Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Creative Project: “Raisinhead: A Tale Of A Modern-Day Tiyanak”

There's a time when a story that you have been brewing inside your head ever since you were a small boy has to be told in one way or another. One such story that I have is that of Raisinhead. I don't know, what led me to create a story of a tiyanak and his quest for vengeance. Perhaps it were the nightmares (which mostly featured mangled aborted babies and other anatomy-related gore) that plagued my childhood slumbers or the late-night horror movies with deformed twins or the devil's spawn in unwilling mothers. But through the years, I was able to spin numerous versions of Raisinhead, and the most recent iteration has found its way on a medium I fondly love: graphic fiction or more commonly, the comics.

I've been working on Raisinhead for months now while interspersing my free time with logo design and ambigram work. But what really pushed me to develop this story into its graphic form is because I wanted to join this prestigious contest and what material to use best but one that has been close to my heart.

Here are previews of the art, and as you can see, I used the classic ink brush approach for the line work. I laid out the pages first with speedy sketches, and from there developed more complicated sketch work until I'm ready for final inking.

I scanned the panels and decided to place the text in via Photoshop since my handwriting is not legible enough to match the art (thanks to my De Quervain's!). Here's a preview of the 1st page.

I have basically finished Raisinhead already and in the process of having it reviewed, and so far it's been creating some stir in my family and among friends. Here's how the unveiling of the work went during a family dinner. You can basically see my brother (left) pissed off while debating with my mom (right) on its merits and demerits. It's weird how Archie (beside my mom) can give harsh critiques even though he hasn't read it yet, and my ninang (center), intrigued with all the talk, who doesn't read comic books at all, decided to read it and join in the debate…

Hahaha, it was an amusing night! But, I was glad. If Raisinhead could cause such a controversial debate in my family who know me very well and be very very critical… how much more if it is read by the general public! Some of my friends who have read it called it "heartbreaking…". I'm just glad that its 12 pages can have that effect! But hopefully, I'm not priming any of you before you read it. Hmmm, I can't have it available online. But upon request, I can provide you with the link to the .pdf file I have of Raisinhead (50 MB!). I just hope it fares well. But whether it gets a nod or not, I'm just glad it's out of my system in a format I love. Hmmm, you'll never know, I might decide to work on a graphic NOVEL version of it. Actually, I'm already working on the storyline of another graphic work I'll be creating (Hint: "Magkadugtong na bituka…")(while finishing Spinning, of course…). Here are close-ups:

Does the boy above look like me?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You finally wrote about Raisinhead! I can still remember it from our conversations in the G-Liner bus from LSGH. Haha. And I even mentioned it once in my blog a year ago. Anyway, I'm dropping by because Irwin (the Beyonder Clavel) asked about you. We're at facebook so ... the next move is yours. Hope to hear from you some time. :)

Rev Cruz said...

Hey Edwin! Kamusta na? I just joined Facebook and frankly, I find it too exhaustive to build up another social network webpage. But anyway, I'll try to work on it when I get the chance. Kamusta ka na? How's Singapore... Siyempre, naaalala ko pa si Beyonder, kung laitin niya yung comic character kong gaya gaya daw sa Infinity Gauntlet, hehe. Yeah! Raisinhead is the story I worked on as an entry to an ongoing comic story creation contest here in the Philippines. Pagdasal mo na manalo! I'll see you in Facebook!

Anonymous said...

gone are those days kasi sabi ni irwin the raisinhead panels are "fantastic!" :)
yes, it is exhausting to have too many webpages to maintain but it has its perks - you see, i found raymond sy and irwin clavel. :)
hope to catch up sometime. :)

Unknown said...

I know this is an old post, but I can't help but be intrigued...is it still possible to get a link to the PDF of Raisinhead?

Rev Cruz said...

Hi there Olivia, the comics is available for viewing at this site:
http://www.pelicola.tv/channels/episode_fbpca.asp?video_id=178 ... It actually made to the finalists of 3rd Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards. Vote for it as well. Thanks!