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

A Doodle A day: from my new Sketchbook

 It's been almost a month since I last wrote anything here. I was busy with my new work, lots of new projects and art events and finding a new character for my graphic novel in progress. 

I still don't have a name for her but here she is:

She came to me while going to work one day.

Busy like a bee, or is it a bunny?

Time for Spring, I guess...

  and on her way to the big City:

To be continued....

Have A Nice Spring day!

Graphic Novel (work in Progress)

This is also my entry for Illustration Fridays theme: INSTINCT

My Instinct told me that I must create a graphic novel based on my cousin's childhood in Manila.
Since this is a work in progress, I'd like to share with you my process and the development of my character. I decided to change the spelling of her name from Cita to Sita. That way, I don't need to explain how to pronounce Cita as " see-tah", as seen in my first sketch. I was happy with the way Sita looks--she was a very frail and skinny girl, she's also a half Chinese/half filipina-- I need to emphasize that background of hers as the graphic novel evolves . My cousin told me that because she's half Chinese, growing up in Manila , she was considered a bit of an outsider among the local Filipinos. I called her yesterday from her New York office and she gave me permission to continue with this project using her childhood experiences as my subject.

I know, I know --this is a big endeavor--but it excites me and although I do not really consider myself a writer--, I can try to visually tell her story at least.

So... today, I gave her some color. I also cropped her body. I did not want her to look as if she was praying. Let me know what you think.

My Graphic Novel-Work in Progress

Cita of Manila ( pronounced "see-tah")

This is a work in progress:
My new graphic Novel entitled Cita of Manila

Over dinner in New York City, my cousin told me of her
experiences as a daughter raised by a single mom in Manila.

This is the first page of my graphic novel Cita of Manila: