Cathrel Reselosa considers herself an introvert who loves art, drawing, manga, anime, books, and writing fan fiction. From watching anime and being a newbie in Japanese comics to creating manga-inspired artworks, she decided to take her talent a notch higher by enrolling at CIIT’s Multimedia Specialist Program focusing on Digital Illustration and Page Design using Adobe Illustrator and InDesign CS5. Even though she already obtained a degree in AB Psychology at De La Salle University, she eagerly continued to pursue her dream in becoming an illustrator especially to be a Mangaka (comic artist or cartoonist) in the future having been inspired by the Anime comics that she often reads.
She has been doing illustrations as a hobby since high school, but only chose to pursue her dream as an illustrator after her works were recognized in her university. She thought of refining her skills more by enrolling at an art school to immerse her into a colorful world where she can create lots of artworks traditionally and digitally. Coincidentally, while she was Comic Con last October 2012, she suddenly noticed the CIIT booth and considered taking up a specialist course. She already had knowledge of Adobe Photoshop so she decided to take up Adobe Illustrator, which made her more familiar with the skills that she needed to learn.
CIIT instructor Mochie Cuyco asked them to make a magazine poster as one of his requirements. Cathrel decided to create a poster entitled “The Bucket List” using Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and In Design. She utilized color blending, typography, and infographics, among other skills to make the poster come alive.
“I only finished it in one night. My inspiration for it is my fondness of the color of black and orange. Orange is actually my favorite color and I love how the combination of black and orange looks like. I chose black because the truth is that I’m lazy to color, haha. Because of my likeness towards minimalist stuff and monochromatic colors, I was moved to create that poster by incorporating all these things. The star with screen dots there is inspired by manga tones and patterns that are commonly used in Japanese comics for background, skies, shadows, etc.”
“I encountered some difficulties while doing my poster like using the color black because I felt that it’s redundant enough to use again since I used it on my character already. Another thing is I’m worried about my anime-ish style of drawing that’s usually frowned upon art schools. I don’t know how my professor will react but in the end, I was relieved that my work was well accepted and that is was okay. I’m happy on the outcome of it.” Her poster has very bold contrasts between bright colors over black making it eye-catching and very good. I asked her to describe her poster in one sentence and she answered, “Something so simple yet so complex.”
Right now, while she is currently busy making her own manga, she also aims to do her own animation, work for Kyoto Animations, or enter Dreamworks Animation to be a part of the production of the third installment of “How To Train Your Dragon,” which is one of her favorite animated movies.
When asked about what she learned from the specialist course at CIIT she said,”I learned to create my own designs in typography/typefaces, and infographics,” The experience in CIIT also gave her the opportunity to meet and interact with people of similar interests and hobbies like Philly Garzon, a fellow anime fanatic, who loved the works of Cathrel as well.
As we ended our interview, she gave a message to the aspiring young artists and arts students out there. “First of all, study earlier. Get used to Illustrator than in Photoshop. Try to explore a lot. Find some tutorials on the web like in YouTube. Always experiment; try new things. Especially find some good graphic designers and multimedia artists to be inspired with in doing your artworks, thinking that you really want to surpass them as in this way, you also challenge yourself to be a better artist.”
Like Cathrel who never stops doing what she really wants to do and become in the future, you should follow your heart’s desire and be your true self as you make your way to your dreams. Live out of your imagination and just go for your dreams; have strength and courage to overcome hardships as long as you can reach your goals ahead.