The Dreaming

An Illustrations of Dreams by The Drawer Kring

Kring Demetrio, Cebu

Nightmares

Abstractions of the mind from daily constructs and also, possibly the future of imagery. It’s wishful thinking but I do hope I’d be able to live the day we can watch our dreams. Like movies. Or virtual realities. And maybe eventually, walk among the creatures of imagination. Intangible to tangible. Dreams to Art. Art to Worlds.

Claiming to know an all-embracing role of art in any society would be presumptuous of me. It’s a broad subject, at best-- vague. I only think the role of art has always been influenced by the culture that wields it. So, I can only give insight on how art is wielded in the circles I’m involved in. For example, within my peers in illustration in my city, the role of art is to inspire other individuals to create, to tell stories and to explore their creative mind--mostly because we are youthful, hopeful and ambitious. There are more mature artists here whom I know use it to raise awareness, to portray a political stand or represent the voice of the unheard.

I’m Kring , a self-taught illustrator based in Cebu City, Philippines. Internet was introduced late growing up, so I read a lot in order to learn my craft. There were no Fine Arts or Illustration courses available where I grew up as well, so I took the next best thing; philosophy. My fling with philosophy contributed to giving and understanding depth in art--it will always be one of my favorite years in school. My fascination with the graphite medium began when I was a child. Even after exploring several media including ink, oil and soft pastels, colored pencils, acrylic and watercolors--nothing best made my ideas alive than the simple pencil sketch. I started imitating book illustrations, paintings, and manga before I actually developed a style. But the magic of line and flow only appeared to me way later. I am yet to take the courage to join and win any competitions given that I have a characteristic insecurity about my own work compared to those who went through formal training. Formal training usually gives an artist’s work a good polish set by academic techniques of drawing. Self-taught techniques, usually born largely out of imitation and amateur guessing, always shows a ‘clunk’ in the work. Those defects and ‘clunks’ show in my work often in my opinion--so, I never had the courage to join a contest. I’m still trying to improve my work until I see that my work is ready to compete with others. However, I have joined curated exhibitions abroad and locally. I also worked in the publishing industry for at least five years. I now fully work as a freelance illustrator making book, editorial and institutional illustrations.

Persophene

Sleeping Beauty

What originally made you want to become an illustrator?

It was to disprove the notion of some of my elders that there’s no career in art or illustration. That was the starting motivation but I no longer base my career plans on that. My mother also encouraged me to never forget drawing when I was a child. My father, who always showed appreciation for my doodles even when they were as good as chicken scratch, always inspired me to do better. They were part of the people I wanted to impress when I was young, I wanted to prove I could achieve something deemed impossible by many.

How would you describe your style? How is it different?

Symbolist? Figurative Mysticism? Personal Occult? I haven’t really found a name for it. My images are eclectic at best. They’re not always cohesive with my other works but almost everytime, interesting. Like sketches by an anonymous artist from an old forgotten drawer, they will always be enigmatic, a bit dark and strange--romantic sometimes.

Take us through your design process, where do you start?

The sketching begins with a daydream. Always a daydream. Whether it be from a scene from a book, a poetic idea, a movie still, an emotion--the image starts as a daydream. Like automatic writing, by the time I start sketching it on paper, the whole process spills out but the idea is done and firm. It’s never the same process each time, which can be frustrating as I’m really just guessing how better professionals do it. But there’s always a paper, grained and preferably never white, and a pencil, rather, an army of pencils. Most times, the sketch transforms into a drawing or the final drawing becomes more like a sketch. References are one of the most important tools for drawing, so my drawings always start with a figure drawing. Then I make thumbnails to see a better view of the picture as a whole. Further in thumbnailing, I have to determine where to put dark, medium and light values to emphasize the subject. After that, everything else is automatic--the flow, the lines, the style, the colors. It just like being a printer, really. The image is done in my mind and all I need to do is print.

Who has influenced you to become an illustrator?

No one! I guess, there was a little interest when I read all those picture books and novels in my school library before. I wanted to draw fairy tales. Or the labors of Hercules. Or Nancy Drew. In truth, I always thought I’d be a comic artist or a mangaka. My peers were into webcomics then, so I thought I’d just follow suit. So, I did a lot of ink and panels for years. Back then, I thought that proper book illustrations were for the really established artists. But the idea became more attainable when I got into the publishing industry and I started to gain interest in making book illustrations, just like the images I admired throughout the years.

Who are the artists you look up to?

My current favorite illustrator is Rovina Cai. She can effortlessly make anything romantically gothic, no matter the subject. She has an amazing style and great foundation in drawing. I have a notebook where I study her pieces from artist’s intention and story to more technical aspects of composition and use of color. Another is Marc Scheff, my mentor for drawing fundamentals. He taught me to value practice and muscle memory for drawing. It’s been really helpful and he invigorated my interest in realism. Besides the Old Masters, a lot of Renaissance and Baroque artists--Botticelli, Durer, Dad Vinci, Caravaggio, Gentileschi, I look up the most to Yoshitaka Amano, famous for being the illustrator of the Final Fantasy series in the early 90s. But the work I really admire from him is his drawings for the Vampire Hunter D novels. He is the god of flow and movement for me. I spent years memorizing his work. My favorite local artists are Orly Ypon, Rom Villaseran, Agnes Arellano, Sergio Bumatay III and Mall Licudine! I always check what they’re up to and dream from it what I can to form my next ideas.

Tell us more about these illustrations you submitted?

They’re all inspired by some form of connection to The Dreaming. Much like The Dreaming from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman where gods and myths live and wither. You may extract some or no meaning from them--they are all dreaming images.

“Never forget drawing. You can do whatever you want, but never forget drawing. You’ll regret the day you’ve taken it for granted. It’s beautiful and powerful tool for the future.” Paraphrasing my mother’s advice when I was around six or seven.

What is your personal motto

“You have a boundless mind, never be afraid to explore its depths.”