Here's yet another way to upload tutorials...

This is a new video done on a real screen recording program, meaning a paid program called Camtasia. Notice the quality is crisper and it is done in real time...this is how fast I draw. Also notice the cool zooms. I've uploaded it directly to my server so it is on its own page...please click this link to see the 11 minute video...

Happy Birthday Dozer...

For the Wetworks fans...today is Dozer's birthday. The real Joseph "Dozer" Mendoza, my brother-in-law. He's a vice principal for a middleschool here in next door Sun City. Had a nice dinner at his house with his kids and I did this piece for him. Says he'll frame it and hang it in his office at school to remind his kids of "the ole days in the Navy SEAL's and Team WETWORKS"...

Harvard in November...

For those that will be in the Cambridge, MA area I will be one of the guest speakers at the Harvard Graduate School of Design this coming November 10. I'll be there by invitation of the AsiaGSD co-president Helen Han.

I'm really looking forward to this conference (entitled Space Rocks!) which will deal with how other art fields should relate to architecture and design. I love talking to people eager to learn, the energy a crowd like that gives out is contagious. I am told that students of MIT will be there too so extra cool. Here's the press release...

Again, if the gods allow will post from the conference...Whilce...

How to...

A member asked what I use for these videos. I draw them using Alias Sketch which is a great quick sketching program. Just load it and draw...it's set up for quick load and go. I might switch over to Artrage 'coz it has other tools allowing for more different types of drawing. Again this is also a program setup for quick load it and draw. For more detailed videos in the future I'll use the workhorse Photoshop.

Great thing about both Sketch and Artrage they have free versions. I use Debut a free screen recorder. It does high rez recording but doesn't compress as nicely as other paid software so I do compression by setting an initially small screen reduction size as I record the original video. It does the job quick and easy tho'.

I draw all this whether I am home, or in my backyard, or in my car while waiting for the wifey to shop on a brand new tablet...the Gateway C-140x. This is the first tablet made for artist. It has a large 14 inch wide screen. All other tablets traditionally have 12 inch screens to keep the unit light weight for portability. This again is an artist tablet so the bigger wide screen helps out so much in terms of how much more of the drawing I can see as I draw.

It also is the first tablet with actual new processors...mine is a dual core 2.o. Again, traditionally tablets have last years processors so as not to drain the battery quickly. So this is more like a new laptop than a new tablet. Traditionally new tablets are much slower than new laptops. Again in an effort to keep it small and portable.

So with this fast processor and its dedicated ATI graphics chip it burns battery cycles like crazy so mines has the HUGE high capacity battery which gives me up to eight hours of battery usage with highest brightness settings. Typically tablets with the slower processors and smaller battery's give at average two hours of battery time. Again this is perfect for an artist for extended drawing sessions. The tradoff is the battery is huge and actually extends beyond the tablet itself which makes the tablet bigger and heavier...this is a heavy tablet. It feels like a big 21 inch widescreen laptop. Some have said and I agree that the extended battery gives you a nice grip to hold the tablet while you draw. Again this is a tablet made for sitting down and drawing/painting not for portability...an artist tablet...

The dedicated graphics cards is fantastic so there is no cursor lag which made me stop using my old first generation tablet. This was a concern of mine because these Gateway's come loaded with Vista. I can draw at full high rez with Vista running underneath with full video settings and get no lag while drawing. In fact I have sidebar on at all times running to the right side of my desktop running a real time ticking clock and a small tv screen running the online version of the cartoon channel continuously while I work.

There are minor things that are slightly irratating but with the wide screen, fast processor, dedicated graphics card, and long battery times this is easily the holy grail for artist. Thru the years I've tried wacom tablets, dedicated Cintiq LCD tablets, SONY Vaio tablet computers and this is by far the best solution whether I am in my studio on a deadline or on the go at a CONvention...thanx Gateway, please let there be a second and third generation tablet like this. In fact, label this tablet specifically as an Artist tablet and strictly market it for artist only...I'll be there...Whilce...

Test...video uploaded straight to blogger...

The blogger loaded videos seem to be sharper. It takes much longer to load, but there is a higher limit of 100MB so the next one I'll post will be a full frame one (so the speed of the running video will be more normal) that might be the ticket as to how I will post art tutorial videos from now on...

Fires...

All of the pictures are of the huge smoke cloud that is San Diego taken from my backyard as I write this...

We're all safe here in Menifee, which is one hour drive from all of the fires. I'm in my backyard and I can see huge smoke from two fires in the south (most likely San Diego and Fallbrook and San Marcos) and then to the north of me another very large smoke cloud that must be the northern fires. Fortunately where I sit in Menifee is in the basin of a ring of rocky mountains (very few trees if any). Those mountains block all of the fires from us. So in order for the fires to reach us they would have to climb over the rock and stone mountains and since we were originally a desert here in the valley and again there are few trees anyways even if some fire did get in here.But then again you never know...

Up until two years ago I did live in San Diego and just got word that my area Mira Mesa where we used to live just got evacuated. Our real estate broker who still lives there said the air quality was real bad and the skies very dark. She says the airport is still open and so they might fly out to relatives out of state. And now we hear that the big Marine base got evacuated.

Unfortunately for my parents they left for San Diego to visit my grandmother the day before the fires and are stuck there since the main freeway connecting us to them has been closed from the beginning. Fortunately they are staying with my mom's sister at her house south west of San Diego very near the coast. An area full of ranches so the area is fairly cleared of trees so they are safe...

When I started this post the smoke clouds seemed to be flattening out but now I look out again and all of the huge clouds, especially the one coming from San Diego is now larger again and higher meaning renew fire activity there...6:13PM Oct 23, '07

It's just weird hearing on the radio or on tv or online one by one as each city of San Diego gets closed and evacuated...and they say this will go on til a minimum of thursday...let us all pray for the best outcome possible...Whilce...

Test 222 full figure...

Here's a second test..full figure. As suspected its a little more grainy. Got to do more test. This was a six minute drawing done on my new tablet captured with screen recording software. At original size it is sharp but the file is 8MB...once it goes thru the youtube process it grains out and doubles in speed...back to the drawing board...Whilce...

Testing screen recording...

Here's a quick and dirty test of screen recording for future drawing videos...

School...

I've been getting lots of interest in opening up a school again...we're still mulling it over...most likely it'll be an online school but how that would actually work is a big question. I have to say that especially after seeing all of the aspiring artist in Sydney my juices have got flowing again to want to help young artist out again...

My original school in the Philippines where Gerry Alanguilan and Leinil Yu came from the guys all lived and worked in my house there. I don't think we can do that again. Then I moved the school to a major mall in Manila called Megamall, that was great, a place for a hundred artist to hang out in. I'm not sure we could do something like that again here in California.

So before we go further with anything official I'd like to open this up to comments from you guys about what you would expect and desire in an online school, actually I should really say a tutorship. What do you want to see?...Whilce...

Out and about in Sydney...

Sydney is a wonderful place...we really enjoyed the atmosphere. I love places like this where it is modern (tho' full of grand old architecture) and is so well planned out and friendly that getting around is just a joy. I loved the feeling that people all around us were enjoying their city too. Instead of jammed packed with people just trying to get to where they needed to be.

Saturday night was especially fun where the city was full of people on the town, boisterous guys and gals enjoying the nightlife with no hint of mayhem...one sign of a happy people, we saw one wedding group and two parties out on the town the night before the wedding. Girls night out is called Hen's night...

Next time we go to Sydney my girls will be older and we can bring them along and spend a proper one week vacation in town after the CON...next time...Whilce...

Some more CON sketchs...

Thanx for dinner, David...

Saturday night we spent a very splendid time with an ole' friend David Yardin and his lovely Family at Darling Harbour. A beautiful seaside place that even late at night has a festive atmosphere and good food.

David is not only blessed with a beautiful family but with a caring one. They are all so full of energy and so quick with laughter and a smile...his two little girls especially reminded me so much of my own two happy princesses...

David and I go far back, he was one of my students in the Philippines and I am proud to see he is doing some extrodinary work. I looked thru his portfolio at the CON and his latest work is incredible both solid and energetic...now we just gotta find him an inker that truly understands his linework. I told him if we can't find him a match I'll ink his stuff...Whilce...

Thank You Supanova...

Just arrived back from Sydney and what a great time it was. Tho' I am sick with the flu (got it the last night there) all in all it was a great experience.

Sydney is a wonderful city, a modern city with great food and very easy to get around. On the first day we toured the city and got to Paddy's market for some quick shopping all by our lonesome. Buy a day ticket for the monorail and you can get anywhere in town you need to get all day long.

Interesting note...because they cannot have the "King" being associated with burgers the restaurant chain named Burger King is changed to "Hungry Jacks". No association at all but admittedly an Aussie sounding sorta name...no didn't try any of their burgers so can't report on whether it taste the same...

On the flight over (14 hours) got a silver can of diet Coke that read Coke in Chinese and had the olympic symbol on it...wow early advertising...oh and by the way it had the old fashion flip and pull little lid that comes completely off not like the ones we have been using here in the States for years that flip under the top lid. Got to watch four free movies so had something to pass the time...oh also found time to do five CON sketches too.

All the people with the Supanova were great Daniel, Felicity, Missy, and Glen. We were all well taken care of taking a bus to and from the convention (forty minutes one way) so much so that tho' Jo and I left early (can't stay away from our kids) when we left all the guest were planning a tour of the city together.

Got to spend important time going over various things with Brandon Perterson again. For the first time met and enjoyed Marv Wolfman's stories. There were a few actors including Flash Gordon Sam Jones (didn't meet him but our driver says he was a fun guy with lots of stories) and Nikki Clyne from Battlestar Galactica (feel bad 'coz I didn't recognize her at first tho' am a fan of the show, really pretty in person and seemed to be real down to earth)...oh and also the ever vivacious Fat Momma (Didn't meet her, don't watch the show, but on the bus she had the most fantastic stories and seemed like a very caring person) from Stan Lee's superhero search. Alot of voice actors too I think one was from Naruto a show my kids watch and oh of course it was cool seeing Bruce Spence from the Mad Max movies, his hair was short cut but his eyes still have that wild energy...

There was no wi-fi in the city so wasn't able to keep to my plan of blogging from Australia. Tho' now I've just got a new tablet PC (arrived while I was away) so will equip it for continuous data service before my next trip. Also need to retire my trusty 8125 phone for a new slide keyboard phone with a much better camera for photo blogging. I actually did alot of writing on that phone but the camera is horrible...

I had two panels at the CON and I talked a little bit about wanting to start an online school. There were many aspiring artist at the CON and I felt that urge to teach again so keep your eyes and ears open for news about that in the future...

Pencil TEST

You'll see me doing things like this every now and then. I like to try out new things, new tools, new mediums from time to time. To see if I can master them and to see if I can refine them to a point where I can use them in my comic work. Here is a piece I did after looking over some Travis Charest stuff again, his grey scale stuff. So this was a take on that technique. Here in order to get a nice flat under coat of color I used my new fave COPIC markers. Not only do they have a great new brush point but can lay flat on the page.


Then using pencils and blenders I did all the shading, then finally filled in some highlights with white pencil...overall I think the style was successful, it didn't take as long to do as I thought. Using blend tools really helped out speeding the process up...I'm thinking of using this style in a project were pitching to DC starring Bats...Whilce...

Summer CON's...

Summer CONS are a thing of the past, here is a montage of commissions I did over this CON season...thanx for the support people...Whilce...

Fil-Am Party!!!

Hey people in San Diego I'll be one of the many artist at a Filipino-American event in the Park this Saturday Oct. 6, 2007. It'll be an all day event in Paradise Valley, they'll be artist like me and Ricky Nierva PIXAR lead animator, dancing, music, and of course tons of food...come over say "Hi" munch on food and just enjoy a day in the park all the while maybe learn a little something about Filipino Culture. Check out the event website here...seeya...Whilce

Here's a shot of my desk...

Here's what's on my desk...that's page 22 of my 2nd ish of Sups/Bats...

Hhhhhmmmm...didn't quite work. This was a test of the mobile blogging for this site. I took two pictures on my phone, this one and one of my desk, sent them as separate post,...as you can see only this got automatically posted. I don't know what happened to the other post. It also took alot longer
to be posted than I thought it would.

I did this as a test cause I want to post while I'm in Australia next week...I'll still try to post while there...let's see how that goes...

UPDATE: Well finally...hours later the other post shows up. So I guess it does work, just not right away...that's cool...Whilce...

Happy Birthday Francis Magalona...

A shout out to a good friend. He is "the baddest rapper you ever did see..." Francis M. and I go aways back. He has the talent of a hundred rappers all in one because he has the heart and conscience of a good man. He once even performed at the U.N. and aside from his talent (just youtube his name) he is the kind of a guy that would always stand up for a friend. Happy Birthday Big Guy!!! Peace!!!

Supanova...

I'll be in Australia next week, I'm doing a set of sketches for their VIP pack...here are the first five I did this afternoon. These are quick fifteen minute brush marker headshots...