Pink Campaign

This ad for Breast Cancer awareness was done sometime late 2007, It was featured in Arab ad magazine and in some ad blogs worldwide, it gained positive comments and moved a lot of people. Inspired by the transparent balloons that were used during the decoration of my daughter's 7th Birthday at the Ritz, and what do you know? I got an email from the British Army Federation and they asked permission to use this ad for their awareness article in their quarterly magazine with a worldwide distribution! That 5-minute creative thought really paid off!

Paintings Up For Sale

If you're interested, you can send me an email at gsemillano@gmail.com for the price list :)

Antique Images

These were the pics I have taken in Tibiao, Antique using my Canon EOS Rebel xsi :) More to follow.

My New Toy!

Last night, I bought a Canon EOS rebel XSi (450D) SLR with 12.2 megapixels, this one's got amazing features for stunning photography with point and shoot ease! I got the EF lense separate along with the 16GB memory card. Altogether, it was quite a good deal! I can't wait to put this baby in action! Thanks Pangga for this pre-christmas gift:-)

Nightmare On Counter 18

This incident happened on my way back to Kuwait, I was at the NAIA, in cue at the Emirates airlines' counter, there were a lot of Pinoys travelling, mostly OFWs. A Filipina in an Emirates uniform pointed me to counter 18, where a Filipino guy in his mid 30s, clean, polite-looking guy smiling and waiting for me to have my baggage checked, so I thought okay, finally a smooth ride back home... But my peace of mind turned out to be the most stressful trip of my life. Two days ago, I arrived in Manila from Kuwait pretty excited because of the Toyota Art Edge awards as well as the Eastern Communications, I had fun at the awarding, met some very important people from the industry and most of all-Got my cash prizes! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to cash 'em in, so the money went straight to the bank :-( I remember telling my friends before leaving that i will make it up to them when I get back in December, "wala eh, nde naging pera yung tseke" (nothing I can do, the check wasn't cashed), Thanks to my wife, or else I wouldn't have made it around there with just 2 Kuwaiti Dinars in my pocket. Those couple of days went too fast, I didn't even felt it! The last time I remember was me pulling my luggage out of the rusty conveyor at the Manila airport and all of a sudden, I'm back in cue for my flight back to Kuwait. "Good Afternoon, Sir! May you please put your luggage on the scale to your right, please?" The guy on counter 18 said, I was like, "Oh, Sure"... The pointer stopped at 20ish, something like 26. Then he asked me to put it on the conveyor next to the counter, I handed out my e-ticket clipped inside my passport and waited for my boarding pass. I looked around and boy! There was a very long cue from the counter where I'm standing, my mind starts thinking about the remittances the OFWs are making every freaking year! "Excuse me, Sir!", "Mr. Semillano?" I turned around and thought the guy would hand me my passport back with the boarding pass.. "You have exceeded the limit on your baggage, sir" I'm like... "what? Excess? How much?"... I remember it clearly that I have 30kgs allowed and my baggage weighed in at 26kgs, what's the problem? Then I told the guy, "I am allowed for 30, and I have 26, yeah?" He was like.. "I am sorry sir, but the allowed is only 20kgs", My mind went "Okay, now that's not a good sign", and tried thinking of a solution for some unexpected things that might happen. "Sir, (the guy on counter 18 said) I am really sorry, I cannot allow you for that 30kgs because we are strictly giving 20kgs for passengers", It's when I felt something serious is about to happen, so I asked the guy what my options are and he said "You could either unload some from your luggage Or pay the excess to avoid being offloaded from the flight" now, that's when I confirmed something seriously wrong is going on, I asked him how much it would be if I'm going to pay for the excess, He said "OK sir, (working his fingers on the calculator as if he knew how to use it), It would cost you like 15 thousand pesos"- I almost fainted, chills run through my spine, I don't have that much money! I opened my gucci wallet and there was 3 thousand pesos and my 2 Kuwaiti Dinars! I told the guy on counter 18 that I don't have that much money, and insisted on it, He then went and asked a guy in a Barong and whispered something and came back to his calculator, looked at me and said,"Okay sir, I will give you a few kilos free, just pay the remaining 8 Thousand pesos" I said, even if you burn me now, I wouldn't fucking smell 8 thousand pesos, I said I only have 3 with me!" These words are exactly what this guy on counter 18 said, "OK SIR, HOW MUCH YOU SAID YOU HAVE? 3 THOUSAND? OK, JUST PLEASE HAND THEM OVER BUT DON'T MAKE IT TOO OBVIOUS, JUST HIDE THE MONEY INSIDE YOUR PASSPORT AND GIVE IT TO ME" So I did what he told me, helplessly, I said Fuck it, I need to go back home! Thank Goodness I have my OEC certs with me, what if I haven't applied for it here at the Phil. Embassy? I couldn't have made it back then? What a nightmare! My advise, the next time you fly to Manila, beware of these monsters in disguise that operates at the NAIA, FUCKINAY!

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.

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!

Toyota Art Edge Winners

Here's the artworks of the top 3 winners and the 20 Finalists of the Toyota Art Edge Digital Competition. For the names and titles, check Toyota's site Here.

Haaay, Phone....

So, this baby was finally launched in the Philippines last August 22. Question is, Is it worth the wait? The iPhone3G is probably the slickest and coolest phone, but will it make it to the text capital of the world? It sells at Php 41,899.00 thru Globe. Let's see, There are still little things that many Filipino mobile users will find lacking in the iPhone 3G. Halimbawa, it does not accept business cards nor can contacts from other handsets be sent through Bluetooth, Tapos, it does not have a text-forwarding function. For the heavy phone users, they cannot just bring a spare battery to replace a drained one. Oh, btw, the iPhone 3G does not have an accessible battery compartment for easy replacement of a drained battery. iPhone 3G battery life is shorter than the first iPhone, especially when 3G is turned on. Haaay, Phone.

Talent Festival 2008

It was the night of the talented people, the annual Talents Festival, An annual talent show showcasing talents of people from all over the world. The show was packed with a mix of nationalities, dignitaries, people from different industry and performers. I remember I was one of their feature talent last year, along with the designers from Fashion TV. This time, it was DJ Missy aka Maliha, A Filipino-Bahraini, a student of mine and family friend. She showcased her battle routine with head tones overlapping an electro beat with a ripping combination of flare and orbit scratches. The crowd watched with awe as they saw a young girl performing scratches like a pro. Also in the attraction was a group of Filipino BBoys, I saw these cats perform with world BBoy champion Ronnie at the Red Bull BC One months ago, amazing talents!

Dj Missy with her routine

Pinoy BBoys

Digital Art Sample

The last time I used my Wacom is when I was working on my entry for the Toyota Art Edge Digital competition, And now I got to have the chance to scribble, I tried composing some graphics using some of the kids' pics and played a little a bit. This is a quickie, took me like 3 hours of straight work. I like the black background but, I prefer the brownish paper-like texture. My daughter Aliyah loved this, I think i'm going to create more series. So enjoy!