Poster on the left is for review, but true to the fashion I made a last-minute design turnaround. Frankly I like the Rodchenko-ish second (which is a masturbatory piece–this’ll be a long shot). I just hope the directors make a sensible decision tomorrow. Break my leg!

because I’ll be on f*cking nightshift again.

coming up again tomorrow.

A project for spec fic friends Dean and Joey and their latest baby, The Farthest Shore, Estranghero Press’ first offering which is an anthology of second world fiction from the Philippines, launched just weeks ago. Evolution of the cover might as well be a story of its own.

First row.
Leftmost image looks like a book on botany and aquaculture (that’s a self-criticism). Center image F. Sionil Jose-ish, according to Dean (not that it’s bad), and title box reminiscent of high school drafting classes according to Claren. There’s got to be a sensation of strangeness, said Dean again. And there should be a portal. Rightmost image, no reaction. The face in the armoire is an allusion to the cover of Ursula Le Guin’s The Birthday of the World. Le Guin, after all, has a similarly-titled book in her Earthsea series.

Second row.
It’s “The Farthest Shore” not Shores, said Joey. Yeah, I’m not listening. Left and center image, Dean: “I’m not a fan of overlapped type” or something to that effect. Claren agrees. I concede. Third image, derm, where should I put the compass?

Third row.
Nailed it, after seeing a tutorial featuring an arched door, a winged horse, a sword and light pouring in. Aka, the works. Still the same hard requirements: strange structure, portal, old map. Photoshop’s pen tool (thanks, Rick) wanted me to wish I had a third hand, or an extra index finger. Then several bottles of Red Horse got me worried about the feathering (this is a story within a story, a montage). Stop the nitpicking, I was told (ooh that was a nice advice on Life). The texture makes Rick want to touch it like a real book (we very much hope so that it’ll be at least a paperback soon). Then I made a back cover. One dose of verisimilitude served! Rightmost sigil of course, is for ownership purposes in case somebody lifts this image illegally.

Roll credits here:
Typography, exljbris Font Foundry
Armoire and No Man’s Land images, Paul Grand
Face profiles, Tyrone Orbase
Textures, borealnz
Map, Strangemaps
Kois, grass, Kaohsiung lighthouse, crags of Amper Beach and Vigan doorways, my own (so there goes the Philippine elements in the making of this cover)
Claren and Rick for the bittersweet peanut gallery comments

This is the design part of South by Design, munchkin!

The bossing is not back yet, so the fake Ty Caliente’s still here.

I haven’t been shooting that much (but that’s a half-lie) so maintaining my own photoblog and being the yaya of this blog is a bit… Tedious I guess. But I have a valid excuse.

For now, we’ll stick to film.

Yes, it’s been a year. How time flies, I didn’t even notice it.

I am not the real Ty Caliente, that’s for sure.

I’ve taken care of some of his web projects for sometime now, that if we consider these projects as his “babies,” we’ll probably end up calling each other “kumpare” or “kumare” even though I am young enough to be his younger sister. He he. Anyway, I’ll be taking care of this place for awhile, so enjoy the photos all the way from the North of North.

Somehow pleased with the outcome of my foray into lighting, care of Ten Paras and the rest of the flickristasindios. More to come!

What if I greet the Father of the Philippine National Language in English? As long as he understood what I’m saying, there shouldn’t be any problem.

In the same vein, Baler, our hometown is celebrating its 400th anniversary. Read everything about the Star of Baler in BatangBaler.net.

*MLQ picture lifted also from BatangBaler.net.