If a wacom tablet could speak, how will it describe you and your style..?

SCHIZO. With the number of art styles I juggle around, I wouldn't be surprised if my tablet developed multiple personalities. If it could speak, it would say, "Make up your damn mind, biyatch."

Do you believe that multiple personality disorder really exists..? Is this not only a brilliant excuse crafted by lawyers and criminals (not necessarily in that order (and interchangeable (",))) to land in the psych ward instead of jail..?

Well, if you ask me, I don't believe that a single personality is the norm. We're all psychologically split up into different people, which I believe is THE norm. It only becomes a disorder when those different people do something extremely far-fetched from their usual, more closely-related 'selves'. OR it's the perfect excuse for getting away with anything hahahahahaha :D

Hehe... so tell us more about that 'self' I am currently talking to now..?

I'm a commercial artist by trade and a daydreamer on off-hours. In no way do I consider myself a 'fine artist'. I'll reserve that for other people who have enough hubris. Instead, I'm a generally easy-going type of guy with a decent sense of humor, but dead serious when I have to be. I like to think I bring a certain degree of professionalism to my work—personal or otherwise.

Oh, and I like M&M's. So anybody who wants to get on my good side, you know what to bribe me with.

So how many packs of M&Ms will it take to bribe you to fill my cubicle with those sensual artworks of yours..?

How many M&Ms? As many as it takes for me to make M&Ms mosaics of ALL my artworks hahahahaha :D

Seriously, what inspires you to do those artworks..? What keeps the creative juices flowing..?

Inspiration? I'm gonna rip off Jim Krause (author of Creative Sparks) when I say I act as a human satellite dish, I absorb everything and anything I can and use my artworks as an outlet. Ideally it should be like this: Experience > Filter > Reflect > Inspiration > Manifestation.

I try to experience as much as I can, when I can. My art is merely a reaction to these experiences, imagined or otherwise. It may be as simple as observing how engine oil on a rain-puddle shifts into a million colors to realizing the relevance of Descartes' cogito ergo sum on how I take my coffee.

Basically, I get inspiration by keeping my eye out for the new, and I'm not just talking about an all new thing altogether but rather a new dimension to some things that I may not have realized before. And I don't force it. When it's there, it's there. You can't force yourself to be inspired. It's either you are or you aren't. It's just a question of whether or not you're inspired enough to actually do something about it and see it through.

So while I'm waiting for that burst of Inspiration, I do some exercise artworks, artworks which have no other purpose other than an exposition of skill and learning. So that when I DO get inspired, I'll be confident that I'll be able to execute my vision.

So why the pseudonym 'elpinoy', again..?

Abridged version: in honor of the quaint family-owned mini-mart run by my grandparents in Caloocan.

Unabridged version: My grandparents (father's side) were originally from Pampanga (a province north of Manila, for those who don't know). They settled in Caloocan when their kids started going to college. They never made a lot of money (gramps was a carpenter, granny's a housewife) but were able to set up a mini-mart that eventually put all their children through college (which, back in the day, was no small feat).

Basically, the pseudonym is to remind me that with real hard work and an honest goal, you'll be able to accomplish great things.

What lured you into doing art..? I'm an 80's kid, so being exposed to Transformers, G.I. Joe, Thundercats, and an ass-load of Japanese Sentai series fried my brain the right way. And back then, I didn't have a lot of toys, so drawing was like playing for me. I'd make comics of the weirdest amalgamated characters; when I was six or seven, Robocop came out, and I was so into Peanuts at the time. I made my very first copy-paper- folded-in-half-and-stapled comic: ROBO-SNOOPY.

So who do you think will win a fight between Lion-O and SnakeEyes?

Snake-Eyes. Hands Down. Lion-O may be a cat-alien with an elongating sword (oooh, sounds dirty) but Snake-Eyes is mute, carries an uzi and a katana, and he's a friggin' ninja. Plus he has a PET WOLF. Judging by cool factor alone, Lion-O would've tuck-tailed and run the moment he feels Snake-Eyes' presence (Snake-Eyes wouldn't even let Lion-O see his shadow 'cause he's, y'know, a ninja).

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