Monsters and my childhood

Monsters have always been a part of my life. As way back as I can remember, my imagination had been full of them. Afternoon naps that my grandparents wanted me to have were always preceded by a story about the adventures of Juan, getting captured by a manananggal or getting chased by a tikbalang down a dirt provincial road in his beat up car.

Sometimes they were about Scarlotta, the witch who was, according to my grandparents, inhabiting the big old house perched atop one of the mountains in the city. Somehow, Scarlotta would have her ear out for bad kids who didn't go to sleep right away and would snatch them from their beds if they continued to be bad!

My personal favorite that got me to bed right away was the big black dog, which neither of my grandparents bothered naming (probably because they were out of ideas)  that would howl from one end of the street to the other, searching for children to snatch away.

While these stories might have been part of the strategy my grandparents had for disciplining me, I knew from an early age that monsters would forever be a passion. Storytelling is innate for all Filipinos, possibly because we used to transmit history verbally, and monsters have always been at the edge of our perception. Watching. Waiting.

Ironically, the first monster I ever drew was a happy skeleton, complete with bowtie, tophat and tapdance shoes. I was about 10 then and my family disapproved of it. They wanted me to draw something happy instead. But even with their disapproval, I wanted more monsters.

Revenge of the Frog
Dan Arrojado
2006

I really started drawing monsters in earnest in college. Mostly because I had Zoology units as prerequisite to Biological Psychology but having to study animal anatomy was extremely wonderful for me. (Even if I scored very low on the tests!) The first monster back then that I drew was this zombie frog.

Frogcat
Dan Arrojado
2007

The next semester, still armed with Zoology units, I learned cat anatomy. I used to be able to name every bit of that drawing.

Mother
Dan Arrojado
2007

I started pushing boundaries, making monsters more than just a by-product of Zoology. This piece was deeply symbolic for me when I came up with it.

In 2009, the year that my grandmother passed away, I started writing the initial drafts of The Mourning Son. I decided that the project was going to be Filipino everything. From characters to monsters, I was going to write what I was raised on and share it with the world.

Balbal, Kapre, another monster
Dan Arrojado
2009

Noah, Black Lady, Kapre and Manananggal
Dan Arrojado
2010

In order to write The Mourning Son, I had to do some research. Because the Philippines is an archipelago, no two provinces are going to share the same description of a single monster. While the internet is a rich resource on monsters, some I've never even heard of before, there's no better resource than my grandfather. He tells province-specific tales, and maybe some he makes up for fun.

It's 2011 right now and I can certainly say that I'll keep on drawing monsters the way I know them and love them. More than just a tribute to my childhood but a tribute to the grandparents who taught me the power of imagination.

8/10/11

Noah Martelino, Gilbert Ramirez and Amaranth Ngo
The Mourning Son
(c) Dan Arrojado

One of the favorite things I love about myself as an artist is the ability to be inspired by music. When I was in college, I got to know My Chemical Romance. Helena was the first song that I heard and when you're young and angsty, you latch on to MCR's sound back then. After The Black Parade I was a little put off by their sound. I was entering adulthood and I was shedding the woes of being a hormonal teenager. And then Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys arrived. And BAM. I WAS IN LOVE. Probably more so than when I first latched on to the band.

Followers may not be very pleased but I can say that The Mourning Son is largely powered on the Danger Days album. Planetary (Go!) in particular took my heart and refused to let go.

This is pretty much a mock up of a poster I may be creating sometime in the future. I definitely want it on my wall.

Tried a little painting after I saw videos on Youtube. It was interesting, to say the least. I started with a mid-gray and then went higher and lower in value after that.

Pencil sketch of Irmingarde Hikari Yorimichi in her fencing gear. She's come a long way as a character. From the stereotypical older sister to leader of her own security force. I did quite a bit of research on fencing gear but ultimately went with something stylistic and practical.

commissions!

Where in the world did the potentially sweet Deity put me, you ask? Graduate school. That's where. Sorry for the lack of updates. My life has been revolving on studying mountains of articles. The upside is, all this constant input is making me creative. When I'm not reading.

Ah, what an endless and cruel cycle it is. In the meanwhile, have some commissions I completed recently!

Boz and Kolya (c) Xandra
2011

Commission for Xandra on dA and Ygal of her Russian twins, Boz and Kolya. :)

Here's something I don't do often. Semi-realistic portrait of him and his girlfriend for their first year together. Dawwww. <3

Doodles and Experiments

Admittedly, I haven't done much art of my Filipino/Aztec heroine Yoloxochitl. I did this a few weeks ago to study her design. They'll eventually be completed designs but for now, they're blue scribbles. Warriors are not just soldiers in her world; they are also priests. For success in battle, they offer prayer, food, dance and song to their personal god. Below, Yoloxochitl is bonding with her husband, or in this case, her husband's muzzle. He is kind of huge, like a building. Only literally.

I was inspired by Conor Oberst's "Milk Thisle".

My character Hunter from a project with Poet. She's the only daughter of a wealthy couple and loves both her parents dearly! Mumsie never had to worry about Hunter disdaining her pretty dresses; Hunter will go hun ting in high fashion.

Fan art for Ed Elric of Full Metal Alchemist. I first saw the original anime back in college and man, did it change my life. I picked up the manga a little after that and then watched Brotherhood in all its beautiful glory. Ed is still my favorite character.

Was experimenting a lot on this piece though! Tried to add as many colors as I could and played with two different light sources. All in all, not bad.

Hollow Bones preview chapters are up!

Hey guys, hey hey!

Hey guys, my buddy M. James Blood's finally got the preview chapters of his novel Hollow Bones up on his site. GO GO GO READ IT. Download the PDF and get a taste for his amazing mafia magician Alexi Sokolsky and the gritty world of Hollow Bones.

Alexi Sokolsky – Occultic magician, Russian mafia bloodhound, and unstable neurotic – is thrown into the line of fire when a series of bloody, brutal murders rock the Brooklyn underworld. Negotiating the unstable mob politics of the early 90′s, Alexi must face his Soul and overcome his own inner demons to combat the ones threatening to destroy his world.

Click here to get your free download today!

Your daily dose of art

HI GUYS, I'M BACK. Real life ate me up for a bit. In the time I was away, I managed to finish a few commissions as well as enroll in grad school! YAY. Masters in Social Psychology at my alma mater, all but drowning in reading materials and soaking every bit of information up like a sponge. Life has generally been good. Also, a week away from my 23rd birthday. A real live adult.

Or one hopes. Here're a few things I've been up to, all of them from my novel in progress The Mourning Son.

Gilbert Ramirez recounts his romantic misadventures to one skeptical Narcissa 'Cissa' Uytengsu while he uses Noah Martelino as a prop.

Noah is not very happy with this heterosexual nonsense.

There is no reconciliation that will put me in my place

And there is no time like the present to drink these draining seconds

But seldom do these words ring true when I'm constantly failing you

Like walls that we just can't break through until we disappear

So tell me now

If this ain't love then how do we get out?

Because I don't know

That's when she said I don't hate you boy

I just want to save you while there's still something left to save

That's when I told her I love you girl

But I'm not the answer for the questions that you still have

Savior - Rise Against

Noah and Honor's relationship consists not on the healthy stuff of wanting to grow together, but the unfortunate and desperate need to fill a gaping void that is their personal neurosis.

It's been a while since I drew everyone's (?) favorite music teacher, Ethan Hayes. I've chubbied him up since I last drew him. He likes dressing like an old guy.

Gilbert is trying to explain to Noah just how deep in pure steaming shit he is.

Pro Hint: Waist Deep.

Would you rather See or would you rather be Blind?

04-19-2011

whoa! long time no update! sorry about that. the research project i was doing got real busy, and i had to rush around the city and had to hop to Camotes Island to gather data. everything's settled now, so here i am. although i didn't have time to update my art blog, i did have some time to do art.

Leonard Katsuyama (c) J. L. Malgapo/Ruin of Eden
Commission by Dan Arrojado 2011

first of three steampunk commissions for Ruin of Eden. this was mad fun to do because there were a lot of things i've never done before. waves, birds, painting islands. it took me a while but i finished it and loved the result.

Honor Suico (c) Dan Arrojado, 2011

i decided to continue painting an old drawing i've had lying around but couldn't actually finish the thing. the anatomical errors drove me nuts and i was in no mood to correct them. this was the only part i still liked. honor has an amazing nose. <3

Kaban (c) Dan Arrojado, 2011

i recently entered a monster man design contest on Ygallery on a whim. i figured, why not? i love monsters and my experiences with contests have been less than fabulous. no harm in trying again. lo, something amazing happened and i won first place! this is Kaban, my hoarder monster. have some copy pasta regarding his origins:

When the human plague of the west reached the shores of the beastlands, villages and tribes were crushed under ruthless human swords. The beastkin cried out to their gods to deliver unto them a savior; unto their shaman was delivered Kaban, a powerful but newly born earth spirit. But before Kaban could bond with his shaman-summoner, an act that would make Kaban a single-minded and unstoppable force, the shaman was slain.
Without a point of focus, Kaban finds his young mind wandering. It certainly doesn’t help that Kaban discovered he had a powerful attraction to all things that glitter, precious stones and precious metals of all forms and mold, shapes and sizes, and possibly even tin foil. This crippling obsession and the need to hoard his treasures makes Kaban forget his purpose and furthermore, makes Kaban forget that he is not flesh and bone.
Over the years, he’s wandered away from the voices of the beastkin that could possibly guide him back to his path and into the deep and treacherous forest and the marshes past it. He currently lives in a cave that is difficult to located, right at the border of the forest and the marshes. From a formless spirit, he’s started believing that he’s actually alive, just as the animals around him are. His physical body has started to form the organs of living creatures, things that are necessary for the physical functions Kaban is not supposed to have. Currently, he has internal organs, blood flowing in his veins, and a solid bone structure and if left to his own devices, without a new shaman to bond with him, Kaban will slowly and surely become “mortal”.
*
Contrary to having razor sharp claws and two sets of jaws with ferocious bite power, Kaban is actually a gentle soul. He enjoys being able to hear himself think as well as being able to hear the forest and the marshes around him. He can be easily excitable, especially when he’s just acquired a new piece of jewelry to his collection. He’s slow to anger and to invoke his wrath takes some creativity. Certain death comes to those who touch his collection, however.
Kaban’s six eyes have the ability to go in different directions at the same time, greatly enhancing his perception of his surroundings. He abuses this to examine more than one piece of jewelry at the same time. His two jaws don’t just contain teeth; they’re both capable of speech, unfortunately they like to talk over each other. It’s common for one mouth to talk over the other. He sometimes likes to tell jokes but his jokes don’t carry through very well when his other mouth gives the first mouth’s punchline away. Not to mention he has a tendency to get distracted easily.
He has some magic in him but he’s never used it in his life. It’s believed however that it’s powerful magic and perhaps the key to driving the human plague away.
Humans and beastkin who have come very close to finding him have described a heavy “smell of new rain and soil” in the air. When someone will find him (and that’s if they survive the forest and the marshes), they’ll see Kaban with moss on his belly and legs, leaves and twigs in his hair, examining his latest acquisition.
*
Trivia: Kaban’s name is from the Cebuano/Bisaya word for “treasure chest” or “trunk.”

Fan art for Inception
Dan Arrojado, 2011

last but not the least, i also participated in the Inception Reverse Bang! i did art for The Azure Blue's Undercurrent. it's my OTP of Eames/Robert and it involves dissassociation, dark themes, bondage and violence. you can find my art master post here!

fan art for fandoms (of varying obscurity)

I don't usually draw fan art but when I find a series that I really really like, it's pretty hard not to draw art for it. 

Of course, I started like a lot of you in drawing fan art for Final Fantasy VII and I even did a bit for Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. But because pieces for both fandoms are painfully old and therefore embarrassing, I bring to you my not so embarrassing forays into other fandoms, particularly the smallers ones and the not so smaller ones.

Left to right: Simoun, Padre Sybilla, Elias.
Pencil.

The books Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo by Jose Rizal were huge inspirations to me back in high school. In fact, these books were one of the few where I felt the insane urge to draw all the characters. Truly a classic. A lot of the characters were pretty clear in my head, but probably not in the way Dr. Rizal intended them to look like. In any case, my very first sketches of the books are here, with Simoun the jeweler with his spectacles and hat (derp, what is period appropriate), Padre Sybilla and Elias.

I've promised myself to redraw these awful sketches one day and probably even embark on a steampunk re-imagining of the book. 

When I was in college, one of the various series that ate my soul was Simoun. I was just discovering the beauty and fluidity of gender and Simoun was truly an interesting piece. I fell in love with all of the characters but two of my most favorite characters were Anubituf and Guragief. These two are probably the first canon gay couple I've seen outside of actual yaoi anime. I have full intentions of drawing more of them when I have some free time.

Anubituf.
PaintToolSAI and Photoshop.

Guragief.
PaintToolSAI and Photoshop.

Soon after, I embarked on the wonder that was Darker than Black. I'm a huge huge fan of anything action and my preferences really do lean toward the shounen side of things. My particular favorites of the series were Hei/Li, November 11 and July. I did see the second season but it didn't really do a lot for me. It did however convince me that August 7 is fantastic and he needs to be drawn more with the other MI6 members.

Nick and Hei.
PaintToolSAI and Photoshop.

November 11 and...?
PaintToolSAI.

November 11 and July, being all familial.
PaintToolSAI and Photoshop.

Tales of Destiny was also one of my favorite games. It's quite a pity that I can hardly find fan art or fan fic of the series. :( Leon Magnus was, and is still, one of my favorite characters in the game. A close second would be Garr. When it was re-released for the PS2 a lot of the names were changed to match the Japanese names so that may be hampering my searching for fanworks of them. Baw.

Leon Magnus.
Colored pencil.

Good Omens is also near and dear to my heart! Just like El Filibusterismo and Noli Me Tangere, I had wanted to draw almost all of the characters. It was basically the book that made me fall in love with both Neil Gaiman's and Terry Prattchett's works.

Adam Young, War, Pollution and Famine.
Pencil.

 It was really in college that I discovered that I quite liked comic books. Especially, gasp, American comic books. One of the first I read back in the day was Lucifer.

Lucifer Morningstar.
Photoshop.

Here's the output of a cross-over idea, in which Lucifer is actually Adam Young's father. I had read the screenplay for Good Omens and just couldn't help putting the pieces together. This idea also spawned this prompt on the Good Omens kink meme and was fulfilled with amazing results. I highly recommend giving this one a read.

Lucifer Morningstar and Adam Young.
Pencil.

While we're on the topic of books, my cousins got me started on Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians book series. I finished all the books back in, ah, January of 2010 I believe and just had to do fan art of it.

Left to right, top to bottom: Luke Castellan, Quintus, Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo, Apollo and Ares.
Pencil.

*spoiler*
Ink.

Hermes.
PaintToolSAI.

Last but not least, I'm a fan of Greek mythology as well. Here's my headcanon!Hermes being adorable.

02-20-2011

Working as a research assistant's been occupying my time a lot, in between working on commissions. Managed to get some personal art done though!

Elias de la Rama, leader of Los Guardianes.

More genderqueer! Here's a page out of my childhood, only I was less toothpick thin and more Pillsbury Doughboy.

A caricature of myself, before I got my haircut.

Some Honor. 

 More Honor.

Fuck yes, Aztec Filipino steampunk! I love designing armor.

happy hearts day :)

I hope you all enjoyed a happy valentine's! i made a card for my girl this year, in a medium i don't usually use. watercolor. :3

things i forgot to post :D

because i'm derptastic like that. some finished commissions and sketches.

 A commission for the always wonderful Poet, whose blog you can find here. She wanted a female version of one of my drawings from way back and I am ever so pleased to deliver. :) Where mine was more mottled, hers has a more sepia and grunge look.

 The finished commission for CrimsonKiss89 of her characters Clyetes Arkanum and Nikolas Drake, from her novel in progress Crimson Kiss.

The finished commission, also for CrimsonKiss89, of her Dorothy Bennett from her novel Vestige.

Finished commission for Sir Mordred on Ygal (and known by other handles elsewhere) of Arthur and Mordred. Yes, as in the Arthurian figures. 

Here's another update on that huuuuge piece for my baby. I wasn't kidding when I said huge! 

Old but good sketch of one of my favorite dragon/elf hybrids, heavily contemplating a night of amazing sex.

Good ol' Apostle, being such a bad ass.

Three, four, lock that door. Concept art with the theme "There's a monster in all of us". 

Practice sketch. Recently acquired Autodesk SketchbookPro. Been feeling my way around it.

Look what I found! An old old old ink drawing of  Poet's Alexander and my Alexandra. This was, ah, a cover for a fancomic I made, I think. Still one of my favorite works.

My menstruation doesn't make me any less of a man. Genderqueer for the fucking win. :) 

 Everyone's favorite (?) sassy gay lawyer. Okay, so I made all of that up. Here's Wilhelm Helmholtz judging you. :|

Another SketchBookPro sketch. I think I'm getting the hang of it.