Flickr Friday!

It's 4 AM in Manila and I am still up because I just simply cannot sleep. I've been browsing through Flickr since I sat in front of the computer at around 12 midnight to scan a drawing. I've been looking at photos of lotuses and water lilies as subject references and ended up researching about them in Wikipedia.com. After feeding my mind with semi-useless scientific information, I ended just looking through groups and sets of different random photographers and artists in Flickr. I can go hours on end doing this and never getting bored.

I have my own set of drawings and photos but I most often update my Drawings and Doodles set whenever I complete a new sketch or painting. Hopefully I can get a Pro Account soon. This counts as my online portfolio already, but I'm planning to build a website as well.

In the meantime, here are my favorite illustrators and photographers in Flickr. These artists and photographers just amaze me to the core and I check out their sets for updates regularly.

• Krisatomic

• Thad Lawrence

• Olivia Bee

• Chrissie White

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Magazine Stints Anyone?

I got another stint as an illustrator last week and I was so psyched to get in touch with YOU Magazine's editorial coordinator again. I remember getting so worked up the first time I got a text message from one of the magazine's editors who asked me to become a contributing illustrator for their November-December 2008 issue. A writer friend referred me to him and I immediately pulled a bunch of works from my Flickr account for my portfolio. I was simply doing a Project 365 then, and never thought about the idea of getting my work published. But since the opportunity came up, I was definitely up for the challenge.

I was assigned for work in Syracuse, New York in early September 2008 and had managed to make the illustration despite my lack of tools. I lived in a hotel and they didn't have a scanner! I had to drive for 4 miles to the nearest Fed Ex Kinko's on Erie Boulevard to have my drawings scanned. When I checked the file in my flash drive, half of it was ruined (remind me to curse that lady. I paid 2 dollars for that!). I used my friend's high megapixel camera and edited them in photoshop. My raw drawings were not even scanned properly, but they didn't seem to notice. Thank God!

I went back to Manila in December and as I was browsing through a rack of magazines in a bookshop one day, I saw my drawing right there on page 86 of YOU magazine. I grabbed it immediately and bought myself a copy. It was the best feeling.

Doing something for fun is one thing, but to have it become a part of something that is way bigger than you are gives you that sense of accomplishment.

For the record, none of my exes ever stalked me.

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