A lot of my friends working in comics have pointed out to me the benefits of selling original art over at EBAY.  After being inspired by their many success stories, I was prompted to check Ebay out and to see if I could do it myself. I learned that, for some reason, a credit card is needed to sell anything on Ebay, and it something that I don't have.  So when a former work aquaintance approached me about selling my art over at Ebay, I agreed, just to see what all that is about, and to see if I could make a viable living out of it, as an added income to comics. 

If you are interested in buying art by me and inked by me, head on over to Ebay now following these links:

Unfortunately, I won't be inking much of #104 due to circumstances beyond my control. I'm disappointed, since I've been busting my ass with the pages I've done so far, but such things happen.  So I'm just looking forward to inking #105 instead and I'll make that the best inking I've ever done.

I was extremely saddened to hear of Alfredo's passing due to cancer not too long ago. He is one of those veteran Filipino comic book artists that I truly look up to and and whose work I truly admire.  I marveled at his own work,  Voltar,  which blew me away with its lushness and detail, and enjoyed the comic books he inked, among them many issues of Swamp Thing, written by Alan Moore.

I'm glad to say that I had the great opportunity to meet and talk with him at the 1997 San Diego Comics Convention. I approached his table quite sheepishly, truly excited and nervous at the prospect of finally meeting this man whose work meant  a lot to me. There were a lot of people surrounding him, and I sort of managed my way near him to see him draw. Upon noticing I was a Filipino, he immediately set me aside to talk to me in Tagalog. I introduced myself, and told him I was an inker for Image comics. ( I had just finished working on Wildstorm Spotlight #2 and 3, featuring Loner, written by Steven Grant and pencilled by Roy Allan Martinez.) 

He grabbed several pieces of paper and he proceeded to give me lessons on drawing while railing, quite loudly, about how many of the current artists can't draw squat. Old as he was and hands shaking (proabably from his illness that he most likely already had at the time), he went on to draw these amazingly gorgeous bodies and legs without much effort. I was totally blown away. He went on talking, mostly about drawing, sometimes strongly suggesting that I settle there in the States, sometimes showing off his displayed artwork, and  inquiring how the Philippine comics industry was doing. He kept on talking, as if refusing to let me go. And to be honest, I didn't want to. For a man his age (and I realize later, a man who was sick as he was), he was quite energetic and animated.

We parted ways not too long after, but not before I bought his book "Secret Teachings of a Comic Book Master: The Art of Alfredo Alcala" written by Heidi MacDonald and Philip Yeh. An amazing book and a terrific resource for aspiring artists.  I had it signed of course. That book, and the pieces of paper where he gave me drawing lessons, are things that I will be keeping with me always.