I have become what I --

I was recently interviewed by the very capable Nikki G. Tan for the Philippine publication, Zee Lifestyle. Those who know me may get a good laugh or two after reading that last sentence. I'm not sure I want to know what they did after seeing these posted pictures.

Yes, there was a photo shoot. Shoot me now.

leaning against wall? gotta go with the bent knee.

I'm in a lifestyle magazine.

The Annual Men's Issue.

In the Philippines.

Where I don't really have a market for my books.

And I follow a puff piece on (quote) the glamorous (unquote) Imelda Marcos.

There's also an article on skin whitening tips for men.

Did I mention it was the Men's Issue?

On the plus side, it was nice to see published pictures of me & my daughter, Alison (around 2 months old then). My mom gets a kick out of this (and thereby boosting Zee mag's sales all by herself). It does feel good getting a bit of notice from the motherland especially since my work is mostly based in the US. And the writing was fun & well done.

'shop.

For me, painting on photoshop means work. And because of that, it can get tedious & monotonous.

On one of those dreary moments, I took a quick break & decided to play with some of my personal photos. And yes, I did watch that new tron trailer before doing this.

Here, I decided to add a blue visor on the helmet:

This took only a few minutes & may seem odd to some because the highlights on the helmet do not match any existing ambient light. Still managed to fool a few friends though.

On this shot, I took the opportunity to go tron on the suit. Those white lines on dark fabric were screaming for it:

I painted the details on the face & hands a well as the highlights on the figure. Like the first image, this one was also done rather quickly.

(warning: photoshop jargon ahead). Aside from using a blue multiply tint, I duplicated the original photo and placed it as a top layer. Then, I simply lowered the opacity & erased any necessary detail just to get some that original warm skin tone.

Then, just like that, break time was over and I promptly went back to work.

34 years.

... and still petrified of a sketchbook's first page.