Although “comics” are as indefinable as literature and film as a medium, it has nevertheless been a staple for expressing information throughout our society’s history. This should come as no surprise to anyone, since creating a set of comics is the easiest, most unique and fun way of producing personalized art—even if it is done with just stick figures.
From official newspaper editorials to your child’s crayon-filled notebook full of doodles and weird characters, comics have some underlying and psychologically important ideas to communicate—it’s just done in the most seemingly unimportant and hilariously entertaining kind of way. And with the advancement of digital technology and today’s “Millennial Fever”, it is not long before scrolling through your social media page and you’ll come across different cartoon/illustrations that serve as a mini-break from celebrity gossip or your friend’s selfie feeds.
With today’s trend of comics (with the exception of the more traditional “Marvel” kind or graphic novels) practically serve as a visual journal of the artist, that pause will most probably deliver you themes like existential crises, dealing with anxiety, and/or awesome puns. Because as we all know or noticed stereotypically, if traditional artists are to “tortured souls”, then illustrators/cartoonists are to being “adorkable” and “quirky”—if
today’s digital art strip is a genre or a person, it could be basically called: “Zooey Deschanel.” Although the informal characteristics of illustrations and comics give them the impression of being non-Metropolitan Museum of Art-worthy, they are in every shape and form a legitimate piece of art and are even capable of eliciting specific types of emotions at glance—with or without dialogue.
If like me, you enjoy hours of “LOL-ing” (a.k.a. short bursts of air through the nose) by stalking through the Instagram accounts of witty comic artists like, Sarah Andersen (@sarahandersencomics), Adam Ellis (@adamtots) Gemma Correll (@gemmacorrell), and Loryn Brantz (@lorynbrantz) to name a few, then I am sure you will find Xiao Prieto’s comic illustrations gleefully endearing, especially since she features familiar places and even faces that we all Dabawenyos can relate to.
“I decided to join an art club but soon realized it was not for me, since the artworks I see there are very similar: mountains, rice fields, or trees, etc. It wasn’t until sixth grade when my classmate showed me her older brother’s drawings—it was a notebook filled with Sailor Moon artworks. That was the first time my interest in art sparked. I started buying Sailor Moon text cards and bought myself a drawing notebook. I filled it up with drawings copied from cards and I haven’t stopped honing my skill since,” the artist shares.
Xiao eventually fell in love with her first graphics tablet and was heavily influenced by the “deviantart” online community. “If you share your experience with riding a jeepney, it is different when you show it through drawing than by just telling someone. Art adds flavor to my everyday life and has helped me channel my emotions to a more creative pursuit. One of them has already been materialized: “Alleycat”.
I wanted to have a cafe of my own where creatives and like-minded people can meet, and where local artists are being supported through our events like “Print Ta!”. Another long-term goal of mine is to be able to produce enough quality content to be able to publish a book. I have this idea of a graphic memoir showing drawings of different districts/places in Davao City—its means of transportation, food, and the locals. My style is like a drawing of an eight-year-old but with a quirky surprise,” Xiao states.
For a sneak peek of her project, visit http://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/lokal/list?title_no=39617
