1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
1. Birth of an idea
I was working on a book entitled Halina Filipina back in 2002. It's the story of a Fil-Am girl who visits the Philippines to find her roots, set a few months before the 9/11 attacks. I don't plan to release the book anytime soon since the story needs a few more adjustments, but a good idea came about while I was writing it - the question of cultural identity and where we stand in the world, a subject I tackled in Martial Law Babies. Below are sample pages from that unfinished book:
2. Test page 1
 |
Here's an early test page I did. I didn't have a story yet during the time but I wanted to try getting into the minds of the characters. This scene where Rebecca is listening to Allan's rant about job opportunities in the Philippines (or the lack of it) appears in a different manner in the book. |
3. Test page 2
The panel on the left was drawn in a style closer to Andong Agimat which I was working on at the same time. The highly-detailed rendering of the scenes may have worked for the gritty world of Andong but I knew early on that MLB should have backgrounds that are less distracting. This approach in art style which was largely influenced by a certain 70s cartoon show will be explained later on. The panel on the right is how this scene appears in the book.
4. Test page 3
I was figuring out an interesting way to show Allan's train of thought without borrowing too much from how I did it in After Eden. And so, using blog entries to show the characters' personal thoughts and feelings felt current and more appropriate.
5. Test page 4
I wasn't too happy with the sketch on the left. The final version on the right, for me, worked much better because it captured the mood I wanted for the book. This scene appears in Chapter 6.
6. Test page 5
This page was done in 5 minutes using Photoshop. Again, I wasn't satisfied since it showed too many details in the background though it still looks great on its own. I may use this style in a future book.
7. Test page 6 / color study
There was a time when I thought of turning MLB into a weekly strip for one of the dailies. It would've been nice to see the story in color but I didn't know how long I could stretch the story to last a year or two. Below is the one and only strip I made. I dropped the idea altogether soon as I was done coloring it.
Next page |
