end it didn’t matter where we were, as long as we were together.

Good news regarding those looking for the collected edition of Humanis Rex!, this full color series that came out in FUDGE Magazine from 2005-2007.

Since Humanis Rex! was done in full color, it would be financially difficult for me to have a collection of it printed at the moment. I considered selling it through online print on demand services like Lulu.com, but it would drive the retail price very high, as POD books normally are, exacerbated by additional shipping costs from the US to the Philippines.

But during the talk I had yesterday at UP Diliman, part of the 2nd Philippine International Comics, Cartoons and Animation (PICCA) Festival, I met the owner of a local print on demand service that would make collected editions of Humanis Rex! possible.

It would still be more expensive per copy as compared to having it printed at a regular offset press, but I could at least have as little as ONE copy printed. I plan on having 20 copies printed at first, just to see how it’s received.

I don’t know yet how much a copy of Humanis Rex! collected edition will be, but if I do go in this direction, would anyone be interested in buying a copy?

Last July 10, 2010, I was invited to attend the freshmen initiation at the St. Paul University in Manila. The theme of their initiation was “Pinoy Komiks”, and I had been invited to give a talk on the history and the state of the Philippine comics industry.

I did not hesitate to agree because more and more I try and grab the opportunity to talk about Philippine comics to those who may not be completely aware of its history, its significance to Filipino culture, and the state of the industry now.

I was glad that the organizers of the freshman initiation at St. Paul this year decided on “Pinoy Komiks”. This speaks to me of how much komiks is still very much ingrained into our culture, whether komiks is around or not.

The theme was reflected through costumes the freshmen were be required to wear.

What I wasn’t prepared for was that the freshmen of the Nursing Department paraded in costumes based on characters that I had created. There was a group that dressed up as chickens, like on Elmer. There was a group that dressed like Apolaki Warriors in Timawa. There was a group that dressed like the characters in Humanis Rex! There were several Johnny Balbonas and an Eric (from Wasted). There were several Lastikmen (I wrote Lastikman for Mango in 2004). Even those comics that haven’t been published yet like The Marvelous Adventures of the Amazing Doctor Rizal, and the Adventures of Miko and Jec-jec were well represented.

For the first time perhaps in San Pablo City history, someone actually dressed up as the statue of the woman carrying a bilao located at Doña Leonila Park in San Pablo (as she is drawn in a Miko and Jec-jec illustration).

I was so surprised that for a long time I didn’t know how to react. I absolutely had no idea that they were going to do this, and I have to admit that it touched me deeply. I found myself shedding tears, no matter how hard I tried to fight it back. It had been so unexpected. I came in there with no expectations other than to give a talk on comics. What I saw was more than I could have imagined.

I wish to thank Michelle Sto. Tomas and all of those in the Nursing Department who gave life to my characters. I wish to thank all the students and teachers and administrators of St. Paul who organized the event as a love letter to Philippine comics.

Thanks to Jan Philippe Carpio for recommending me to the organizers in the first place. Hope to meet you soon, buddy!

For the rest of the photo gallery, click on the slideshow below:

And of course, here’s the inevitable video!

Once again, thanks to St. Paul University, Manila! That was truly a memorable day for me.

Humanis Rex!, Timawa, Elmer, Johnny Balbona… it’s not so bad I guess, for work I’ve managed to do after taking a break from inking. Yes, I can finally admit it was a break, and not a permanent retirement. I guess I just needed to convince myself that it was really over so I can concentrate more fully on the work I wanted to do. I wanted to extend myself more in comics. The 10 years I spent inking was fulfilling, but the years I spent creating my comics were even more so.

I will be inking again something soon. Clues of what is hidden in the last Timawa installment. You can take a guess, but correct guesses won’t be approved for posting (at least for now).

But even then, I will continue to do my own work. There is after all, “The Marvelous Adventures of the Amazing Doctor Rizal”. It’s just that it will become the sideline as opposed to the main job. The main job is the priority now and I will work on my own projects when I’m free. Even then, I’m confident I can come out with Rizal for the October Komikon. By then I can afford to publish it in the format I want it.

AND SPEAKING OF INKING!

The nominations are up, and you, yes YOU can vote for your favorite inker! This is the 2nd year of the Inkwell Awards, an award giving body that strives to give recognition to the oft maligned and oft misunderstood aspect of comic book creation. Here’s your chance to show how much you appreciate them inkers!
http://www.inkwellawards.com/
Direct link to the voting page:
https://inkwellawards.justsurvey.me/546882e6579

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There’s been quite an uproar for that Multiply post during the last week. I read it, and I can understand how it can cause people to go berserk. I can just laugh it off. I mean, I was young once myself (hey I still am!). All I can say is this… they won’t be young forever. Sooner than they even realize or care to admit, they’ll be as old school as the rest of us. *cackle*

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My friends at the Komikero group was over the house last Sunday. It wasn’t a Komikero meeting really. It was just old friends hanging out and doing… stuff. As to what that stuff is, well, here’s one of them…

I can’t talk more about this project I’m doing research for since they haven’t announced it. But once they do you probably can’t shut me up about it. I’m very excited to be involved in it, specially since I would get to pencil, ink and color the entire thing. This is where all the feedback and critique I’ve gotten about Humanis Rex! and Timawa would pay off. I’ve taken all your feedback to heart and I would sincerely make use of that to better my work.

I had completely recovered from the sickness I had earlier in the month. It was really bad as I really couldn’t stand up for a couple of days and I had a bad stomach for a week. In the past few days it’s Ilyn’s turn to get sick, and being in such close quarters I feel like I’m gonna get sick again. Well I’m really just sick of this. Sick of being sick. I won’t allow it. I was already just hanging around not working for a week I can’t afford to not work now. I’m just going to have to work through this. I’ve done it before.

If I get tired I’ll just read the book.

I worked like mad for the past several weeks just to get a bunch of work done. A few financial options fell through, leaving me in a rather difficult position, specially with the holidays and the ton of obligations that usually come with it. I’ve had to do a lot of work, and be creative with finding ways to fit the budget. There’s still a lot of things left over to take care of, like paying for the printing of Elmer #3, so the work isn’t really finished. In fact, this is only the start of what could be my busiest year yet. Now more than ever I am aware of the responsibilities to the people around me, specially my family, leading me to make some of the toughest decisions I’ve had to make with regards to my professional career.

I’ve had to prioritize what things I should concentrate on, and what things I should let go. I’ve had to be very honest and straightforward with my correspondences, because I’m less tolerant of the cutesy and pussyfooting around.

Friends have asked what am I working on. Right now it’s Elmer #4, and TIMAWA, which will now be four full color pages a month beginning with the February 2008 issue of The Buzz Magasin, which should be available right about now.

Above: Preview of unlettered artwork from Timawa #5. I’m keeping clean unlettered versions of each page to open the possibility of doing an English version in the future. Timawa is written in Tagalog and it’s been very challenging. I don’t write it in English and then just translate it into Tagalog. I find that it’s a system that doesn’t work for me and the story. I find that losing myself in the world and in the story, I can come up with words that I would not otherwise have used.

Having four pages to work with is fantastic because it allows me to come up with 2 page spreads while still coming up with a substantial installation. The work that I did with Humanis Rex!, and the lessons I learned from that experience informs Timawa in a lot of ways. With HR, I consciously tried to make each installment act as a whole, which made it OK to read 2 pages a month. But when read back to back, the entire 48 pages don’t seem to gel as well.

With Timawa, I’m no longer trying to make the 4 pages I have to act as a whole, but as a part of a 60plus page story. Each 4 page installment may end on an awkward panel, but when read back to back, I hope to make it flow smoothly as one whole story.

I have other things I’m working on, but I’d rather not talk about it now.

I’ll be updating this blog more regularly from now on. I’ll start posting vintage komiks art once again, and other things I used to do here.

I’ll also start posting music. I’ve rediscovered my love for early 90′s Pinoy Alternative music, I find myself in heaven after discovering a lot of this music online. The song below is an example.

One of my favorite songs ever. I used to own a casette tape of Grupong Pendong’s debut album, but the tape’s long since gone to crap from constant playing, and as far as I know, this never came out on CD.

I’ll soon begin a series of articles about creating comics, expanding on the curriculum I came up with for my term as Comics Creation teacher at the College Of St. Benilde last year.

I loved teaching. It’s great meeting all these great young people interested in comics and wanting to create comics. Unfortunately, it’s one of those things I’ve had to let go. The real reason I didn’t continue teaching was because it just took too much out of my time. It was only one day, but the time expended in preparing for it, recovering from it, traveling from San Pablo to Manila and back, checking plates, reports and assignments collectively took several days.

And that is I guess, that. I plan on spending more time creating comics this year than ever before. By the end of the year I want to have created comics I’d be proud to say that I did, and that includes comics that my parents can proudly show off to their priest and nun friends. Although my dad has a priest friend who really likes Elmer. But then, the man also liked Transformers. He’s got to be one of the coolest priests I’ve met.

Oh yeah, one more thing about Timawa. If you’re thinking of waiting for the compilation, DON’T. I didn’t even discuss the possibility with editorial. There are currently no plans for it, and it’s not really on the radar of things I would be doing in the future. So please, IMMERSE yourself in Filipino showbiz culture by buying The Buzz Magasin, and get 4 pages of TIMAWA, AUTHOR and DIRECTED by the Philippines’ Official Greatest Illustrator below the age of 40 and above 38 currently residing in Banayo Compound in San Pablo City! In the process, you’re helping me earn some money. So THANK you!

Now as for EL INDIO and HUMANIS REX! compilations… I’ve yet to meet with the potential publisher for El Indio. I’ve got so distracted with urgent work the past couple of months that I missed meeting with them. I’ll try to do so soon. Humanis Rex and it’s release depends on Fudge Magazine now. All the material is with them. I think it’s about time I followed it up.

I’ll be back. Sooner than you think!

2007 has got to be one of the worst years I’ve had so far, both personally and professionally. The year started with much optimism, specially with regards to the komiks industry. I felt that 2007 would be a big year for komiks, and although it was indeed a significant year, I felt nothing but disillusionment. It is this year I discovered how dirty the local komiks industry is, and that there are people here who will stop at nothing, because of their greed and hunger for glory and recognition, to trample on ordinary hardworking people to get what they want. It’s more frustrating to see that there are other people who are blinding themselves to this for whatever reason. I don’t know if they’re just clueless or just don’t care because they’re getting something out of it. There are many other things I have learned, things I can never talk about on this blog that have simply horrified and disgusted me.

Those looking for someone to blame for the fate of Sterling’s komiks and are pointing fingers here and there, you simply have NO idea. You absolutely have NO idea. And if I can laugh at your ignorance I would, but I’m a little too bummed to do even that.

If you want to look for something to blame, all you have to do is look at the komiks themselves, and just let your brain function. That’s all it is. And if you can’t find anything wrong with them, it’s best that you are never placed in any kind of position to further efforts to revive this industry.

I was pretty demoralized because of that for much of the year, and I have to say it did affect the work I did. I also lost my dog, who I considered a part of my family, and that bummed me out even more. I was only able to finish one issue of Elmer, when I intended to finish the entire series. I was hoping to launch two regular series this year, but both have come to a grinding halt. It was probably a mistake to spend so much time with webcomics this year because it really ate into the time I needed for my paying print work. I probably won’t be back there again, except to serialize something I’ve already done, like Wasted.

I stopped the Komikero meetings for the latter half of the year because I was either too busy, or it just didn’t feel right. I felt that I would not have been good company. I started to answer email less and less. I haven’t checked my email in a while now.

Thank goodness for the good things that came my way this year because without them, I would have gone completely quackers.

In spite of my early hesitation, teaching one term at Benilde was one of the best things to happen to me this year. It was a great experience, and I came away every Saturday feeling really good.

Starting TIMAWA for Buzz Magasin was also a great thing, and it was something I really needed creatively. It felt really good finishing Elmer #3 for Komikon, but I hoped I could have finished it earlier. But coming out with it was really nice nevertheless.

Finishing Humanis Rex was bittersweet. I felt great satisfaction upon finishing the entire series, something I had worked since 2005. I hope I could have done it better, but at least the lessons I learned here would inform the work I would do on Timawa, as well as The Marvelous Adventures of the Amazing Dr. Rizal.

Helping Ilyn get to watch and meet Taylor Hicks was a high point of the year. She’s a huge fan, and it was great seeing how happy she was (and still is) for the past few weeks.

I want to end 2007 on this high note, and just put all that ugly stuff behind me. 2008 is a new year and I hope it’s a better one. Coincidentally, 1997 was also a bad year for me, and 1998 was a great year, a fantastic year for me actually. I wish 2008 would be a great and fantastic year as well. 8 after all, is a favorite number of mine.

I do have to say that although El Indio is finished, it won’t be released in time for Komikon. I would first have to meet with the publisher, who is currently in the US and won’t be back till December. Humanis Rex! has a good chance of coming out in time for Komikon so I’m keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

I don’t get to take a breath even after Komikon because I have another killer deadline for the last week of November, and then another one for Timawa for early December. The only time I think I could take a serious breath of air would be 2nd week of December, after which I plan to literally go away for a while.

I use a variety of tools, combinations of which differ with the kinds of projects I do. From the top, the first thing there is a Staedtler Mars Graphic 3000 given to me by illustrator/inker John Beatty, and it’s one of the best brushes I’ve used. It’s perfect for fine detailing to delicate cross hatching. (Thanks John!)

The next one is a beat up brush I use for blacking out large areas.

Next is a Hunts #102 quill, which is the favorite tool of a lot of inkers, and I’ve used it myself numerous times, specially when I’m inking Whilce Portacio. The flexibility of the nib allows you to make very fine lines as well as thicker lines. Used a certain way, you can make thin to thick lines in just one stroke.

Next is a Penesco quill I found being sold for cheap at a local school supply store. It doesn’t give a fine line as the Hunts 102, but I like it for the thick lines I’m able to do. And I LOVE thick lines, even as a lot of artists don’t.

Next is a standard Speedball pen, this one is a B3, I think. Like I said, I love thick lines and this allows me to create them, as well as fill out black areas.

Next are a couple of UNI drawing pens, which is my favorite tool at the moment. They come in a variety of thickness from 0.1 to 0.8. This is what I use to draw ELMER almost exclusively. I also used this to draw Humanis Rex, and I’m also using it to draw Dr. Rizal.

Next are a couple of ROTRING technical pens, which come in a variety of thickness from 0.1 to 1.2. I used this a lot in my inking, specially inking Leinil Yu who likes to see clean, consistent linework that a techpen could give. I’m familiar with the techpen because it’s been the tool I’ve used the most throughout my years as an architecture student and as a licensed architect. Having been so used to it, I managed to use it to my advantage in comics, making it do things that it wasn’t supposed to. I use a 0.3 tech pen to letter Elmer.

My favorite drawing pencil has been, and always be, the #2 Mongol pencil. Although I prefer the “For Kids” Mongol because they’re thicker and easier to grasp.