GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
Hulyen, Mika Bacani, and Rian Gonzales on making comics and being female
The comic book industry, unfortunately, is still largely dominated by males. Female comic book artists struggle for visibility and when they do manage to succeed, it's treated as a novelty...because they're not just comic book artists, they're "female" comic book artists.
Three young (female deliberately omitted) comic book artists who headline "Beyond Volume 2" — a comic book with illustrations done using iPad Pro and Apple Pencil — are hoping to help continue challenging this notion.
During the launch of "Beyond Volume 2" in Fully Booked last October 7, the three featured artists Julienne Dadivas a.k.a. “Hulyen”, Mika Bacani, and Rian Gonzales were almost synonymous in answering “Gender? What gender?”
Hulyen is known for her indie comics "UGH", Mika is an illustrator-designer for a studio that does restaurant concepts, and Rian is an artist famously picked to create a special "Betty & Veronica" cover for Archie Comics.
Hulyen was also part of the all-female comic book anthology "Kabuwanan."
“Personally hindi ako nahirapan to enter the comic scene. N'ong naglabas ako ng comics, bago 'yong nilabas ko. Hindi pa masyado familiar mga tao. At the same time, kasi female comic book artist, pa-unique gan'on, kaya siguro very accepting sila,” Hulyen said.
Mika, meanwhile, didn't let gender politics get in the way of what she wanted to do — make comics.
“I don’t really think about it per se. I think of myself as a comic book artist. No reason to be afraid of being a woman either. I just really want to make comics and make art, regardless (of how) I identify,” Mika shared.
Rian addressed the issue more directly and remarked on the change in the landscape, noting that the environment is friendlier now.
“I feel there’s an improvement over the years. When I go to conventions, marami nang pumupunta. Nobody knows about being a woman than a female comic book artist. When the female is the creator, mas maraming lumalabas na dimensions ng personality of a woman,” Rian said.
From the way they answered, you could already guess how different their personalities are, which figures prominently in their different visual and narrative takes.
This makes their comic book , in this writer's opinion, “beyond” wonderful to read.
Different strokes
In the story aptly entitled "Search", Hulyen gives a millennial spin to the Filipino classic folktale “Alamat ng Pinya”, peppered with her trademark wry humor.
Capturing Filipino Internet slang and millennial behavior, "Search" will make you LOL and convince you to follow the artist on Facebook, where she posts some of her comics.
Mika’s "It's Fine" is a glimpse in the life of a young girl dealing with a long-distance relationship. “It’s based on my own experience, but it’s not about…me,” Mika deadpanned.
Mika likes visual experiments and is drawn to deep emotions of real people. From drawing strangers in her #100DaysofSummerStrangers project on Instagram to penning "It's Fine", Mika likes to break things down visually and conceptually.
In a stark contrast to Mika’s muted colors, Rian Gonzales’ "Candy Dreams" is anime meets Lisa Frank.
Known for her colorful and vibrant style, Rian turns a girl’s quarter life crisis into magical, dreamy adventure. This story is so cute, you'll want to adopt a magical pet and eat rainbows for breakfast.
Let’s not call these stories “feminine” or “girl comics”, in a way girl bands were branded. We owe them that.
Ranging from humorous to pensive to cutesy, the stories in "Beyond Volume 2" are a refreshing detour from the usual super heroes and zombie stories, proving that when given a chance to break out of the mold, new artists can shine.
Please, more comics like this...and next time, can they be longer? — AT, GMA News
"Beyond Volume 2" is available in Fully Booked stores, the official distributor of the Beyond Comics series.
