My Cartoon Strip Little Mado


This is an announcement for the launching of my cartoon strip: 

Little Mado, A Schoolgirl Adventure

OSM Magazine ( an online magazine for awesome global citizens) 
will be featuring Little Mado weekly soon.




I created this comic strip character Little Mado based on my childhood experiences
 in the Philippines during the 60's while attending an all-girls catholic school run by nuns.

Little Mado and her  classmates had to follow strict rules, go to confession, and obey their teachers.
Always restless and hyper, Little Mado's curiosity lands her into lots of trouble.
Her mother often gets called in by the school principal ( also a nun) for Little Mado's bad conduct.
She is always bored with her classes and comes up with creative ways to entertain herself which did not amuse her teachers at all. The only thing she enjoys and love is her Art Class.


Below is the first cartoon strip entitled: I love Art Class







Book Making & NYC Zine Festival


This weekend, I attended the NYC ZINE FEST '09 at
the Brooklyn Lyceum building.
Below is the official poster of the event:


The NYC Zine Festival are made of self-published, homemade,
independent and small publishers.


Some of the Zines I got from the festival:
By GBtran: A Vietnamese American Cartoonist

Below a handmade book by John Mejias:
spread and front cover


I drooled over the
Microcosm Publishing Catalogue below: ( love the illo on the cover) where they've got loads of Zines, books, posters,etc..

Another favorite of mine : Robin Enrico
she created the "Jam in the Band" below:
cover and inside pages:


Traveling Paper Doll

Two days from now, I'll be leaving for Asia.
I've created A Traveling Paper Doll just for you:



I used to play and make my own paper dolls when I was a kid . I still enjoy making them for my daughter Bianca to amuse herself during long trips. Now that I will be flying solo for the first leg of my trip to Singapore and Bali, I have to amuse myself for the long flight by:


Drawing...... Journaling.... finishing a draft of a picture book dummy I'm working on:


Stretching and Walking around the plane ( when there's no turbulance):



Chatting with friendly passengers (I always meet interesting people on board) :


Meditating......

Watching lots of Movies, ...


Listening to good music....Drinking lots of water so I don't get dehydatred......

and of course Reading.....


Here's my travel reading list:

See you on board!

An Artist Morning Ritual

To have a good life, one must start the day making meaning -- I am currently reading : The Van Gogh Blues by Eric Maisel. There's a chapter about making meaning in an artist life and it made me think about my own life and that is :
Unless I start my day drawing, sketching, painting or writing or doing something creative first, I feel that I can tackle the rest of my day happily. It has become one of my early morning rituals. I am an early riser--very early sometimes even before dawn, I am already wide awake! And the first thing I do after I make myself coffee is to go to my studio and start "playing"--doodling, jotting down ideas and writing in my journal, painting freely and experimenting with colors, etc. After I mess around in my studio, I calm down . And only then can I start working on my real work seriously...my illos, picture book projects, my painting series..etc.




How about you? How do you start your day?