Happy New Year!

In a few hours, we'll all be saying good bye to the year 2011. I would say that it has not been very easy compared to the year that came before it. But despite all the hardships that I've had to go through, I can still greet 2012 with a smile on my face because of the many good things that happened. My friends, I present to you my review of the year 2011.

I've been more inspired this year compared to the last one primarily because of my family and my girlfriend. Keeping personal and professional matters separated is of paramount importance to artists like myself. It's a lot easier to do it when you have few or no personal issues to deal with. Such is the case for me up to now thanks in no small part to my loved ones. Here's a family portrait that I recently finished. This is also my last painting for this year. I decided to sign it with my last name.

Soon enough, I'll make another one that includes my future wife. :)

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I was lucky enough to have been involved in the production of several games including but not limited to Uncharted 3, Gremlins Gizmo the Game, and our company's interpretation of War of the Burning Sky. Unfortunately, I've yet to acquire permission to post client-owned stuff here so I'll just share some of the promotional stuff I did for War of the Burning Sky Online.

I work in an industry in which most, if not all companies prioritize non-disclosure so when the games that I worked on come out and I'm allowed to talk about them, it brings me a great deal of joy! :D

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Speaking of talking about the games that I've worked on, I gave a talk for the first time this year. It was a talk about art in the field of video game development. It's a sad thing that not many Filipinos are aware of the many opportunities currently being presented by the local gaming industry. But I'm happy because I keep discovering more and more Filipino artists whose works are truly worthy of worldwide recognition.

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After such a long time I finally got to meet once more with my high school classmates. It's been a decade since we saw each other. They almost didn't recognize me. Well, to say that I've gained weight is an understatement. You would find this agreeable if you had known me during my high school years... When I used to be a ballet dancer! Hahahaha! Here's something I did out of nostalgia.

Yes. I was a ballet major during my high school years. I studied at the Philippine High School for the Arts. It's a government-run school that focuses on honing the skills of talented young Filipinos in several art fields such as dance, music, creative writing, visual and theater arts. I wasn't doing ballet all the time though. From time to time I would study the works of my batch mates who majored in visual arts. That's when I began studying traditional media. Sadly, I no longer have the time to make as many traditional pieces as I used to do. But I managed to produce a gouache painting this year! Here's my tribute to Khal Drogo from Game of Thrones. He's my favorite character in the series. Too bad they killed him off in the first season.

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Another thing that I won't forget is that during the course of 2011, many of my artworks made their way to the print! The most recent batch being the ones that are on page 11 of ImagineFX issue 78!

And speaking of print, 2011 is also the year in which I tried self-publishing for the first time. See my Komikon 2011 coverage for the details.

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Together with my colleagues, my girlfriend and I went to Coron, Palawan earlier this year. It was the first time we took a vacation. Unfortunately, I don't have any related artworks to post.

So there goes my 2011 review. I wish everyone a happy and meaningful new year!

To the people affected by the typhoon Sendong, I would like to extend to you my sympathies. Do not give up. We are a resilient people. I know we can recover from this. 

May God bless you all!