Project Rooftop is one of the coolest art websites I've seen in a while. Basically, anyone can send in superhero costume redesigns and a panel of reviewers judge which ones are worthy to be put up on the site.

They've had their second Halloween costume contest, and I liked 2007's batch better than the last one. I've especially liked the grand prize winner's Supergirl costume and her partner's street-smart Batgirl costume. So I've done a bit of a quick sketch of them in action...



And you can see their actual costumes here.

Remember the pencils-to-ink page I posted before? Well, I'm glad to announce that it will be part of 803 Studios' Sequential Suicide anthology this 2008. I'll be posting further announcements on where and when the book can be purchased.



Oh, and I've also contributed to another anthology, Twenty To Six Books' THE HIEROGRAPH Volume 1. Also available here from lulu.com.

That's all the plugs I have for now. Back to work!

CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER, 2007...

KUKI: It's Papa God's birthday today, Jade.
RENO: That's right. It's the birthday of Jesus.
JADE: Why he's not here?
KUKI & RENO: We don't know.
JADE: Maybe he's cleaning pa his wounds.

(Kuki and Reno both smile silently...)

JADE: Let's sing Happy Birthday for Him.

And so we did. So to our Lord Jesus, Happy Birthday!

And to everyone, Merry Christmas!

No Komikon aftermath post for me! Yep, I don't have anything to say about the Komikon that hasn't been said anywhere else. I'd just like to say that I enjoyed it the third time around, got some really nice indie reading materials (Heubert Khan Michael's UNSTOPPABLE on the top of that list), got to meet some people I've waited a long time to meet (I'm looking at you, Gio!) and got some nice complimentary stuff (thanks, Gerry, for ELMER #3, and Ed, for KADILIMAN, to mention a few). Thank you, too, to Budjette Tan and the Alamat guys (and gals) and to my bro for sticking around to help me at my table.

Sorry if my thoughts are a bit of a jumble. I just had a two-day bout with the flu and I'm not sure if I'm at 100% yet. I think I'll take a nap now.

GAH! I've been so busy lately that KOMIKON 2007 has closed in on me, and I just finished everything I needed to do for that event in the nick of time (I hope).

KOMIKON will be held at the UP Bahay ng Alumni, this Saturday, November 17, 2007. I think the doors will be open by 10:00am.

So... let me pimp a couple of things that will be available from my end...



The fifth issue of TABLOID KOMIKS will be available. It should have been available since the start of this year (and if you look closely at the image above, it clearly states January 2007), but I haven't had the time or means to distribute it properly. Oh, and sadly, it won't be free anymore. But I hope you guys still buy it, since it's reasonably priced at PhP10.00. It's got a great story by Josel Nicolas, illustrated by Ian Iranda (my brother, that's just his pen name, in case you were wondering about the last name). Also, a Maskarado short story by partners-in-crime Dodo Dayao and Bong Leal, and a thought-provoking piece by Randy Valiente.



Also, MASKARADO: VISIONS, the portfolio/comic celebrating 15 years of Maskarado will also be available. The cover above was done by Kajo Baldisimo. It's jam-packed with art by Leinil Yu, Hal Santiago, Gerry Alanguilan, Gilbert Monsanto, Edgar Tadeo, Dell Barras and a whole lot more! Plus a 7-page story by Gio Paredes and myself, and a short prose piece written by Budjette Tan. All for the measly price of PhP30.00! What a bargain, eh?

I'll be sharing a table with Alamat Comics. Stop by and say hi to us! :)

MY DESKTOP(S)

Got tagged by Ed Tadeo, so I have to show what my desktop screen looks like. I use two computers, one at home and one at the office, so I guess I'll show them both here.



My office desktop has a cool Maskarado piece drawn by none other than Leinil Yu himself! It's a bit messy with all the folder icons, since I keep all ongoing jobs on my desktop. That way, it'll be easier for me to find them.



My home desktop is much more kid-friendly, since Jade uses the computer more than I do!

Rules:
1.Upon receiving this tag, immediately perform a screen capture of your desktop. It is best that no icons be deleted before the screen capture so as to add to the element of fun.

2.Post the picture in your blog. You can also give a short explanation on the look of your desktop just below it if you want. You can explain why you preferred such look or why is it full of Icons, things like that.

3.Tag five of your friends and ask them to give you a Free View of their desktop as well.

And now I tag... Dodo, Ariel, Annie, Gio and Bong.

OPTIMUS PRIME QUICK SKETCH...



Well, maybe not so quick. My nephew asked me to draw Optimus Prime for him, and I was suggesting he let me draw the cartoon version instead (hehe). But of course, the young 'uns today don't really know the 80s version, so I was stuck with drawing the live-action movie version. All those (not-so-detailed) details took me around 45 minutes to draw. Just think if you had to draw this in a comic book. It would be PUNISHING.

Anyway, I'm one of the few people who didn't see the movie when it came out in theaters. I just bought the DVD, so I hope I can get around to watching it soon.

I've recently opened my online store at cafepress.com. I'm not expecting anyone to buy anything from it, but it was free, so what the heck. And if I get lucky enough that someone actually buys any of the merchandise I'm selling. then I thank you in advance.




You can see the link at the sidebar on the right, or you can click here.

I don't usually show my pencil work, since I'm really not much of a tight penciller. I have always inked my own work, and it was what I was trained to do since I started working in comics two decades ago. Most of the time when I show work samples, they're fully inked.

But I'll make an exception this time. It's a bit of a departure for me, but here are shots of a page I made for a short story from UK-based writer Patrick Tkaczynski.



Whenever I do rough pencils, I usually have a good idea of how I'm going to ink it. Of course, there will be some tweaking from pencils to inks, like the expression on the shop owner's face on panel 3, which I changed from being annoyed to being dismayed. And on panel 2, I eliminated most of the shadows on the woman exiting the store, to keep her farther in the background.

Anyway, I hope you've liked this little insight on my work process.

New Mars Ravelo T-shirt designs...


Classic costumes


Modern versions

They'll be available soon from Branded shirts!