Rupert's Tattoo

I just did rupert’s tattoo. I’ve known Rupert Estanislao since our Pusod days back in 2000. Pusod was a space in Berkeley where we held some exciting and provocative shows. Thanks to Malou Babilonia for letting us ‘thrash’ that space.

Rupert is the lead vocalist of Eskapo - a Filipino punk band here in the bay area. He’s also a performer who was awarded the best spoken word artist by East Bay Express. What drove me to Eskapo besides us being Filipinos was their high energy and nihilistic approach to music. It’s similar to what I’m trying to convey in my paintings. We’ve collaborated in many exhibitions where I showed my art and they played the music. We basically have the same sentiments.



England Hidalgo, my partner in art, joined Eskapo some 4 years ago where he played guitar and some vocals. This helped me get closer to the group because even if I wasn’t always able to attend, I always get the invite to their shows through England.

I haven’t done any tattoo for the past 2 months and this made me feel a little nervous but unlike before, I didn’t have to practice on pigskin. I felt confident even if I haven’t done anything for quite a while.

The design was chosen by Rupert. It’s black and gray, not to small and not too big. I changed the typeface and the layout from the original because it didn’t jive for me. Rupert agreed and we went from there.

The session took 2 and a half hours plus an hour for set-up. I had a hard time stretching Rupert’s skin in some areas because the Vaseline made it slippery so I had to re-outline in some areas.

Besides this, everything went fine. I tried Darius Agustin’s advice (Da Underground Tat 2) not to use the gray shading ink because the result wasn’t smooth so I just used my outlining ink and mixed it with water just like using watercolor. I used a 3 round needle for the outline and a 5 magnum for the shading.

Rupert was happy with the result and that made me happy too.





Thanks TJ Basa for the pictures.

MacBook Pro

I love my new MacBook Pro. I just acquired it 2 months ago. 15 inch, 200 gig at 2.4 ghz.

I bundled it with CS3 design standard (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat Pro). Got tired of hacking so I just bought it. Besides, I always use it and I’m gonna get even soon.

It’s gonna be my workhorse.

Another reason why I bought this was that Miro spends hours in my Mac at home. He enjoys playing Dora and Diego. I like him learning early on the PC. Plus I can be mobile. I can bring my MacBook anywhere.



I like how the screen adjusts to available light. The screen is a bit small for my needs but I have to do with it because I cannot afford the 17 inch but you can just zoom in to what you’re doing so problem solved.

I was looking for a case in the internet and the one I liked was priced at $60.00 so I just improvised. Haha. I’ve been using this case since I bought this Mac. Works perfect.

Recent Drawings 9_12_08

I’m basically new in my job. 8 months to be exact and one way for me to connect to my co-workers is to draw them up. This never fails.

I used to be timid and quiet but I just told myself, what the heck, I’ll just let everybody know who I am and what I do.

Drawing always gets people’s attention and it’s one way for me to gain their respect. Once they know I’m an artist, they stop harassing me. Of course I also understand respect should come from both sides. I grew up in the province and have been a FOB so I totally understand what respect means.

Drawing my co-workers is good practice for me so I also gain something out of it even if I do it for free.

But I recently decided to charge them the next time. It’s like Bill Gates’ style… giving away softwares for free then once you’re used to the free software and couldn’t live without it, Bill Gates upgrades it for $$$.

Cool strategy :-)

My Books

I got my first ever published comic book. It was a collaboration between me and Hal Nielsen of Jungle Training Productions. I’ve been doing comics for a while with Hal and this one was the latest. The other ones were mainly for presentation which I didn’t know if those ever got published.













I used a small brush that I bought at Walmart. I tried using a black pen but it didn’t work because it’s taking too much time and I hate it because I cannot afford to use too much of my time because of my 2 young kids.

You know most Filipino illustrators use a brush for comics so I tried it. It worked for me because you can cover thick and thin lines in one stroke. I’m not a master in comics but I got the job done. Hal liked it and we’re about to start on another one. It’s available for sale in Hal’s website.

This second book is a compilation of my flash designs and tattoos that I did. I published this myself. This is available for sale for $40.00 each. I can guarantee that it’s worth the price because I broke it in at the Cow Palace Tattoo expo. People who saw it loved it. You’ll find plenty of Filipino flash in this book. You can contact me if you want it.

















This third book is about my art. Inside are collection of my works starting from 2000 to 2007. Available for sale at 30 bucks a pop. Also self published. Here’s my email:

melveracruz@sbcglobal.net

Cow Palace Tattoo, August, 2008

Another Cow Palace tattoo expo have gone by. We were there. Ariel Cruz of Cruz Creations Tattoo and Darius Agustin of Da Underground Tattoo had 3 booths combined. I never expected us to have that many customers because summer was almost over. You know summer is the best season for business because this is the time they can show off their tattoos.



Almost all the pinoys came to us for their tats not only because we’re good (hehe) but also because we offer the most reasonable price for their money.

I had one client who asked me to draw a masked face of a samurai warrior. I charged him 30 bucks for the drawing. He told me… ‘do you know how much the other booth was charging me for this drawing?’ (not the tattoo), He said ‘three hundred fucking dollars.’ Then he added, ‘mga artist talaga o.’

Some artists may say that I charge too low and this will make our business suffer but I have my reasons. Customers will come back and they sure did. I think we had about four to five returning clients during the convention.

Billy Truong (one of my tattoo teachers) showed of his new machine. The gun was as light as a ballpen and it was using air. I find this very interesting because of the lightness of the tattoo gun and it’s practically noiseless. This will make it a lot easier to control but it costs $2000.00 for the whole setup and takes a lot of space. Ummm… never mind, maybe next time :-)

I got scared.

Darius asked me to do one tat. Boo hoo, I declined. He was tired the last day so he asked me but I wasn’t psyched to do it and I wasn’t expecting it. I showed him my book and saw the latest tattoos that I did and I guess he liked it so he trusted me. I knew I can do it but my mind just wasn’t prepared. I just got scared that I might mess up. I’m gonna be ready for the next one though.

My family joined me for the first time in almost 3 years that I have been going to tattoo expos. Miro was just running around while Isabela just oggled at people. Good thing she behaved. Millette went shopping a little bit and bought me a bracelet that I can’t put on because the buttons were too tight.



Oh, one guy asked me to draw up his idea. He asked me what if he didn’t like it. Some people don’t get it that I went to an art school and paid for it (actually my parents did). But once they ask me to draw something up, they have to pay for it. They think drawing is easy and doesn’t realize the fact that it took me years of pracice to be able to illustrate. Mga tao talaga o… hehe.

I just told him that at least he had something to start with. He liked it and when Ariel was doing his tattoo, he told me that if he weren’t sitting there having his tat done, he’s gonna hug me. That’s nice to hear.

Kwatro Kantos In Oakland

We set up our art at 21 Grand in Oaktown. Kwatro Kantos is made up of Marcius Noceda, Carlo Ricafort, Engalnd Hidalgo, our curator Lian Ladia and me.



I manipulated this Ginebra image 2 years ago for one of our exhibits at Bindlestiff. I guess that image stuck with us because England suggested it to be the name of our group and everyone agreed. I came from adverising so I like using pop images. Ginebra San Miguel is an icon in the Philippines and it’s one of my favorite drinks. It’s cheap, tastes good and potent. I used to drink a lot and I can say I personally know what it means to drink Ginebra. I know all you pinoys in P.I. know this too. Like I said, it’s cheap and potent and that says a lot.

It’s basically what we’re trying to say. Art could be cheap and potent too. You know how those institutions elevate ‘art’ into this unreachable pedestal. I don’t like buying those expensive materials in art stores. Why should I do that when I can buy it at any hardware store. What’s important for us is getting our messages across regardless of what kind of materials we use. We ARE the artists so they don’t have much choice.

Art is a luxury in the Philippines. Only the rich and the middle class get interested in it because it means nothing to the majority. They have to fill their stomachs first before getting into ‘art.’

I was just contemplating and realized that there’s no tagalog translation for the word ‘exhibit.’ The closest I can think of is ‘palabas.’ It’s just a ‘show’ like a circus. Nothing serious so why give meaning to a piece of s___. Excuse my French.



We got noticed by East Bay Express and wrote something about us. Flavorpill said Kwatro Kantos is what was happening in the art scene (August – September 2008) in the San Francisco bay area and I think they’re right.

EastBay Express link.

Thanks to barbara jane reyes for her article.

WORKS























RECEPTION







Some pictures in my garage. Preparation for the exhibit.