http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:Budjette&section=today deviantART RSS for by:Budjette en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:18:17 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/28916147/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/28916147/ Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:06:21 PST [link]

Come join us this Thursday, December 17, for an open forum on comics and graphic novels, with Philip Tan and his Amazing Friends! The event will take place at the NGF Room, 1/F De la Costa Building, in Ateneo de Manila University.

In addition to Tan, who’s done work on Green Lantern and Batman and Robin, among other stellar books, the forum will also host Carlo Pagulayan (Agents of Atlas), Heubert Michael Khan (Unstoppable) , Ernest Jocson (Maze Agency), Andrew Drilon (Kare-Kare Komiks), and others. A portfolio review will be held afterwards. Lots of fun will be had throughout.

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/28725451/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/28725451/ Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:04:49 PST Carlo Vergara
[link]


With 2009 about to close, I hope 2010 and beyond will see more major Pinoy graphic novels being published. This year had the compiled El Indio (Francisco Coching), the compiled Elmer (Gerry Alanguilan), 12 (Manix Abrera), Underpass (Summit Media), Trese: Mass Murders (Budjette Tan and Ka-Jo Baldisimo), Where Bold Stars Go To Die (Alanguilan and Arlanzandro Esmeña), etc. etc. etc. Compared to previous years, a lot of major comics work. If the publishers of the above are all members of the National Book Development Board, next year's National Book Awards race will prove interesting.

It took a bit over ten years for Pinoy graphic novels to get this far, beginning with Arnold Arre's groundbreaking work on The Mythology Class. Now that book publishers are beginning to dip both feet in the graphic novel medium, it's high time for all you aspiring graphic novelists to pick your brains, hunker over those keyboards and drawing pads, and churn out material.

My personal definition of a graphic novel may not be the same as that of my contemporaries, but you don't have to start with a 140+page behemoth. A 64 to 80-page graphic novella will be a good start as any. This page count is enough to be square-bound for the bookshelf.

Start with a simple story--your epic star-spanning ideas would be good for future works once you get the hang of things. For those who don't already know, I started solo in 2001 with the 56-page One Night In Purgatory. It features only two people and the consequences of their past.

If you're hoping to get the interest of a book publisher, however, it would be advantageous to add a bit of urgency and relevance to your story. Apart, of course, from it being well-written and drawn. There are stories everywhere, from the Ondoy experience to the contact center explosion, from the Ozone tragedy to OFWs. I'm sure One Night In Purgatory wouldn't pass a book publisher's standards, simply because the story leans toward the generic end.

You can spend the next two months (December to January) working on a suitable plot, researching, making a preliminary draft of the script, and developing visuals. The month following (February) can be used for script edits and polishing, plus finalizing the overall visuals. Devote four to five months (March to July) for artwork, lettering and book design.

If you don't have a publisher, there's always the Web. But having your work printed by a professional publishing house is a snazzy reward for many aspiring authors. You may not rake in enough to make a living off of it, but it's a great add-on to the credentials.

All the best!!

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/28599557/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/28599557/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:08:37 PST [link]

Part of the act of creating is letting go. I remember very vividly when writing The Land of Laughs that I reached the part in the story where the dog speaks for the first time. I wrote the passage and stopped. I thought-- the *dog* just spoke-- that's crazy. But a moment later I said okay, let's just see where that goes. In an essential way it was the turning point of all writing I have done since then. My paradigm moment came about because I simply let go, accepted the nutty for fact, and kept moving.

The Germans have a nice phrase about trust in romance-- 'fall back and I'll catch you.' The same could be applied to writing or any art, as far as I can see: If you believe you have it in you, write whatever it is you want and stop thinking about approaches or limitations or or or... Just *write* it. Clear your mind of hesitation and everything other than the sentence you are trying to write and do it. Then write the next one. The more you think about it, the less well you do it. Start with a phrase or a character you like or who intrigues you. Then begin to spin a spider's web out from that center point. But don't *think* about it.

Very often when I begin a book or story, I only have a single line or image which I put down and then think--who is this? What are they like? 'Haden was in trouble again' is the beginning of GLASS SOUP only because I liked that line. After writing it I thought-- who's this Haden? He's a handsome asshole. Okay, what does he do? He’s a tour guide. Where does he do it? Etcetera.

Don't think about it-- just be a spider and spin the web only you can design.

[link]

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/28426343/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/28426343/ Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:47:17 PST
By now, copies of TRESE:MASS MURDERS should be available in National Bookstore and Fully Booked. Copies are now available at Powerbooks and Pandayan, as well as Comic Odyssey and Sputnik.

This weekend, me and Kajo will be at Mangaholix's M3CON at the World Trade Center. [link]
We will be there, Nov 21 & 22.

There's also going to be an UNDERPASS press con on Nov21 at the M3CON.

Skyworld will also be made available at the M3CON.


But! Wait! There's! More!

On November 27 (fri), we'll be squatting around Sputnik at Cubao X.
[link]

Will be there with Kajo, Ian & Mervin of SKYWORLD, and Paolo Fabregas of FILIPINO HEROES LEAGUE. Copies of our books will be available and we'll gladly doodle on them if you give us beer. (Well, the beer is optional, just buy our books. Please.)

So, there!

Hope to see you either this weekend or on the next weekend!

--budjette
[link]

"It's never too late to be what you might have been." --George Eliot

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/28186647/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/28186647/ Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:08:43 PST I tell my students, `If you want to change the world,
be a TV or movie producer, don’t become a lawyer.`
Popular culture is the most powerful force.”

Larry Kramer, New York University Law Professor

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/28154389/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/28154389/ Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:22:16 PST
Ria Lu, Talecraft creator, has announced that the Talecraft Character Building Workshop will be on November 7, 2009, Saturday, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Powerbooks Greenbelt.

After the adventure and the wanderings, after the climax and the twists, after the final battle and the happily ever after, it is the characters that stay with us long after the book is closed.

Join us on November 7 as we talk about characters, discuss what makes them good, and share which characters have stolen our hearts.

Featuring talks by:
Budjette Tan (writer of "Trese")
Taga-ilog (creator of "Pasig")

Hope to see you all there!

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/28056677/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/28056677/ Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:25:57 PDT
While you wait for it to arrive in a store near you, I've uploaded a 15-page preview of the book at [link]

Enjoy!

More diabolical treats for you!

TRESE: The Devil's Playground
[link]

TRESE: Masquarade (preview pages)
[link]

More TRESE art from Kajo:
[link]

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/28026436/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/28026436/ Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:59:16 PDT
This TRESE story [link] was put together by the one-man production crew of Melvin Arciaga. I first met Melvin online at DeviantArt. He sent me a message, asking permission to cosplay Trese. I said yes and half-expected to see pictures of a girl wearing a trenchcoat taken in some dark alley. The pictures and scenes that Melvin later sent me just blew me away.

Couple of months ago, Melvin told me he'd like to do a four-page fumetti story featuring TRESE. He also made one request: his nephew Prince, a big Trese fan, wanted to appear in the story as an aswang. How could I say no to, probably, Trese's youngest fan. (Actually, he's a fan of the Kambal, according to Melvin.)

Anyway, this is just practice for Melvin, who's now gearing up to do a 200-page fumetti for his thesis. We've seen the preview art/pix and it looks great! Hope to eventually see that epic in some future Komikon!

Photographed and produced by MELVIN ARCIAGA
[link]

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/27871667/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/27871667/ Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:09:32 PDT wishing the next one will be bigger and better (and still in an airconditioned place!)

thanks to every one who bought...

a copy of Trese 3
a copy of Trese 1 & 2
a copy of Trese 1 & 2 (even though you already had copies at home, but bought a whole new set anyway!)
Trese Amulettes
anything else from the Visprint booth
a copy of SKYWORLD 1 & 2
a copy FILIPINO HEROES LEAGUE
a copy of UNDERPASS

thank you very much !!!

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/27573178/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/27573178/ Sun, 04 Oct 2009 07:50:03 PDT Over at Twitter, Philip mentioned that he's co-plotting/co-writing this book with Didio!
[link]

Whilce Portacio's FORTRESS
Robert Kirkman talks about this mysterious new character that will play a central role in Image United
[link]

And Whilce also takes over the HULK!!! WHILCE SMASH!!!
[link]

Francis Manapul & Geoff Johns starts new regular FLASH title after their story arc at ADVENTURE COMICS
[link]


Batman vs bat-mananaggal!
Check out pages from the aborted project of Marc Andreyko & Liam Sharp
[link]
(thanks to Heubert Khan for the link)




]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/27464070/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/27464070/ Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:08:30 PDT by Kevin Smith

No toll,
No price,
No loss greater than This:
One of Our Own.

No smoke,
No flames,
No challenge greater than this:
To maintain hope.

No oath,
No pledge,
No Vow greater than this:
To never give up.
------------------------------

Here is the story of Muelmar Magallanes, 18 years old, who rescued 30 people from the floods caused by Typhoon Ondoy and died trying to save more.
CLICK THE LINK: [link]

Here's how you can help the Typhoon Ondoy Victims in the Philippines
[link]

You can also donate via the UN World Food Programme
[link]

The quick way to help the people affected by ONDOY is to donate to the Red Cross via text.

Text RED (the amount you'd like to donate) and send it to 2899 (Globe) or 4483 (Smart)

You can donate P5, P10,P50, P100, P300.
So, if you want to donate P100,
just text: RED 100
and send it to 2899 or 4483

And here are other ways to donate to the Red Cross
[link]

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/27444839/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/27444839/ Sun, 27 Sep 2009 09:26:19 PDT
Text REDAMOUNT to 2899 (Globe) or 4483 (Smart)

You can donate P5, P10,P50, P100, P300.

So, if you want to donate P100,
just text: RED 100
and send it to 2899 or 4483

And here are other ways to donate to the Red Cross
[link]

List of verified relief centers for 'Ondoy' victims
[link] for-ondoy- victims

to all Pinoys based abroad: The Ayala Foundation USA is a one-stop portal for Pinoys based abroad who are looking to donate money to social
causes in the Philippines.
[link]

Donations coursed through AyalaFoundation USA are also tax deductible (only for those based in the US). They also accept credit cards (via Paypal).

To those wanting to donate to Typhoon Ondoy Relief Efforts, click on the link below and search for "AF-USA Typhoon Relief Fund" in the box marked "Donations For."

Note: you may also donate to the Red Cross, Caritas Manila, & Gawad Kalinga in the same portal. Please cross-post.

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/27320056/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/27320056/ Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:53:41 PDT
The Book Fair also gave us the chance to sit and chat with Alan "Girl Trouble" Navarra, David "Penumbra" Hontiveros, Carlo "Ang Kagilagilalas na ... oh, of course, you know what he did" Vergara, and Nida "I'm really not Bob Ong... really I'm not!" Ramirez; where we got to talk about upcoming titles, future plans, and the importance of Nida being pregnant when we launch new titles.

During lunch, Kajo popped the question (no... no... he didn't propose!). He asked me, "So, what do you want to do for Book4?" And boy, did we come up with plans for that!

But before we even go there, we've got to launch and release Book3.

While waiting, would you like to see some pages from the book?

If the answer is yes, then click...

PAGE 1: [link]

PAGE 2: [link]

PAGE 3: [link]

PAGE 4: [link]

And it turns out, Trese and the Kambal also went to the Book Fair. Find out what they bought and what else happened to them by following Trese's Twitter at: [link]

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/27208968/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/27208968/ Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:01:42 PDT The MANILA INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR aka MIBF is happening this week!

September 16-20, 2009
10:00 AM - 8:00 PM
SMX Convention Center,
SM Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City
[link]

GOOD NEWS!
Visprint will have a booth at the MIBF.
[link]

BAD NEW
Trese Book3 will NOT be available at the MIBF. (sorry!)

GREAT NEWS!
You can pre-order Book3 “TRESE: MASS MURDERS” at the MIBF!

We’ll deliver your signed copy free of charge*, 1 week before the book's commercial release! You’ll even get the chance to win an original Trese artwork from Kajo Baldisimo.

You can also pre-order these upcoming Visprint books:
- CRASH, a Not Quite Unreal sequel, by Carlos Malvar
- 12, by Manix Abrera

MECHANICS:
1. Promo applies to Metro Manila addresses only*.
2. Advanced order and payments should be made during the MIBF.
3. Promo forms available at the Visprint booth.


See you at the Book Fair!

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/26180243/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/26180243/ Sat, 25 Jul 2009 22:26:52 PDT

"–you know, I’ve either had a family, a job,

something has always been in the

way

but now

I’ve sold my house, I’ve found this

place, a large studio, you should see the space and

the light.

for the first time in my life I’m going to have

a place and the time to

create."



no baby, if you’re going to create

you’re going to create whether you work

16 hours a day in a coal mine

or

you’re going to create in a small room with 3 children

while you’re on

welfare,

you’re going to create with part of your mind and your body blown

away,

you’re going to create blind

crippled

demented,

you’re going to create with a cat crawling up your

back while

the whole city trembles in earthquake, bombardment,

flood and fire.



baby, air and light and time and space

have nothing to do with it

and don’t create anything

except maybe a longer life to find

new excuses

for.




© Charles Bukowski, Black Sparrow Press

(found via...
[link])

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/25763636/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/25763636/ Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:32:27 PDT
[link]

Join the NBDB Book Club as we follow the trail of Alexandra Trese as she roves the streets of Manila to unravel crimes involving paranormal creatures Sherlock Holmes style.

This July’s book pick is Trese, the highly acclaimed series of graphic novels by Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo. Contributing to the renaissance of Pinoy comics, Trese reintroduces us to the rich Philippine folklore with its inky sketches detailing creepy stories of dark creatures looming the streets of Manila. The NBDB Book Club will be joined by author Budjette Tan and illustrator Kajo Baldisimo who will talk about their work and answer questions from fans.

The NBDB Book Club session will be held on July 25, 2 pm, at the Filipinas Heritage Library, Makati Avenue cor. Ayala Avenue, Makati City.

Admission is free.

Call 926-8238 for details.

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/25464250/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/25464250/ Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:51:50 PDT -----------------------------------
Two years ago, Bruce Mau unveiled a 43-point program that took the design world by storm. Here is an incomplete selection from his incomplete manifesto.
from Fast Company issue 39, page 178
-----------------------------------

ALLOW EVENTS TO CHANGE YOU. You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you: You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth are the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.

FORGET ABOUT GOOD. Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good, you'll never have real growth.

LOVE YOUR EXPERIMENTS (AS YOU WOULD AN UGLY CHILD). Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view, and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.

CAPTURE ACCIDENTS. The wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different question. Collect wrong answers as part of the process. Ask different questions.

DRIFT. Allow yourself to wander aimlessly. Explore adjacencies. Lack judgment. Postpone criticism.

EVERYONE IS A LEADER. Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it makes sense to do so. Let anyone lead.

SLOW DOWN. Desynchronize from standard time frames, and surprising opportunities may present themselves.

DON'T BE COOL. Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort.

ASK STUPID QUESTIONS. Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.

____________ . Intentionally left blank. Allow space for the ideas that you haven't had yet and for the ideas of others.

STAY UP LATE. Strange things happen when you have gone too far, have been up too long, have worked too hard, and are separated from the rest of the world.

REPEAT YOURSELF. If you like it, do it again. If you don't like it, do it again.

STAND ON SOMEONE'S SHOULDERS. You can travel farther carried on the
accomplishments of those who came before you. And the view is so much better.

DON'T CLEAN YOUR DESK. You might find something in the morning that you can't see tonight.

MAKE NEW WORDS. EXPAND THE LEXICON. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions.

CREATIVITY IS NOT DEVICE-DEPENDENT. Forget technology. Think with your mind.

ORGANIZATION = LIBERTY. Real innovation in design, or in any other field, happens in context. That context is usually some form of cooperatively managed enterprise. Frank Gehry, for instance, is only able to realize Bilbao because his studio can deliver it on budget. The myth of a split between "creatives" and "suits" is what Leonard Cohen calls a "shining artifact of the past."

DON'T BORROW MONEY. Once again, Frank Gehry's advice. By maintaining financial control, we maintain creative control. It's not exactly rocket science, but it's surprising how hard it is to maintain this discipline -- and how many people have failed to do so.

TAKE FIELD TRIPS. The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet -- or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer-graphic-simulated environment.

MAKE MISTAKES FASTER. This isn't my idea -- I borrowed it. I think it belongs to Andy Grove.

SCAT. When you forget the words, do what Ella did: Make up something else (but not words ).

BREAK IT, STRETCH IT, BEND IT, CRUSH IT, CRACK IT, FOLD IT.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF COFFEE BREAKS, CAB RIDES, AND GREENROOMS. Real growth often happens outside of where we intend it to, in the interstitial spaces -- what Dr. Seuss called "the waiting place." Hans Ulrich Obrist once organized a science-and-art conference with all of the infrastructure of a conference -- parties, chats, lunches, airport arrivals -- but with no actual conference. Apparently, it was hugely successful and spawned many ongoing collaborations.

LAUGH. People visiting the studio often comment on how much we laugh. Since I've become aware of this, I use laughter as a barometer to measure how comfortably we are expressing ourselves.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE. Play only happens when people feel that they have control over their lives. We can't be free agents if we're not free.

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/25321131/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/25321131/ Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:53:41 PDT WARREN ELLIS

Pop Comics -- The Working Definition
(By Popular Request ...
So Shut Up If You've Heard It Before)

The basic definition of the Pop Comic is a finite, commercially accessible, inventive and intelligent modern comics work. A cultural handgrenade, short, bright and inexpensive. An art bomb, cheap as a single and demanding as much of your time. Three or four issues, or a short original graphic novel. Open-ended ongoing titles are your dad's comics. And your dad probably listens to Genesis.

The Pop Comic is, in my mind, the direct competitor to the major-company superhero comic. Pop Comics are fast delivery systems for explosive storytelling, as much flash and thunder as your ideal superhero comic, with more innovation -- and operating in other genres. There are many reasons why superhero comics are subculturally "sticky", and one is that their core approach is basically crack for people who like action fiction.

And the Pop Comic is creator-owned.

In conversation with another writer, he told me that his career approach is to alternate mainstream stuff with creator-owned stuff. As if the act of ownership takes the latter work out of the comics mainstream. How much sense does that make? Why not just take over the mainstream and remake it in our own images? It's been done before. People forget that. SPAWN owned the top ten for most of the Nineties, an incoherent but energetic mix of horror and the superhero that was, wait for it, creator-owned. People don't buy creator-owned books, the old guard dribble. Right. I'm not saying they're not a tough sell, but please. What bollocks.

The mainstream, in comics, means superhero books. That's something that needs to change. There's no special dispensation for comics that means that here "mainstream" equals "men in tights wrestling each other in the street" when everywhere else it means pretty much anything BUT men in very tight costumes wrestling each other in the street.

Let's allow ourselves to tell the stories we want without consigning ourselves to the gutters of what is already a back-alley medium when doing so. The Pop Comic is about introducing new readers to the medium. They are minimum-commitment works. The rise of the TPB and its sales outside the comics store show clearly that people want to buy a story *quickly*. They don't want to be married to a comics store. They don't want to have to come in at the same time every month in order to piece a massive story together. Three issues is a minimum commitment, a fair compromise with the current economic realities within the industry today.

[link]
30 May 2001

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/25210543/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/25210543/ Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:07:16 PDT
–F. Sionil Jose, “Letter to the Next Generation.”

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/25101132/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/25101132/ Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:52:57 PDT by Lourd de Veyra
[link]

(An excerpt...)

Like it or not, we draw our myths from popular culture, not from books by Edith Hamilton. But you can’t create myths out of stories about decapitated prostitutes and forlorn macho dancers. Myths are supposed to be projections of strength and nobility. “But action movies do nothing to express the human condition!” your typical college cinephile might shriek. As if human condition can only be portrayed by painfully static camerawork and deep, shadowy close-ups.

That he was named National Artist for Film is only the most minor of honors garlanded on him. There’s a reason why Fernando Poe Jr. even in death continues to be enveloped in a mist of legend—enough for him to win the presidency of the republic. There’s a reason many of us feel—myself included—like he’s not really dead at all. The man understood the power of myth: which explains why he remained obstinate in his choice of roles throughout his career: upright policeman fighting a corrupt society and variations thereof. Even if he took on different characters, it was always the same guy, speaking in the same unmistakably breathy drawl, wearing the same denim jacket. He knows he can’t be seen crying or smoking cigarettes; he can’t curse or hit women. Neither can he afford to be seen furiously liplocking with his leading ladies. He can’t be a morally ambiguous character, a flawed hero. That, in real life, he was equally known for his generosity (he’d randomly hand thousands of pesos to sampaguita vendors) only served to intensify his legend. Myth-making demands consistency. Myth-making demands a well-told story. One cannot create a myth through a 15-second ad where you hijack a pedicab from a poor kid.

Action movies should not necessarily be equated with a dearth of intelligence. I know of a hundred pa-art flicks that are a thousand times dumber than the worst Ronnie Ricketts karate extravaganza. One should not look for things like plausibility of plot and veracity of character. Action films operate on their own physical universe, where Paquito Diaz, Subas Herrero, and George Estregan are perennially evil politicians and murderous businessmen, where a single bullet shot through a sharp knife can splinter and kill an army of 10 men, and even directly blow up tanks and helicopters. Where everyone wears a jacket even in the hottest afternoon, and the arch villain and his henchmen are always clad in oversized sports blazers (with sleeves rolled up) while sipping brandy. We do not question the presence of horseback-riding cowboys in the middle of Pampanga. Or Eddie Garcia’s penchant for quoting scripture. Like it or not, the good guy will always bring home pancit (always in a brown paper bag) for his dying mother—only to find her slaughtered by Rez Cortez and Dick Israel. The good guy will break down under the rain, and there’ll be hell to pay.

But as the saying goes, what goes around comes around. So it’s just a matter of time when the action film returns. After all, ask your friendly neighborhood dibidi hawker and chances are he’s got the 19-in-1 Robin Padilla Collection. The action-adventure genre didn’t really go away; in fact it’s in a number of primetime telenovelas, but its only authentic home is the big-ass screen. The last Terminator franchise didn’t do that well at the local box offices—maybe we’re tired of gigantic explosions that even your senile grandfather knows are computer-generated. Perhaps the Pinoy action film’s smashing return can be hinged not on special effects but on that one thing we can be good at: martial arts. Especially now that boxing and MMA (mixed martial arts) are hot stuff.


READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AT:
[link]

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/25084316/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/25084316/ Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:56:45 PDT
Said Jack, “This kid doesn’t get it. The Kirby tradition is to create a new comic.”

read the complete article at:
[link]

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/25015276/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/25015276/ Fri, 29 May 2009 13:16:44 PDT
Insides, there's an interview with Arnold Arre, Gerry Alanguilan, David Hontiveros, Carlo Vergara (and me!!!) about the past and possible future of Philippine comic books.

The issue also contain the first ever (and funniest) interview with Zsazsa Zaturnnah! (Also contains new Zsazsa art work-- including ZSAZSA ZATURNNAH IN THE NUDE!!!) ooohhh!!!

Go!
Now!
Buy!



]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/24975511/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/24975511/ Wed, 27 May 2009 08:24:00 PDT
The inventor described how difficult it was to come up with just the right balance between the static figure and the moving, fluid one.

He went on and on, delighted to be interviewed about what he said was his most important invention, one that most of humanity could care less about. Yet what a pleasure to watch the passion and enthusiasm he showed in describing his creation.

How easily we forget or overlook the fact there are people spending great chunks of their lifetime thinking up things we barely notice-- the figure on a traffic light, the shape of an electric plug, the theft proof bicycle lock, or clear instructions in the handbook for our new cellphone.

Mies van der Rohe said "God is in the details."


FROM THE BLOG OF JONATHAN CARROLL
[link]

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/24338670/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/24338670/ Mon, 20 Apr 2009 07:08:24 PDT by Adam David

LINK:
[link] xeroxography.html

LINK: [link]

(an excerpt ... some ideas may apply to indie comic book creators)

Of course, not everything about self-publishing—about the Small Independent Press—is as rosy as I seem to be putting it, as for now actual physical publishing of pristine quality remains a costly effort, but there are already cost-effective ways to having our precious words available in print, as cost-effective as how much of our pride we can swallow down and not gag:


1. we can have our books in websites as downloadable PDFs that readers can either print out on scratch paper or read in their PSPs and Blackberries and 3G cellulars, the technology is actually already here for such things, and it's only a matter of time before they become really cheap as to enjoy widespread distribution across social classes all over the country, if not the world (one more notion up for revision: the book as artifact);
2. we can have our books as staple-bound photocopied publications serialised in twenty-four page chunks that can be made and sold at a fraction of what it would have been if made and sold as proper books, and “hotocopied” isn't as bad as it sounds as Print Technology steadily advances providing public access to quality reproduction of the Printed Page at the price of two pesos or less;
3. we can have our books published via Print-On-Demand services like Centralbooks or FujiXerox or Océ (which FYI aren't sponsoring me [although I wish they would {attention Centralbooks/FujiXerox/Océ!!!}]), basically running books through big brother versions of an office desktop toner printer, the print quality impeccable, only really dictated by the sort of paper grade used, which thickness and which grain;



Option #1 only costs as much as what we already pay for Interweb Access. Option #2 means we can sell our serialised novels in twenty-four-page chunks for fifty pesos each. Option #3—the most expensive option, and the one closest to Mainstream Publishing's aesthetic (even surpassing it most of the time)—means we can have one hundred pieces of our one-hundred-page poetry collections out for at least twenty thousand pesos.


The only real problem is Distribution: there are still no stable systems in place as alternatives to bookstore placement, although there ought to be seeing as to how oppressive bookstore policies are to small independent publishers. One possible way is to find indie-friendly stores we can shelf our books in, like the Filipinas Heritage Library, or Cubao X's Sputnik, or the various Comic Odysseys and Comic Quests across Metro Manila, but that's just really covering Metro Manila (and maybe Cebu). Another way is to hook-up with an online bookstore like Avalon.ph, which I know has a system in place for online selling.


One other option is the Direct Market, a system that ought to be part and parcel of Print-On-Demand, which works on the concept of Advanced Solicitations: solicitations of our books are given to sellers in advance, and they order only the set amount that they feel they can sell, and that number dictates how many copies of the books are published. If we get orders for one hundred copies, we only publish one hundred copies. Theoretically, in the Direct Market, there are no unsold books, no warehouse stocks waiting for orders.


The problem with this system is finding the seller with the market we can solicit to. One solution is to sell the books via the classrooms, by asking teachers if they can use the books as required readings, but this can limit the type of book that can be made available, dictated primarily by curricular relevance, which can really be just a different sort of pandering, but it works. The other solution is to completely ignore such worries and publish our books blindly and then look for the sellers willing to sell our books. We can print a minimum amount of copies and sell those and keep the money in a bank so the earnings from the previous printrun will pay for the succeeding one.

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/23760750/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/23760750/ Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:40:44 PDT
Watch the film at:
[link]

After I saw that documentary, I remembered this story which I blogged about three years ago.

CHAMPIONS (june 19, 2006)
...we found out today that we lost the Tuseran pitch. That was the other project we were working on for the past two weeks. We really felt that we had a really great campaign and that client would like it. Well, they didn't. This is the second time we're lost a Unilab account in a pitch. Last year, we lost Enervon.

So, on the cab ride back to the office I remembered something my friend Rog once told me. (By the way, it was Rog's birthday last Sunday, so maybe that's the reason my brain clicked that hyperlink in my memory banks.)

I met Rog in the Ateneo High School, where we were classmates from 1990 to 1994. Every year, all the sections would compete in the contest hosted by the Dulaang Sibol, the Ateneo High School's theater group. Whenever we'd join these contest, Rog was always our director and head writer. He always rallied the troops and put "the fire" in our bellies to do our best.

From freshman year to junior year, we always ended up in the finals and always went up against the "A"-class, which was composed of the best and brightest students of each year level. And we always ended up getting second place.

During our fourth year, we once again found ourselves in the final round of the contest and we were up against the "A"-class.

We really thought that was going to be the year we were going to win first place.

We did.

Kind of.

It was a tie.

So, we kinda won and kinda didn't.

After the play, every one went back to the classroom to dump the props, change out of costume, and get our stuff, so we could all head home.

Rog congratulated and thanked everyone for giving their best.

He was the last one to leave the classroom.

Walking down the dimly-lit corridor of the high school, he saw the small silhouette of Mr. Pagsanhan approaching him. Mr. Pagsi, as he's more fondly called, is the founder and moderator of the Dulaang Sibol. He also used to be the moderator of the "A"-class during their freshmen year.

Mr. Pagsi looked up at Rog through his thick eyeglasses, smiled and said, "Congratulations!"

Rog shook and his hand and weakly said, "Thanks."

"My A-Boys are good, yes?" Mr. Pagsi asked.

Rog just nodded, too tired and too drained to answer.

"My A-Boys do not know defeat. They are champions."

Mr. Pagsi put his hand on Rog's shoulder and said, "You and your boys know defeat and you know it well." He looked Rog in the eye and declared, "You are more."

Rog said thanks and said good night and they parted ways at the gate.

The bitter taste of defeat is never easy to swallow. But somehow, if we don't let it get the better of us, it makes us stronger.

Thanks Rog. Thanks for that story. Happy birthday, wherever you are.

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/23376240/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/23376240/ Tue, 24 Feb 2009 06:00:17 PST
Originally posted by Marvel editor C.B. Cebulski at: [link]

------------------------------

Every year, [the] same "writer" tells me how he's better than Bendis, and same "artist" can't understand how Bachalo gets work over him. No, seriously, I heard "I deserve..." and "I'm just as good as..." maybe 5 or 6 times at NYCC from writers & artists looking for work. This has been going on for four years now, con after con, and neither has broken into the top five publishers in that time. I wonder why?

And just to clarify, while I meet and talk to writers, I can't read pitches & proposals or discuss stories. My job is to find artists only.

Oh, I'm not venting, just trying to head off any potential confusion. Don't want people pitching me when they shouldn't be. Hope that helps.

Ultimately, it's the editors who hire the writers & artists. They choose the talent on their books.

Disturbing but eye-opening fact: No writer or artist has been hired through a cold submission mailed into Marvel in recent memory.

Upon intense review, we discovered that almost all new talent hired by Marvel over the past five years has come through "word-of-mouth".

"Word-of-mouth" extends beyond comics: novelists, screenwriters, video gamers, bloggers, designers, illustrators, poets, painters.

…this old adage is still the most apt: "The best way to get published by Marvel and DC is to get published elsewhere first."

Never limit yourself. Comics is a medium without boundaries. Explore all options available to you in this glorious form of storytelling.

There are pros and cons to both creator-owned and work-for-hire comics. I always recommend balancing both, if possible.

Why would you want to work-for-hire? Simple... Desire! You have to WANT to work on Marvel/DC/DH characters.

Never write for the money.

A good writer is a good writer. A good artist is a good artist. Talent is talent no matter where you find it.

Advice for new writers? Be realistic, start small. No major comic publisher will hire you for a mini or run on a book as your first gig. You're better off pitching 8 or 11 pagers or one-shots. Anthologies, back-ups and fill-ins are where many new voices are being tested now. And as for pitches, I'd keep them to one page. Tagline, high concept, and a full overview with the beginning, middle & end. Less is more.

Advice for artists? Start a blog. It's the best way to get your work looked at. Picasa, Deviant Art and flickr are impersonal and bulky. Keep click-thrus to a minimum. With a blog it's just one click and the editor can simply scroll down & see everything you have to offer. And blogs are easily updated and personalized, which will let more of your individuality and voice come through along with your art.

Read anything you can get your hands on: MCP, Astonishing Tales, Popgun, 24/7... see what other writers/artists are doing in short stories.

Sorry if some folks don't like what I'm saying here, but it's the honest truth. It's not as easy to break into comics as people think.

Use message boards/websites/blogs to find out about other people's pitching/submissions experiences. There's a lot of info out there.

Know who you are pitching to. That's very important. If you follow the industry, you should know what kind of book editors work on/like.

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/23301667/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/23301667/ Fri, 20 Feb 2009 06:53:11 PST
MAKING YOUR LAST COMIC BOOK:
I’m always amazed by the people who work so hard to get here [a job in Marvel], or so lucky to get there. It takes an insane amount of work to get there and when they get there and they start bucking around, they start diva-ing it up and get high and mighty and totally forget … [you have to remember] what job you have in comics, someone else had that job before you.

Settle down!

And work!

Now is the time to do the work of your life.

Now is the time to express yourself like no one else has ever done.

You should [write or draw this comic book] like it’s your last, like you’re going to be fired after this. And I do this.

Remember … someone else had this job and someone else will have it after you. It’s up to you how long you can keep it.

Big name people –BIG NAME PEOPLE—cannot get work because they act the fool.

PROMOTING YOUR WORK:
Just getting the book out … just birthing it to the world… is not enough. They think the whole world is somehow looking at them. [What you] really have to do is get out there and hustle –hustle your butt. No matter what level you are in the charts. You see Springsteen’s out there. He’s hustl’n. He’s not just there pretending to be the god of rock. He’s been runnin’ around [promoting his new album]. You just gotta hustl’ brother! If you really believe in [your work] … if you think there’s an audience for it … go find that audience.

You think you’ve [promoted it] a million times and it’s enough? It’s not enough. You’ve got to promote something until you’re sick of the sound of your voice. And if you don’t want to do that, then find someone else who will do that for you. If you really want to make sure you’re heard and if you’ve got something you’re really proud of, you really gotta hustle—LOUD!

-------------------------------------------------
These are excerpts from the podcast Word Balloon, hosted by John Siuntres. You can download the complete episodes at:
[link]

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/23233054/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/23233054/ Mon, 16 Feb 2009 10:52:12 PST in spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.
if you're doing it for money or fame,
don't do it.
if you're doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don't do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don't do it.
if it's hard work just thinking about doing it,
don't do it.
if you're trying to write like somebody else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.
if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you're not ready.
don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self-love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don't add to that.
don't do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.
when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.
there is no other way.
and there never was.

“Charles Bukowski wrote this. Thanks to Mark Fenske for bringing it to my attention. Although Bukowski was never truly associated with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, or other major Beat writers, his informal style and non-conforming literary approach has endeared him to readers of the Beat genre.”
from : [link]

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/23132146/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/23132146/ Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:59:35 PST
"Next time, instead of asking if it's right, ask them what's wrong.

"They may not say what you want to hear, but the chances are they will give you a truthful criticism.

"Truth hurts, but in the long run it's better than a pat on the back."

Paul Arden



(from : [link] )

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/23017093/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/23017093/ Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:03:07 PST
The great actor thought a moment and said, "I'm not sure-- over a hundred."

The interviewer then asked "How many of those films were any good?" Mastroianni said, "A few-- ten maybe." "But why would you spend years making bad films? Why not wait till a good script comes along and then make one that's worthy?" Smiling and unaffected by the insult, Mastroianni asked the journalist, "Do you like what you do? Do you like writing?"

The journalist said yes.

"Well, I like acting. I would rather act than not act. Why should I sit around waiting for a good script when in the meantime I can be doing what I like now? Do you wait until only good article assignments come before you write? I doubt it. If you like to write then you write the best way you know how about everything. Some of it is good and some of it is bad. But all of it is what you want to do with your life."


FROM : CarrollBlog 9.24
[link]

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/22727329/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/22727329/ Thu, 22 Jan 2009 06:45:30 PST
I was surprised to get this email from Mr M, who I’ve been trying to convince to do a comic book project. If you ever see this guy’s work, it will blow you away. He’s a great artist!

Below is the rest of his email:

“Hate comic books and that includes manga, by the way. LOL!

“As you know, doing comics isn’t very profitable for artists (unless you’re already working for biug time companies), but if you’re working here in the Philippines, you don’t get much. You do a lot to finish a page and yet, you get so little. Before, I did it for fun. But I’ve been doing this ever since I was 16 and it’s now become a chore. So I guess that’s where my hate for comics comes from.

“Given a choice, I'd rather not work in an art-related industry. But still draw for fun. Drawing for work has become too tedious for me and maybe that’s why I don’t enjoy it so much.

“Haha! My God, I've become so bitter. But no matter, work is work.”

I replied to him and said, a couple of years ago, I was corresponding with Mr N, who was draws for American comic book companies and he said something similar. Although, Mr N did not say he hated comic books. He just said he was tired of drawing them. He wasn’t excited anymore. It had come to the point when it felt like a job.

I once asked Mr O, a published author, would he be willing to leave is day-job if he was given the chance to write stories all day. He said, he wouldn’t. Mr O’s point of view is, if he writes stories all day, it would eventually lose it’s magic.

During my first year in advertising, I’d get so upset and frustrated when my ideas were shot down or when it gets revised to death. Mr P, one of the writers, told me, “You know, it’s a job. Just get it done and leave it in the office when you clock out. Tomorrow, you get another Job Order. And it starts again.”

It’s good advice to help you keep sane in a work environment like advertising.

At the same time, I’d like to think that one should do things with a passion or not do them at all. Especially, when it comes to your most personal of works.

My brother Brandie lives and breathes advertising; that any moment can be edited into a 30-second commercial; any image or picture can be turned into a poster. He almost never “clocks out”. He’s almost always on the hunt for the next big idea. For him, advertising isn’t a job. It’s his passion.

And for some people, like J. Michael Straczynski, creating stories is their life. He said, “I love writing. I write ten hours a day, every day. You've got to do it for one reason: to not do it is suicide."

Diana Schutz, who’s been an editor at Dark Horse Comics since the 1989, said, “… think of all the people in the world who just collect a paycheck, and every day of their life, they’re not personally invested in what they’re doing—how awful is that? This is my life. Making comic books and helping creators realize their vision is my life. I love what I do. I’ve taken that childhood love of mine, and it’s become my career, my passion, and my joy. Who wouldn’t consider themselves lucky to have that?”

Yes, it would be great and lucky to have that.

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/22365959/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/22365959/ Sat, 03 Jan 2009 01:14:40 PST
Aside from providing Gaiman fans with a checklist of almost every single thing he’s ever written, it contains one of the most comprehensive interviews with him. (Although THE SANDMAN COMPANION by Hy Bender provides the reader with the very detailed dissection of the series, the book did not go into as much detail about Gaiman’s life story.)

In PRINCE OF STORIES, you find out trivia, like how their family was originally named Chaiman or Haiman and when they moved to England, the spelling was changed to Gaeman, but was changed to Gaiman during the announcement of his grandparents’ wedding.

The 58-page interview charts the path that Gaiman took to become the writer that he is now.

At a certain point of his life, he decided to become a freelance journalist, so he could learn more about the world of publishing.

Being journalist, he got jobs like writing the biography of Duran Duran and was even offered by Penthouse to become their features editor.

The Duran Duran book paid good money, but the publisher was later sued and had to shut down. He said, it was good thing that publisher closed shop because he might have ended up writing more books like that.

He turned down the Penthouse, because even though it would’ve meant a regular paycheck, he would have been walking away from his real goal of becoming a writer.

When his daughter Holly asked him for advice about what career to pursue, Gaiman answered:

“I tried to explain to Holly, recently, because Holly is off in London right now. She wants to be in film, film production, and she gets offered jobs, and sometimes, she genuinely doesn’t know which job she should pursue. The only thing I can tell her is that I was in her position, wanting to write comics, and wanting to write fiction, now making a living as a freelance journalist. I say to her, look, I used to think it was a mountain, a thing I wanted to do, a thing I wanted to be, and as long as I was walking toward that mountain, it was okay. I told her she needs to figure out what her mountain is, and you can sort of judge these things by – does it take you away from the mountain?”


I’d like to think that in that past three years, I’ve slowly gotten back on course towards that mountain. I think my nine years in advertising, where I’ve had to learn how to tell stories in 30-seconds, has taught me to write better stories.

I look forward to writing more 30-second stories, 20-page mysteries and maybe I’ll even have time to write that 100-page graphic novel.



Where are you now?

Where are you heading?

Does it take you away from the mountain?

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/22318926/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/22318926/ Wed, 31 Dec 2008 22:38:41 PST
]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/21877185/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/21877185/ Mon, 08 Dec 2008 06:51:02 PST
Hear me and Kajo babble about Trese! Discover the secret origin of Kajo's name! Hear Kajo's voice (which disappeared when we were being interviewed on ANC... hehehe). Find out if we'll tell you the secret origin of the Kambal (we don't, actually). Listen if we'll tell you what happens in Trese: Book3! (Maybe, we will.)

Download the episode at:
[link]

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/21691034/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/21691034/ Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:51:59 PST
Before we set up at the Visprint table, I asked Syeri if we could give away some Alamat comic books (as a way to commemorate 14 years of Alamat Comics). She said yes and I brought down four boxes (14 years worth of unsold Alamat Comics) and said they could give it away to everyone who came to the Komikon. (Well, it wasn’t really 14 years of unsold comics, more like 4 years worth. We gave away copies of Batch72, Indigo Valley, Tattooed, TKS:The Kill Stalker, 3 copies of ARCHON, 2 copies of EXODUS, and a partridge in a pair tree.)

An hour or so later, we were set-up at the Visprint table and Team Skyworld (with Ian, Mervin, and Shali) was set-up at the Alamat table. They were joined by Paolo Fabregas, who has a sneak preview to his upcoming comic book FILIPINO HEROES LEAGUE. Paolo introduces us to the government sponsored Pinoy super team that is now not sponsored by the government.

Ian & Mervin had a sneak preview of their next book SKYWORLD: TESTAMENT. The unlettered pages can be seen at: http://iantoy.deviantart.com/gallery/

We had free Trese posters for all the people who bought copies earlier in the day.

By the end of the day, we were surprised that we already sold all 100 copies of TRESE. (We apologize to the last two guys who came to the table wanting to buy a set. Hope you were able to find a copy of Trese 2.)

THANKS TO EVERYONE! We do hope you can give us feedback on Trese, Skyworld, The Last Datu, Kadiliman, and The Filipino Heroes League.

Another surprise we got was Mica, who cosplayed Trese and we got to pose with our creation.
Mica and Wilson “Wolverine” Tortosa shot a Trese mystery at the Komikon and can be viewed at:
http://batangbatugan.multiply.com/photos/album/10/A_Summoning_At_Komikon_2008#

And at:
http://delurianne.deviantart.com/


uote of the day:
“I hate you! I read Trese (Our Secret Constellation) and it made me cry!”—Oscar

You’re welcome.

It was great to meet finally meet the people who you've only talked to online, the artists who've contributed to Exhibit 13, the bloggers who've reviewed the book, the readers who collected the original/photocopies editions of Trese. Thank you for all coming over. Very happy that we finally got to meet.

In between the signing and the selling (and the sweating), it was also great that I got to talk to some of the guys (usually while standing in front of the giant aircon unit or by the doorway, trying to catch some fresh air). It was chance to catch up, talk about comics, about future projects, the projects that got delayed, and crazy ideas for next year.

Special thanks to the EK-gang for coming to the Komikon. Hope you like the titles that you got!

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/21315830/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/21315830/ Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:35:59 PST
Around this time, the local komiks industry was still doing well and if you worked hard enough, knocked on the right doors, you could get yourself published.

If you wanted to work for Marvel and DC Comics, then it would be best that you already know certain people working for those companies. You could try and send a cold submission via air mail (or if you could afford it, via FedEx).

What if you wanted to create your own comic book character and publish it yourself? Well, that was almost unheard of back then.


Jump-cut to 14 years later.


Imagine, if you were an aspiring comic book writer or artist, and you were living in 1994, what opportunities would be available to you?

Around this time, desktop publishing software was becoming more affordable. Photocopier machines now produced better copies. Colored Xerox machines also started to arrive in the country. We ever-so-slowly connected to the world wide web.

During the late 80s, comic book stores started to bring in comic books other than DC and Marvel Comics. Turns out, there were comic books made by independent companies and not all their stories were about guys in spandex. Turns out, there were comic books from Europe and Japan. (Japanese comic books? They’re just like the cartoons I’d watch on TV but it’s in black-and-white! What is this thing called -- manga?) Vertigo Comics spun from DC Comics. The Image Comics’ creators broke away from Marvel. (What are these shiny-gold-foil-covers?! I must have one!)

Fueled by all these strange, wonderful stories and ideas, several aspiring comic book creators started to work on their own stories. While most of them self-published their books, one or two of them got lucky and found publishers willing to take a risk with their crazy idea. Most of the others self-published their books. One title lasted three issues. The other title only released their No.1 issue.

Then there was that one comic book store who decided to start organizing events that would feature these new local comic book titles. The yearly events only last three years. Thankfully, another comic book store that allowed local comic book creators to have events at the store whenever they had a new issue.


Jump-cut to 14 years later.


Imagine, if you were an aspiring comic book writer or artist, and you were living in 2008 what opportunities would be available to you?

If you want to get your story published, you can do so by going to the nearby photocopying place and get a couple of dozen reproduced. There are also digital small press shops that allow you to print a hundred copies at an affordable cost. And if somehow have the funds, you can easily go the usual offset printing press and get a thousand copies made.

If that’s way beyond your budget, you can still reach hundreds, if not thousands of readers, by publishing your works on the web. Uploading your story is now made easier thanks to sites like Blogger, Multiply, and DeviantArt. You can even upload your comic book on Friendster or Facebook, if you wanted to. You might even make some money out of it by attaching GoogleAds on your site. And if you’ve already done enough stories to fill up a hundred pages and you can show a publisher that you get thousands of readers every month, then that might make for a very convincing pitch to get your work published.

If you don’t want to go the web route and want your work to end up in the traditional printed format, then send your work to publishers like Visprint and Adarna. They may have only published two to three graphic novels in the past couple of years, but they’ve done more than any other company in the past 14 years ago.

Anvil has recently launched their Anvil Fantasy imprint. Even though Anvil has mainly focused on prose work, what’s stopping them from getting into graphic novels as well? Maybe they just need some convincing? Maybe they just need to see the right material that will make them venture into comic books?

Summit’s KZONE, which used to only have American comic strips, now contain locally created stories like “Bakemono High”. Summit recently released the compiled version of “Foldabots” which first saw print in KZone. Maybe they just need to see the right material that will make them produce more locally created comic books?

In the past 14 years, we’ve see more people try to get a regular comic book series going. Companies like PsiCom, Culture Crash, Mango Comics, Nautilus Comics, MangaHolix have tried and some still continue to create. When the next company comes along, they might be looking for new writers and artists. Will you be ready with your portfolio?

In the past 4 years,... ]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/21076641/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/21076641/ Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:32:39 PDT
“We can’t afford to take this handcrafted, one-kid-at-a-time approach anymore. We have to sweep them up and carry them off on the vast flying carpets of story and pictures on which we ourselves, in entire generations, were borne aloft, on carpets woven by Swan and Hamilton, Kirby and Lee. They did it for us; we have to pass it on, pay it forward. It’s our duty, it’s our opportunity, and I really do believe it will be our pleasure.”

From Michael Chabon’s Keynote Speech
at the 2004 Eisner Awards

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/20616171/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/20616171/ Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:57:24 PDT [link]
==============================
Be there for the grand opening of PLANET X comic book store, 3rd level Glorietta 4, Makati City, Sept 27 (Saturday)

We will be giving away THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of

FREE COMICS (similar to Free Comic Book Day)

The First 50 people in attendance (starting at noon) will receive a special print

created for this event.

Featuring Special Guest Artists:
Edgar Tadeo (Wolverine, X-men)
Gerry Alanguilan (Superman, X-men, X-Force, Elmer)
Gilbert Monsanto (Bayan Knights, Hellcop, Tropa)
Leinil Yu (Secret Invasion, Wolverine, X-men)
Mico Suayan (Moon Knight, What if)
Stephen Segovia (Wolverine, Countdown to Mystery)
Harvey Tolibao (Ultimate X-Men, Young Avengers)
Budjette Tan (Trese)
Kajo Baldisimo(Trese)
***and possibly more artists to be confirmed

Artists will be signing from 1pm-5pm. Autographs will be free of charge.

Full sketches/drawings of the character of your choice will cost P500 each done on a standard comic sized cardboard (10.5 x 7) (with the exception of Leinil who will not be able to sketch that day due to deadlines)

We are now taking advance reservations for full sketches/drawings

Simply e-mail request with the artist and character of your choice.

For info, call 915-2744 or email us at planetxcomics (at) gmail (dot) com.

First come first served.

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/19949780/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/19949780/ Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:46:43 PDT =============================

Okay, I'm pretty sure I did do this last year, but I think it's reconfigured in my head since then. So.

What you need is one writer and three artists. Essentially, you decide to Form A Band.

And you decide up front that all the money from the anthology comic is divided 4 ways equally. This is for simplicity's sake -- people argue this point with me all the time, but I have had publishers say to my face that they avoid anthologies, especially creator-owned ones, because THE SUMS ARE TOO HARD. Keep it simple. 25% for everybody.

What you're going to do, you see, is one writer writing three serials for three artists.

You're doing a two-dollar book. That's FELL format. A 24pp unit, all on the same paperstock, including covers. "Guts" of 20pp, with the "cover", constituting
4pp, wrapped around it, yes?

Three 6pp episodes is 18 pages. Your cover and inside front cover for indicia etc are 2pp. So that leaves you 4pp, including the back cover, to play with. Use them to interleave the serials, use them as backmatter, let the artists take turns doing full-page pieces, whatever.

The cover art is a rotating job between the three artists.

Collect it every six months as a 128pp book (therefore still splitting everything four ways) or collect each Serial on its own as best fitting (each book therefore
splitting 50/50). (As is blatantly obvious, but people like to ask these questions instead of thinking for
themselves.)

Go and do it. I need something to read.

Form a band, boys and girls. Form a band.

-- W

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/19949422/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/19949422/ Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:22:13 PDT
]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/19306708/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/19306708/ Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:45:17 PDT Neil Gaiman on writing


I remember Alan Moore in the late 1980s telling me about a documentary he’d seen on TV about Jack the ripper. And then, over the course of the next few months, telling me about Jack the Ripper books he’d read. By the point where he was asking me to go and find rare and forgotten biographies of possible Ripper suspects at the British Museum, I though it quite possible that a Jack the Ripper comic would be in the offing. From Hell didn’t start with Alan going, “I wonder what I’ll write about today.” It started as an obsession.

Trust your obsessions. This is one I learned more or less accidentally. People sometimes ask whether the research or the idea for the story comes first for me. And I tell them, normally the first thing that turns up is the obsession: for example, all of a sudden I notice that I’m reading nothing but English 17th century metaphysical verse. And I know it’ll show up somewhere—whether I’ll name a character after one of those poets, or use that time period, or use the poetry, I have no idea. But I know one day it’ll be there waiting for me.

You don’t always use your obsessions. Sometimes you stick them onto the compost heap in the back of your head, where the rot down, and attach to other things, and get half-forgotten, and will, one day, turn into something completely usable.

Go where your obsessions take you. Write the things you must. Draw the things you must. Your obsessions may not always take you to commercial places, or apparently commercial places. But trust them.


From Neil Gaiman’s speech given at the 1997 PRO/con in Oakland

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/19090151/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/19090151/ Sat, 28 Jun 2008 09:45:15 PDT
Tim Winton

found at Carroll's blog"
[link]

]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/18659789/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/18659789/ Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:19:51 PDT
]]> ~Budjette http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/10590309/ http://Budjette.deviantart.com/journal/10590309/ Thu, 02 Nov 2006 06:49:08 PST
I just use this account to lurk around Deviant Art and sometimes make comments. (hehehe)

Anyway, if I can convince you to click away from Deviant Art, please do check out the following sites:

where i rant and rave...
[link]

where i tell stories that will keep you up all night...
[link]

where i compile the dark arts of some really diabolical artists...
[link]

Enjoy!

--budjette

]]> ~Budjette