MANILA, PHILIPPINES — This year’s Graphika Manila featured its most comprehensive and diverse lineup to date, with speakers hailing from various backgrounds such as XR (extended reality), the Web3 space, paper sculpting, illustration, and comics.
Opening the second day of the conference was Manix Abrera, the creative mind behind the popular comic series Kikomachine Komix. His comic series can be seen in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, his book compilations, graphic novels, and on GMA News Online. He has won the National Book Awards for his books “14” (2015) and “News Hardcore: Hukbong Sandatahan ng Kahaggardan!” (2016.)
Wanna tell stories? Touch grass!
What makes Kikomachine Komix stand out is its off-beat, witty, and relatable humor. Manix shared that the secret behind this is to maximize your imagination and exaggerate those stories — to which he emphasized the importance of experiencing life (or “touching grass,” as Gen Zs would put it.)
Manix would sometimes find himself hopping on a jeepney with no destination in mind, just to hear people’s stories for inspiration. He shared some strips inspired by the stories he heard aboard the jeep. “Nasaan ka man, napakalalim ng kultura natin.” (Wherever you go, our culture runs deep.) Manix stated.
He also added: “For you to be able to tell stories, you need to experience life; you need to experience many things.” As much as it is comfortable to stay cooped up in a room alone with your art materials for extended periods of time, the strongest and brightest sources of inspiration were always found in experiencing everyday life.
“Hindi ka marunong mag-drawing? Okay lang, pwede ka pa rin gumawa ng istorya.”
As Manix stressed that drawing every day is an important habit to develop as an artist, he also conveyed that anyone can create stories even if they do not know how to draw. He shared some comic strips where the main character is a speck of dust (alikabok.) According to him, readers were able to evoke deep feelings and sentiments toward those comic strips.
He also shared more detailed artworks and commissioned pieces that showcased another side of him as an illustrator. His cover designs for DC Comics and Marvel Comics, along with a series of tarot card illustrations he did became a source of inspiration for Graphika attendees to not lose sight of themselves.
Manix’s success is a testament to the power of storytelling and the importance of being able to see and experience life through one’s own eyes.
“Napakalakas ng power ng komiks. Napakalakas ng power ng storytelling. Napaka-importante na i-practice niyo palagi ang paggawa ng stories,” (The impact of creating comics is powerful; the impact of storytelling is also powerful. It is very important for you all to practice creating and telling stories,) Manix highlighted.
adobo magazine is an official media partner of Grapika Manila 2023.
