#SiningBayanihan: Quintessence

“All grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, #TheLittlePrince 👑👦🌹🦊🌠

Childhood is one of the best memories I have. When life gets hard, reminiscing childhood things is one of my escape such as watching cartoons, animated movies, singing along Disney musicals, playing UNO cards, and even catching up with childhood friends. Last year, my big sister had a baby, my first niece. She's such a bundle of joy, and just lightens up everyone's mood. As a certified tito, I learned new nursery rhymes which we play in the TV when she's playing. Having a child around reminds us how it's like to be feel young again.

Remembering my childhood days here at the same house we still live in, so many things have changed but deep inside I still feel like a boy at home. I'm very childish and even in my art, if you notice, is very much inspired by kid's illustrated books. I don't have proper art studies so my anatomy is out of proportions. I love to draw things that makes me happy, colorful, and exciting. And that's basically how I define my style.


In my last year in high school, our English teacher introduced us to this wonderful piece of literature, and has become my all time favorite book, the Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It's about a child prince who lives in a little planet and travels different planets until he reaches earth. He meets different grown-ups and important characters like the pilot (the narrator), and a fox, whom he tames and teaches him a very valuable lesson:

“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

So for today's challenge, with the theme "Kabataan" or Youth, I created a fan art of the book and film. The animated digital illustration is entitled "Quintessence." Check out the timelapse of the creation process here:



"Quintessence", Animated Digital Illustration
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Music: "Somewhere Only We Know by Keane" (Lily Allen Version)
Violin Cover by Alison Sparrow / Piano cover by Piano Nest
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRJh5l8xZ7Q
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#SiningBayanihan: Episteme

"Education is only a ladder to gather fruit from the tree of knowledge, not the fruit itself" - Albert Einstein

April 26, 2020. It's a Sunday, and the streets are so quiet. It's the first week of the implementation of the Quarantine Pass which allows one person per household to go out and do essential chores every other day except Sundays. This is the first time ever that the city was on a stand still, and everyone is in their home with their family. Our business operations are also put into halt, and there's not much to do.

Being a workaholic, I just can't stand a day without doing something productive. And so, I decided to continue one of the previous days of the #SiningBayanihan Art Challenge which I didn't finish because I was busy that day and simply unmotivated. The theme was "Fuerza" or Power. I thought of a concept revolving around "Knowledge" which is one of the most powerful things a person could have.


"Episteme", an Animated Digital Illustration

I represented knowledge with an open book and from it a huge tree grew, branching upwards, full of flowers and fruit. The tree of knowledge is one of the key symbols in the bible which unlocked our consciousness on things good and evil. Indeed, there is power in knowing. I entitled the artwork as "Episteme" from the Latin translation of the word knowledge. It is the root word of "Epistemology", the study of knowledge. I created it using Illustrator for tracing and coloring, Photoshop for texturing and AfterEffects for animation.

Here's the timelapse of the creation process:




#SiningBayanihan Week 3, Day 2: Power
#CreateIsolate @stayhomestaypositive
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Like my work? You appreciation is much appreciated!
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Music: "Big Skies" by Really Slow Motion (Youtube)
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#SiningBayanihan: Mapulon

"Di laging may sinag, pagsibol at sagana

kung minsan din ay salat, tuyo't walang ani

darating din ang pag-ambon ng biyaya

pupukaw, magbibigay buhay, at magniningning"

For the last art challenge of the week, the theme is "Pagbabago" or change. My first instinct is to create an artwork of a butterfly, or something about metamorphosis which I already created before (see here). I also wanted to incorporate the concept of the different seasons which represents the change in time and the cycle of natural phenomenon. Finally, I decided to create this animated digital illustration where the butterfly flaps its wings and revealing the quick change of its patterns representing the seasons and time.

Instead of the western four seasons (winter, spring, summer, and fall) which we don't have, I chose 5 sceneries familiar to us here in the Philippines: Tag-ulan (rainy season), Tag-araw (summer/sunny season), Tag-sibol (spring/planting season), Tag-tuyot (drought/dry season), and Takipsilim (nightfall). Just like the fluttering wings, seasons come and go so quickly, and time seems fleeting.

The butterfly is sitting upon a beautiful rose, which represents the spinning earth and ticking time. I animated it in a 360 rotation in the entire duration of the animation to give it a seamless loop, which seems to go on forever. The rose is also inspired by my favorite book, The Little Prince, who takes care of a rose, leaves her, goes on an adventure and realizes the importance of his rose. Here's a quote from the book:

"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important."
"It is the time I have wasted for my rose--"
said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember."

I entitled it "Mapulon" after the Tagalog God of the Seasons. He is described as kind and is married to the transgender Goddess of Fertility and Agriculture, Lakapati, who is considered to be one of the most beautiful deity. Known as a god of health, Mapulon manipulates the weather to grow medicinal plants to give to the sick. According to the stories, Mapulon had long been courting Lakapati before he got her love. He was the reason why the ancient Filipinos courted their beloved since ancient times. I just love their story! I love how ancient Tagalogs believe in an LGBT couple who hold great importance in their lives. The butterfly in my piece is Mapulon, while the beautiful rose is Lakapati. Read more about the deities of Philippine Mythology here.

Watch the timelapse of the process of creating "Mapulon":


"Mapulon", an Animated Digital Illustration
#SiningBayanihan Week 3, Day 5: Pagbabago (Change)
#InspiringCreativity #ElevatingArtistry

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Like my work? You appreciation is much appreciated!
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Music: "Clockworks" by JazzFem
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC46W...
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#SiningBayanihan: Kayod

"Masdan ang kalabaw

Habang nakasingkaw

Sa gitna ng linang

Sa init ng araw

Laging kaibigan."

Today's theme is "Kabuhayan" which means living or livelihood. In my previous artworks, I dedicated them to the fronliners, to my friends, to believers, to Jesus Christ, to the community, to our mind, to Mother Earth and to artists. Today, I want to pay tribute to our unsung heroes, the farmers, whom without we wont be eating nutritious food. I represented them as a Carabao in this artwork, a gentle creature who is the partner of rice farmers in cultivating their land. The carabao are very resilient, hardworking and humble. Above its head depicts a scenery of the process of farming, from planting the seedlings until they grow into golden grains. The mountains are shaped like the rice terraces of the Cordilleras, an ancient heritage which shows the greatness and beauty of agriculture in our country.

I titled the piece "Kayod" from the Filipino idiom "Kayod Kalabaw" which means diligent or hardworking. Even though they are essential in our country, it is a sad reality that farmers are one of the poorest and neglected sectors in the society. Now, in this pandemic, we realize their importance more than ever. Institutions, offices, and establishments may be closed during the community quarantine but farms will never cease, because we depend very much to them. So I want to give my praises to each hand that cultivates the soil, plants the seeds, reap the harvest, and feed our mouths. Let's pray for them and hope that they will be blessed more in their lives.

"Kayod", a Digital Illustration
#SiningBayanihan Week 3, Day 4: Kabuhayan (Living)

Alay ko para sa magigiting na bayani,
ang mga magsasaka 👨‍🌾👩‍🌾🐃🌾
Salamat sa inyong sipag at tiyaga!
Dahil sa inyong kabuhayan, kami ay nabubuhay.

#SiningBayanihan
Ateneo Center for Culture and the Arts

#WeHealAsOne
#InspiringCreativity
#ElevatingAristry

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Like my work? You appreciation is much appreciated!
Follow, like and subscribe my accounts for updates.
Instagram: @cedzabala
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Youtube: Cedrick Zabala
Deviant Art: @resurrect97
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Blog Folio: csz97.blogspot.com

Day 8: Favorite Animated Character

I have lots of favorite animated characters including Flapjack, Taz, Jerry, Spongebob, Patrick, The Simpsons, Lilo and Stitch, and my very own, Prince Cedie. There are lots of good animated movies too and my top picks are Woody and Buzz, Po, Shrek, Jake of Monsters, Inc., Mulan, and Princess Mononoke.

But, recently, i really find Beemo of Adventure Time really adorable. He's a little computer character who also serves as a TV, game console, camera and a lot more. Catch him in adventure time at Cartoon Network! He's so adorable!

Animahenasyon 2012 Poster

This is the winning poster that will be used as the campaign material for Animahenasyon 2012. The title of the poster is "Whimsical Dreams" designed by Pamela Reyes. Personally, it is one of my top picks and i'm satisfied that it won. The design is very cute and appealing to any type of audience. It's contemporary and very inspired by doodle-ish characters or those japanese cute characters. However I can still see the Filipino because of the salakot and the flag above its head.

I love the grainy texture, colors, depth and the mere layout. I just wish that the other characters look more Filipino. Their poses are not that dynamic and the swings remind me much of last year's poster. And my last critic is the typography. The text is very plain and mediocre. Good thing they changed it in the final design. Having said that, I'm still like it because it represents happiness, charm, festive, friendly, modern, and contemporary.

Anyways, I hope that this time I can make it to the competition. Next year's host is the School of Design and Arts of College of St. Benilde. It will be on November 26-29, 2012. Good luck to all animators out there and wishing the best for the Philippine Animation industry.

Doodle Inspiration #9: Motion Graphics

Amazing and eye-gasmic motion graphics around the net.

Animated Love Story

Last week, i had the opportunity to make my first animated love story for a couple's wedding. Xavier (pronounced as chav-ye) and Teresa, lives in Spain and decided to have their wedding here in the Philippines, Teresa's homeland. I created the characters and background in Illustrator and animated it in AfterEffects. The animation serves as a video support cause we don't have that much time to create a fully animated lovestory. Here's the full video of Xavier and Teresa's love story.

Here are some screen caps so you can see the details:

More of the screen caps in my facebook LIKE page. :D Do press the Like Button :D Tnx!