Romeo Forbes Children’s Story Writing Competition

The Center for Art, New Ventures and Sustainable Development (CANVAS) will be launching another edition of the Romeo Forbes Children’s Story Writing Competition this year. I’m honored to have my painting chosen as the contest piece for this edition of the competition. The contest uses artworks as the inspiration or basis for all story submissions. This time around, the stories will be based on my painting. When a story is chosen, I will be illustrating the entire book based on the winning entry.

CANVAS actively promotes Philippine art and culture through exhibitions and collaborations with contemporary artists. One of its chief advocacies is the promotion of reading and literary in the Philippines. The stories and children’s books published by CANVAS are eventually given for free to children of distressed communities around the Philippines. Its goal is to provide 1 million books for 1 million children, and with each new CANVAS book, the organization draws closer to that goal.

CANVAS contest poster

The deadline for submission of entries is on October 16, 2015; Friday, 5:00 p.m. (Manila time). Details about the contest and how to enter can be found on Canvas’s blog or at their facebook page here. All inquiries should be directed at CANVAS since I’m only doing the paintings and I have no hand whatsoever with the rules.

Pictures and Words

My friends and I gave a talk at the Philippine Literary Festival held at Raffles Makati last August 30, 2015. With me in the panel were Liza Flores, Ray Sunga, and Sergio Bumatay III. We were a bit surprised by the turnout; we actually expected maybe ten attendees tops.

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Liza Flores gave an introduction about our organization Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan and talked about her process for her recent book “My Big Sister Can See Dragons” written by Rocky Sanchez Tirona and published by Canvas. The book’s development underwent the usual process that a children’s book goes through in the Philippines, wherein a publisher commissions an illustrator to provide images for an existing story. Liza’s illustrations for the book were all large scale papercuts mounted on wood. During the book’s launch, the illustrations were exhibited at the University of the Philippines Vargas Museum.

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Sergio Bumatay talked about out his process for his book “May Darating na Trak Bukas” (literally translated as “a truck will arrive tomorrow”) written by National Artist for Literature Virgilio Almario and published by Adarna House. Serj’s experience on the book was a bit different since it didn’t originate from a previously written text. Instead, Serj was asked to develop several studies that can serve as inspiration for a new story. From the studies, Adarna House chose one image for Virgilio Almario to base his text on.

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Ray Sunga narrated his personal experiences in being a children’s book illustrator, as well as his process, and his inspirations. He gave insights into what we as illustrators experience in the Philippines (notably how you can’t live on illustrating children’s books alone).

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I talked about my research on word and picture interactions in picture books as well as my learnings from a writers and illustrators workshop I attended in Bintan, Indonesia (more about this in a coming blog post). The point of my presentation was underscore our role as co-storytellers in picture books, a fact that many in the local industry may have glossed over because of the preeminence of the purely written text as primary sources of stories.

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The idea of teaching visual storytelling and visual literacy in general seems to be in its nascent stages in the Philippines. Personally, I’ve heard anecdotal evidence that parents shy away from stories that are purely pictorial or at least with very few words. I don’t have the facts as to how visual literacy is being taught in Philippine schools nowadays, but I hope illustrators will have a greater role in shaping the conversation in the future.

Hue Can Do It!

Covers by Asa Montenejo

I’ve been meaning to blog again for months, but life just got in the way. And as the months rolled on, it became harder and harder to get back into writing in the blog. Well, I hope I can remedy that in the coming months starting with this post, the title of which refers less about about a proclamation of self-encouragement and more about the latest adult coloring in the market.

Recent months have seen an explosion of various adult coloring books in bookstores, and so far the demand just keeps growing. Makes one wonder if everybody is THAT stressed. Hue Can Do It is Summit Books’s entry into the adult coloring book category. It comes in two volumes and features works from over 40 Filipino artists.

My page in the coloring book.

Here’s another one of my pages.

The books were launched last August 29, 2015 at The Philippine Literary Festival organized by National Book Store and held at Raffles Makati. Here’s video coverage of the event I found on the internet by Moki Magpantay.

Left to Right: Paolo Correa, Koi Carreon, Mika Bacani, Nelz Yumul, Asa Montenejo

Left to Right: Me, Manix Abrera, Brent Sabas, JP Cuison (partially hidden), Ariel Santillan

Studio Dialogo past and present. Left to Right: Harry Monzon, Rommel Joson, Ariel Santillian, Ray Sunga, Liza Flores, Abi Goy, Jamie Bauza

Artists included in the two volumes are Abi Dayacap, Abi Goy, Abi Montana, Alysse Asilo, Angela Taguiang, Apol Sta. Maria, Ariel Santillan, Asa Montenejo, Blic Pinas, Brent Sabas, Camille Chua, Camz Dagal, Clare Magno, Domz Agsaway, Electrolychee, Epjey Pacheco, Fran Alvarez, Frank Perez, Gica Tam, Harry Monzon, Isa Natividad, Jamie Bauza, Jap Mikel, Jaykee Evangelista, JP Cuison, Kay Aranzanso, Koi Carreon, Liza Flores, Manix Abrera, Mawee Borromeo, Mika Bacani, Nelz Yumul, Nicole Lim, Paul Eric Roca, Paulo Correa, Pergy Acuña, Raine Sarmiento, Ray Sunga, Reg Silva, Robx Bautista, Rommel Joson, Sergio Bumatay III, Tasha Rye, and Wiji Lacsamana.

The books were designed by Studio Dialogo with covers by Asa Montenejo. Visit Studio Dialogo’s facebook page at http://facebook.com/studiodialogo.

Each Hue Can Do It book is PhP 295 and can be bought at National Bookstore, Fully Booked, Powerbooks, Mini-Stop and 7-11 convenience stores, and Robinsons and SM Department Stores and supermarkets. Visit Summit Books here or Summit Media at their facebook page at http://facebook.com/summitmediaph.

“Isang Harding Papel” Formally Launched

“Isang Harding Papel”, our little children’s book set during the Martial Law years was formally launched at the Museo Pambata last November 27, 2014. At the launch were officials of the Edsa People Power Commission (EPPC), the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, cabinet members, and Presidential sister Pinky Aquino-Abellada.

The event coincided with the late Sen. Ninoy Aquino’s birthday. Aquino, a political prisoner during the Martial Law years was assassinated in 1983 at the tarmac of the airport that now bears his name. This set into motion a series of events that led to the People Power revolution of 1986. Aquino’s wife, Corazon Aquino, eventually became president from 1986 to 1991. His son Benigno Aquino III became president in 2010 and occupies that position until 2016.

Here’s a TV coverage of the event:

EPPC Commissioner Cesar Sarino gives the opening remarks. It feels weird seeing my small illustration printed this big. It feels even weirder to have all these people gathering for a book I drew at home in my shorts and ratty old t-shirts.

Me being interviewed.

Storytelling by Bodjie Pascua. I grew up watching Kuya Bodjie on the kids’ TV Show Batibot.

Here’s a new trailer for the book. Don’t mind the tone though. It sort of feels like the main character is some freedom fighter. 😛

Society 6 Sale!

I have some prints on sale at Society6; you can visit my page here. You can also click on this promo link to get free shipping worldwide on all prints for a limited time only. Promo runs up to November 9, 2014 worldwide.