"All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." -Pablo Picasso
As children we've always had a clear vision of what we wanted to be for
the rest of our lives. If you think of it now you'd still remember it
and with clarity, however we often forget this. Most of us are stuck in a
day job right now, forever wondering why we're there in the first
place.
In the process of growing up, we often forget what
catapulted us into being who we are now, we neglect what matters to us
most under peer pressure and the pleasure of pleasing others. We
surrender our own dreams in favor of monetary concerns and immediate
needs, and in doing so, we forget who we really are.
Guada Ramos Funtilar
depicts the simple joys of our childhood in masterful oil paintings,
back to a time when the world is our playground. Back to a time when we
played with anything and everything we could get our hands on, even if
they weren't really toys but as kids we didn't really care.
She brings us back to that innocent time when we made makeshift houses
and forts out of blankets, to the day we made household chairs become
vehicles and spaceships, to that moment when we tasted honey from a
flower for the first time. We see things differently then, our
imagination brings us to a place forgotten by adults.
Guada
remembers when she was at a negative point in her life, art was her form
of coping. She decided to visit art galleries to lighten her spirits
and to her dismay, she only saw gloomy and dark themed artworks on
gallery walls. "I want to feel happy, I want to see something that can
make me happy." she told herself.
Amidst the negativity that is
now prevalent not only in the world we live in but also in the art
scene, where artists now often depict darker and darker themes to seem
deep and to garner attention.
Guada instead chooses to paint
something pleasant and joyful, she wants us to remember these forgotten
memories we had from a more innocent time, not to remain as children but
rather, to evoke something within us, for us to remember who we are.
Getting swayed by the flow of endless information on TV and media we
get so caught up, we often focus our attention to things unimportant to
us that we neglect to appreciate the simple things in life.
CHILDHOOD MEMORIES is a reminder of the simple things in life, because it's always the simple things that we often forget.
Marius Black Manila, 2017
Guada Ramos Funtilar's "Childhood Memories" opens on July 22, 2017,
6:00pm at Ysobel Art Gallery, 2nd flr. Shops at Serendra, Bonifacio
Global City, Taguig. Show will run until August 2, 2017.
After much preparation of our independent comic books we are
now ready to launch them at this event!
Photo credits to Komikon Inc.
Here's how it looked inside, I took this almost at the end
of the event but if I'm not mistaken,
this Komikon event had more attendees than their last. It's always great to
have more people, art and comic enthusiasts to gather at an event like this.
People who are hardcore fans of comics and the like get together at these
events to celebrate their love for art and literature combined into independent
comic books!
Summer Komikon Komiks Karnabal April 1, 2017
Here's us at our Kuro Saku booth arriving only minutes
before the doors open to the public. It's always exciting to welcome people and
show them for the first time what you've been working on for the past month or
so... heck even if you've been working on it for years, you'd be surprised to
know that someone would be interested to read or see what you have to offer,
but more on that later. Right at that moment, no one really knows what to
expect and it's exciting that way.
With that in mind, I'm always amazed that we are always
graced by friends and new people alike curious about our craft and stories.
It's one thing that you're able to come up with a good story, and it's another
if people want to buy the stuff you produce.
Here are some of our friends,
fellow exhibitors and new encounters who purchased our works!
Thank you for buying Planet of the Masochists Mikee! :D
Thank you for your endless support Jiro! :)
Jiro is a friend of ours and he really liked our newest title
Samurai Takeover, he bought the second issue of it and as well as Guadix's
Da-ib 1 & 2! Thank you Jiro! :D
Samurai Takeover synopsis:what happens when you come across a katana and if you wield it, the
spirit within the sword takes over your body that goes on a killing
spree?
Dive into mystery as Sam recently acquires his latest
possession for his collection finds out that he will be the one to be
possessed!Here's a preview of Samurai Takeover #2:
Here's our announcement of Samurai Takeover being available
at the event. It's awesome that we're able to make our own posters in letting
people know that we have a new issue of one of our own ongoing titles.
Here's a closer look at Samurai Takeover #2's cover. Is it
kabuki inspired you ask? Noh.
Samurai Takeover #2
Here are the other samurai lovers who bought issues 1 and 2,
thank you everyone!! You won't regret reading our books!
Alternate cover of Samurai Takeover #2
Here's a teaser splash page inside Samurai Takeover #2. I
won't spoil much, but consider them as important characters to the overall
story.
Samurai Takeover #2 Preview art
We also still have our Clowder series available and the
first four chapters combine as its first story arc.
Michael is the brother of my classmate in high school, and
is happy to tell me that upon reading the books he finds it a good read and
even loves the dark aspect of it!
Photo credits to Michael Tolin
So much so that he plans to buy Satan High next! Thank you
again Michael!
Spidey
even dropped by our booth to strike a pose for us. Thanks Spider Dan! :D
Spider-Dan!
Speaking of Spidey, how about that new Spider-man trailer?
So far so good eh? Don't fuck this one up Sony!! Thank God for Marvel having to
guide them in the film.
But any who, speaking of Marvel. During the convention,
a talk was being held by former Funny Komiks artists! The panel was with Berlin Manalaysay
(Combatron), Stephen
Jorge Segovia (Tomas en Kulas, Amazing Spider-man, Dark Wolverine), Dexter Roxas (A.X) and Harvey M Tolibao (Tomas en
Kulas, X-men, Uncanny X-Force).
We weren't able to listen or go to the talk because we were
manning our booth, but thank goodness Charles Tan took a video
coverage of their entire talk and posted it on YouTube. It's really a blessing
and I hope he keeps this up, because it's not easy to leave your booth
unattended. And even though we're
already an exhibitor at the event with exceptional drawing skills of our own,
we still want to learn new things about other comic book artists' experiences
and tips on how they were able to make it in the field.
I especially loved what Harvey said about having
your friends with you and keep them close because even though most people might
say that your art is bad, it's your real friends who will tell you not to
listen to those who are trying to bring you down. It's really a great listen if
you're into comics or aspiring to be a comic book artist. The wisdom and experience
they have and shared are invaluable to some of us who are just beginning our
journey into the comic book making scene. You
can watch the video of it here:
Also in this video, Berlin Manalaysay explains how the
ending of Combatron wasn't his idea but was someone else's that's why the fans
really didn't like it. That's really something heartbreaking to hear and to
experience reading the final chapter of Combatron if you're a fan, but worry
not! He said that he's actually making the REAL ending of Combatron as we
speak! And he's planning to release it mid this year! So stay tuned for that!
Also, for people who want to read Combatron back issues
online, you can go to this BlogSpot site to read the entire archive. I know
some friends of mine will jump with joy with these news, so help yourself with
some nostalgia and read some robot violence from the 90's over at: http://projectcombatron.blogspot.com/ENJOY!! :D
Here are more comic book enthusiasts and co-exhibitors who
bought our works:
Thank you Tepai! :D
And while we're on the subject of co-exhibitors, we also
bought other artists' indie comic books! Among the comics we bought from our
fellow exhibitors are these two gems:
Congrats to the both of you for your new releases! We
haven't read these books yet so we aren't able to review them as of now, but
when we do, expect us to message you guys for it! :D
Here's one of our neighbor exhibitors, Carlo and Elle. Hi
guys!We took a candid shot hehe
Beside us were the group Chain Mason and on our right (not
seen in this photo) is Red Manga Alliance. And that's our booth in the middle with
our comics and my wife Guadix selling our comics.
These are Guadix' independent comics E & D and Da-ib! It's about a
world that is almost filled with water and the humans that are left are all
living at the tops of mountains to survive. And that's just the tip of the
iceberg of the story!
Da-ib #1story and art by Guadix
You should go check it out if you haven't, it already has
a second issue! :D
Here
are just some of the people who bought Guadix' works:
A few days before the convention, she managed to make a new
artwork as a post card about her characters in Da-ib. It's pretty well done, and
even though you can't see what they are looking at, you can tell it's something
beautiful by how calm all of them are.
Black and white Da-ib postcards! <3
She was able to draw and color it in just under a day more
or less before the time we have to get it printed. She was a bit nervous if she
was going to be able to finish the artwork.
hehe >:P
But thankfully she did and here's it is now in its full
color glory!
I told you it was good. You can get it for free when you buy
Guadix' comics. :) We also implore you to like her Da-ib Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/DaibKomiks/
Here's another shot of our booth and of the comics that we
have.
If you can see the three books that look alike at the lower
right corner. It's my re-released works The Black Book Trilogy.
These covers are scented, you can smell them and weep :)
The Black Book Trilogy contains 3 separate stories about
love. Couples who are fighting, couples who don't have much time for each
other, and a young man's confession of love to a girl she likes who already has
a boyfriend.
Originally self published in 2001
Here is Someone Else's Life, I won't go too much about the
story so that I don't spoil it. but I will say that I made this book back when
I was in high school and it still holds up today.
Preview of Someone Else's Life:
So
much so that back then, it was reviewed at Culture Crash Comics #8 by Evil Dex
on their 8th issue! Thank you for this review CCCom and Evil Dex! :D
Indie comics review of Someone (Somebody) Else's Life
at Culture Crash Comics issue #8
The Black Rose is emotionally similar, with a more personal
look on the story telling of a girl and her experience through high school life
with herboyfriend.
Originally self published in 2002
Here's a preview of The Black Rose:
I also made this one back in high school and it wasalso well received by fellow comic book
artists specifically Joanah T. and Gerry Alanguilan! Thank you for these
reviews guys! :D
Thank you Joanah and thank you sir Gerry! :)
The last installment of the trilogy is about a guy who
confesses his love for a girl who already has someone she loves in her life.
Originally published via the internet in 2005
Here's a preview of The Scars on His Wrists:
I made The Scars on His Wrist based on my own experience in
college. I wasn't able to get reviews on it but I was able to get a lotof fan art from another comics of mine EiYa
and Luci and Scars was the spin off comic OVA of a sort. The one I have here is
done by the one and only Taga-ilog! Thank you Ilog! :D
Jeff
is a friend of mine whois a writer and
komikero at two local newspaperswho
also collects indie comics, you can tell by the shirt he's wearing that he knows
his stuff!
Finally here's a more complete shot of our booth, but I hope
you notice something I'm yet to address that's in the table. I don't know if
you've notice but something stands out there more than the others... I really
can't spell it out enough for you but instead of me giving out clues of something
obvious, allow me to go on a tangent and tell you a story of how I got started
in selling indie comics!
First
off; the reason I'm bringing the roots of my independent comic book career is because there has been a bit of backlash
about the rent-free-comics-booth-given- to-new-independent-comic -book-artists-offered-by-Komikon;
The Indie Tiangge. The Indie Tiangge is a place where you can sell your own
comics especially if you're just starting out in releasing your comics or a part
college group org. that is currently creating comics and are self publishing
it.
It's a way for new comers into the scene (even if you aren't
a student anymore) to be able to participate atthis local comic book convention if you don't have the budget to avail
for the exhibitor's booth at the main hall. They do however, get a small cut or
percentage of the comics you sold in the Tiangge, and that's fair considering
you don't really pay for anything else other than the money you put out
producing copies of your own comics via photocopying it.
The only downside of this is that the tables that are
offered are not in the main exhibition hall but rather in a room reserved only
for Indie Tiangge sellers, and that's where the complaints seem to come in.
I don't have all the details or have read anything of the
sort regarding who or what people complained about. I only noticed the whole shenanigans
when Komikon officially posted a ceasefire from receiving harmful comments and
feedback after the convention. It seems that most people who were in the Indie
Tiangge were complaining that they weren't able to sell that many copies of
their works and that they should be placed at the center of the main hall
because Komikon is trying to promote indies right?
Aren't they supposed to be
they heroes in this story not the antagonists who placed the Tiangge far from
the crowd and close to the comfort rooms? Isn't it unfair to these new creators
to be left out like this until only horse flies flock their comics?
I say NO. It isn't unfair,Komikon is not the villain, but
in all terms and purposes are still the hero in this scenario and here's why:
Komikon is a business. It's a hard to hear fact but they
really are, and we can all wear tie die shirts and say peace to everyone we
meet and hug them to spread the love and we should all burn our money and art
should be free and the space should be free but when all of that is good and
quite tempting, in reality that doesn't exist. Sure you might find it in some
kind of utopia somewhere, in your dreams maybe, or we're just not there yet.
But for someone like me I've been in this independent comic book self publishing
business for at least 15 years.
That's more than 10 years, and I'm still
at it. Why? It's because I still have a lot of stories to tell and I still have
my own dreams to fulfil, but mainly because Komikon has actually made a space
for us independent artists to sell their works. But not without a cost of
course, because like I said, it's a business, the people behind Komikon have
bills to pay too. They have to pay the rent at the Bayanihan Center for the
space and also have other organizers and helping hands to care for. My point
is, these ungrateful complainers are demanding a utopia where they should get
the spotlight and don't have to pay for it, but I say, we already have a
Utopia, it's Komikon.
Me,
Sherry (Carpool) and Joanah (Cresci Prophecies) sharing tables for indie comics at Toy Con 2004 Yes, this is
the only table we have for indie comics at the whole Megatrade hall, and
none of us were complaining.
Where else could you release a book without rules about what
type of genre or age group you want to sell to, only at Komikon. Do they do
screenings of what kind of comics you should release? No, you can do whatever
you want and they won't try to take over what you do. For those who can't pay
for a booth, here's two year's worth of free space for you guys, and those who
can pay there's the exhibition hall.
There's a cost for everything, if you want
good seats, you pay for them, if you want good comics, you work hard making
them. If you want people to buy your work, then maybe you should think about
the last issue you sold to them if it's crap or is poorly made or produced, if
people really got something out of it or for God's sake if there's really a
story in it in the first place.
Joanah, me,
Lico (50 Peso Ninja), Sherry and Jon (Digmaang Salinlahi) at TOY CON 2004. I forget how many of us shared one table
but none of us really fought over anything much less argued amongst ourselves
that the event organizers we mistreating us.
Maybe you should stop complaining to others why people
aren't buying your comics and start improving your works so that people would
come back to your booth. Maybe don't cram making it in two weeks or maybe tell
a good goddamn story for crying out loud.
People can see through that shit, they can see right through if you're
fucking them, and even if they don't and they bought your work and read it and
then they realized you just fucked them over with your crappy comics, then they
will remember that and would hate you because you sold them shit. It's their
hard earned money down the drain because of your egotistic needs that you're
hot shit but really you're just shit entirely.
Mara
and Me,TOY CON 2004 We first met at the previous
comics convention when she first bought my comics, and up to now we still
remain friends. Now she's like a little sister to me.
So stop taking a shit on our utopia, we're trying to make a
living out of producing good comics that is worth reading, even if you're at
the indie Tiangge or at the main hall gallery, be ashamed of yourself if you've
copied the ideas of others and pass them as yours because people can see it you
asshole. In the end, it's only you who you're lying to.
This is what we do to complainers then... RDJ on the axe and
that's me with the mask. Sherry and Joanah most surely weirded out but still, no
one was complaining :)
Besides,
there's a Komikon event entirely dedicated to independent sellers where they're
not separated at the rooms, but instead they are the spotlight in the main hall
exhibition along with us paying exhibitors. It's called Indieket, and this
happens at least once a year. I don't see why people now would bitch and complain
about these things today, they don't realize that back then in the early
2000's, we had to cross our fingers if there was an event where there was a
table where we could sell our comics for free.
The first time I started to produce and sell my own comics
was back in 2002, I was part of a mailing list called Artist's Den and was
invited along with other independent comic book artists to share their works at
the first Culture Crash Comics Convention.
We
were lucky enough to get this big of a space at the first C3Con. This is where
I first had my debut in selling independent comics. Photo credits to the
original uploader.
At the time I really didn't know what to do, yes I have my
own comics, but I've never really produced it to be sold to anyone, let alone
at a comics convention. I saw my works only to be a personal thing I can read and
to be shared with close friends and classmate and other comic book artists, but
with strangers? I really never thought of that before.
Alas, it didn't perturb
me at all at producing my comics, I thought I would try it because I really
wanted to get my comics out there, it's not how I imagined it would be nor how
I imagined my works that I had then would be the ones I'd try to sell but
that's what I had and that's what I produced.
Photocopying
my comics for C3Con, oh and yeah I'm wearing my coat as a makeshift skirt then.
And so I went to Copytrade that week to prepare photocopying
my works, the booth and tables they offered at the event was totally free. Just
show up with your comics and pay for the entrance they said it's all set up for
us. We could even bring posters and fliers and multiple copies of our works.
You might be thinking why I'm slightly apprehensive about sharing my work with
others.
Well, it's because my comic book is entitled Satan High. I'm no Satanist,
at least I don't think I am, but that's the comic book I created, it's about a
school for Satanists where the 10 commandments of God was not at play, meaning
anyone could kill anyone, the bullies killed weaklings students and the teachers could also kill the students
and vice versa.
This
is what the first release of SH looked like. This one's cover is almost being
torn off, but it's still hanging in there. Just like me >:)
