hg everyday | Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

Night Swimming

ahhh the sweet abandon, the comforting embrace of water on a starry night

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journal | Monday, July 19th, 2010

White Dog

A man came by the studio gates and rang the bell. Will you help me? He asked, My house has burned down. I gave him a few and he said we will be blessed.

What struck me most about him was the dog that he held up with his arm. It sat without moving, only staring. Its fur white as cotton and eyes dark as the abyss.

posted by: Happy Garaje| comment on this post|Tags: Stories

photography | Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

Manny O. Portraits

The Manila Bulletin ran a feature on hotelier and wine connoisseur Manny Osmeña and Johanna got the chance to shoot his portraits. Thank you Em P. Guevara.

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Travel | Saturday, July 10th, 2010

Too Big World

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awards and recognition | Monday, July 5th, 2010

Society of Illustrators / ICON 6 Exhibition

We will be shipping “Secrets” across the world to California for the Society of Illustrators exhibit at ICON 6 (the 6th Biennial Global Illustrators Conference).

Thank you Society of Illustrators – L.A. for giving Johanna the chance to exhibit. It’s not very often that we get the chance to show work in America. If you want to go see the show, the exhibit will be at the Wentworth Room of the Langham Hotel in Pasadena, California. It opens on July 13 and will run through July 17.

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Johanna’s Illustration West-48 ID Number

We had this frame made at a Workshop, North of Cebu

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hg everyday | Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Inside Happy Garaje

These beads are better with color

and look a bit like candy.

They hang next to this huge frame

and this book that tells a tale about a Magic Flute.

On the ledge not far away: the Vietnamese Horse met the Japanese Horse and they became friends.

A Lost Cowboy wishes he had a horse, instead of an undersized train.

These are the lovely ladies from Japan (with their sons)

and these are the beautiful ones from Russia (and their daughters).

They had quite a long conversation

mostly about how their husbands (and fathers) have gone away to watch the World cup.

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hg everyday | Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Book Stash: Pop-Ups + More

Aren’t pop-ups wonderful? Not every book  can be one, but those that are, are really, really special.

Remember the Little Prince? No one has seen him in a while.

Oh, here’s Peter, off to Never Never Land!

A New HG Fave

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hg everyday | Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Found: New (Old) Cameras for the Collection

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illustration | Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Johanna Velasco Illustrates for Front Runner Magazine

Jerry Manalili is art directing the latest issue of Front Runner magazine, the Philippines’ first magazine about running and he asked Johanna to illustrate one of the magazine’s stories. The article is about Rosario Velasco-Alberto (not related to Johanna) a multi-tasking mother and professional who started running eleven years ago at the age of forty and continues to do so to this day.

posted by: Happy Garaje| comment on this post|Tags: Editorial Illustration, Etching, Running

design | Sunday, May 30th, 2010

The Calyx Centre

Soon to rise just a few meters away from our own studio is the Calyx Centre, the flagship project of Innoland Development Corporation. Designed by architectural firm Aidea Philippines (who are ranked among the top 100 architectural firms in the world – the only one in the country), Calyx Centre is a 26-storey organically designed, green, hybrid building in Asiatown I.T. park.

The condominium will boast of a number of really interesting green features. Solar panels will power common area lighting. Rain will be harvested and used to flush toilets and water the plants. Air wells will be found in each floor to allow natural cooling. 30% of the area will be green, there will be plants, shrubs, and trees in and around the 2,953 square meter lot.

We were commissioned to design marketing materials for the project. We designed print ads, brochures, flyers, invitations, billboards, a short cartoon and of course, our biggest illustrations to date: two murals with a combined size of 54 feet by 9 feet that can be seen inside the corporate sales office.

* * *

Here we are putting the murals up. You can see them in person by visiting the Innoland Sales office at the 15th floor of TGU Tower in Asiatown I.T. Park

The idea behind the illustrations was to create an atmosphere that told a story of a vibrant, green environment as it moves from morning to dusk to night.

Here’s a full view:

The artwork on these walls became precedent to the design work that followed. The brochures, for example, showed a night time illustration for the cover and a daytime-inspired design in the inside.

Two billboards were also put up on the site and followed the same night and day concept.

The flyers highlight the building features.

We used the mural illustrations for the print ads:

The invitations:

The design elements used here, like the leaves and texture, were hand-painted by Johanna.

And finally, we had a couple of days to create a really simple cartoon for the launch:

—————————————————————

Art Direction: Tetta B. Baad / Happy Garaje
Illustration: Johanna Velasco & Mark Deutsch
Graphic Design: Johanna Velasco & Mark Deutsch
Identity Design: Cristina Cantos
Copy: Tetta B. Baad
Animation: Happy Garaje

Special thanks to Chai, Richie and Ryan

posted by: Happy Garaje| comment on this post|Tags: Animation, Asiatown IT Park, Brochure Design, Calyx Centre, Commercial Condominium, Innoland, Print Design, Residential Condominium