“Spinning” is finally out!

Finally, my very first picture book is finally out! "Spinning" is a heartwarming story about a boy with autism. Written by Palanca Award winning author Irene Sarmiento and illustrated by yours truly, the book has endured numerous trials before it has eventually reached publication. I cannot describe how excited I became when Irene texted me about its release. I was not at the best of my health, but this great news surely lifted me up from my depressed state!

Here's our masterpiece!

I should say that the printing by Anvil Publishing, Inc. was superb. The pages were able to capture the vibrant colors and textures of my original art. Most importantly, the text of Irene's wonderful prose was integrated seamlessly with the art. One of the things most people will notice is that this edition features only the English version of the story. Anvil has decided to release a separate Filipino version later, as releasing it in bilingual would greatly affect the size of the text, making it uncomfortable to read.

The Autism Society of the Philippines (ASP) will be promoting this book as it aims to improve the public's awareness of autism. Dang Koe, the president of ASP, mentions "Reading Irene Carolina A. Sarmiento's Spinning immediately brought back memories of our family's early years with autism. More than anything, Spinning reminded me that educating the siblings, especially in their early years, should be done with fun, and with so much love – not just for the child with autism, but also for the other children."

"Spinning" is now available and can be purchased at the Anvil Publication Inc.'s booth at the Manila International Bookfair helf at the SMX Convention Center, Sept 16-20, 2009. Soon, it will be available at local and popular bookstores. The Filipino version "Paikot-ikot" will be released soon.

Honorably Mentioned!

It's been some time since I featured something here, but this one surely tops all the backlogged blogs I have yet to write (new logos and Body Pump!). I was so excited when I opened this letter and my friends from work were there to witness it, a fine way of ending a day of an exhaustive all-day presentation in an Aquatherapy seminar. Here is what I received last night:

April 24, 2009

CHRISTIAN OLIVER ANG CRUZ

Artist

Dear Mr. Cruz,

We are happy to inform you that you won Honorable Mention at the 2009 PBBY-Alcala Prize.

The awarding ceremonies shall be on July 21, 2009. We shall be contacting you about the said ceremonies details a few weeks before.

Our heartfelt congratulations!

Sincerely,

ANI ROSA ALMARIO

Secretary-General

I've been working on sketches before based on the PBBY-Salenga Prize winning piece "Ang Higante Sa Loob Ng Aming Bahay" by Raymund Garlitos, and I featured some of it here. I actually worked on the final artwork based on these sketches and submitted them as entries to the 2009 PBBY-Alcala Prize. Here is a description of the prize (from the PBBY website):

Larry Alcala (Lauro Z. Alcala), after whom the PBBY Illustrators' Prize is named, was one of the founding members of this organization. More than this, however, he shone joy and and rained laughter into the hearts of millions of Filipinos with his comic strips and illustrations. The fact that he chose the popular medium of newspapers and Filipino komiks means that he reached adults and children alike, many of whom could not afford more expensive forms of entertainment. The characters he created capture the whole spectrum of the Filipino's smile: from the bandana-wearing Mang Ambo to the intrepid Siopawman, from the profligate Asiong Aksaya to the hilarious duo of Kalabog en Bosyo, he sustained our souls even during the darkest moments of recent history. His single-page Slice of Life which included his own profile hidden--and at home--among the daily doings of his countrymen had most of the nation spending a few minutes of their busy lives searching for the likeness of the man who made them laugh.

Besides these accomplishments, Larry also broke new ground as a teacher of young artists. He introduced the first college degree course on Commercial Design in 1953 and the first 8mm film production of animated cartoons for the Dept of Visual Communications in UP Diliman in 1972. His awards are many but his gifts to us are more and so we remember him every year the competition for the Illustrators' Prize is held. Let all who compete and all who win remember not only his talent but his service to our souls.

First time I joined such a contest so this news really came in as a huge surprise. I won't get the chance to illustrate the book (that privilege goes to the sole Grand Winner), but I'm definitely ecstatic enough to get an Honorable Mention! Thank you Lord for another answered prayer!

I didn't get to scan properly my entries (they were huge!) but here are a few snapshots:

Work in Progress: Chuliyao

Chuliyao is a Kalinga folk story as narrated by Agom Dawing who heard it from her mother and noted down by Maria Cameron. It is about Chuliyao, a farmer, who was constantly wooed by a rat into marrying her. Of course, Chuliyao ignored this. But after some time, Chuliyao agreed in bringing the rat home. While Chuliyao was working the fields, the rat would remove its rat clothes to reveal a beautiful young woman who would in turn clean the house and do the rest of the chores. In time, Chuliyao would suspect that the rat was indeed magical and will try to discover the truth.

This story would be part of a series of children's books (20 stories) that will be used by a school in Dananao in Southern Kalinga - a project initiated by Australian volunteers. It is a lovely story which would be very interesting to illustrate. I thought of using the concept of a magical mask and cape that the beautiful woman wears to become a rat. I patterned the mask to traditional Ifugao/Kalinga tribal ceremonial masks and the cape/coat to look like a straw/fur coat. I wanted to retain the femininity of the beautiful woman in the rat, thus the flowing form of the rat character. Chuliyao the main character would be more angular and geometric in contrast. I was greatly inspired by Eyvind Earle's art (of Disney's Sleeping Beauty) and would like to blend in some of his style into the rice terraced landscapes of Kalinga in this story.

The scene featured in the topmost drawing was inspired from this excerpt:

"The young woman began to cry, and Chuliyao felt pity for her. "Oh, are these what you are looking for?" he said as he revealed the clothes from behind his back.

The woman grabbed at the clothes, but Chuliyao did not let go. She begged him, "Please, please give me my clothes!" and he replied, "I won't give you your clothes unless you marry me! Will you marry me?"

Take note that these are just preliminary and exploratory studies, focusing more on capturing the general theme and feel of the story. The final art might be drastically different from these and I still have to work on the general layout once the specifications of the book are set.

Work in Progress: Spinning (Paikot-ikot)

These past few weeks, I have been very busy working on two creative projects simultaneously, and with the available free time I have for creative work, you can say I'm progressing slowly but surely on these. I'll be writing about the other project in another blog entry, but for this one, I'll talk about "Spinning" first.

"Spinning" is a delightful short story written by Irene Carolina A. Sarmiento (Teacher Irene) about Kuya who has autism, his sister, Tin-Tin and their family.

"Like a giant top, he spins, and spins, and spins for fun. Tin-Tin wants to help Kuya so that they can play together and learn new things. In this story about love and understanding, Kuya also has plenty to share with Tin-Tin and with the whole world."

The book aims to highlight what children with autism are capable of being and sharing with others as whole human beings. It seeks to look beyond their handicaps and differences, and see how special these children truly are, with their own special gifts and abilities. As far as I know, this is the first story for children that Irene has ever written (or will be published – I'm sure she's written lots, for that matter). Having read most of her previous works, some of which have already garnered prestigious literary awards (Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards and Philippine Free Press Literary Contest), I'm more accustomed to her work on science-fiction and fantasy mostly using modern twists on Filipino folklore. But after reading "Spinning," I knew she has written a heartwarming tale that families and teachers can relate to, and when she asked me if I could illustrate her book, I was MORE than willing to agree!

First, I had to convince the publisher (Anvil Publications) that I'm qualified in illustrating a children's book. It would have been a lot advantageous if I was a member of INK (Ilustrador ng Kabataan), since most publishers get their illustrators from such organizations (mental note to join next time they call for members!). But thanks to my online gallery in deviantART, Flickr, and my (unfinished) website, and most importantly my personal experience in working with kids with autism, the publisher gave me the green light. Here are just some of the sketches I sent them.

And so after signing the contract, I'm now in the slow and grueling (but FUN!) process of setting into pictures the words that inhabit Irene's story. After receiving the specifications of the book, I laid out the needed illustrations based on these. I'll be creating approximately 15 to 20 individual paintings. Irene and the publishers imagined a dreamy (almost pastel-like look), but boldly colorful style for the art and somehow I was more inclined to use watercolors as base with pencil, pen or acrylic highlights for the paintings to achieve this look. Hmmm, I used the word slow, because the process I imposed on myself would require stages before the final actual artwork, and so far, I've only finalized three plates, and each required 3-4 stages, each an artwork by itself already! And with the limited time I have to work on these (I have a day job by the way!), it will indeed be a slow process. But I'm getting there!

The characters are the heart of the story and I have to get them right. For the character of Tin-tin, you will notice that I started out with the cliché girl with the pigtails look, but somehow I felt that I have to infuse the character with the author's personality and look (since she was coursing herself through this character, I think). I asked for Irene's child pictures which I could use as reference.

For Kuya, I had to use a variety of references, from my kids in Quality Life Discoveries to my very own kiddy pictures.

For the cover, which we also intend to use for the promotional, I decided to work on a special customized font for the book. I initially did sketches for the cover to feature Tin-tin in the foreground; however, finally, we decided to put Kuya in front. Also, during this stage, I still wasn't decided on how Tin-tin would look like, but finally settled on a straight hair look to maintain constancy.

Using my initial sketches and mock-ups, I worked on a potential promotional poster which hopefully will be run soon pending approval from Anvil. But, you've seen it first here!

And here's a preview of how another spread is coming about...

And this ain't the final version yet!

Wish us luck, and hoping for the best for the book!