Designing is easy, but conceptualizing is difficult. I’ve been making graphics art for my org, and I must say that it takes me one day to one week only to come up with different ideas that usually end up being thrown away when I run Photoshop. After conceptualizing, it takes me two to three days of “photoshopping.” Only then will I produce a nice decent work.

This time, Mike asked me to design a name tag for our upcoming event, The Pautakan 2009. It took me an hour to finish a non-fancy art. Maybe I was in a rush, and that’s probably why painting this tag is relatively much faster than making the usual big time posters.

I incorporated some Web 2.0 elements in some layers to compose a simple, elegant, and sleek output. And that makes everyone’s eyes to feel some rest upon seeing it.

I look forward to doing more designs. I enjoy this job given to me as I learn new techniques for my improvement.

I showed her some of my works to give her a gist of what I could make. One of these was the Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) Magazine Project, which was a partial fulfillment of our requirements in EEE 31 (Introduction to EEE) 2 years ago.

A while ago, I thought of sharing these pages I made since Project ISKO’s artist of the month post is delayed because of some conflict in scheduling.

It’s a rainy night. I hope everybody gets home safely. Happy viewing!

All of Dr. Siao Campoamor’s classes, togther with Dr. Nilo Ocampo’s, set out from Cubao in the morning of September 5. After three hours, we reached the Filipino Spiritual Catholic Church, Santoyo Compound. There we received warm welcome from the residents of the area, especially from the owner of the inn we stayed in.

I thought first that the residents idolize Rizal just because he died for his country’s sake, but I was totally wrong. Rizal was part of their religions. I observed many groups that have their way of venerating our national hero. Some even told me that Rizal is Asia’s Jesus Christ.

We were immersed into their religious and cultural practices such as writing our names on a stone that shows a semblance of a book and on a piece of paper and burning the it afterwards. Prayers were said and candles were lit in these places: Ciudad Mistica de Dios, Talon ni Sta. Lucia, Prisintahan-Kuweba ni Sto. Jacob-San Isidro, Sinco Vucales Siete Virtudes Tierra Santa de Jerusalem, Husgado, Kalbaryo, Tres Persona Solo Dios, and Santos Kolehiyo.

Personally, I didn’t consider it a pilgrimage. As much a possible, I made myself an independent visitor, who pulls out commitment when he is immersed into the groups’ practices, in order to carry out the purpose of the trip: to know more about Rizal.

So, what I did was to observe how these groups run their church tied with their belief that Rizal was a savior. The Mistica group believes that God transferred a mountain from Jerusalem to Quezon, and this is what we know as Mt. Banahaw. Many sign boards even tell that the place is the new Jerusalem.

My favorite part of the trip was going through Husgado. It is a narrow spaced cave that is believed to judge someone who enters if he is a grave sinner by receiving wounds before he comes out.

The most tiring part was the Kalbaryo where we had to reach the summit with three standing crosses. People say it is end of the spiritual journey where man can communicate with God to acheive spiritualism.

In the evening of September 6, we bid farewell to the residents of Banahaw. Really, it was one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had.

SICAN: Gearing Towards Capampangan Excellence and Ingenuity is the theme of The Pautakan 2009. A perfect symbol of Capampangan excellence is the UP Aguman logo. As one of the most honored Pampango organizations in the north, UP Aguman is embodied with excellence in service to its people as depicted by the red swirls. The blocks represent the building blocks of ingenuity moving towards the background, a crystal blast.

It’s my third time to design the poster of the most prestigious quiz bee in Pampanga. Challenging myself to make a better output than the previous ones, I used new techniques to “outburst” elegance in every detail. Last two years, I revamped the plain black logo into something I called “black glass.” Now, I revamped it again using Adobe Photoshop CS4’s smart filters to give it a dazzling effect, making it look proud. The building blocks were made out of simple custom shapes transformed into rasters. I then applied what I recently learned in making web 2.0 logos, 3D see-through effects.

The poster is not yet official as UP Aguman arranges things with its sponsors.

Come October 26-28, 2009, The Pautakan will yet again bring out the best in every student in Pampanga.

“Sketches” is a new category on my site. It features people who cross Project ISKO and help me in my endeavors.

Two weeks ago, I picked the first person to be featured in my sketching series, and I thought of the best one who qualifies on my category description. It was none other than Master Mikko Gozalo.

Mikko is a blogger who comes from General Santos City. As a self-proclaimed geek, he started his primary blog, THE GEEK BREWERY (formerly BUILD THAT GEEK) late 2007 that features science and technology.

Why Mikko?

I promised Miggoy to make a sketch for him because of his sponsorship. This is a way of showing him my deepest gratitude.

Tol, I salute you for being successful on you craft. By the way, you promised to treat me at McDonalds.

Trivia

Believe it or not, I haven’t met him in person even if we study in the same university. Is it time that keeps us apart (cheesy)? Albeit my visit in the Department of Computer Science has been often, no trace of the geek is found. Last semester, Mikko applied for the Diliman Network Helpdesk (DILNET), which I am a part of. He told me that he’d already seen me once in the office. The funny thing was that we were 3 meters apart at maximum, but I didn’t get to notice him.

The Sketch

The canvass is just a regular bond paper. For the drawing itself, I only used a Mongol 2 and a Faber Castel H pencil. I lost my HB pencil so the Mongol was the best substitute. The downside of not using the HB was that I struggled to shade the side of the face to lift his cheeks.

I tried to follow the tips of my best friend, Minsky, to avoid too much bold outline. After one hour, the sketch was done.

Finally, the by-products of my creative mind have a haven. My arts will still reside on DeviantArt, Flickr, and YouTube though, but this time everything will be spiced up when immersed into my website.

My blog was made possible by a good friend, Conrad Miguel “Mikko” Gozalo, the geekest geek in the Linux and Open Source world.

Why Project ISKO?

Of course choosing a good name for my blog was a bit difficult. First, it should suffice whatever content I post. Next, it should represent me as the author and the artist.

On a piece of paper, I wrote this site’s aims to elucidate what really I want to convey.

1. To blog thru art
2. To showcase communities’ culture, especially Pampanga’s
3. To see art in every walks of life may it be in politics, academics, and travel

I asked Kuya Winston if he had any idea. He suggested “Artista Ako.” After several considerations, I set a dry run of a revised blog named “Artista.” Afterwards, I asked Aethen if he had something in mind, and he thought of “ArtISKO.” It’s a clipping of “Artisa Ako,” not to mention ISKO means iskolar ng bayan, which I am.

One night, before I went asleep, I stared at the ceiling and thought so deep and bum! Project ISKO was conceptualized.

A Small Orange

Project ISKO at JohnCarl.net is proudly hosted at A Small Orange (ASO) on a Medium Plan. Mikko told me how quick their support is. Not only that, unlike other hosting companies, I find ASO’s servers very fast.

To those of you who want a web space, ASO is the best choice. Visit asmallorange.com and use the promo code THEGEEKBREWERY to slash 5% off your purchase.

The Series

Currently, there is only one series lauched: MnemoArt. Under this category, I post my artworks prior to the birth of Project ISKO. These may include childhood caricatures, drawings, paintings, high school projects, and loose creations.

Next month, the following will be launched. 03: Artist of the month, Sketching…, Photoshop Tuts, and Mr. Snapshot.

Personal

If you notice, I moved my blog posts from Multiply. They may not be part of my aims, but for the sake of memory, I want to keep them. Personal blogging helped me so much.

Now I move on to a bigger project.

Next Post: Project ISKO Web 2.0 Logo

Ever since, the Oblation Revolving Trophy symbolizes intelligence. On the foreground, the Oblation and the young student become one, and the union exemplifies the outstanding cognitive excellence, which is depicted by the gold swirls. The background, on the other hand, depicts the different fields each contestant of the same team may excel in. Through “teamplay,” students of different fields unite, leading to eventual individual excellence that is depicted by the foreground.

Quick tutorial:

1. Use the the green and maroon paint brush colors to create an abstract image.
2. Go to Filters->Mosaic and choose the best mosaic that will not eat your foreground.
3. For the spotlight effects, go to Filters->Render->Lighting Effects. Choose among the presets or you may manually design your desired output.
4. For the curves, download sets of photoshop brushes that include curves and feathers. Go to Layers->Create New Layer, and lay your brush once with 100% hardness. On the layers panel, right click the current layer and choose Blending Options. Play with the effects like Bevel and Emboss, Gradient and Drop down shadow.
5. For the Oblation, search the net for a nice picture and do the Blending Options -> Satin Overlay.

This is my first MnemoArt. I’ll try to dig my memory box to share more.

And say what, say what? It’s a very beautiful place! White sand, clear water – It has very high potential to be marked as international tourist spot.

I was with my high school friends and my new friends. Haha! Okay, so we were thirteen: Omar, Amiel, Joe, Stalin, Ralph, Denver, Irvin, Harry, Jaime, Ice, Val, Janine, and I.

I assume all our pictures were distributed to whose camera was shuttering in a particular time.

On the road: Amiel’s
The whole day of swimming – mine
Evening – Ralph’s
The next morning – Ralph’s and Irvin’s

I’m a bit lazy to blog so let the pictures tell the story.

View them here.

I should cut the story short, sorry. I have a lot to tell, but I have tons of things to do now. But here’s a summary of what me and my family “experienced” in the Lion City.

Day 1
We went to the Concert Hall, Esplanade, Suntec (where the biggest fountain in the world can be found), and the Merlion Park. There was no difficulty in getting to those places since Singapore has the BEST transporation system and infrastructures. The LRTs, MRTs, and buses are monopolized by one transit firm. We used only ONE magnetic card to pay our travel in those modes of transportation.

Day 2
Jurong Bird Park — We were able to “interact” with different species of birds. It was so nice when they landed on my shoulders. My mom freaked out when one landed on her.

Chinatown – The place looks like Quiapo but much cleaner.

Day 3
Vivo City – I just went to the most beautiful mall in Singapore! It’s even better than all the Ayala Malls in the Philippines.

Sentosa Island – This was the best place we went to. We used cable cars to cross the “water entity.” I don’t know if that’s a gulf.

Underwater World – This is 1000x better than our Manila Ocean Park.

Orchard Road – We got to see a LOT of malls in cascade, in row, in columns, side by side, up and down, WHEREVER. God, a lot of them.

Bugis Junction – It was cool strolling around a high-end tiangge. Whew.

Day 4
“Bye bye Singapore! I have to go home alone. Yey, I travelled alone! And yey! Hindi ako naging tanga, haha!“

In the end, I proved the mathematical relation:

Singapore >>>>>>>(yeah, more than operator)>>>>> Philippines

Originally, we booked 6 days of stay, but I had to go home on the fourth because of school requirements.

Aaaah! It was so cool traveling! I’m going back to the Lion City.

To view all the photos, click here.

After an hour, we went to an infamous place where many people sustain their livelihood through fortune telling, totem selling, and DVD mass selling. This was the place where I bought something really nice, something really beautiful, and something that would be added to my gadget collection – a Nikon DSLR.

But you know what? This shouldn’t have happened – buying a camera for a professional that is obviously not me.

It all rooted from my desire to have an iPhone as a birthday present last March, but at that time, mom was always busy searching for cameras on eBay using our desktop PC. So I was beside her just nakisawsaw to her shopaholic complex. After a while, I searched on my laptop the latest cameras featured on T3 Magazine, and I saw the Nikon D60 entry level imaging device. The article actually overrated the device despite of the boos from photographers on several online forums.

At that point, I actually wasn’t yet enticed to own such nice camera. Although I had been wishing to be able to produce beautiful photos like what I see on Flickr – the subject-background-blurring thingy (simply, focusing and some aperture adjustments), I wasn’t sure enough if having a DLSR would suffice all my hungry art desire (remembering the Trying Hard Skill entry).

I later found out that mom told dad that I want him to buy me a present. So there I was, just riding on mom’s words; Dad finally considered buying the D60 for me. Ha ha!

I’ve done so much preparation prior to the purchase of the camera. I read gazillions of forums online for me to be guided what, where, and when to buy. Now, I must thank the people who helped me.

Mom and Dad, thank you for the birthday gift! I’ll take care of this new baby of mine.

Amiel. Dude, thanks for accompaniment. You didn’t know how worried I was when we were searching for the store. Buti nalang may policemen.

Kuya Gerry and Travis. Thanks for the pieces of advice. Those helped me a lot on deciding what unit I should buy. You two are great photographers.

Hours after my transaction, I bumped in with Minsky and Jill. I didn’t know. I was so happy at that time explaining that the big plastic bag I was carrying was actually a camera.

In this entry, I won’t delve into the D60’s technicalities. Maybe next time, I will.

Now, I must do justice in using my new baby. I’ll remember the photographers’ common advice: Wala sa pana yan, nasa pumapana.

By the way, I now call my camera Sniper.