vic thinks too much

New blog area!

2009-12-18T23:35:00.003-05:00

Check it out over at

http://vicyambao.com

If I were in Prison...all I'd ever need is a sketchbook...and uh..food and water.

2009-07-23T02:21:00.005-04:00

When I was a child, all I ever wanted to be was to become an artist. Well, that and the occasional fantasies of being a Ninja Turtle, but realistically, I wanted to become an artist. When everything else in my life goes to shit, I can always rely on making art to distract me temporarily until shit calms down. WELL... now I’m shit deep in student loans and shit ain’t calming down! You bet your ass I’ve been busy making art.

First off, I was involved in this:

(click image to follow link)
Here’s the weekly dig using my sculpture to promote the event. They didn’t mention my name, but they did mention the opening reception date…too bad it’s WRONG!

(click image to follow link)
Here’s ArtSake blogging about Glovebox. They used a picture I gave Liz and Jodie concerning the progress of my work.

(click image to follow link) Here’s Glovebox doing a blog about my participation with Junko Revival. They sent me some questions and I answered them.

(click image to follow link)
Here’s “Wicked Local” covering the event with a picture of my sculpture complete with title, medium, and gasp! Artist name. Recognition at last.

Go check it out...the art will be up till August 8 so you have time to check them out.
________________________________
Here’s the thing…
I never leave my apartment without my man-purse or “murse,” because it carries essential tools for my daily adventures; a camera, an Ipod, pens and pencils of different sizes and colors, but most importantly, it carries my sketchbook, which acts like a diary or a journal to me. I once lost a murse carrying one of my sketchbooks once and I’ve never forgiven myself for doing so…Actually, that’s a lie, at the time I didn’t feel bad because when I searched the bar I last saw it—I instead got a phone number and a date with a fairly attractive girl who worked there. When she ended up being frighteningly weird and kinda psychotic after our first date, THEN I started feeling bad about losing my murse and sketchbook.

Back to the topic! Anyways, when I want to make some art that isn’t elaborately big or time consuming….I look to my murse and attack my sketchbook. I will now show you selected pages from it:

(pencil on paper)

I didn’t want to put this one up but I feel I should show you an example of what happens when you stop drawing for a while. You get rusty and annoyed at yourself. This thing took me hours to finish. Lying on the grass in Cambridge, staring up at this statue of John Bridge, and being eaten alive by bugs while I disappoint myself with every line drawn. I stopped caring if the shadows and proportions made any sense, as I just wanted to finish the damn thing before the bugs finished me off. One climbed inside my ear and I’ve had enough.

(ink on paper)

I love comedic violence and this was from a film Carlos and me were involved in. I’m quite fond of characters who—after being severely beaten, taken multiple lacerations, gun shot wounds, stab wounds, lose massive amount of blood and other ridiculousness—they just absolutely refuse to die. They’re like the terminator except they feel pain and it’s hilarious. Anyways, that’s me being stubborn and giving the salute while Carlos beats me with a two by four.

(markers on paper)

“What? Why?” that was the reaction I got from Sarah when I told her I wanted to draw her. I mean she understands how natural it is for me to ask people if I could draw them just like I understand how natural it is for her to think it’s creepy. Phew…good thing I’m already going out with her. Anyways, her reaction after I finished this was “You made me look cool.” To which I will simply and cockily reply…. “psshh—I know.”

Ok…. so the next following crop of art are Improv Asylum oriented. It’s almost a year since I had the awkward job interview at this place and it’s almost a year since I pretended to like beer in order to fit in working here. Anyways, the point is I’m quite fond of this place.

(markers on paper)

Here’s what an actor looks like waiting for his queue to enter a scene.

(markers on paper)

This is Evan X…. Opera singer, Republican, Box Office Wizard, and all around nice guy.

(colored pencils on black artagain paper)

This is Doug, one of many funny improv comedians on the Mainstage.

(markers on paper)

This is here is Bryce. Bryce is part of the NXT cast and his humor is gold.

(ink and markers on paper)

This charming fella’s name is Danny. Danny invited me to his Halloween Party last year. It was a costume party he says…. so I went as Dr. Zoidberg and everyone else went as themselves. Thanks Danny.

I wanted to show the poster I made for the current NXT revue called “LOST IN BOSTON or Something Wicked Pissah This Way Comes” But that’ll probably be considered a sketch spoiler. SO if you’re in the Boston Area…go to the Improv Asylum on Wendesday or Sunday for the 8PM show. My poster’s hilarity relies on their execution of the sketch and they do execute excellently…. go see it.
_____________________________________________

The last batch of artworks on here, are posters I made for Harvard plays and Operas.

(Acrylic on panel)

This right here is the poster for the Lowell House Opera’s annual Spring Scenes concert. I’m not too fond of this poster, and I don’t think they were too happy about it also—seeing that I didn’t get any feedback from them or a copy of the poster like they usually do. Sigh…it’s just not the same without Sarah Eggleston (a friend and former LHO producer).

(Acrylic on Board)

This lovely little thing is a poster for the Gilbert and Sullivan’s production of “The Gondoliers.” The producer asked me for sex appeal…and I gave him three fleshy drawings and we settled on this one. I was told that this was pretty racy for Gilbert and Sullivan…but hey, sex sells.

(Acrylic and Digital on Board)

This last one is the first time I used digital media on a poster. Why? Because I was running out of time…and photoshop just did a better job at reflecting the mountains on the water. Anyways, the producer gave me a very abstract description on what she wanted on the poster so I just painted the objects I understood from her description and apparently I hit the target.

And that’s it for now. I really wanted to make more art to show on here but shit will never calm down this way, as I actually have to confront my student loans dilemma. Being an Artist is hard… I wonder if it’s not too late to pursue a career as a ninja turtle.

The longest February...

2009-02-27T12:59:00.007-05:00

This month is supposed to be the shortest month compared to the other ones. But it's crawling and certainly taking its time. Anyways! Some Art News!

I'm involved in this (click image for more info):

SPIN: a glovebox art show
Showing: March 1st-March 29th
Rescue Apparel & Accessories
252 Brighton Avenue, Allston
Opening Reception: March 1st, 6-9pm

The theme was Cassettes and Records...So I decided to nail some cassette tape I found at the goodwill store to a foam board. I wanted to destroy it, basically. As wonderful as cassette tapes were to me back in the day-- they are obsolete in today's world of MP3s. It also shed some light on my mood at the time of its making. A sudden realization that what was once great back then, needs to be discarded for something much greater. I decided to make the background look like the surface of concrete, like a tombstone. Anyways, here it is:

The LHO Otello Poster is finally finished! It's hanging around several spots in the Harvard Yard area. I got myself a copy and decided to steal another one for a friend when I realized, everyone has been stealing it. Weird. While working at the Harvard Box Office, a man bought tickets to this event and asked if there were any extra Otello posters that I could give him. It felt good to have your work wanted...still...I had to tell him "No". Anyways, below is the process of how this poster was finished:

first the preliminary drawing....guess who modelled?

Then I added the base color...or something...

Then the finish...

When it was scanned and printed by the producers of the show...it looked over-contrasted and it lost it's bluish sky....still, the badass-look remains.

Now...let's open up the sketch book and scan some sketches shall we?

I finally watched "Requiem for a Dream" and although the film's execution was brilliant... the plot made me depressed...and it stuck with me for many weeks... I decided to draw Marlon Wayans at his least funniest....

Here I tried sketching my day... I was sick as hell but decided to go to work anyways. I wasn't able to finish it...but the last scene was just going to be me sleeping.

Ok...so this is Janice. Should I talk about Janice? No... I'll just say she had a nice body, especially her back...so I decided to draw it.

At one point, while thinking of something to draw...i decided to outline my hand...you know, like how you start when you draw stupid drawings of turkeys. Anyways, I made a task for myself of trying to make the hand pop out of it's 2D world....

Finally...this isn't a drawing, but one night...while I was feeling like absolute shite.... I made myself some hot chocolate with marshmellows.....as I was about to take a sip from the mug I noticed the hot chocolate was smiling at me. It made me smile back...so I decided to take a picture.

The End.

So it's 2009...

2009-01-07T23:09:00.005-05:00

And 2008 was a great year for my art I think... this year will be better. Several projects in the near future...
First of, upon googling my name, (a habit I occasionally do to remind myself that I still exist.) I found my name under the Lowell House Opera website . Now I have done my share of designs for the LHO so this should come as no surprise. That is until I found my name under "Poster designer" for an opera I haven't done a poster for. Soon enough I realize that even the Opera itself is advertised without a game plan. You see, it's missing a director, which is--as I've heard--a significant part of a stage opera. Nevertheless, as soon as I hear news from the producer, expect me to create the Poster for the LHO's production of "Otello".

Another project that should be finished this new year is the animation project me and Kenny Penguin started about seven months ago. I graduated Art School with a degree that looked down on animation, so having done roughs, backgrounds, sound recording, learning the tools of flash animation, and getting used to a wacom tablet... I'd say seven months has been progressive. But the project will be done soon and I expect you to expect it.

I have other side projects brewing in my artist head...like more paintings in the style I came to love when making that "Traffic" painting. I'm also thinking about getting into a wrestling match with the barbed wire again. The sculpture section of my website looks like a "get together" of works instead of a "Paaartay." I've got some ideas brewing and it will only take a matter of time...and new work gloves... before I spew some of these ideas into 3D.

Now, I feel like spilling some sketches from the sketchbook. Click em' to view larger.
I was drawing myself as a bald black man. This wasn't a conscious effort, it just kinda ended up that way. (done with markers)

This Ninja forgot his black mask and ended up wearing his snow day winter wear for a dark night mission. (done with markers)

This girl's name is Judy, whose image I found in some modeling website. I thought she had a very pretty face and I needed to draw it. More research about her (and it didn't take long) indicated that she was actually a porn star. (done with pen and ink)

Here's another looker I decided to draw. Obama will be president this year, the man is overflowing with hope and optimism... let's pray they continue to flow in the next coming years. (done with pen and ink)

Ah, my overconfident smile. I can actually hear myself giggling in this picture. I made this to remind myself that there is a fine line between a smile that makes me look cute, and a smile that makes me look like the ambassador of stupid. Very easy to cross those lines. Also, notice the consequence of having a sketchbook larger than your scanner. I had to scan these twice and attach them together with photoshop. (done with markers)

Finally, it is my right as an artist to have an emo moment. I was heartbroken when I made this and when the idea popped up I thought it was clever enough to draw. I had meant to color it in but too many days went by and I no longer have the same emotional motivation, nor do I think it was as clever as I thought it was. (done with pen and ink)

that's all...till next post!

Our lives are another being's entertainment thingie...

2008-08-05T01:06:00.012-04:00

The benefit of being a "time slave" is that the more you do your time, the clearer things get. Self-analyzation is 20/20 in hindsight. Let's start when I spent my entire June and July preparing for my July 18th show, when I should've been looking for a summer job. For some reason, I've convinced myself that when the show is set up, everything will fall into place. Then the bills came, and the student loans followed, and then right behind that was the rent, and finally my bank statement telling me that I don't have enough money to pay for any of those things. Adding to this stress-- from out of nowhere, Jackie leaves me and I find myself being single again after four years. Despite all of this, I've managed to set up my first solo show at the Harvard Holyoke Arcade. Advertised at boston.com, thanks to the awesome Deena who helped me set up the event, I felt pretty proud of myself. The show itself was eventful except for the early fire drill that drove a good amount of my audience out of the show space (taking with them a lot of the food). But friends showed up and I was pretty happy with the end result. Pictures of this show can be seen when you click on the picture below
Click Me!

After the show, reality kicked in and I'm scrambling around looking for jobs and ways to save money. I barely made it through July and I'm wondering whether I'm going to make it through August. I did find a job though, and it isn't the best pay but it definitely is the funnest job I've ever had since working for the now extinct Colony 4 Movie theaters. I am training to become the front house manager at the improv asylum. I've never been so exhausted at a job from laughing too much. Certainly laid back and I survived a "terrible" Saturday according to most of the veterans over there. I got so comfortable with the place that I slept over that same "terrible" Saturday night. I woke up the next morning on the couch near the...I guess lounge area.. and for a second, I forgot where I was.
The best thing about this job and I bet I'm going to need it, is that I can have all the red bulls I can drink! Liquid legal speed! But seriously, aside from the drunken bachlorettes grabbing my ass as I walked by the theater aisle (which, I'm thinking back now, I don't really mind.) and the drunken douche bags of testosterone screaming obscenities at the actors, or the dishes, puke, and bottles that convinces me America is an alcoholic, all and all I have to say, this job is pretty cool.

Now what have I learned about myself after looking back at the events that happened this past two or three months? I guess... In Hindsight everything is interesting.

Before I go I might as well show you these...somehow, I managed to add these to my moping and busy schedule
Random Thugs

The Umbrella

Ninjas Episode 1

Gun fight

The 7 day blink.

2008-05-30T13:26:00.015-04:00

On Friday Night, I closed my Eyes...

Memorial Day Weekend camping came and went as successful as I imagined it would be. Woke up at 5AM on a Saturday and waited for Jackie who came by at around 7AM. We loaded my car with camping gears and met up with the others at Al Lewis's apartment at around 7:45AM. And off we went, I was following Jack O'Hearn's car like a homing missile since he's got Al with him and I haven't got a clue how to get to the camp site (I almost got hit by another car in the process). I was also on a look out, making sure the bundle of camping gears on the roof of Jack's car didn't fly off (which at one point, it almost did).
Just before the camping grounds, we stopped at the nearby Shaws and picked up a few items such as meats, booze, sparklers, and other camping necessities. I think I bought more groceries for this weekend trip than I usually buy for two weeks (P.S. I'm currently sick of burgers and hotdogs.)

Anyways, we got there and it was the exact same spot as our 2004 Camping expedition. We set up camp and Jackie casually whispered, "I want to beat those guys in setting camp." So despite the army of bugs kamakazeeing our faces, we were the first to finish setting up our tent. Then we gathered wood, started a fire and sang songs. Some of us stuffed our faces with food...some of us got drunk...some of us got stoned....some of us did all of that.

On Sunday, everyone went out to explore the nearby river while I spent the day making the dreadful "Vermonster!!!!" actually, it's a unicorn... the original idea was to make a man out of sticks and burn him...like burning man, but the idea of the damn thing on fire and falling onto us didn't appeal to our liking, we decided to focus on a four-legged animal instead. As I was building the damn thing, the bugs decided to be extra relentless in their pursue to bury their eggs in my facial pores and no matter how much bug spray I doused myself with, they were not to be denied. Annoyed...I ended up making the body for the unicorn and completely skipped out on making its legs. F*ck bugs!
Everyone seemed satisfied anyways and the damn thing burned up quick. It ended so fast it's like it never existed...just like the camping trip.

Pictures of the trip can be seen here:
Camping Pics

We got back home on a Monday night and I was out on the Jersey Turnpike by Tuesday morning. The three day Jersey trip was relaxing to say the least. I was comfortable enough to go to the park and walk the dog shirtless, trying to make the sun molest the parts of my body it hasn't left its mark on yet. Most of the time I was hanging out with this little lady:

and the other times I was being bothered by this little attention sponge:

On Thursday, I was attacked by these little munchkins:

By the way, that's my hand sticking out from under that pile of kids.

Here's us apparently having a screaming contest

On Thursday Night I was on the road back to Boston. I opened my eyes at 9AM Friday morning and the blink was over.

Greetings from the no social life

2008-04-24T16:03:00.010-04:00

Been a hermit for the past few days... well with the exception of Sunday night, when a certain Mister Al Lewis talked me into postponing a painting I'm working on so that we may enjoy his lovely illegal fire pit illuminating his backyard. Fire RULES!!! My jacket still smells like campfire though.
Oh, and how can I forget the mandatory boyfriend duties of helping the lovely Jacklyn Boyland move out of her apartment on Tuesday, (She trapped me with the promise of a free dinner... it was good).

My large painting is showing some progress, after months of not working with oil paints, I was surprised to handle the medium pretty damn well. My goal is to finish this thing before the end of this month ready to be displayed for my July solo show (that's the 18th of July on your calendars).

I stupidly promised to volunteer in creating the Lowell House Opera Spring Scenes 2008 Poster. Stupid, because I'm so absolutely lacking in time and this promise took a considerable amount of sand from my hourglass. The idea was to take major characters from the Scenes and put them all together somehow in a famous painting. Ed Hopper would be so so....so...hm. what's the right word for this... I guess "pissed" would be appropriate. Anyways, here's the process:

The Best thing about replicating another artist's work is that they've done all the compositional thinking for you AND! they've already picked out the colors too.(Note: the preliminary drawings you see here are useless and disappeared rather quickly as soon as I started adding the acrylic on the panel

The longest part was painting the figures which I had no models for, so the figures you see piling up here were cooked up and vomited out of my imagination and Sarah E.'s description of them.

Ed Hopper would be a little ticked off that his isolated "nighthawks" now looks like a party of weirdos roaming the night. I mean my artist mind is telling me that the painting looked better when there were no figures in there at all, in fact my artist mind is a bit depressed at the final painting... but my normal mind is telling my artist mind to "shut the f*** up, what would be the point of replicating this in the first place without the extra figures?"

Anyways, the list of characters here are from these following Opera scenes,
Inside the diner...er barber shop...:
"Traviata" - Woman in a ballgown and man in a tailcoat toasting wine glasses
"Barber of Seville" - Barber with a vest and a pair of scissors
"Hand of Bridge" - Man and woman playing cards

Outside the Diner Barbershop:
"Dido and Aeneas" - Witch
"Boheme" - Two poor people walking hand-in-hand
"Magic Flute" - Papageno (dressed in feathers with bells on a stick)

Information about this event and to see this art work put into good use go to: http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/lho/2008spring/index.php
or look for posters of it around the Harvard Cambridge area.

Anyways, I have got to finish this large painting before May...July is right around the corner and I am nervous as hell.

The sun is molesting people again...

2008-04-18T12:23:00.003-04:00

I got clocked in the eye yesterday. A straight punch that sang a powerful "POP!" as it made contact with my orbital (that's the bone that holds the eye for those anatomically uninformed). It was an accident of course as the perpetrator was awfully apologetic afterwards. My eye is all puffy now, but nothing bruised… except my ego.
We got it all on tape too and will be up pretty soon.

Anyways, enjoy these random acts of violence…

So I have dug myself into a hole…
I’ve given myself more projects than I have time for.
And I’m depleting in cash.
Oh…and I need to find a new job this summer.

Damn it.
I’m always more screwed today than yesterday….

Pick up the knife...someone pick up the knife....but do it in character

2008-03-14T14:44:00.005-04:00

Turandot ends tomorrow, Saturday night and that show, along with tonight's show, are both sold out. There's no use in me saying, "buy your tickets and witness me at my most rugged!" Being one of the shortest people on stage, it takes a lot of convincing that I can kick everyone's ass as a guard when I'm looking up at them. I put on my make up (WAR PAINT!....no...it's make up)and put on the "perma-scowl" and I walk on stage as if my body was just a shell containing 160lbs of HATE for others. I guess it works.
There were two nights working with this actor named Kevin, and I had to restrain him from saving his father's slave (who was in love with him)and although his struggling and squirming did a lot to convince the audience how much of a badass I am for keeping him in his place, he keeps hitting my fragile retractable knife that is cruicial to the plot of the opera. The first time it happened, the knife handle broke off the blade, bounced off the stage and into the orchestra. They were smart enough to secretly put it back on the stage floor to which I would pick it up (in character), hide behind kevin, and fix it. Then, Kevin struggled once more causing the knife to break off again and fall on the stage floor. Fed up, I picked it up and without thinking twice, I punched kevin right in the sternum. It dawned on me seconds after kevin whispered "that hurts." that I should never ever hit performers on stage, definately not on the sternum and especially not when they have to sing the highest of musical notes. I of course, sincerely apologized backstage and taped up the knife so it wouldn't happen again.
Well, the next night's performance....kevin struggled once more and in a de javu moment, the knife drops on stage. Big difference this time is that I had a spare knife hidden in my outfit that I subtly replaced the one that fell off the holster so that the "slave in love" could kill herself with it without any problems.

Fun stuff...

Speaking of which, the following video,although it might look like it, does not idicate I have a lot of free time on my hands. No...not at all, it does indicate that I am the greatest procrastinator I know of. I promised myself that I will follow up on all my priorities by the end of this week, and even though I know I'm more focused when I'm under pressure, I'm also at my most stressed. Anyways, watch the video:

The Backflip was an idea I came up with using an experience I had in High School when at 190 lbs, I decided to try a backflip without having done one before. I do not remember the events that occured...the only thing I can tell you was, I was standing on either a bunch of stacked mats or on one of the basketball bleechers, I can remember staring at my feet for the mount and then BLAM Big white light. I thought I was waking up from bed when I realized I was on a gurney getting hauled up into an ambulance and someone kept asking me what day it was. I remember saying "Thrusday" and I also remember it being wrong (I still don't remember what day that was). I ended up in the Emergency room where my dad (who works there) had a smiling yet disappointed look on his face. They almost shaved my head for the 8 staples they were gonna give me but I protested and my dad gave them permission to just go ahead and staple the gash shut....with some hair getting shut in the wound.
I was a bloody mess.
Two days later I scuffed my face on the classroom floor attempting to do a backflip again.
The school threatened to expel me.
Good times.

Did the chorus just say, "servi del boja?" CRAP! That's my cue!

2008-03-08T15:23:00.007-05:00

So Turandot is doing well--I hope. I mean I haven't seen it yet since I'm on stage or backstage during the production. I'm suppose to look like an official authority...a meanie, who's always ready/anxious to draw out his sword. Well...I find it hard to imagine myself as an intimidating force of authority when most of the civilians are taller than me. SO I gave myself the "don't-f***-with-me" facial features by making my hair almost cover my eyes and a "Perma-scowl" make up on the eyebrows. I constantly look like I was rudely forced out of bed in the middle of a beautiful dream.....and I give everyone on stage the death stare because of it.

Really good stuff.

Anyways, I don't have the "perma-scowl" make up in these pics...but here are some photos with me in it from the Dress Rehearsal. (click thumbnails for larger image)

Here's me looking back to see if I'm doing this right.

And there I am again on the right...trying to reflect on what just occured. She took my knife and stabbed herself with it... SHE DID! THERE WERE WITNESSES I TELL YOU!

And another one of me choking the helpless while his loved one looks on. I'm confident that I'm doing this right this time.

For other pictures of this beautiful opera, click here: http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/lho/turandot08/pictures.php

Although I'm just a background character who doesn't talk...I try to play with a few things. First, I act like I know Italian and react to the Italian being spoken on stage. I've learned to read body languages...mostly, I ask the actors beforehand to look or point at me whenever I'm supposed to do something. It's tough stuff but I don't want to complain much since everyone else has to
know their cues, memorize the musical notes, remember the words, and be able to act all at the same time. If I show any sign of fatigue, I deserve a punch in the face.
Second, I gave my lowly, background prop of a character---a motivation. That's right, A MOTIVATION. If all these princes are willing to get their heads chopped off for falling in love with a bitch like Turandot...she must be one extremely attractive chick. Therefore, I figure that anyone close to her or sees her face MUST also be secretly attracted to her....including the guards...which includes--me. So when the ONE prince was able to avoid a beheading and became a candidate to marry Turandot...I will obviously hate his guts. SO later on in the opera, I took pleasure in hurting his loveones and arresting him.

Pretty good for a walking prop eh....Unfrotunately, I'm still just a prop to get the plot going, sooooo there is no resolution to my motivation...I simply disappear in the middle of the third act. Probably went back to sleep.

Anyways, another thing that happened this week is STUNT PRACTICE!
The video we shot....well, for the lack of a better word....sucked.
It was a beautiful sunny day and we figured that it would be great to take advantage of the sun and shoot outside. We were going to shoot in a playground...but dammit it was full of children. With the sun going down fast we decided to fight in the large empty field nearby. Upon getting there, we realized the ground was not technically solid. In fact, the whole field was a squishy and spongey land made of wet mud.
We decided to film anyways, and with the sun going down fast and us trying to avoid getting mud all over ourselves....the shoot didn't turn out as good as we originally planned at all. Anyways, Watch it here:

Tried to save it with that animation at the end...but...meh, we'll do something better next time.

The voices for that animation was mine by the way.

Ok...so that's the news...watch Turandot before it ends next week.

ciao.

Oh dark clouds that can't decide whether to rain or clear up....

2008-02-17T17:06:00.036-05:00

This has been the longest February in memory mainly because I've haven't been this busy since I was pulling all nighters in college. 3:00AM coffee breath, I DON'T miss you.

Speaking of which, the majority of my time is being eaten up by this Harvard class I'm taking. I’ve been doing museum research every week and writing papers while finding the time to read the many articles assigned to us. Our deadlines are weekly. I perform miracles when I hand in something just in time.

I try to take advantage of any free time I get by wasting them with this:
Anyways, I always try to do something new each year...something to tell myself that when the year ends, "well, at least I did such and such..." and convince myself that the year was not a complete waste. This mentality began in 2004, when I went camping for the first time ever and when I decided to visit Florence, Italy, my first European visit. In 2005, I went to Bonnaroo, my first stoner musical event. In 2006, I had a lot of firsts that I had no control over, It was my first step into the "real world" without school, my first job in a museum (Children's Museum, Recycle Shop Operator) and the first of many times I hit deep deep depression over student loans. In 2007 I joined a "stunt team" and also learned the consequences of working every single day for 5 months. So in 2008, I just want to get this "NEW" thing out of the way and joined the cast of Harvard's Lowell House Opera's production of TURANDOT. I play a very small part as a guard/executioner's assistant.
Before I volunteered for the part, the producer asked me to design the T-shirts for them. I gave them three illustrations and they picked out one. I have the one they picked out in the illustration section of my website
Here are the other two:

The T-Shirt is available here
TURANDOT information is available here
TURANDOT tickets are available here (with the thumbnail of the illustration they picked out.)
So anyways, rehearsing this and learning how to read body language for cues (since I'm audio impaired when it comes to musical cues and I can't understand the most basic of Italian words.) has taken hold of my "free" time.

In between being busy and wasting time, I have my procrastinating. As a result I have sketches to show you:

When you procrastinate you tend to think of things only people with free time in their hands would ever think about.

I thought I was going somewhere with this one....there's a Part 2 in my head, and it will stay there apparently.

ALSO!
Straight from the mean streets of Cambridge, MA. Here is the Notorious J.H! It is Michael Van Devere's Gangstalicious version of John Harvard from his movie of the same name. Ok...so the movie, "John Harvard" is not a gangsta flick...it's a realistic period drama so don't let the caricature fool you. Anyways, I can't take all the credit for this since it was Mr. Van Devere himself who thought of the idea and cleaned up my sketch while also adding in the colors.

Last but not lease...I've decided to make a comic about short skits I want to film in the future. Check out this comic of how smooth I am with the Ladies.

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And with that... procrastination is over

BUY A TICKET TO TURANDOT AND WATCH ME TWIST AN ARM OR TWO! I'm vicious!

A week packed with beginnings and tragic endings.

2008-01-26T15:23:00.001-05:00

And so it was...

This week began with a group show over the North End's Goody Glovers. It was a pretty good event, which is always the case when I'm surrounded by creative minds. An Artists' ability to produce visual intrigue is a special thing. Plus, art works make great ice breakers. If you are ever around the area, check out the bar on 50 Salem St. The Art will be up until January 27th... chances are... you missed it already. Click the thumbnail below to see the poster for the event.

Poster by Liz Comperchio

Tragic Endings...

Heath Ledger's dead. I don't personally know the guy, but I'm a fan of his work and I learned more about him as a person now that the rats in the media tried to find dirt on him, only to find nothing but a man dedicated to his craft.

I was struck with a much more personal tragedy this week. My Uncle Bobby had died. I had just talked to my Mother about my anxieties concerning the future and, always the pessimist, she managed to make me even more anxious. Somehow, we actually ended our conversation on a happy note, but not 30 minutes later my sister informs me that my uncle, my Mother's brother, had passed away in the Philippines. Pain for me is the thought of my family members being sad so this news had been an absolute hell. I tried to comfort her and advised my Father and siblings to do the same thing, but there's just so much I can offer over the phone. My Unlce Bobby was a kind man, always quiet, and never caused any ruckus. When we lived in the Philippines, he was the closest of my Mom's family to live near us therefore he was the only one on her side of the family whom I saw the most. He was very close to my Mother and that's why I'm devastated knowing how much his passing had affected her. Rest in Peace Tito Bobby, you'll live forever in our hearts and mind.

The after life must be a delightful place since everyone who goes there don't seem to ever want to come back.

As this week ends, I finally registered for a Harvard class and was suprised to find out that after about two years since graduating college, I all of a sudden have a class to attend to next week. I'm a bit nervous, I've never attended a Harvard class before, and I'm sure they won't be as forgiving as the joke that was Lesley University (note...ok, maybe I went too far calling it a "joke", just bitter that I tried my hardest in my classes and those who didn't still passed some how. Atleast I got that "with honors" title on my diploma..... I'm a winner.)
Soon to be the new statue replacing that old guy in Harvard Yard.

New Sketches

2008-01-18T04:50:00.003-05:00

Commence new sketches!

American Film Institute's number one villain! And 1 of 2 pictures taken down from my MySpace for being too offensive and/or violent. uhhhhhhow?

Especially proud of this sketch because it's all from memory

Surfing the net and sketching while my mind wanders.....I tend to multi-task

Some random thought that manifested itself into a short comic.

I messed up on a portrait so I decided to draw two girls fighting on it....UFC Style!

The other picture taken down for being too violent... Ok...I'd have to agree with their call on that one.

Left alone by the MySpace nazis for some reason.

If you can't recognize this then you haven't seen "Fight Club"...if you've seen "Fight Club and you still can't recognize this...uh...well, then I must've drawn it all shitty.

Ok...that's all I'm willing to show you for now... Adios.

Taking arms against a sea of troubles… without the MFA.

2008-01-05T02:39:00.001-05:00

The MFA chewed me up and spat me out like some stale jerky that lost its flavor.
Nah, not really.
It was a temporary job after all…and to tell you the truth, when they told me I was being laid off…I surprised myself when I breathe a sigh of relief.
It’s not that I hated working in the mailroom.
It's just, I have another job at Harvard, and with the MFA I end up working 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 - 7 days a week…that’s like, almost every single day!!!…. Wait a minute…. that IS every single day!!!!!
And four months of it is making me more depressed than I care to be.

When I started working the everyday shift, I remember watching Ron Howard’s “Cinderella Man” which was set during the Great Depression. The movie’s main character can’t even afford to buy milk let alone support his family. So he wakes up early everyday to go to the docks hoping to find work just for that day.

Ron Howard made me feel better about having to work two jobs.

Four Months later…

Socially shut in from the world and exhausted… I thought….
“Hmm… You know, Ron Howard has a habit of bending the truth to make for a better movie.”
And you know what? His movie does nothing to reflect my current situation.
Why? Well…
-It’s not the Great Depression
-I don’t have a family to support
-I freakin’ hate milk

Ok, sure... I'm grateful I'm not experiencing those things...but it doesn't mean my current situation doesn't suck at all...just not as bad as that guy. Anyways, getting laid off was a sign to look elsewhere.
And I’m glad I never had to write a two weeks’ notice

With the free time I’ve gotten, I've been able to:
-Watch late night TV.
-Stay up all night listening to the Beatles, Doobie Brothers, Beach Boys, Mammas and the Pappas and um...Lil’ Kim.
-Wake up at noon.
-Download that Pina Colada song.
-Relax. Enjoy. Stretch out a little.

I spent many late nights writing poems, thoughts, Art reviews, stories, and sketching sketching sketching.
Speaking of which, here are a few samples of those sketches.

I think I did those while listening to Lil' Kim...
What? Oh... wait there's more...

Fear of Drowning revisited

Oh... and some serious reflections... turned into a comic strip

First: Adventures of "Boy's Room Door Boy's Only Symbol"

Second: Love is...

Just a note on that last comic strip... I'm not at all close to being that muscular, I too like to bend the truth for a better story or in this case, physiques....BUT! The man with the beer gut and "A Lesbian Taught Me" shirt is based of a real douchebag I served gas to back when I worked at an Exxon down Rt. 72 in Manahawkin, New Jersey where people really need to be allowed to pump their own damn gas! Seriously people, all the other states require it!..(you didn't need to know or hear all that.)

Yup…Getting laid off isn’t half bad.

Ok….

Now let’s talk about what isn’t half good.

Bills. The end.

Painting Process (Warning: Contains NO educational value)

2007-12-03T22:44:00.002-05:00

The Process of How Vic Paints with Oil.

I’m going to assume you already know what oil paint does with its many disadvantages and advantages, so I’ll skip the part about what brand of paint or the best mediums to use and all that and just get right to the process.

This is a short description of the process for my “Between Birth and Death” painting.
[click on the thumbnails to enlarge images]

First I set up my still lifes:

Then after a round of procrastination, not getting the preliminary drawings correct, and absolute loss of interest in the still life, I decided to move on and change the whole damn thing.
[No pictures of this boot crushing egg preliminary drawings…. sorry]

-I took the most interesting objects from my bedroom into my studio and set them up in a perfect composition.
After several failed attempts to find that “perfect composition,” I gave up and placed them into this one:

-Deciding to abandon the preliminary drawings step, I went ahead and painted my entire canvas black, gradually adding bits of white and working the values according to the light on the still lifes.

-So now I have a black and white painting. GREAT, SWEET, GOOD JOB VIC.

And a thought came, “maybe I could just leave it like this…”

I took a glimpse at the tubes of paint, formerly known as “Vic’s Money,” sitting around my paint box and realized how silly it is to leave the painting in black and white with all of these expensive tubes of colors just lying about.
Also! The painting, left in black and white, could make the cover of YAWN…my fictional magazine of boring things.

I added yellow, the ocher kind, to my palette and worked on the background drop cloth and the gas mask.

Due to the bitter cold weather outside and the lack of heat in my studio, I stopped painting when I couldn’t keep my hand steady anymore. I left the painting for another day.

There are artists I personally know (and I’m not going to drop any names), who would look at this painting in this stage and say to me,
“You know what, Vic? This thing’s finished! This looks a lot more interesting than if you paint the entire thing in color! It’s a statement! The gas mask and background are the only ones in color because the others are just distractions. The skull, which symbolizes death, and the egg, which symbolizes birth, doesn’t matter as much as the gas mask, which symbolizes life as a struggle and survival. And…uh…the background drop cloth matters too because…it’s um…. it—it just matters! Anyways, go up to Mr.” Rich Art Collector” and tell them THAT IS EXACTLY WHY you decided to leave the skull and the egg in black and white.”
And then there are other artists I personally know (still not dropping any names), who would look at this painting in this stage and say to me,
“You lazy shit, finish this thing”

There are more of you in the latter than the former and I’d have to agree with the majority.

So I started working on the skull’s color.

I added some more yellow ocher and a bit of red of the cadmium kind to my black and white palette.

Maybe it was because of the bitter cold weather (I could actually see my breath while I paint), or maybe it was because I underestimated the still life, whatever the reason was, painting that damn egg was frustrating the crap out of me. It’s a simple geometric shape but maybe that’s why it pissed me off so bad, I just couldn’t get this simple thing right.
When I finally executed something I was happy with. I added some more details on the mask and finished the painting with a final glaze.

I go to sleep with a sense of accomplishment.
The End.

Vic The Oil Painter

2007-11-16T15:23:00.001-05:00

I started a new painting two nights ago and was surprised at how fast I could work. When it comes to tackling a new painting, that empty canvas intimidates the crap out of me.

Before I went to The Art Institute of Boston, my high school Art teacher, Mr. Begonia, gave me permission to raid his art closet. Stupidly, I took some boards, store-stretched canvas and a crap load of acrylic paints. He kept trying to persuade me to take as many oil paints and solutions as I can, but I refused and now, every time I remember the reason to why I refused, I want to put my head inside that art closet and have him slam the door multiple times.
I refused because I was afraid of oil...WHERE DOES IT GET OFF DRYING SLOWLY?!?! At least with acrylics,I could blow a fan on it and Poof! It's dry!!!

But then, of course...Art School comes along and shows the better advantages of oil paints to acrylics.....So when I tackled this medium, I realized Oil painting is one of those talents that when you get an A+ at first try, you know you were tailor made for it (I also realized why Mr. Begonia--after I refused his oil paints offer--looked at me with a smile, shook his head and looked away)

So two nights ago I started an oil painting and after I got through the intimidation of an empty canvas, the ball starts rolling and the joy of the process is intensified by the amount of progress. When I did my..."ok, look away, forget what the painting looks like. Stare at that wall, think of last night's episode of the simpsons......aaaaaand......" look back at the painting, I realized I've finished a lot more in two hours than I originally thought.

and I left the studio with oil paint and a smile on my face.

Launching of the New VicYambao.net

2007-11-09T14:42:00.000-05:00

Hoopla! It's here....after a tag team combo of not having enough time and just sheer procrastination....vicyambao.net has been updated to a slicker and much brighter site.

Whoopie!

More updates will be coming soon, like an actual bio....and more links....and of course more art.

so enjoy enjoy and join the merry mailing list by emailing me your mailing info like your mailing address (for gallery postcards) and e-mail address (for site updates)
don't forget to add you names

I go now.

the first blog

2007-10-20T21:52:00.000-04:00

blog....I have no basis for this but the word "blog" somehow resembles "throw up" to me.

Anyways,
first blog.....

...Biked in the rain...
...Phone's Dead....
...Work Everyday....
...no money saved....

...making art....
..life is good....

I'm involved in a group show!
The opening is on the 25th of October.....at Foxhall Studios in Uphams corner in Dorchester....

the end