comicsbutuan

Snotty Spiderman

2011-07-20T00:18:00.001-07:00

The wild and exaggerated poses of Spiderman are very tolerant of excesses in anatomy. This drawing is certainly no exception. The proportions of this drawing are all wrong, but somehow it seemed "right" to me just the same.

Captain America in Formation

2011-07-19T08:26:00.000-07:00

Ripped Hulk

2011-07-04T16:52:00.000-07:00

These series of Marvel character pencils were done on sheets of 5.5 in. x 8.25 in. They're quite small, nearly the size of thumbnails. I'm not used to working at these sizes and the pencils are quite muddy. I'll be working on putting more detail and producing cleaner lines.

Hall of Iron Men

2011-07-03T20:32:00.000-07:00

Logan with cigar

2011-06-23T19:50:00.000-07:00

2010-11-17T03:28:00.000-08:00

This was an attempt to thresh out the creature "Binhi" (seed) some more. I was trying to be clever and experimented with an "action" pose. Unfortunately, foreshortening has always been my weakness and as you can see, the oversized head has suffered all the more for it. She kinda looks like a finalist for a hula contest.

Mithi Models!

2010-11-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

This is Mithi strutting her stuff as a model. It's a very old pen doodle that I dusted off and inked with a brush. I was just messing around with her proportions and I guess I must've been channeling Fashion TV. I "cheated" a little and cleaned it up with Photoshop, tweaked the brightness and contrast.

Mithi: Drybrush Exercise

2010-10-19T17:48:00.000-07:00

This is OC (Original Character) Mithi under the BK (Bayan Knights) group. It's just a very quick, drybrush rendering. I didn't really plan it very much, just sat down and knocked it out. Sometimes, you gotta do things like that, just to clear out the cobwebs. So I have to apologize for the loopy anatomy, (oversized head, I'm always doing that)...the experimental right hand (no hand-posing, totally thought-up). But that's the thing with brushwork, you just want to cut loose sometimes. I really enjoyed just doing it, not worrying about the character's continuity (she's loosely based on a Malaysian actress) nor the look of her "costume" (or what passes for a costume).

STANDARD RELIEF PACK

2009-10-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

In a heavy plastic bag:

2 canned goods (sardines, pork and beans, vienna sausages, etc.)
2 packs instant noodles
8 packs biscuits (1 loaf of bread)
1 liter water

BK Sketch Cards

2009-04-27T07:13:00.000-07:00

These are some of the characters from Bayan Knights, inking studies for sketch cards. Sketch cards are something new to me, because I'm accustomed to drawing 100 to 150% print size. The cards are like mini-paintings, small tokens of the artist's craft. So, I focused on conveying my inking style. There isn't much room for anything else except a quick face shot, hand gesture, signature and an implied background.

2009-03-02T21:18:00.000-08:00

I inked this with a Pentel Inkbrush, it is my preferred inking tool. I use it for practically everything, except for straight lines which typically occur in perspectives. It's not as good as I would want it to be. I still haven't hit my stride yet. Inks done with brushes should have more flair and movement. I was exerting too much control on the brushstrokes. There is always a delicate balance between accuracy and dynamism.

2009-03-02T21:11:00.001-08:00

This is Mithi an OC (original character) under Sacred Mountain Publication's Bayan Knights. This was pencilled by Gilbert Monsanto and inked by me, Francis Lim. I was going to make some "changes" to the blueline art but decided against it. Because the design was pretty solid, so I just tried to define the pencils with the ink strokes. This version of Mithi is decidedly more regal and statuesque, befitting her role as a heroine. All my future drawings of Mithi will be using this version as a key reference

Mithi ver 2b

2008-11-21T02:05:00.000-08:00

This is version 2b of Mithi. It's more of an anthropod-like creature. But Gilbert Monsanto suggested a stealth version, less threatening more heroic. So, Mithi will have different modes to suit the situation. By the way, I also have a DA account, all the preliminary pencils and rough sketches are in http://www.comicsbutuan.deviantart.com Thanks

Mithi ver2a

2008-10-29T18:23:00.000-07:00

This is version 2a of Mithi. The design is a more defined and tighter. After another round of comments from Noni, I'll be tweaking it some more. Version 2b will be decidedly creepier and more cohesive. The third version has generated a very interesting back story, and this will hopefully result in a deeper characterization of the OC (original character). I hope 2b will be the last iteration, because I really need to start coloring this piece.

Mithi ver2

2008-10-11T01:33:00.000-07:00

This is version 2 of Mithi. She looks decidedly more "elemental", her form suggests mystical powers and her demeanor is more menacing. But, it's not quite done yet. My trusty alter-ego Noni, has pointed out some more things; and these will all go into version 2a. But, I still think ver2 is quite relevant though, with Halloween just around the corner. Doesn't she look like she's about to go trick or treating?

Mithi

2008-10-06T05:46:00.000-07:00

This is Mithi, one of the proposed OC's (original characters) in Gilbert Monsanto's publication titled "Bayan Knights". I'm still ironing out the kinks, aided by the valuable advice of my good friend, Noni. He pointed out a lot of things, pretty good critique. I told him that he could be an editor na. I was going to color it already, but, since there are quite a few changes still to be made....so, this drawing stops...and gets posted.

A Call to Arms

2008-09-17T20:25:00.000-07:00

HELLO...I READ AN ODD POST ON..........http://gilbertmonsanto.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html..........., it was almost like a call-to-arms. Then it occurred to me, it's one of those it's-so-crazy-it-just-might-work schemes. That little figure at the right hand bottom corner is my first sketch ever of my OC (original character). It's just a doodle really, but I will be developing it some more. She's kinda like the Spectre, Void, Dr.Strange....it's always a headache who to put in the background whenever there is a group shot. I'm hoping she'll fill the bill.

Superman Pin-Up

2008-06-16T20:00:00.000-07:00

It's really difficult to give up on a drawing, but sometimes that's the only option. This is a pin-up of Superman, unfortunately I really overreached beyond my present ability. And somewhere along the line, I got lost in the details. There's that saying, "don't focus too much on the trees, or you'll miss the forest?", well, I think that's what happened here. As my good friend Noni, would say, "matiyagang palpak", because, yes the perspective was done by hand. I think I had five vanishing points. But there is a silver lining, the drawing does answer the age-old question, "What would happen if Superman gained Plastic Man's powers?"

First Marvel Tryout

2008-01-29T18:20:00.000-08:00

And in that initial surge of excitement, I dared to create my own page. This was the result of that effort. This was many, many years ago. And the response from Marvel was essentially, "Don't quit your day job just yet." Oh well "nuff said". Back to the ole drawing board, I'm working on something right now, but, will post it once it's really done.

Marvel Tryout Book

2008-01-29T18:16:00.000-08:00

My friend Noni, who's based in Florida, sent me an Official Marvel Tryout Book many years ago. And one of the things that I did back then was to ink this sample page. I had fun doing it.

Asiaweek May 1994

2008-01-29T17:31:00.000-08:00

Here's a piece that was published in the now defunct Asiaweek way back in May 1994. It's an editorial cartoon. All we get is the caption, and the artist just takes it from there. Its very stylized, almost to the point of anonymity.

If you had one of those sophisticated NSA image decompilers, you could probably spot my name on the right side of the drawing.

CORS

2007-05-15T00:19:00.000-07:00

This is a drawing I made of the CORS group ....I used to dabble in caricatures and this gave me a chance to do it again. It's in grayscale...I couldn't upload the colors for some reason. It's loosely based on the Tonight Show. By the way...I just inked a page from Tropa 2, it's a comic by Gilbert Monsanto. http://www.gilbertmonsanto.blogspot.com

2007-03-31T05:25:00.000-07:00

And there's the screabble that happens when I haven't drawn anything for awhile. My head and hand is so wound up, that it's all I can do to hold on to the pen.
The doodle on the right is by Niño a.k.a. Francis Allan Y Lim Jr., my son.

Wanted: Artists

2007-01-16T00:11:00.000-08:00

The kids are very lucky these days. Sometimes I feel like I was born two decades too early. There are a lot more opportunities for artists now than in our time. Heck, in my day...we didn't use no Wacom tablet...no sirreebob! We used honest-to-goodness stone tablets!! Just chiseling away! Hehheehhee...

Scribble or Scream?

2006-11-22T20:36:00.000-08:00

You know you've been spending too much time on a project or a drawing when you look at it and you just want to scream. But i've found an alternative, a screabble....it's what you get when you mix a scream with a scribble...

2006-11-03T01:11:00.000-08:00

This is like a multiple pin-up. There's the girl again. And we see another version of the Sci-Fi mount, this one is more like a rhino/triceratops/mastodon hybrid. And there's another shot of a castle surrounded by even larger animals, this time carrrying houses.

2006-11-03T01:06:00.000-08:00

This is one of the main characters in a book I drew. That's her mount, it's a cross between a rhinoceros and a mastodon.

2006-10-31T22:52:00.000-08:00

This is a full page panel...The two tiny figures in the foreground are these Sci-Fi Coast Guard types. They're all suited up in their biped tanks. The tower in the background is going critical and is about to implode. The guys are getting ready to launch a missile which will reverse the reaction. I got a little carried away with the background details.

2006-10-16T19:09:00.000-07:00

This is a colored cover of Sci-Fi Marines landing in a ricefield.

This other piece is a page of sequential art. A rider on a giant dragonfly is flying defiantly towards a well-guarded base.

2006-10-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

The news is out...the five finalists to the Lead Slinger Challenge have been chosen...and I am...not one of them...Awwwww......Oh well, that's alright. They're all very good...Jonas Diego posted slices of their art on his site http://www.jonasdiego.blogspot.com and it's quite obvious why they were chosen. Ang gagaling nga naman talaga....As for me, it's back to the old drawing board quite literally. My kung-fu is still not good enough. But I'll continue to post my sample art here just the same....

Lead Slinger Challenge at Komikon 2006

2006-10-05T19:42:00.000-07:00

Upcoming Comics Events

2006-10-05T19:33:00.000-07:00

2006-09-28T20:08:00.000-07:00

This is the finished rendering. The "story" is Superman's on some other planet. Probably, just got done saving the entire populace and turning down a princess. (every man's fantasy) I actually had to do this in pencil first, just to get the shading, tone and lighting just right. I sent an initial copy to Gilbert and he quickly noticed that Superman was kinda yellow. I said Omigosh he's right! I'm ethnic Chinese so I actually thought it looked like flesh (technically, my flesh). But hardly suitable for a Caucasian Superman. I've since found out a few things about digital coloring from Gilbert's Doodle Camp. And hopefully, the next digital renderings will not take as long. This also happens to be Submission No.3 for the Lead Slinger Challenge. http://www.komikon.blogspot.com

Digital Coloring on Comics

2006-09-28T19:54:00.000-07:00

I read, buy and sell DC Superheroes, it's the local reprint of popular DC titles. (i.e. JLA, Superman, Batman et al). It's in a smaller format but printed on very nice glossy paper, priced at only 100 pesos. There's a column inside called Doodle Corner it's maintained by Gilbert Monsanto. http://gilbertmonsanto.blogspot.com There was an exercise wherein the readers were to embellish an existing piece of lineart, namely of Superman. I wrote Gilbert and he was kind enough to email me a jpg file of the drawing. I drew up a background and colored it digitally using a Wacom tablet and Photoshop. It was my first time and so it took forever. (36 hours)

Lead Slinger Challenge Submission No. 2

2006-09-23T01:10:00.001-07:00

Lead Slinger Challenge Entry:

This is my second submission to qualify for the drawing contest being hosted by IAS. check out http://jonasdiego.blogspot.com for the details. I guess this is a good way as any to find out things about oneself. It's a rare opportunity, self-discovery.
This was an exercise I cooked up for myself, this was after attending a drawing workshop under Gilbert Monsanto's Doodle Camp. I learned quite a lot about anatomy, computer and drawing techniques. I also received a lot of very good advice. I incorporated what I learned into this piece. I'll be posting my three other submissions here. The competition qualifications are 5 initial submissions to be even considered for the contest. I'm presently working on a comicbook with Noel Lim, http://flim.blogspot.com, and that has been occupying me more than anything.

The Elmer Premiere

2006-09-13T18:56:00.000-07:00

This is a drawing of the Francis character in the Elmer comic book by Gerry Alanguilan. I'm a great fan of Gerry's art and I just couldn't help knocking this one out. Check out http://www.komikero.com for the full lowdown on the Elmer book. This also happens to be my Submisssion No. 1 for the Lead Slinger Challenge on Oct.21, 2006. For more details on that check out http://jonasdiego.blogspot.com or just google Komikon 2006.

Gerry Alanguilan? Anti-Masa? Great Cesar's Multo!

2006-09-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

I've been reading komikero, gilbermonsanto, jonasdiego blogsites almost daily....and there seems to be a brewing word war between Gerry et al and a faction that seems to be "anonymous".....i haven't read the sites of the anti-Gerry side so I can't comment on that....but from what I've read of Gerry's blogs, I really don't see anything wrong with what Gerry has done and achieved so far....indeed, I would congratulate and shake his hand if I met him. Much has been said about the alleged anti-masa stance of Gerry....and I like others must beg to differ. I think a redefinition of masa is long overdue. While others were sleeping, the so-called masa has been hard at work.....they're in the Middle East, Asia, and the North Americas....they're pumping the economy with much needed revenue....and very soon, they'll be able to vote as well...a right and privilege which has been long denied to them. Now, there is a saying that travel is the best education? well, my friends, I think I can safely say that the much underestimated masa has done their fair share of traveling....With that in mind, must we continue to underestimate, talk down to..., raise our eyebrows at..., lift our noses at....., mollycoddle...., look after....., censor......, think for people, who in all probability are much more wordly and knowledgeable than most....I think, NOT!!!!

State of Local Comics

2006-09-06T19:09:00.000-07:00

Where does one start? To be sure, the local industry could be a lot livelier. But how does one go about defining what’s local? In a world where Japanese cars are made in America and Italian bags in China, the lines begin to blur. Millions of people travel far from their homeland to work in other countries. While, local artists have won critical acclaim abroad. Though they may have chosen to pursue their dreams elsewhere, we still embrace them as our own. Even others, who have never been to our country but can trace their roots here are quickly adopted as well. Comic artists in Japan are quite revered and treated almost as national treasures or artists. It is the same in Europe, and of course, in America as well. Sadly, we don’t seem to see as much of that here. But I think that it is a quirk in our culture. We need an objective third party to validate our talents. Paeng Nepumuceno, Efren Bata Reyes, Lea Salonga, Manny Pacquiao….these are our most talented…and they are undoubtedly the world’s best. But if my memory serves…quite often their homecomings are much more celebrated than their quiet sendoffs. I don’t mean to imply anything by that. It is just a fact that we need an impartial,critical assessment of how good a certain artist maybe, and sometimes when there is too much politics, this is not possible. Comics has been mined heavily in recent years for cinema. Most people can rattle of all the film projects….Superman, Batman, Spiderman, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Elektra, Blade, Hulk….and so on , soon we may have Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Iron Man…one simply cannot say that comics are marginal and trite. Comic artists have proven very versatile aswell….Frank Miller drew, wrote, co-directed Sin City…..Todd McFarlane drew, wrote Spawn, which went tobecome a full-feature and has spawned (hehe, couldn't resist) a host of action figures….which he himself manufactures under his own label. Geoff Darrow was instrumental in creating the look of the Matrix movies…Mike Mignola’s imprint can be seen in Disney’s Atlantis, and of course Hellboy…Jean ‘Moebius’ Giraud designed a lot of the hardware in Ridley Scott’s Alien. Let’s not even get started on Japanese Manga and Anime. What is local? Is it when the material is printed here, sold and bought here in our country? That’s a good definition, I suppose. That would mean DC Superheroes is a local comic (albeit a reprint of US content). And so would a host of other comics that PSIcom prints and publishes. Summit Publishing also prints local versions of such titles as FHM,Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, etc. But it is a local firm which employs people locally, its assets are local, its profits circulate in the local economy. I could go on and on….being the fanboy that I am….butI don’t have all the answers…I’m just very passionate about the medium and all its possibilities.

why blog? what's up with that?

2006-08-06T01:53:00.001-07:00

Hello world,
What's up with blogging anyway? self-edification? self-expression? part of me gets it...another....although i get the interest group sites....etc....myself.....hmmm

why blog? what's up with that?

2006-08-06T01:53:00.000-07:00

Hello world,
What's up with blogging anyway? self-edification? self-expression? part of me gets it...another....although i get the interest group sites....etc....myself.....hmmm