It’s Sunday Sketchup time! Every Sunday I plan on putting up something I’ve drawn, in one form or another, on the blog. The content will be whatever has moved me during the previous week, and this may not always be travel-related.
Ever since Steph and I left on our trip, I’ve been slowly getting back to my roots in the fine arts. For years I was stuck behind a computer, working very little with my hands and even less outside of my office. As we’ve been moving around, the world has inspired me to concentrate on doing what I love, and what I love is to express my creativity. I love photography, and the blog has been a great outlet for that, but I also love to draw, and slowly getting back into the habit of sketching has been really enjoyable, so I thought I would share it with all of you!
About the Sketch
So, credit where credit is due: this idea was Steph’s. It’s a perfect idea and I drew it with much love (for the Philippines, not for roosters. I hate roosters.). There are many things Filipinos seem to adore, but chief among them are roosters and karaoke. We could be literally trekking through the jungle and come upon a nipa hut shrouding a very expensive looking karaoke machine. And, inevitably, wherever we went there were roosters. It seemed every household had at least one, more if they could afford it, and the birds essentially had the run of the place, crowing as they would at whatever time or interval they saw fit. In retrospect it seems only natural that the two should meet, though only in my imagination. Amplifying a rooster is masochism I will not be a part of.
Hi Tony,
I love your Sunday Sketchup posts. What pen(s) did you use to draw these sketches? Copic markers?
Thanks so much! As t the sketches, if they start on paper, it’s with a fine-point sharpie. The finals are digital, mostly done on the iPad.
What?! We love roosters! Mostly we love running after them and the noises they make when we do so 🙂 They’re everywhere though, aren’t they? haha
Great sketch! We haven’t been to the Philippines, but it really sums up a lot of parts of SE Asia. Keep ’em coming!
Will do! And yes, roosters really are the worst, and they are literally everywhere, even downtown Saigon. It’s crazy.
I really love this series!! Also, I feel like you may have drawn the rooster that chills in my backyard at about 4am every day. He sounds like he’s got a microphone going as he crows to wake me up and let me know it’s 4am. Jerk.
Yeah, they are the loudest animals I can imagine. I don’t know how they do it. Or why.
hahaha i so love this!
Some Filipino men are addicted to cockfighting. Poor roosters. 😀
Thanks! It’s true, Filipino men do seem to love a good cock fight. After being awakened at 3 am enough, though, we stopped rooting for the roosters. 🙂
What’s the rooster’s preferred karaoke song there?
I think it’s “Get the f*ck out of bed, I’m being a loud jerkwad at 3 in the morning for no reason.” I might not have the title quite right though.
rocking rooster?
Like the cartoon movie Rockadoodle from way back, where the rooster was an avian Elvis? Everyone thought that was so cute, because they didn’t actually have roosters.
Ha! Ha! Love it! A perfect pean to the Filipino’s love of karaoke, rooster and sense of humor.
You’re certainly an authority on the subject of the Philippines, so I’m glad to hear you say I got it right! The people there were so playful and good-natured,how could my sketch be any different? Thanks!
Hi both of you,
I came across this website when I was looking for information for my planned trip to brunei when I saw your entry about the Philippines. And I am truly very happy that you had a very nice experience here in our country.
And thank you for sharing everything.
Only Im just wondering, why didn’t you visit Boracay? 🙂
I hope you visit us soon 🙂
Hi Jam! Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and we hope you’ve been finding our site useful in planning your travels. We had such a wonderful time in the Philippines, in large part because of how lovely the people there were. 🙂 The next time we are in that part of the world, you can rest assured that we will be making a return visit to the Philippines.
There’s no real reason why we didn’t visit Boracay on our trip—as you know, there are so many islands to visit and we *only* had 2 months, and given cheap flights and our interests at the time, Borocay just didn’t make the route. I think we were also a bit put off by talk of how touristy and (relatively) expensive it was compared to the rest of the country, so decided to skip it. Just another reason to return! There is so much in the Philippines that remains for us to explore!