It’s been a while since I posted a What’s the Story entry so I thought I’d share with you a couple of really old design projects that I’ve unearthed from my ancient Mac’s¹ hard drive.
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Up first, Sharon Cuneta’s “All I Ever Want” album, commissioned to me in 2001. I was ecstatic when the record company called me because I thought, ahahay! A chance to create conceptual mainstream OPM album packaging! I was free to do anything I wanted, the only mandatory was that her face should dominate the page because, well, she is the main selling point of the album. Fair enough.
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I came up with these roughs:

The first two are the booklet’s back and front covers and the rest are sample inside flaps.
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I wanted the design to have a painted, dreamy quality using macros of almost indistinguishable nature elements because the “want” in the album title connoted “dreams, desires, & wishes” to me. (Uhm, that made sense, right?)
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After I submitted them, there was no word for a few days. I finally called to ask what the status was and then was told that they² wanted something that looked like her old stuff³ and so have decided to just ask their in-house designer to do it…
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And this⁴ is what it looked like when it came out.
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Oh well. But there’s a happy ending to this tale: I was paid a discontinuation fee.⁵ 🙂
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Here’s another design story, one that pushed through. San Miguel Philharmonic/Master Chorale’s “Great Original Pilipino Music album”.
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Mr. Ryan Cayabyab is always a joy to work with, mainly because he has excellent taste not just in music but in the visual arts as well. He especially likes it when there’s a concept behind the design you present him.
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When I was sent the track list for the GOPM album, “Tuwing Umuulan at Kapiling Ka” stood out at once so I started sketching a couple of lovebirds under a red umbrella almost immediately. I wanted to show the surroundings in blue so that the couple (who were in color because they’re in love) would be the main focus.⁶ As for the jeepney, well there had to be something to make it Filipino, the title is “Great Original Pilipino Music” after all.
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Here are my rough, initial studies. First in pencil, then a study in color.

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Mr. C liked it right away! I told him I would clean it up and improve on it, i.e. ask my talented artist hubby to render it like a painting.
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Arn actually took it a step further. He thought the jeepney was cluttering the background so he arranged the elements in such a way that the artwork looked like it was telling a story.⁷ I liked it much better already!

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But then Mr. C said that he liked the fact that the couple was already together under the umbrella in the first study although he likes the impressionist quality of the new layouts. He also told us that we could lose the jeepney if we wanted. Hmm, maybe he was right.
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We came up with this. The lamps are supposed to make it look like the scene is in Luneta, but if you didn’t get that it’s perfectly okay. 😉 Overall, I thought it looked more romantic and was quite sure we had nailed it.

And we did! It got approved. And produced shortly after. 🙂

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Before I end this, I would like to share something with you.

We met him! And had dinner with him⁸!
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The last time he was here, we queued in Gateway but didn’t get a chance to have our books signed, although Arn had a lucky encounter (and photo op) with Mr. Gaiman in the washroom. A few days later, Azrael posted that photo in his blog. Mr. Gaiman saw it and wrote Az: Thanks to you… I learned that the nice man next to me at the sinks in the mall was Arnold Arre, whose art I had been admiring a few hours earlier. (And I wished he’d introduced himself.) Mind-blowing, right? Two years later Arn, who was a judge for the Graphic/Fiction Awards’ comics category, finally had the chance to introduce himself properly, and Mr. Gaiman was gracious enough to actually remember Arn’s name and the incident, and reiterate that he really does like his art. What a fine, fine gent.
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More kwento and tons of photos in my Multiply.

1. My G4 is turning 8 next month! I hardly use it anymore.[ back]
2. I’m actually not sure as to who “they” referred to.[ back]
3. Why oh why?[ back]
4. It doesn’t look bad but I’m sorry, looking at it again 6 years later, I still think my design should’ve been given another chance. At least mine had a concept.[ back]
5. And so should you if you begin a project that doesn’t get fulfilled. Remember to have that clause in your contract.[ back]
6. Cliche, I know but hey, it works visually.[ back]
7. That’s my hubby, a natural storyteller![ back]
8. Well technically with him tablehopping in the room. But we got to talk to him and we actually really had dinner with his son Mike who was seated at our table.[ back]

Sigh, my only excuse for not updating except is that I’ve been preoccupied¹. Anyway, here are a few notes:
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* It’s been out for a while but here’s a plug nonetheless: our mag Wedding Essentials came out with the annual Beautiful Weddings issue last month. It features 25 real-life weddings, over 75 wedding element inspirations, plus over 200 pages of articles, tips, and everything there is to know about planning your big day! Please do grab a copy now, it retails for a very reasonable P200. 🙂

You can see a bigger photo of the cover here, and view the launch party pics here.
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* You can find a couple of artworks by Arn in the September and October issues of Rogue mag² one’s an illustration for our dear Quark Henares‘ really funny article about meeting Sarah Silverman and the other’s for Quark’s Quentin Tarantino fanboy chronicles.

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* A sister publication³, Imagine Magazine‘s maiden issue is now out. It’s the new, innovative fashion and design glossy by the team behind the i section of the Manila Bulletin. A high-end, 280-page glossy, Imagine takes fashion coverage to the next level, following the trends in international fashion publishing, where fashion is treated as an exhilaration of an art form, and a magazine serves both as a portfolio and an idea platform. .

There’s an article on Arn in this issue⁴ penned by no less than one of our favorite writers in the world, Luis Katigbak.
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* I was invited to judge for this year’s NU Rock Awards, yes exactly 10 years after I won one. I initially thought that I was only judging for the album packaging design category; it turns out I had to pick winners for the other sections as well. Gasp! The result: a night of cram-listening to all the finalists’ albums because I wanted to be fair to these musicians⁵ and make the right decisions after all.

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* We managed to squeeze in a week of R&R in Hong Kong. I’ve been there tons⁶ of times before for leisure with either family or friends and mostly for work⁷ but it was my first time to go with Arn so we allowed ourselves to “do the touristy”. 🙂

More here.
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1. With this, this, this, this, and this.[ back]
2. A new-ish cutting-edge literary lifestyle magazine for the modern and might I say intelligent Filipino man.[ back]
3. Meaning they also belong to Manila Bulletin’s roster of magazines.[ back]
4. Which we haven’t seen because we haven’t gotten a copy yet, oops![ back]
5. Never mind if I only got to hear of some of them and their music for the first time last Sunday night.[ back]
6. Also because I’m old na.[ back]
7. When you’re in the advertising biz, going to Hong Kong becomes just like going to Cebu or Baguio. Most post-prod work is done there.[ back]

Just in case you heard rumors about it through the extremely tiny Metro Manila grapevine, please allow us to finally confirm that yes, it’s true: Unitel Productions acquired the film rights to Arn‘s 2006 graphic novel “Ang Mundo ni Andong Agimat”. We couldn’t announce it formally¹ until they released the press release. The following came out in today’s Inquirer:

‘Andong Agimat’ to the US film mart
By Bayani San Diego Jr.

MANILA, Philippines — Unitel head Tony Gloria has a new baby.

“This is my pet project,” he says of “Ang Mundo ni Andong Agimat,” a popular graphic novel by prize-winning author/illustrator Arnold Arre.

Gloria has acquired the rights to “Andong,” which he plans to produce into either a feature film or a TV series. Or both.

“It can start as a feature film and we can later turn it into a TV series,” he says.

For the role of Andong, Gloria is eyeing Robin Padilla.

“He’s not your typical hero. Andong’s a loner and an ex-convict,” he explains.

Unitel is preparing an audio-visual presentation on “Andong,” which Gloria will screen at the American Film Market, running from Oct. 31 to Nov. 7 in Santa Monica, California.

(You can read the entire article on the Inquirer site or in my Multiply blog)

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As you can tell, I am beyond happy that Arn and his fantastic book² are getting the recognition they deserve.³

If you haven’t read it yet⁴, “Ang Mundo ni Andong Agimat” is available at leading bookstores (Fully Booked, Powerbooks, National) and comic book outlets.

Related entries:
– Si Andong Agimat, andito na!
– More Andong, more projects.
– Si Andong Agimat, parating na!

New blog for Andong Agimat:
– http://andongagimat.blogspot.com

1. Although of course family & close friends have known about it for a couple of months now.[ back]
2. Ok, biased since I’m the wife, but I strongly think that Andong is one of the most ORIGINAL takes on the Pinoy superhero out there.[ back]
3. Much thanks go to Mr. Gloria, Unitel, and Arn’s agent Dennis Cruz. (:[ back]
4. Huwaaaat????[ back]