Future Perfect: Digital dreams

19-year-old Steph Manuel has a knack for mixing traditional pen and ink art and transforming them into digital masterpieces.

MANILA, Philippines - Nineteen-year-old Pampangueña Steph Manuel has been silently showcasing her digital work on her Tumblr (www.astrobazooka.tumblr.com) for archiving’s sake. But when an international star like Paramore lead singer Hayley Williams praises your designs, it’s a sign that your work isn’t meant to be placed on the back burner. Armed with only her sketchpad, a scanner and her laptop’s trackpad, this fine arts senior from the University of Santo Tomas is out to prove that heavy imagination and a steadfast hold on her design dreams is more than enough to start making waves in the digital art arena. She made her publication debut with Rogue magazine’s June issue, now, we interview Steph Manuel on her slow but steady rise to digital success.

YOUNG STAR: Talk me through your creative process.

STEPH MANUEL: I don’t really follow a systematical procedure when it comes to drawing. If I want to get in the zone, I just eat a lot of food. (Laughs) Sometimes, I browse the Internet for inspiration. When it comes to making art, aside from lessons from my course, I experiment with Photoshop a lot and the Internet provides a lot of step-by-step tutorials and other helpful reads.

Hayley Williams of Paramore praised your digital work on your Tumblr page. How did that happen and how did that feel?

A digital coloring of a girl Steph made for her Production Methods class in UST.

It was really overwhelming! I had no idea she was following me (on Tumblr) all along. If not for Ryan, (a Tumblr friend who happened to be a regular visitor of Hayley’s blog), I wouldn’t even know about it. When he first told me about the news, I didn’t really take it seriously, ‘cause I honestly thought he was just pulling a prank. But when I checked my account, turns out he was really telling the truth. I was literally jumping and running around the room the moment I saw her name on my followers list. I freaked out even more when she replied to my post! (Laughs) I’ve been a big fan of Paramore ever since I was in high school, so I was pretty much in shock for days. To be appreciated by someone you really look up to is honestly one of the best feelings in the world.

As of the moment, you haven’t done any major collaborations. So if you were given the chance, which local artist would you want to work with?

I’d like to do a collaboration with Meneer Marcelo. I’ve always been an avid follower of his work. He’s one of my biggest inspirations when it comes to art. In fact, he’s also one of the reasons why I’ve always wanted to venture into publishing.

Generally, how do you think the digital art scene fares locally nowadays?

With the continuous development of technology, I think, a lot of people have been more receptive to learning digital art. Since almost everything is digital nowadays, I guess artists are also compelled to keep up with the trend one way or another. Andaming na-iinspire

A pen and ink and watercolor piece entitled “Pain” in Steph’s Banoodle Doodle Series on her Tumblr.

gumawa ng digital (Many are inspired to go digital), so I think it will grow throughout the years.

You started in a publishing internship, but your major in UST is in advertising. As of right now, are you more for pursuing advertising or are you dead-set on publishing for the future?

After grad I’ll probably try working in an advertising agency pero my dream talaga is to work for publishing. Five years from now, I dream of doing illustrations for international magazines like Rolling Stone, Nylon, Elle, and Vogue. Working in a publication has always been one of my biggest goals.