Illustrating My Way to Infinity and Beyond

I have no idea how and why so many people liked this Vanille drawing of mine on Facebook and Deviantart.
Maybe it's because of the kink?

     I've always dreamed of being a famous artist, being featured somewhere ever since I was a kid. It's a pretty ambitious dream I must say. I really thought my skills weren't enough and my drawings are not "publish-worthy." I've been doodling since god-knows-when, and one of my earliest memories was being scolded by my parents because I always drew on the walls, my bedroom door and even the refrigerator! To prevent me from doing so, mom has since then provided me with tons of scratch paper from the office for me to doodle on, and even bought me a couple of art materials. Yes, I was a happy kid back then---drawing houses, flowers and happy faces on sheets of paper, alone inside my colorful bedroom.

    I remember during my grade school days I used to draw on pad papers and on the back of my notebooks. My classmates usually watch me while drawing and they ask me to draw stuff for them. At that time I wasn't really used to having someone watch me because I was a shy kid (don't worry, I'm already the opposite of that now that I'm older haha!) and kinda felt awkward about it. You know, confidence issues.

My old drawings found by a high school friend.  Yes. I know. They suck. No hands and bad anatomy!

    Things never changed even after reached high school. I was still drawing on my notebooks during lectures, gushing classmates asking me to draw a portrait of them with their crushes and so on. Drawing is my comfort zone, my happy place. Funny as to how I remember my notebooks consisted of 30% school stuff and 70% doodle. Oh and yes, I did manage to survive high school, despite all the Chemistry and Algebra torture!

    I took up Fine Arts in Advertising at the University of Santo Tomas in college. Did you know that I only found out that I would be taking up that course one month before the start of the first semester? It's quite a long story but to make it short I originally intended to take up another course which was *cough* Accountancy but failed miserably.

   Sketch, draw, paint, learn more, DOTA here, DOTA there. Fast forward to a couple of years and I found myself living the life of a bum. I used my free time trying to develop my skills not only in drawing, but also on other things like audio mixing, video editing and even voice acting. I usually use Adobe Photoshop because my laptop cant handle Illustrator at that time!

My idol, former San Beda Red Lion captain Yousif Aljamal holding up an old drawing of mine.

         

    Oh! I forgot to tell you guys that I am a HUGE San Beda Red Lions fan!! I went to San Beda Alabang until high school by the way, in case you're wondering. I loved watching their basketball victories live or on tv! They're the BEST team in the NCAA here in the Philippines, all the more reason why I am one loud and proud Bedan. Okay, this is how I KINDA got noticed by people on the internet. I eventually ended up befriending Red Lion Dave Marcelo, who informs me of their game schedules and such. Whenever there's a game, I make an "announcement photo" of game schedules like the one on the left. You know, post it on facebook, tag friends and schoolmates so that people will be aware of the new set of schedules. That picture is the very reason I became PULA's latest member. I got discovered and began "working" with them, designing shirts, posters and the like. PULA is an awesome group of Bedan photographers who takes photos of almost every San Beda basketball game. They're all nice people! I love them very much! (Also, don't forget to check out our shots and other stuff on Facebook!)

   You know, being a part of PULA is very fun and exciting. You get to meet tons of awesome people and get to stay and shoot on the court during games! I really owe them a lot. Because of them I landed on a job, and a lot of opportunities opened up for me. One of them is the opportunity to do illustrations for the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

My first set of published illustrations for
the Philippine Daily Inquirer's 2bU section
featuring a chibi version of PULAtographer
 Villy Mauricio

     Luis Carlo San Juan, a journalist for the 2bU Lifestyle section stumbled upon a drawing I made for my fellow PULAtographer Gerard Cruzado on Facebook. (Gee, FB, you are really powerful.) He messaged me on FB, asking me if  I would like to do illustrations for the newspaper because their editor liked my drawings. Oh goody if you guys knew how happy I was that night! I was in the office, jumping and screaming like crazy. My whole family was very happy for me and not to mention my friends as well! After my first set of illustrations got published, at the back of my mind I thought it was only a one-time thing but it wasn't. More and more tasks came in, to the point that my schedule got so packed I don't know what to do! But then again all the hard work gets paid off because people get to see my work and appreciate them, and not to mention the additional commish jobs! Well,  That's actually how my "journey" began.

    I'm not there yet, but I know someday I will make it. I've always wanted to make my family and friends proud of me, despite of the other things that I lack in life. I've been through a lot, and I'm willing to endure even more if it means living my lifelong dream in exchange for all of that.

    To everyone, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for appreciating the things that I do. You guys are the reason why I'm still fighting my way through the real world. Thank you, thank you so much for all your support! 

I remember I made a promise to a couple of friends way back:

"Someday, when I make it big, I promise to include you guys in whatever it is I will be doing, whether it's a videogame, a cartoon or whatnot, I swear!"

A couple of my published works. Magazines, you're next! I hope.