End of the year's top 5 films

No, Premium Rush is not my top 1

Hey folks! Welcome to my top 5 films of 2012 list.

Fair warning though, this is an odd list.

5 Premium Rush

Why I love it?

              I love it the same way I love the 80's films it was inspired by. The same 80's films that inspired me to create Marco's Delivery Service. (Don't know what Marco's Delivery Service is? Check it out here. Yes, shameless plugging. I know.) Its light. And its fun.

4 Rise of the Guardians

Why I love it?

             Badass Santa. Badass Easterbunny. Coolass Sandman. Lovely Toothfairy. Its my heavy dose of visual spectacle in animation for the year.

3 Skyfall

Why I love it?

              Let me be honest to you guys. I'm not really much of a Bond fan growing up. I mainly blame this because of Pierce Brosnan. But I am a big fan of the Craig-era of Bond films. And I see what every Bond films are trying to do. They are sampling the best of what the best films of that era are doing. The same way that Craig-era is sampling the Bourne-ish action, the Dark Knight-ish grounded villains. Its the same way the Brosnan-era is sampling the over the top sci-fi technology, the long drawn gun fight and the convoluted villains of the 90s. And Skyfall exemplifies all that is the best that this era of action movies has to offer all the while giving nods to past Bond films. And thats why I love it.

2 Looper

Why I love it?

             A heavy dose in Sci-fi. The time travel won't hurt your head. And Bruce Willis, being Bruce Willis. Its one of the most creative Sci-fi film that isn't a remake and is not based on a book that I've seen in years.

1 Liberal Arts

Why I love it?

             Whoa whoa whoa whoa! Hold on am I reading that right? Yup. Thats right. I love this film. The same way I love peanut butter and jelly on a toasted bread. I love peanut butter. I love jelly. And I love toasted bread. This is my film for the year. Its a really mature film that speaks to the audience about growing old without lecturing. Its like a coming of age film except that the lead is already old. And man, Elizabeth Olsen is really adorable here. It didn't gave you that Hollywood ending and thats why I love it.

Thats it. My top 5. I know you might be thinking this list sucks. GAAAAAAAAY. Wheres The Avengers? Wheres The Dark Knight Rises? Well, fuck. Stop being an asshole and do your own list then. If it was a top 10 then the avengers would've made it. Ok fuck it. I'll list my top 10 then. Rounding off up to 10 are

6 The Avengers

7 Safety not guaranteed

8 The Dark Knight Rises

9 The Grey

10 Paranorman

I'll reiterate that this is a personal list based on my personal preference that involves a. I enjoyed it, b. It has deep emotional resonance for me, c. It has time travel in it, d. Its visually creative.

So thats it. 2013 give me your best shot. Seeing the previews for 2013's films, Can I say Sci-fi much?

Lady of Lórien

I just recently watched The Hobbit. And man, it made me want to read the book. I had a really great time watching it. Anyway, Lady Galadriel was a real beauty and very lovely.

A hero

Character studies for something that I won't end up using. This will probably be my last entry for the year.
See you next year folks!

~Koi

That girl I always see whenever I jog

Part of the reason why I love my nightly jog, is I get to see her walking home from work. Her ridiculously over-sized bag is just adorable. And she's already carrying an orange backpack. Backpack. On a corporately dressed office girl. Isn't she just cool? What do girls put on their bags anyway? Creepy? Yeah, I'm already creeping myself out. Anyway, now that that's out of my system, back to work!

Cheers!

And better dynamic character designs.

Mythspace resolutions

I promise to draw better ships.

Another style practice. And another summer girl. Boy, its really hot in this country.

Summer Girl

Style practice again. I know its not summer anymore. But hey, I live in a tropical country. We have summer girls all year round.

Style practice. Just some random head sketches. Trying to figure things out with this style. Apologies for the crappy phone camera photo.

Cheers!

Koi

Mythspace Character Profile: Val

Just some update on those character profiles I posted earlier.
Here's Va-lis-ya this time around.

Va-lis-ya 

Race: Tan’gal
Age: 48 (But only has three wing-pairs).
The Immortal MercenaryVa-lis-ya is a bounty hunter/ mercenary, and her attire is more “space pirate” than soldier. Since she has remarkable regenerative powers (even amongst her race), she doesn’t wear much in the way of armor, since that’d only slow down her flight. She has the small wings on her forearms, and the wings on her back are large enough that she can fly with them. She’s very attractive, with a slim, streamlined body and a face that would be gorgeous if it wasn’t perpetually scowling, sneering, or laughing maniacally. Her weapons of choice are a scatter gun and a whip-sword that can electrocute its target.
Va-lis-ya is rude, loud, and has an explosive temper. She’s no sadist, but she has a sociopathic disregard for the lives of other creatures. That being said, she holds grudges, and takes great joy in vengeance. She loves drinking and gambling and most of all, money. There’s a reason for that.

Oh yeah, the profiles are from Paolo. I only did the illustrations and the colors.

Cheers!
Koi

One last character left and I'll be done with this lineup! I think I'm getting the hang of drawing the female form.

Cheers!

Koi~

Mythspace Character Profile: Bros and Jrakan

Hey guys! Allow me to take time to discuss the two main characters for my story for Mythspace.

First up is our boy Bros.

Ambrosio “Bros” Magkalas 

Race: Human
Age: 18
The Anarchist Mastermind
Orphan, gang leader, thief… Bros has seemingly made it his mission in life to prove that nothing is impossible if he sets his mind to it. A rabble rouser and puzzle fanatic, Bros is almost physically incapable of backing away from a challenge. He despises limitations, hierarchies, and “playing by the rules”.
Bros has dark brown skin and a runner's body, slim but muscled. He's average height for a Filipino, with slightly curly, always mussed, hair, worn long enough to make it seem like he's a week overdue for a haircut.

So yeah, this was the description given to me before I got to design the character. And it has been a journey actually. I think he's the character that went on a lot of changes before I finally decided to go with what we have right now. Its not as accurate as what was in the description but he retained that rebel attitude.

Jrakan Fel4538

Race: Kapre
Age: Old for a Kapre, definitely more than a hundred
The OldSoldier
Jrakan is dressed like a soldier, camo-attire and goggles (that help him see in the day time, since daylight is too bright for him), and carries a sniper-type rifle and a firearm. His armor--and his body--is starting to fray at the edges, scarred and battered. He's a veteran of harsh conditions and brutal battles, and it shows. Think someone who'd fit right into the cast of the Expendables--but, you know, eight and a half feet tall (he's big, even for a Kapre) and super hairy.
Jrakan is the last kapre in the Philippines. He's been assigned there for sixty years, and when the orders came to abandon the islands for higher profile targets, he refused. Part of this is because of his rigid sense of duty, and part of this is because he fell in love with a human woman--Sharon Magkalas, Bros' grandmother. He has watched her from afar for more than half a century, but he's only appeared to her once, after he failed to prevent the abduction of Bros' parents.
Fun fact: Jrakan has a soft spot for Earth culture, particularly Filipio culture. He loves watching our noon time shows and soap operas, and considers adobo to be an exquisite delicacy.

Ok scratch what I said earlier. Jrakan went on to a lot of changes too before I got to what he looks like right now. And Its fun to draw this guy move in the comics. I treat him like he's Batman hiding in the shadows and stuff.

I guess that's it for now. Will discuss some more characters in the future!

Support Mythspace guys! http://www.facebook.com/mythspacecomic

Cheers!

Just a minor update on that Mythspace character sheet from the last post. Edited that design of the nuno to make him look a lot more like an engineer and less of a warrior, which makes a lot of sense since he tends to fight inside that mech of his instead of head on. Oh and an improved version of the Bungis. A couple more characters left!

*edits: Finally got to clean up that Bungis!

Cheers!

Hey guys! We have an advance review for Mythspace: Lift off! Check it out at:
Jumper Cable
Its mostly positive, so please do check out Mythspace for more info.
Mythspace Comic

I'll be at Komikon on October 27, selling issue 0 at the Rocket Kapre booth. Most of the artists involved will be there too, and of course Paolo Chikiamco will be there!

Anyway, there are still a lot of things that I'm not happy about with what I did for part 1 of my story for Mythspace. Namely, the inconsistency of the look of the characters. So I decided to do a proper model sheet before proceeding with parts 2 and 3. It is my hope that with this, I can address those inconsistency and style problems I had with part 1.

Still a work in progress. My plan is to do the characters that mostly makes up parts 2 and 3 of Mythspace. And yeah, after re-reading the script I think I'll be having a harder time. Part 2 will be grander in scale. Battleships and finally some action! Oh and yes, a first look at that Laho for my story.

Cheers!

Mythspace: Liftoff #0

Hey guys! Heres the cover I did for Mythspace #0. Seems Mondo-ish, don't you think? Why yes, I'm a big fan. I tried something new for the comic project, instead of the usual character portrait we see on most comics. Will it pay off? We'll see. It's a risk I wanted to take. And the direction I wanted to give our project, a taste of something not usually done. Something fresh for your shelves.

Mythspace: Liftoff #0 will be available at the Rocketkapre booth at Komikon on October 27, 2012.

..and we are ready for lift off

Hey guys! Its been a long time since my last update. I've been working on a comic and been playing it close to the chest. But now that part 1 is done, I think its safe to show some pages. So, yeah, here it is!

The comic is titled Mythspace: Lift off. Issue 0 will be available at Komikon, this October 2012. This will be my first comic since taking a two-year break after Marco's Delivery Service. It was a big challenge getting back into things after taking a long break. Here's hoping everything goes well.

Hyping over Dark Knight Rises, I decided to revisit another piece I made sometime last year. This is actually the third time I revisited this piece. The second time was when I needed to recolor it and print it for an art exhibit. Well this time I touched up the colors a bit and made it into a made-up cover for a book. I think this is the last time I'd revisit this piece. Seeing a trend? Yeah, I bet you're thinking I've been tweaking up my old works and never really doing anything new. Well guess what guys, there is something new on the way. Just please be patient for a while. For now, here's the old piece. For comparisons sake. 

 

Just revisiting and old piece from way back. I think this looks way better now,

 than it was before. Anyway, substantial update soon!

End of summer

Just some sketch dump of what I've done with some of my free time over the summer. I'm trying to figure out a style that can work for me while sketching. Something fast but still captures some of the details. Oh and you may notice that its mostly sketches of women, well that's because drawing women is really my long term frustrations until today. So I make it a point to draw women more so I can improve on the female figure.

I also took a much needed vacation here and there just to relax before I lock down on work and projects.

Oh and yea I'll take this time to plug this magazine too:

A magazine project of the big guns; Paolo Chikiamco and Budjette Tan.

Kwentillion will be the country's first publication dedicated to young adult literature and media, featuring young adult-themed comics and fiction by Filipino creators. Eventually intended for release every two months, the black and white magazine--with an eight-page colored spread every issue--will feature comics and fiction that embrace the themes of the YA genre, as well as articles which tackle YA book releases and issues relevant to the YA fan community.

And yours truly is featured here on their Filipinos to Follow article.  I'm really hoping this magazine picks up. It will be a big help to the comic industry here and not to mention artists waiting for that big break. So yea lets support this baby until it can grow to something big and give back support to the community. Cheers to you Pao!
Kwentillion facebook page

So now that the summer is over, buckle up, its going to be a looong ride of late night pages drawings until November.

Cheers!

~koi

And it's out! The first game I get to be involved with is finally out on the app store. Fellas, if you're a fan of casual games like farmville and stuff check it out. Zoox for iPad

The game is available for iPad and its free for download. It's still not as awesome as I hoped it would be and there are a lot of inconsistencies on the 2d part; which by the way are the stuff that I was mostly involved in, but overall it looks good.

Its actually not my usual style with all the pastel colors and light mood, but it was fun making some of the concepts for this. At the moment I'm still struggling with style issues here and there and can't really start on this next project that I've been putting off for weeks now. Time frame for the said project is out of whack now. Will try to start on it soon and try to get some pages done. Anyway, will try and post some more stuff soon! See ya guys!

Cheers!

Marco's Delivery Service

Hey fellas, the comic book I released back in 2009 was finally released in amazon. For those who has kindle or kindle fire, check it out!
Marco’s Delivery Service

 It will be available on Apple iTunes iBookstore and Barnes & Noble’s website in a couple of weeks.

Thanks to Flipreads for taking an interest in digitally publishing my comic www.flipreads.com
Special thanks to Paolo Chikiamco for helping me out in this www.rocketkapre.com/

It has been a really busy month for me. I've been busy with a lot of stuff and been dealing with some issues. But nothing that I can't handle. Will update this blog soon!

Cheers!
~Koi

So, a friend asked me to post my process on how I usually go around doing my artworks.

 

I always start with sketches. And I'm most comfortable sketching from a sketchpad then scanning it.

Then I start inking the piece using SAI.

I usually start with the most complicating part first often switching back and forth to other parts of the piece.

 

Then adding details bit by bit. Inking usually takes about 2 to 5 hours. Depending on my laziness level and how complicated the piece is. This particular piece though took 3 days because I got lazy and distracted most of the time. Plus I think I only worked on this an hour a day. So that is still 3 hours all in all.

 

Then spot blacks. And finally I start with the coloring process. Again starting off from the complicated parts first.

I usually switch from the subject to the background while coloring. Changing most of the colors along the way. And changing colors for the background before settling with the color I'm most comfortable with.

And finally, finishing things up in photoshop. Adding some details and some effects.

And that's it! Hope you guys enjoyed seeing through my process of doing artworks. It's somewhat a tedious process, but it's something that I'm most comfortable with.

Cheers!

 

Kapre in space character study for a project.
Kinda excited for this. Paolo; our writer, came up with awesome races. And I'm excited to work with artists that I know personally and trust will deliver the goods.

 

Sketch dump. Slowly filling up my pocket sized sketch pad. Most of the time, I like to sit down somewhere at a shop and just sketch the folks at the area. That's why I liked this pocket sketch pad. I can take it anywhere and guerrilla sketch anytime I want to.