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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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.
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| Balbal, Kapre, another monster Dan Arrojado 2009 |
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| 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.
