Hello friends,
I need your help, each and every one of you.
The Reader’s digest version is this: my girlfriend Lorra has been the victim of mean-spirited anonymous people who’ve not only set up a fake blog, but have since then tried hacking into her email accounts as well.
The past few days, we’ve tried reporting the fake blog to Wordpress in the hopes of having it shut down, but they’ve so far chosen not to even acknowledge our messages.
And so, in an attempt at positive resistance, we’re trying instead to reaffirm Lorra’s true presence online and discourage the trollers. We ask each of you to please, please, if you could, to link to Lorra’s true websites below:
http://lorraelenaangbuete.wordpress.com
http://lorraelena.tumblr.com
http://juzagirl.deviantart.com
Through your blogs, Facebook accounts, etc. We hope that this helps move her real sites up in popularity, relegating the fake blog to the bowels of search engine results. At the least, it’s a demonstration of our love, respect and support for Lorra.
If you it’s not too much to ask, we also hope you could help spread the word about this, and ask your friends to check out Lorra’s sites as well. They’re interesting in their own right (her deviantArt account, especially, is a nice showcase of her artwork). It would mean a lot.
Thank you so much,
Elbert
Set for release on Valentines Day is a new book I illustrated, “The Love of My Buhay,” published by A&S Books. It’s been in the works since summer of last year, and I’m excited and relieved that it’s finally coming out. Lorra helped out a lot with the art on this, and it makes me giddy just thinking about it, the two of us working on a book like this. Hee hee. It feels a lot like this:
Update: The book will be available at Mary Grace Serendra and Alabang branches for a limited engagement – until February 28, 2010 only. Here’s the promotional poster for it:
In the face of sadness, grief, even tragedy, words offer comfort and strength. By reading other people’s words, we are given the comfort of knowing we are not alone. By writing with our own words, we are given the chance of molding our experiences for the sake of others.
The writing for healing workshop led by Palanca Award-winning poet Lawrence ypil will help participants discover the power of words to give shape to loss and meaning to tragedy.Through guided reflections,writing exercises, and journaling tips, the workshop will show the different ways creative expression through writing can helptoheal not just ourselves, but also the people around us.
Register at the Customer Service Area of Fully Booked High Street, or email brainfoodph@gmail.com. Fee is Php1000/pax.
Renaissance is the comics event that will bring together the best and brightest comic book talents of the country.
Efren Sapalaran is my next comic book project.
Both will happen in February.
Game!
“Lola: A Ghost Story” is now out in comic stores, and if you’re still on the fence about whether to buy a copy or not, perhaps some of the reviews will help convince you to buy a copy for yourself, and another for a loved one.
Comic Impact calls Lola “the sort of book that never gets old after how ever many reads.” Of my artwork, the reviewer writes, “What makes it so scary and surprising, is that the whole book is usually drawn in a lovely, romantic style where everything looks joyous and at ease…but then when you come across a monster it really catches you off guard.”
OneMetal gives the book a 3.5 out of 5 – “good stuff, definitely worth a look.”
Comic Book Resources has a review of the book as well, drawing parallels between my work and artist Paul Smith, which just made me absolutely giddy.
Christmas is usually the busiest time of the year – not because of all the shopping and parties I have to do (I don’t) but because clients, wanting to use every last penny in their corporate budgets, end up asking me to do some project or other which I need to finish before the year is up. It’s also the time of the year that I’m commissioned to create art for various purposes.
Here, I was asked to create a family Christmas card, three by five inches, so I took my Letraset markers and came up with this:
Except oops! I didn’t ask enough questions, and it turned out that client wanted it to be in landscape format. So oh, fine, I’ll just add to the drawing:
But apparently, orange isn’t festive enough – or, I guess, Christmas-y enough – so I scanned the art into Photoshop and colored stuff in using my 3″ x 5″ Wacom Bamboo tablet and a very basic color palette.
Voila!
“Torres and Or’s tale is the sort of quiet horror story that moves along simply, lulling you into false security, before twisting quickly in another direction right at the end,” says the first review of Lola: A Ghost Story from the School Library Journal.
Previews of the first 17 pages are also available online, in places like Comic Book Resources, Broken Frontier, and Major Spoilers.
It’s also been cited as one of the books to watch in 2010, by the Sunday Daily Inquirer, where it’s described as “a uniquely Filipino title.”
Excitement!
Drawings made over the holidays. Lorra went home to spend the holidays with her family, so the impetus for these was simply me having a case of too much missing her.
Hope you had safe, great holidays, everyone! And here’s to a rip-roaring 2010!
It’s been a productive year for me and Brain Food, and we’re gearing up for an even busier 2010! In addition to trying to set up a website exclusively for Brain Food, we’ve already mapped out the first half of our year. In addition to the regular summer workshops – this year we’re offering Fiction Writing, Comics Creation, and Watercolor Painting – and the usual creativity and communications modules for schools and corporations, we’re trying out a couple of new workshops. I’ll announce the details in a few days, so watch out for it!
