My friends Keische and OJ got married in May. As a gift, I designed their e-invite with these digital paintings as covers.
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@pentados
My friends Keische and OJ got married in May. As a gift, I designed their e-invite with these digital paintings as covers.
Inang Laging Bakwit Brush and Ink on Watercolor Paper
12 x 18Â
I love Bicolano culinary culture.Â
SalinGuhit September 2016
I was developing an art style for my day job, so I experimented by creating social media cards using famous quotes from some of the authors I have read. I had my friends translated their words into Filipino, and named the project “SalinGuhit”.  It’s fun doing the series, no deadlines and pressure. :D
Book cover art for a friend’s poetry collection sold during BLTX Naga.
Lessons I am learning everyday as a graphic designer
Work hard but don't let other people abuse you.Â
Set boundaries or limits in projects before commencing.Â
Do not accept projects that are detrimental to your mental well being.Â
Be wary of your clients. Always clarify the scope of what you can and cannot do.Â
Do not complain if you yourself inflicted the pain on yourself.Â
Learn from your mistakes and move forward.
Choose your words.
Be patient of stupid clients. Call their attention when they are becoming obnoxious.
Make a contract. Carefully word the conditions.
Finally finished illustrating and designing the book of Borges’ poems translated into Filipino and Bikol by Kristian Cordero. The Ateneo de Naga University Press has taken the role of translating literary works across the world to Bikol language. I am lucky and grateful to be part of this endeavor.Â
The cover is inspired by this poem:
Dreamtigers By Jorge Luis Borges Translated by A.Z. Foreman As a child, I was a zealous worshiper of the tiger: not the piebald "tiger" of the Amazonian tangles and the isles of verdure afloat on the Panará river, but the striped, Asiatic, royal tiger which can only be faced down by war-men fortified on elephantback. I used to linger endlessly in front of one of the cages at the zoo; I judged the gigantic encyclopedias and natural history books according to the majesty of their tigers. (I still remember those illustrations; I who cannot rightly recall a woman’s brow or smile.) Childhood passed, the tigers and my passion for them grew old, but they endure in my dreams. In the submerged dimension, at that level of the chaotic, they persist. So, as I sleep, some dream distracts me and I know at once it is a dream. I think: This is a dream, a pure diversion of my will, and now that my power is limitless, I am going to cause a tiger. Oh incompetence! Never do my dreams bear forth the wild beast I yearn for. A tiger appears indeed, but autopsied or flimsy, or with impure variations of shape, or of an implausible size, or far too fleeting, or with something of the bird or the dog. (http://poemsintranslation.blogspot.com/2010/01/borges-dreamtigers-from-spanish.html)
Two weeks ago I joined Global Game Jam at Ateneo de Naga University. Global Game Jam is an international event where programmers and creatives meet to design and develop a game. This was my first time to collaborate with programmers and the experience was mind-blowing. For three days we camped at the Madrigal building to conceptualize, design, and make our game work. This year’s theme was “ritual”. So our group came up with this game based on an ancient Bikoilano ritual called “Haliya”. From my research, Haliya is the goddess of the moon who tames Bakunawa every time the sky dragon swallows the moon during eclipse. The Balyanas/Babaylans performs this ritual to Haliya to call for the goddess’ help.In our game, the goddess Haliya’s power depends on the prayer gems she collects from her believers. In the mythology, Bakunawa has swallowed the other six moons of the sky. So as the game progresses Bakunawa gives up a moon per level. We also incorporated other characters from Bikol legends to spice up the game.Â
Currently, Team Haliya: Angelica Romero, Danne Silo, Gezelle Gonowon,   Jose Isidro Año Beraquit, and I are working on fully developing the game for android users so the game can be used as supplemental educational tool.
The local jam was organized by the Information and Communication and technology Center of Ateneo de Naga University. We thank them for the free food and videoke, hahahaha. I hope we have another jam next year.
I have this yearlong project of creating a set of Letras Y Figuras featuring characters from Philippine Mythology. Just like in Encantures, I collaborated with another local brand to print my designs. Sûbit Shirts has the best quality for printing in Bikol. Yey! These are just the black and white edition. In the next months we will be releasing the colored edition and more letters. You can spot these items in our store in Que Pasa Restaurant, located at Calle Iglesia cor. Barlin st., Naga City. You can also order online, just send me a private message on facebook. My name there is Pen Prestado.
MEOW CHALLENGE
Verbs from p. 8 of the book The Range of Literature: NONFICTION
When we say that the best fit model of reality follows logic or the laws of physics, we acknowledge how mundane our daily lives are—a routine that no matter how we say our day was adventurous, we can never escape logic. So when a glitch suddenly happen in our best fit model of reality we begin to doubt our own reality, our own universe. My daily routine follows the same pattern. Mama wakes me up at around 6AM with an alternating vocalization of my nickname. “Pepen” in high pitch. “Pepen” in low pitch. “Pepen” in every line of the musical staff. Breakfast is rice and fried egg or fried fish. My brother who works as a nurse in Bicol Medical Center would either be at the table, have gone to work, or just coming home from work. Papa is watching the news as he does all day. Mama is sharing a new information she read on Facebook like drinking cold water when eating is the cause of fat lining in our arteries or that baking soda is the cure for cancer. After breakfast I go to my computer, check Facebook to watch cat and dog videos, then Instagram, then my Gmail account. And then I take a bath for 30 minutes and then go to work on the projects I currently do, I have so many backlogs but today I have decided to watch a new anime series I got from Leir. Since my graduation, I have more time to catch up with the things I missed while I was busy working and studying at the same time. After lunch, at around 1pm, I have decided to drop by the University Press to check on the final manuscript of the book I am about to lay out. Kristian is not around, and Vic is busy. I see a Twining Four Fruit flavor tea. If I will take notice of it, Vic would sure give it to me. And he does. Tonight, I’ll drink a sweet and fragrant tea with fresh honey instead of the usual brewed coffee or Kopiko 78. Around 3pm, Jusan comes telling me that he has finished copyreading the manuscript and has submitted it to Kristian. We smoke outside the gate after with Ken while discussing his thesis and many other things I seem to forget. At 4pm, I hang out with friends at the ALA office. Jovi shares her fascination in Icelandic culture and literature. She corrects us when we (intentionally) mispronounce the name of her favorite singer Björk. Krizzia reads her law books, Leir pokes fun at her new pimple. Jonathan and Lee laugh at a video they watched yesterday. I beg Chei for a chocolate she brought from Tina. Gabriel comes in with a good news about his army of lettuce he’s growing using his senior’s project technology. At 6pm, Jusan, Ken and I are deciding whether we’re dropping by Alfogens for some beer or look for another drinking place. But tonight we decide not to drink but just wander around the city. We walk towards Plaza Rizal, drop by the new gift shop on the newly constructed white building fronting the plaza. Jusan picks a box of chocolate asking me and Ken if it would be a good gift for Pauline. I suggest the chocolates in the jar, but he likes how the box looks like. We leave the store and go to the plaza, watching the street kids playing tumbang preso amid people passing by. They throw one of their slippers toward the empty can of evaporated milk they got from the palamig vendor. They are all boys in the game, when a girl tries to join them they shoo her away. The taya guards the can waiting for someone to hit it so he can immediately pick it up, tap it twice and run after the other players who haven’t reached the throwing line. He’s now called “balaw” by his playmates for he has not caught anyone of them. The peddler of magic items shifts our attention toward him. He is performing several magic tricks using a special kid of playing cards he is selling for 150 pesos with free tutorials. He lets a man pick a card then he multiplies the card by showing several copies of the same card to us. I believe the cards are magnetic and some of the cards are really identical. I want to buy a deck of the card to prove my claim and to perform the same trick to my nephews. The kids playing tumbang preso are already arguing with each other. The taya finally caught one of his playmates but the other kid resists to be the new taya. The can of evaporated milk waits for them to resume the game. It waits for someone to hit it with a slipper. Then this suddenly happens: Out of whim, I kick the can full-forced like I was wearing Conan’s shoes. The can flies in burning speed hitting one of the giant lamp balls held on the head by lady statues of Plaza Rizal. The glass ball shatters, leaving everyone in the plaza frozen for a few moments. I look at the faces of Jusan and Ken who are still as shocked as me. Without any thinking I walk out fast out of the place and run towards the jeepney terminal to del Rosario. The jeepney still waits for several seats to be filled so I hail a tricyle and negotiate a special ride to Villa Corazon for 80 pesos. As the tricycle reach the rotunda, I realize I left Jusan or Ken with the mess I made there. As I reached my house, I told no one about what happened. I also never checked my mail or any social media both on my laptop and my phone. I feel everyone in Naga is talking about the big guy who crashed the giant lamp ball in the plaza because he kicked the can the street kids were playing with, and then left his friends own up the mistake he made. I am shrinking in embarrassment I wish my bed would eat me whole and delete my existence. I fell asleep sniveling on the bed sheets. The next day, I wake up expecting things to get worse. But the same routine just happened during breakfast. I join my father watching Marhay na Aga Kapamilya to check if the incident last night at the plaza would be mentioned. The City Hall would sure be upset if someone vandalized their property. It would take several days to replace the lamp unless they have spare lamps. They would surely run after me and ask me to pay for the damage. But no news about it comes out. I guess the incident have escaped the attention of the local media, but there is social media. I’m afraid someone posted a status about the incident last night and identified me as the culprit. Perhaps the cctv if they are really functioning could have gotten a video, and zooming the footage they have already identified me. I need to check my Facebook immediately. I need to call Ken or Jusan and ask them what happened last night after I left them. As I open my Facebook, no one ever mention of what happened last night. I check on community pages, no news. Maybe I was too early to check. Jusan, opens Facebook around 11. Ken rarely checks on his fb. I call Jusan’s phone, he’s not answering. I call Ken’s, he’s not picking up too. I need to go to Ateneo later and meet them. Working full with baggage, I cannot concentrate on layouting this book. This documentary from Sir Vic about Charlotte Bronte seems interesting. I’m gonna watch it first. After lunch, I take a bath a little longer recalling all what happened yesterday. I have decided to dropped by near the plaza first before going to Ateneo. To get a full view of the lamp I have broken while a bit conspicuous to the plaza vendors who might recognize my face and my enormous built, I positioned my self near Puregold Centro. And as I get a closer look of the lamp I broke last night, I was taken by surprise to see it fixed. Questions began filling my head. How can that be? Is this real? How can the city hall fix the lamp quickly without making a fuzz about it? The lamp must surely be expensive and they would surely look for the culprit who have broken it by hitting it with a can of evaporated milk. I called Jusan and thankfully he picked it up. “Hello Pen, why did you call?” “Hello Jusan, I’m sorry for what happened last night. I left you and Ken after I broke the lamp at the plaza. What happened after I left you?” “Huh? Broke the lamp at the plaza? I can’t remember that.” “This is weird. I clearly remember kicking that can of evap and hitting the lamp. I was with you and Ken. You were even so shocked that I kicked the can. And then I left immediately as everyone starts to crowd around the broken lamp.” “Huh? That really happened? We were drinking at Alfogen’s last night, remember? Allan even joined for a while. Are you going to Ateneo?” “Yes, let’s meet later. I need to see You and Ken.” Then, I text Ken. “I’m sorry for leaving you at the plaza after I broke the lamp ball on one of the statues.” He text back, “Wht r u talking abt?” “The incident at the plaza, when I kicked the can and it hit the lamp.” “We were at Alfogen’s. I left early with Krizzia. Lola ask us to go home early.” “Really?” “Yes.” “What’s happening? Can we meet at 4 at the gate?” Just outside the main gate, I wait for Jusan and Ken. I light up some cigarette marveling at the whole situation, How can two incidents happened last night at the same time? This is nothing but illogical. I’m sure they cooked up some kind of a prank to teach me a lesson for ditching them after messing up last night. But the lamp wasn’t even broken. Ken arrives first. I explain to him what happened last night. He seems confused as I tell him the incident in full detail. Then Jusan comes askng me to retell the incident. At first they are trying to make me concede that the version of reality I am telling them is nothing but an imagined one. Maybe I was creating things in my mine, but then there's possibility of two strings of incidents happening simultaneously. Maybe I was present in both incidents, or I'm sniffing a glitch in the universe I am in, or maybe the universe is playing prank on me all along.
Last year, I bought a ream of A3 multipurpose paper just out of whim. Without any pressure of working on a pricey paper, I began sketching my friends and adding watercolor washes to produce shades. It's really relaxing and fun.
Today, I'm happy and thankful to announce that Muy Bien Creative has invited me to conduct workshops here in Naga and in Legazpi City.
And here they are! One good thing about Karaw Craftventure is that they are empowering the women inmates of Naga City Correctional facility to actualize their potentials as productive members of our society. Not only are the women inmates earning from making plush toys, they are also involved in designing. From the initial designs I gave them, they were able to express their creativity in choosing and pairing colors, patterns, and textures. They also maintain high quality control of the products.Â
I collaborated with the social enterprise, Karaw Craftventures, and came up with these scary but cuddly “Encantures”. Karaw’s manager, Paul Orpiada and I have been talking about this for quite a time, but we only just realized the project this year.
The initial prompt for me was the Manananggal/USB idea, which came when I was desperately looking for the cap of my USB. This made me decide that the designs of all the Encantures must be functional and the function must relate to their personalities and mythical creatures. In every tag of each product, there’s a description and history of the encanture.Â
Send me a private message on facebook if your’e interested. My name there is Pen Prestado.Â
Book cover of Bikolano poetry anthology “An Satuyang Kakanon sa Aroaldaw”edited by Kristian Sendon Cordero and published by Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino through an NCCA grant. I enjoyed illustrating the book, incorporating the aesthetics used by medieval monks in the process.Â
This year, I became part of  the branding team of Naga’s latest attraction. Que Pasa is not only a barbecue place on the corner of Calle Iglesia and Barlin st, it is also place for art lovers and instagram people. I filled its walls and doors with Filipino/Mexican/Spanish themed murals. Local artists painted the portals inspired with literature written in Spanish language.Â
Thanks to Carlo and Rica Buenaflor for this opportunity.Â
Because I love explosions.