If you don’t like Filipino food, put a sock in it!

Upon realizing making t-shirts was expensive business, I decided to back the “Fil-culture-preneur” jeepney up a bit and reflect on how to go about this in a more budget-friendly manner.

Now I’m experimenting with Zazzle.com, a place where I can design prints on practically anything! I started with slapping a bangus drawing on a button. And after selling one, I went ahead and uploaded a frozen beer mug with a balut on it and a sticker with a Pturondactyl: a cross between a Filipino dessert snack called “turon” and a Pterodactyl. How random can this get? Now I sell shoes lol.

I believe my itch to draw started one evening when my mom drew a star for me. She did it in 5 strokes without lifting the pencil once! Never in my 5 or 6 years of life did I see something so amazing!

Since then I drew everything I saw. But never from my imagination. I imitated a lot. The hardest things to draw were my favorite robots. Voltron and Optimus Prime. So I mimicked much simpler subjects within the next few years. Like Bart Simpson, who was really just a rectangular head, a zig zag line of hair, two balls for eyes, and a side ways “U” nose.

I don’t know if an artist can truly be original, but I try to now-a-days. Whenever I make something, it might remind someone of something else they’ve seen, or convey a style that can easily resemble the style of another artist. In the end, I believe that since I made it, a piece of me is there and it is my own.

Like Filipino food. Some dishes might remind someone of other cuisines they’ve seen, but in the end I believe since Filipinos embraced and loved it, a piece of us is there, and it is ours.