looking back, moving ahead!

MARK

One Year Ago (20 months earlier to be exact): we were just born artists searching and waiting to free the real artist within us. We took an assessment test to make sure we have the right stuff of art in our nerves, after we heard of a certain short course being offered for free. It’s not just some ordinary short course, it’s a short course about 2D animation. For us, it’s a rare kind of course to be offered for free through a scholarship. After passing the grueling five-hour exam, we were told and given the schedule to submit the requirements and attend the training. Some of us missed the first few days of training. But we easily caught up with the lessons and the things they taught about animations. Every day is a day of discovery, a chance to reveal our true passion and skills to draw. Not just to draw but make our drawings move, give life to our rough doodling of just any kind of characters we got with our imaginations. But sometimes the rules and techniques of making our drawings move seemed complicated and hard. It needs a lot of hard work to do it, patience and practice until we could fully understand the process. We also need to learn and use certain computers softwares to give life to our scanned drawings. Repeat if the outcome is crappy and trash every single page of drawing if it looks deformed from the model drawing sheet. Spending days and nights doodling in a lightbox seemed to be a never-ending task until we could learn to master the ways of being an animator. Yes, we wanted to be an animator if we want to land a job in the future that complements our artistic passion.

The instructors were fun and patient in dealing with our tantrums. They tried their best to understand our flaws and let us discover our true strength in arts. Best of all, they appreciate everything we did with our talent.

But we remember each other as if we were connected with the stuff that we are doing—we love what we do. Our hard work defined the friendship we shared, thus, we were later called Kuris.

One Year After (20 months after to be exact): we became artists who learned to give life with our doodling. Making our drawings move like what Walt Disney or the people in Cartoon Network were doing is the best stuff we did throughout our artistic journey. And making history with our culturally-oriented projects makes us more proud and confident that we are indeed doing something great. We are now on the verge of looking back and taking everything in perspective. After we finished the short course in 2D animation and receive a certificate, those people who were responsible in giving us the scholarship failed to land us a job connected in animation industry. A lot of the trainees lost their hope but some of us tried to hold on together to pursue what we love to do. We are taking big steps to be discovered by potential people who could employ us in animation someday with our projects.

After the training some of us didn’t stop enhancing our talents and expanded our horizon. We risk a lot and inspired young artists that obstacles and criticisms is part of learning how to be good with your craft. Some of us took a break but we know that we can jump back once the right time will come. We are learning more and prepare for something better. We don’t lose hope, we only lose “fear” each time we try to overcome our limitations. Each of us has their own specialty and we believe we contribute to a collective artistic force that could fuel our drive in finding our dream.

After all this time, everything is not a just a mere illusion now. We can see clearly each time we hold on to the good memories we created together with our friendship. There’s no better way to express ourselves rather than hold a pencil and start doodling something in a piece of paper, scan these drawings and make them move with the computer softwares we learned to use. We refuse to be contented in using few softwares and techniques, we want to expand. Do something better and make the dream work.

“Time and failures” are just mere illusions if we learn to believe more that dreams do come true if we hold on to the friendship we shared. We made a mark and we can do it again. We are now animators in our own creative way.

open lines

DISTANCE

Distance keeps us apart for a while। Although some of us are working closely for a special project, we never let distance break our bond and friendship. Once in a while we check each other and share lots of things going on through text messages.

Distance may keep us distracted for a while but still the dream lives on. We still share the same intensity of passion and ideas once our dream projects might start. The rest of our hotshot Kurisans are earning respect and admiration from the project heads regarding the great stuff that they are doing. The project is nearly done and a big possibility that it might expand since their hard works and artistry is commendable (awesome if others would truly say it). The group is proud of their achievements because they continue to help each other and share lots of good ideas to enhance their skills.

As much as possible we deal much on the positive thoughts and ideas of the group rather than let our hope fade. As long as we keep the lines open and the bond intact, we are not afraid to move on. Some of us might be going somewhere else to take care of our personal endeavors and careers but that’s just part of growing up, a preparation to jump back again to the Kuris dream once the right time comes. It won’t take years… just a few months to save some resources, ideas and work out to realize the great plans we had in mind.

We may not have total control of our fate, but as long as we really love what we can do with our artistic gifts, every obstacle is just a mere illusion. And on the other side the wall, we knew it is painted with our dreams and passion.
We never knew…the best is yet come.

next spot

TEASER

The second time could be tough but it’s worth a try for Tuldok Animation Studios, Inc. No, they did not fail to inspire many Pinoy artists and animators to chase their dream of making their own original animated film projects. No, they did not fail to grab recognitions for their artistic effort to show the real talents of Pinoy animators. And yes, they were awesome with their first project, the 20-minute animated film “Libingan” digitally-done in flash animation and unified the best effort of the team’s dynamic members who were all talented animators.

A successful film launching, lots of film festival exposures and strong media promotion made their project exceptional. They gave hope to many local artists to harness their originality and create their own brand of pop culture in animation.

Next year, July 2009, Tuldok Animators will launch their second animated film project entitled “Pasintabi” with NCCA to uplift original Filipino content in animation. The second film project might be done in full 3D animation with a more cultural touch. It will tell a story about a boy who don’t believe in the old ways of his ancestors and his grandfather who possess the power to tap his supernatural healing powers. It will be another reminder that we have so much to offer when it comes to content development in animation and that we need to find our true identity by harnessing our gifts through this craft.

To Tuldok team, good luck and we’re glad you’re not afraid to chase your dream।

You can view the teaser trailer of “Pasintabi” at these links… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-rziwS6W_0

crawling back...

TOUGH

The outside world is tough. As creative artists and optimistic amateur animators, we have our own world inside us. A spacious room to breathe our creativity, our unexpressed passion, our hope for the animation industry and the inspiration we wanted to share with other artists. Sometimes, the outside world doesn’t understand what artists really want to have in life or what could make us complete and contented. But deep inside of us, we only want a fair share of place to share our passion, dreams and freely sow our gifts. We wanted the world to give us a chance to breathe, to grow and give us the chance to chase the artistic journey. Of course as animators, we are more inclined to our imaginations and think about our limitations as a mere reflections of how far we could keep on dreaming. Sometimes, choices affect that course of the fate we wanted to follow. Everything we chose determines our capacity to expand or limit the great things we can do with our artistic gifts. There are even times that we choose to work apart from each other but still keep the goal intact inside us. Distance or circumstance could not easily hamper our visionary effort to bring out the best in each of us. If there are times that we need a break and pursue things on our own to reflect on better things we could do on the next day. But time is like an illusion, sometimes you let it slip away and realize that what you need is not about holding on but dreaming and working hard for what you want. Our team is not just about people with artistic passion but a group of individuals who treat each other as friends enjoying each other’s company. We may have diverse personalities but we complement each other’s passion and need to express our creativity. When we work, we treat something as more than just a project but as expression. And at the end of the day, we make sure we had fun, we made a good laugh and we prove something better to the outside world.

P.S.—we’re not giving up like most people think about us lately. Fact is, we don’t easily get persuaded to believe that we abandoned what we started. We know for sure that there more people who believe in us and what we can do.

the strongest link

HOLD

Time has been good to us. it gave us so much hope in life and better ways to see things clearly. we always have this notion to look at the brighter side of life amid the obstacles we face in everything we do. we as animators, as creative artists sometimes need to replenish our creative mood and overcome the pressures that we have gone through. but we assure ourselves that we still has the same intensity of passion and vivid dreams inside longing to be expressed at the right time.

for a short period of time, we made little accomplishments with our talents and creativity. a lot of people recognized our effort to inspire others and stand firm with our distinct creative originality. some people can deny our claims and feats but history can't be easily erase. we made a difference in our own little way as amateur animators through our projects. it signified that Ilonggo artists like us have what it takes to prove our potentials. of course, the best times we've been through and the friendship we shared are most likely the driving force of our dreams.

we take every project and opportunities as a challenge to expand our wisdom, enhance our God-given talents and learn new things. so, we took a break to refresh our minds, fortify our goals and look back to further understood where we are heading for. we may have other personal priorities in life at the meantime, but we know that we can come back anytime soon to fulfill what we hope in the future...the future of Ilonggo animation. some of us are working closely together to enhance our talents and equipped ourselves with the latest innovations of technology which would prove vital for our future projects.

there are still bigger things to come from Kuris. clearer view of our hidden reveries and creative side. the best is yet to come for sure. all we need is a bigger room to breathe, open up our minds and take one step at a time.

we know that The BEQUEST or LAPIS is intended to become something we truly dream of... hold on, it keeps getting better!