Lending People the Eyes of God

Everything that God created is beautiful. God created....created....God creates. God's nature is to create. Not just create...create beautiful...beautiful things.

They say God is love. Yes He is love. He creates out of love. And all He created out of love is good....is beautiful.

"Let us create men in Our own image and likeness."

Out of love He created men. Out of love He created you and me. And all He created out of love is good...is beautiful. Beautiful!

But the eyes of men are different from the eyes of the Creator. What we see are the imperfections. What God sees are the perfections, the fullness of beauty out of His undying love.

When I saw the paintings of the Pinoy artist Edwin Sion, I felt a pinch. Rare are the works of men that make you feel something unexplainable but you know it's good. His art sure is rare. Edwin Sion captured the hearts of many Filipinos through his beautiful paintings. When you look at the paintings, you feel warmth. When i looked at his paintings, my heart jumped for joy.

I was inspired by one article written by Aimee Ramirez about the works of Edwin. In the article, she wrote:
---
There are excellencies in the art of painting beyond what is commonly called the immitation of nature. A mere copier of nature can never produce anything great, can never raise or enlarge conceptions, or warm the heart of their viewers. Edwin Sion's portraits surprises even their very subjects because of their indefinable beauty, an expression of soul and spirit revealed especially in the eyes hiherto unnoticed and not readily seen in ordinary photographs.
--
He portrays his subjects as ideally imbued with the (subject's) spirit which encounters God one to one. In idealizing his subjects, he is after creating the BEAUTIFUL in them as an artist understands Beauty - the splendor of form, an essential character of 'being' and the completion of all that is good and pleasing to the eyes.

(article continues)

In essence, He sees the subject's beautiful spirit and paints it instead of what he sees in the physical side.

These statements helped me give more importance to my craft. His statement doesn't apply only to traditional painting but rather to all types of visual art.

Edwin reminded me that as an artist, it is my job to lend people the Eyes of God, the Eyes that can only see the perfections of all that is created.

I was also reminded that only LOVE can create beautiful things. Love of craft....something that not only great artists have but all great people as well!

It is a hard job..lending His Eyes to viewers. But by believing and holding firm on what I have learned will make me excel on MY craft may it be in 3D, manga or digital graphic illustration.

Blessed be God for such artists.

fullness of joy

The Bible says when you are in the presence of God, there is fullness of joy.

This fullness of joy is something really incredible. In the fullness of joy, all you will do is worship God.
This would mean that He was right beside me when I watched How To Train Your Dragon in 3D.

The movie is ...is....is....here I go again.....lacking words to describe the movie... I say "awesome" a lot of times. I say beautiful often. Magnificent? Great? awesome? snap!

If I am to choose which movie is better between Avatar and this, I'd choose this!

Although its plot is something common, the details made the difference. I learned this from my big boss at work. DETAILS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE!

The way the story is narrated, the bg music, 3D works, landscape, dubbing...everything about it will simply take you inside their world. Somehow, I didn't manage to get out of the world of vikings and dragons. This, my dear readers, is where this blog article is coming from.

One good description for it is YOUTHFUL. No matter how old you are, the movie just brings out that small kid in you. What I very much appreciate about it is that it made me feel like flying. Overseeing the magnificent creations of God from above is just extremely breath-taking. When I was a kid, I desired for that. I desired having a pet dragon. Yes, youthful.

The movie sure is amazing. It brought out many emotions from me. I even cried on a part where I wasn't suppose to cry......why? I cried out of joy. No movie had made me feel so inspired for a long long time.

In fact, this is the only movie that made me bless God for such wonder.

Then I told Him, I wanna do one. I wanna be part of one. I WANT IN!

My dear readers, this might just be one big change of direction. From 2D anime to 3D awesomeness........

When there is fullness of Joy, My Jesus is right beside me....and my heart jumps like crazy.

Blessed be God for such creative people!

Reaching You

Yey for the shota-sawako couple!

Kimi ni Todoke (Reaching You) was a newly released manga a few months ago when i started reading it. Another shojo manga I presumed.

I started reading the prologue of the heroine who looks like sadako from the legendary horror movie The Ring. Because of the "dark" aura she releases, people ignore her and attaches with her silly sayings and superstitions.

I like how the story started. You easily get attached to the characters. There's the feeling of kilig. It presents good drama scenes. It's really something worth reading.

I am even amazed on how Shota Kazehaya (the lead guy) resembles the built of my main character Rey. They are similar in terms of popularity and status. Girls fantasize on them. But I should say that Shota is more mature than Rey. He has strong moral principles that guide his actions.

This manga became very meaningful to me. It was like God showing me what will happen in the future.

It was adapted to an anime.

The news itself made my heart jump for joy.

"Kimi ni Todoke is going to become an anime" Then I go "Oh my God! Oh my God!"

I was really so joyful that time for an unknown reason. It's not my manga. It's not my own work. Why was i rejoicing as if I was the creator of Kimi ni Todoke?

I realized it was my ultimate dream laid right in front of me.

Why not with other mangas that have been animated long before this? It's because I was in the process of reading it when they announced the great news. The manga currently (Mar. 12, 2010) is not yet even finished in Japan.

The drawings I saw on every page will have more life through animation. It really excited me. Sobra!

And when they aired its first episode. Wow! It was really very awesome! The voices for sawako and shota are perfect. All characters were animated. Everything about it just...just...became alive! So alive!

Someday, my first comic will be animated. Someday, people will see my characters more alive. When I become successful in Japan, I'll make sure to breathe life to Rey and Julie.

I'll produce more anime in the Philippines that God will use in Reaching You. =3

Smile

We live in a world of the unexpected. The time when you think you finally understood how things work, something happens unexpected. We are caught unprepared; we have no idea on how to respond.

Seeing her in a JDrama was one of those unexpected moments.
The cutest smile will win my heart. So far, she had it.

Yui Aragaki is part of the cast of the JDrama Smile. The hero, Vito, a half-Filipino half-Japanese, was played by Matsumoto Jun, a member of the famous Arashi band, the band that Eula is highly addicted to.

The show intrigued me very much. How does a half-Filipino half-Japanese guy live in Japan? I was very eager to watch it because it will give me an idea of how Filipinos are viewed in Japan. Although I know that in most countries, my race is viewed negatively, I still want to know how Japanese treats Filipinos there.

It is an outstanding drama series. Why? It brought out so much of my emotions. It was the first time I overreacted in every scene of the show. It was strange. I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend it! As in HIGHLY!!

But I found out that the reason I was overreacting is because I fell for Hana-chan played by Yui. It was like I wanted to protect her from getting hurt. I wanted to beat up Vito for always hurting her feelings.

IT WAS THE STRANGEST FEELING EVER. I didn't know how to respond. Never saw myself like that before.

It was her smile that made me go crazy. Charmed for the nth time.

So I decided. Let my Julie have Hana’s very cute smile….because every time I see that smile, my heart jumps for joy. I don’t look at her picture in public, because I don’t want people to see me blushing.

Shining Inheritance

Once in a while, I look at some koreanovelas to watch.

Koreans are good at making story plots. Their actors and actresses are either handsome/beautiful or cute. You will really get hooked up when you watch their shows (provided that it's subtitled, of course).

The fact that koreanovelas suck when it comes to story conclusion didn't hinder me from continuously searching for quality shows.

When shining inheritance was announced in GMA, my mom suddenly had the urge to watch it. She asked me to buy a pirated cd of the show since I am the one who usually buys anime cd somewhere outside.

I bought her a copy and I was shocked seeing her awake until 3 or 4 am still watching Shining Inheritance. WTF!!! Has she lost her mind?

One time I was passing by and curiously watched with her. Then I realized I finished the hour-long episode. I was hooked.

The actress Han Hyo Joo and the actor Lee Seung Gi has captivated my sight. For an unknown reason, I just wanted to stare at them. So I watched it from the beginning. Then I understood why my mom gave up her sleeping time to finish each episode.

I also found out (after a long reflection) why I found eye candies.

Learned the "eye candy" term from Dale and Carmina. Thanks guys! =3

They were the ideal faces for my comic chracters Rey and Julie.

The Rey-Julie couple is supposed to be cute. Cute is the right-est term to define Seung-gi and hyo joo.

Shining Inheritance not only showed me an ideal couple that could play Rey and Julie but also helped me level up my story writing.

I studied the reason I was hooked up with the show. So many revelations flashed right in front of me. Each detail I studied carefully. How did this show made me bring out emotions? How did this show made me want to watch it until the end?

The answers helped me improve how to engineer a story and come up with a feasible way to manipulate the feelings of readers.

The person with the cutest face wheb they smile wins my heart. Everytime I see these two smile, I remember Rey and Julie; my heart will then jump for joy.

Matsuri Hino -- Vampire Knight

Manga styles nowadays are becoming nearly the same.

I mean they seemingly look the same because no art style is exactly alike.

But there are styles that stand out because of its shining uniqueness, just like Matsuri Hino's manga style in Vampire Knight.

It captivated my sight the moment I found the manga in Powerbooks. Why? The characters look gorgeous. Not only the guys, but also girls. I love how she drew Yuki, the main character of the story.

When I opened the comic book, the drawings just simply stood out. I was like watching an anime in a book.

Details made the difference!

Hair, dress, eyes, body features, the details made the art look so beautiful.

I salute Matsuri Hino for her skill in drawing hands. For me, hands are one of hardest body parts to draw. She drew it using her style that fit the built of the characters.

And guess what, welcome back the style copier.

After a while, since the Fushigi Yuugi era, I haven't copied another artist's artwork. But the moment I find a manga art style appealing, I just had to learn how to draw that way. I drew Zero, Kaname and definitely Yuki. I studied proper placements: where to place eyes, how far apart should it be. I also studied how she drew hands.

I may not be able to study her style fully, but the urge to copy once again really gave a big leap to my drawing skills.

Then I remembered that my drawing adventure started when I began copying another person's style in art. It will grow and continue by doing the same.

Jerry Lee, Prince-of-Powerpoint, a fellow artist, said my art improved so much. I was very happy. That time, I was back on track. Skills were updated. The desire to finish my focus comic Gift grew bigger and stronger.

I thank God for mangas like Vampire Knight. I thank God for mangakas like Hino. I needed to be inspired continuously. God never fails to give me inspirations, things that will stir up my heart.

What I have and will be wriiten here are those that came from Him, just like this one. Everytime I see Hino's art, my heart jumps for joy.

Versus 13 - The 3D Artist Inside of Me

It was abrupt. A quick fire suddenly started burning strong.

The moment I saw the HD game trailer of versus 13, the 3D artist inside of me was awaken.

How can I forget that memorable Saturday morning...

I was invited for a free 2D seminar at first academy of computer arts. Our professor was sir Paolo Enriquez who taught us the basics in flash animation.

After the 2 and a half hour discussion, he showed me the HD game trailer of Final Fantasy Versus 13...and Boom! A desire to make something just like that started to engulf the whole of me.

This was the start of my 3D adventure. Very unforgettable.

The trailer was almost perfect. With the bg music reverberating in my head (even until now), I feel so excited to create such masterpiece.

It was joy. This is the industry where I belong. It is my calling.

Now, I'm on my way to making one. It is hard, but the strong desire keeps me going and going. Versus 13 will always be the number one FF game trailer for me. And even though the prof does not remember me any longer, he became an agent of this desire.

My brother asked me why I never stop watching the trailer. I told him that it has become a part of me.

My heart jumps in excitement everytime the trailer is played.