The (Squatter) City on the Hill

Squatter colonies interest me for numerous reasons.  One is that they are great practice for post apocalyptic landscapes.  Two is that they represent the sharp divide between rich and poor in Manila.  This piece was sketched right on the border of the Bonifacio Global City, one of the most expensive places to live in Manila and  the one below was sketched on the corner of ATC, one of the trendier shopping centers in the South of Manila.  Does their proximity to free market hubs mean that they’re more immediate beneficiaries of the trickle down economy?  Or am I making stuff up so that I sound like, deep and stuff?

Kangaroo Cowboy

So this is what the Aborigine, Outlaw, and Kangaroo sketches were about!  They were all preparations for an illustration of an Aborigine cowboy riding a kangaroo!  This is purely personal, which is why I haven’t been able to update it in a long while, but I’ve had a bit of downtime lately so I decided to push forward with it.  He has a backstory and everything, but I’ll get into that later on.  One thing that I should note is that he’s a former jockey, which is why he’s intentionally quite short.  He looks like he may be a little too buff to be a jockey though, so I might make him leaner when I do some more cleaning up.

High Street Scenes

Random scenes from an afternoon spent sketching in Bonifacio High Street.  Very quick, 1 or two minute sketches of people, flora and fauna, and buildings of course.  These thumbnails are more like gesture drawings, where the key is to get the basic shapes and composition down, rather than working for what looks like a finished product.  Bonifacio High Street is ideal for this, since it’s one of the few green areas in the city, and there;s a lot of foot traffic there, and a lot of stories waiting to be captured on paper.

Spacechem on Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Zach says it’s a little too early to be pimping, but I thought I’d give the game I’ve been working on for around 4 months a shoutout since it got talked about on Rock, Paper, Shotgun.  This is the first time anything I’ve ever worked on has received any notice from a well known press outlet, so I’m understandably excited.  Ultimately the game’s getting press because of Zach’s vision, but I’d like to think my artwork helped it along some.

Cars

Whatever my forte is as an artist, it certainly isn’t vehicles.  I definitely need to do more of these in the future.  These were both sketched in the parking lot of Royal Palm condominium.

 

Wedding Retreat pt2

More sketches from the wedding retreat.  The one above is of faces, both of our speakers and the other happy couples jumping through figurative hoops.  The sketches below are of random equipment around the rec room  we were using for the talks, did it as an exercise in drawing random stuff plus perspective.

Wedding Retreat

I am to be married to a wonderful woman soon, but before we can consummate our marriage, we have to jump through numerous hoops, both secular and religious.   The following are some sketches made during the two day retreat we had  in order to find out if we were really ready to get married, where we learned all about the joys of a loving marriage, sex under the eyes of God, a being life-giving.  Any text you read here is nearly verbatim, and is representative of the views of the Catholic Church as interpreted by these people.

This is a drawing of my foot with the gout.  I was obviously running out of stuff to draw.  I did make sure to take notes about the birth control system they advocated, more because I was interested in the symbols they used to designate when the vulva is dry, wet, or mucusy.

 

Pampanga Scenes

My grandmother passed away recently, and I made these sketches while at her wake.  I’m curious to know if any other cultures have the habit of sending flower arrangements of this sort to wakes, funerals, and store openings.  And what are its roots?  Is it an Asian thing, a Christian thing, or a tropical thing?  I wonder many things.  Below is  a log used to grow orchids on, which I thought would be nice to draw for its textures.

Quiapo Church

Took a trip to Quiapo Church a few weeks ago, and did some sketching.  A pro tip for anyone wanting to sketch the church as well, the best location to do it is Mang Inasal or Jollibee.  Mang Inasal provides you with a full front view of the church, while Jollibee is to the left of the church, giving you a good view of the clock tower.  Initial sketches were made above, and the more composed sketch is below.  I actually didn’t finish the painted sketch on the spot, since I didn’t have time (plus my hands were getting tired) but made the outlines of it on the spot and completed the rest at home.

Fusilli Pasta with hungarian sausage, greenbell peppers, and oyster mushrooms

Another food post.  Not much to say about this, except it was quite tasty!  The circle designs below the pasta are of my table mats, made of circles of coconut husks polished to a fine sheen.