Mama said knock you out

Before Manny Pacquiao became a national treasure of the Philippines, another Pilipino pugilist sensationalized the flyweight boxing division all across America. Before the Pac Man’s rise through the weight class championships, there was one undisputed boxer who was known as the greatest fighter of all time that heralded from the Philippines; his name was Francisco “Pancho Villa” Guilledo.



These days, many Filipinos are proud to feel that they’re being represented by such world class fighters outside of the esoteric Filipino martial arts. Our people are honored as Manny Pacquiao, Nonito Donaire, Brian Viloria and Brandon Vera enter the ring/octagon, proudly representing their Philippine heritage. However, many new-comers to subscribe to the fighting sport may never have heard of Francisco Guilledo, much like how many Filipinos may never have heard of Baybayin writing either. Francisco Guilledo, born in 1901, blazed the boxing world all across Asia before travelling to the states to compete and dominate. Having died at the age of 23, he left an incredible record of 109 fights, winning 92, and 24 of them by K.O. This short lived star resonates throughout boxing history and is a name highly regarded by boxing aficionados. I wanted to pay tribute to this Filipino fighter for this month’s Mixed Martial Arts theme to not only remember Francisco Guilledo, but to also echo my own sentiments about Baybayin; the Philippine culture is rich in history, and though some may have forgotten certain aspects of it, it’s never too late to look back and find strength through our own culture.

This piece is featured at the Baybayin Online Art Gallery, so be sure to check out the other pieces featured this month. 8x10 prints are available for $40 with frame. Email Bathala1@gmail.com to inquire.

Stay up,

Cyph

Mama said knock you out

Tenk da lord!

Roughly 3 hours of Photoshop fun later...

1 down, 13 to go... :-/

Tenk da lord!

Espada Boxing

Here's a major project I been working on; the Espada Boxing company logo. A friend of mine is starting his boxing club, and needed a logo that only had two colors (for the sake of price efficiency on screen prints) and, most importantly (to him), had gothic font text. Personally, I (as well as many others) think that gothic text is played out, but whatever.

Before the text however, I needed to come up with a logo. I'll edit this post later with my original sketches... but it basically came down to a sword, which "espada" translates to in English, and some boxing gloves hanging off the hilt. Here was my first proposed design for the main logo, which he ended up liking and was kept throughout the other renditions


Despite my best persuasions against it, the man insisted to keep Gothic letters. This was the first version, arcing an all-capped Espada Boxing, forming a circle...


I later came up with the idea to add a shield, since just the sword seemed a bit empty. Needed something to take up space. Also, the sword can represent precision of attack, and the shield for defense; two things to live and die by in the boxing/combat world...


But I thought it would look more full if the letters followed the edge of the shield; he liked the idea, but thought it was hard to read because of the angle of the text. This is still one of my favorite versions:

Later he would go on to criticize the size of the shield, it's proportions etc... So, I messed with the shield proportions, and I came upon this idea, based on the Hellsing patch from the anime. I also took the liberty of using script text, despite the guy's love for Gothic text. This is my favorite of the rejected versions; I was pretty upset when he said he didn't like it:

Also on the list of critiques, he said the Gothic font I used was too complex. So, after messing with the shield's proportions (again) and fonts, I came out with this:


Then he goes on to tell me "Just put the text in the middle..." Ok... Text in front of sword, text in front of shield and behind sword versions:


But I wanted to bring back the edge-following text. I hoped that if I just made the text upright, he'd like it... foolish me:


Still no approval. I was going nuts. He started showing me these simple-ass boxing icons, like Grant, Everlast, and Reyes... All my life I've detested designers who would use simple, stock text and call that a "design"... even more as a "logo". Aside from the use of straight letters, another thing these logos had in common was that they're all contained in a square or a rectangle... as a last ditch effort I came out with this...

Even though I knew he 100% assured me he wanted Gothic text, I didn't think it looked right. And since he looked up to these other brands, I thought it only right to use straight letters in this final rendition of the logo:


Finally... after a week of designs and getting ideas that I thought looked good, shot down, he finally liked THIS one. Liked it so much in fact that he didn't even wait for me to give him the final logo files without the watermarks. He sent this exact version straight to the press! Hahahaha... awesome. Bathala Project x Espada Boxing; taking the world over from the west coast and on..

Coming soon... the Malakas hat...

Espada Boxing