Lakbayan - Up Close

This is my entry to the First Toyota Art Edge Digital Art Competition entitled, "LAKBAYAN" (Lakbay sa Bayan, Lakbay ng Bayan) This won the Grand Prize with a cash prize of PhP200,000.00, With the theme, "Toyota Driving Tomorrow-20 Years of Toyota in the Philippines", This topped the 500+ entries by artists from different parts of the country, Judged by an elite group, composed of some of the country's prominent name in the industry:

Final Judges:
- Pandy Aviado, Visual artist and former Director of the Cultural Center of the Philippines Coordinating Center for the Visual Arts
- Ruel Virtucio, Dean of the iAcademy
- Jaykee Evangelista, Senior Art Director for Top Gear magazine

Shortlisting judges:
- Ross Capili, Visual artist, photographer
- Drew Europeo, Web designer and visual artist
- Nico Puertollano, Graphic designer, multimedia artist and film director
- Cesar Hernando, Visual artist, Digital Film Director and UP College of Fine Arts faculty member

- Dentsu Executive Art Director, Rowell See

The judges were chaired by Mr. Dopy Doplon, graphic designer, coffee table book artist.

It took me 3 days to complete this winning piece. All done in Photoshop CS and some vectors from Macromedia Freehand X with the help of Wacom Intuos 3. The picture is a collage of color splashes that makes a map of the Philippines and with the colors that symbolizes the rich culture of the Filipinos. As you move through the islands you could see different landmarks that represents the beautiful places in the archipelago, and different dialects that expressed the urge of traveling with silhouettes of people in different moods, Underneath the map is a set of letters that makes the name... Toyota. (Check out the other entries at Toyota's Site.)

Toyota Art Edge Awarding

After a long and tiring flight from Kuwait, I finally made it to Manila, My Sis in law picked me up and I popped a bottle of Jack D's with Albert. 9 am, I head off to Makati to Eastern Telecoms office for the prize money and met with their Ad and Promo officer, Sheila Dimaya but unfortunately, the check won't be available for collection till the next day so we hang out in Glorietta to kill time for the 3pm awarding at the Shangri-La, The art edge event was pretty cool, Once you sign their guest book, they'll hand you over your prize money, The winning entries were individually mounted on white panel walls at the entrance of the Quezon ballroom, at the center was the top three winners. The program started with Toyota's Gotto San and followed by the awarding of the art edge and journalism finalists. The later part was the top 3 of the art edge competition and Journalism awards winners. Here's some snaps:

Me with my Winning Piece entitled, Lakbayan.


With me here is Pearl, my Niece.


A view of the stage

Interview with Auto Gear.

With Jinno Rufino of Abs-Cbn.

Auto Review Philippines.

Panic at Gate Number 3

I was in front of gate number 3 at the Kuwait airport waiting to board my flight to Manila via Dubai when all of a sudden I heard people screaming and saw a large crowd running away from the gate near where I was sitting, I turned around and saw an airbus 330 with it's wings up in flames! Oh My God! It was a passenger plane refuelling and for some reason the hose connected to it was burning and fire rushes to its right wing, Good thing the Kuwaiti fire fighters were able to stop the fire and a possible explosion! Too bad, I wasn't able to pull out my cam for a once in a lifetime snap :-(

Toyota Art Edge Winners by Manila Times

When I was in Manila last thursday for the awarding of the Art Edge Winners at the Shangri-La, Makati, I was interviewed by a representative from Manila Times, Perry Gil S. Mallari. Well, here it is:

Cutting edge computer art
Digital art competition announces winners
By Perry Gil S. Mallari, Reporter

With the availability and popularity of image creation and manipulation software in the last 10 years creating art using a computer was no longer a novelty among artists. The era of digital art is here and unless you’re an artist living under a rock, you have felt in one way or another the influence of computers in the process of art production. But while technology can hasten the production of art, it’s no substitute for genuine talent.

It is good to know that Pinoy artists are abreast with technology and they have already proven their mettle in the field of digital arts. As a case in point, top CGI (computer generated imagery) movie producers Disney and Pixar have a slew of Filipino artists in their employ.

Just recently, local artists who opted to trade their pencils and brushes to mouse and graphic tablets were given a chance to showcase their talents via the digital art contest Art Edge sponsored by Toyota Motors Philippines Corporation (TMP). The theme of the contest was “Driving Tomorrow —20 Years of Toyota in the Philippines.” Toyota chose to celebrate the anniversary of its two decades of operation in the country with an art competition. It explained that the move signified the company’s belief that progressive techno-logy has to be balanced with the development of other aspects of life, society and the environment.

Of the 500 artworks that were submitted from May to June this year, 23 made it to the finals and three were chosen as the overall best works of the competition.

Gilbert Semilliano of Laguna bagged the first place with a cash award of P200, 000 while Kristofferson Paunil of Cebu got the second place with prize money of P150,000. Third placer Mark Angelo Argarin of Valenzuela took home a P100,000 cash reward. The other 20 finalists were given a P25,000 consolation prizes each.

The panel of judges was comprised of representatives from Toyota as well as top industry practitioners in the realm of graphic arts among them were TopGear advertising agency senior art director Jaykee Evangelista, renowned artist Pandy Aviado and Ruel Virtucio, the chief executive officer of iAcademy, currently the top computer graphic art school in the country. All the entries were judged using the following criteria: 15 percent for originality, 30 percent for visual impact and appeal, 40 percent for relevance to the theme and 15 percent for technical content and composition.

(check out the actual post in this link)

Eastern Communications Digital Art Competition

Okay, Here's another Digital Art competition I joined after Toyota's Art Edge, It's the Eastern Communications 130th Anniversary, Check this out, got the info off a forum, The submission's on September 6 and Awarding is on September 10th. Pretty quick for a competition though, but that doesn't stop me and my friends at the office from rushing a couple of artworks, Lol! We went through the usual "KAMIKAZE DEADLINE", It's like working on a campaign overnight and present it the next day kinda thing. Anywho, My friend Danny told me on the morning of the 10th that his entry's been shortlisted, Woo Hoo! That's a sure 10k PhP in the pocket, and a chance to make it to the 100K prize! So I kinda ask myself, what about mine? I called up Pinky and told her about it and she called Manila to get the numbers of Eastern's contact person, Ms. Belle Lacson. So I called her up and Voila! She told me that I'm in the final 13th, Yee Hah! She asked me if I have someone to represent me to the awarding (that same day at 7pm Manila time). I sent Pearlie, my niece over to Dusit Hotel in Makati for the awarding ceremony. She said it was a grand nite, Ms. Zsa Zsa Padilla was there as the main performer, There were a lot of big shots and the show was hosted by Kat Alano. What an amazing night for my niece and a great successful event! Many thanks goes to the Judges, Eastern Communications, Their staff and Pearlie! To all the winners and participants, Congratulations! You guys Rock!

Oh, by the way I won 2nd place with my entry entitled: FLOURISHED FRONTIERS.
Here's some snaps from the competition, enjoy!


Pearlie receiving the cash prize and trophy on stage with Ms. Jocelyn Dy Juanco - VP of Sales and Customer Service and Ms. Kat Alano - Ex MTV VJ & ex WoWoWee Host


The 10 Finalists with their Trophies & Certificates on stage.

Some of the winning entries (Sorry for the white spot on the artworks caused by the camera's flash)



My First Entry Entitled : "BEYOND"
(16" X 11" Digital, Photoshop CS, Macromedia Freehand, Mac G5, Wacom Intuos 3)



My Second and Winning Entry Entitled : "FLOURISHED FRONTIERS"
(16" X 11" Digital, Photoshop CS, Macromedia Freehand, Mac G5, Wacom Intuos 3)

Toyota Art Edge Grand Prize Winner!!!

After winning the Grand Prize, I'm off to Manila to attend the exhibit and awarding ceremony to be held at the Shangri-La in Makati on the 18th. I would like to thank the Art Edge elite panel of judges, the Academe, the Media, Toyota, and Dentsu-Phils for making my entry "Lakbayan" the top of their choice, Congrats to Kristoff Paunil from Cebu for getting the 2nd prize, and Bakesix for the 25K PhP consolation! To the people who helped me get through this very prestigious achievement, you guys don't know how thankful I am! Party?! You Bet!