WOW Pinoy

Harvey Tolibao: Promdi artist destined for the stars

Harvey Tolibao always knew his life was destined for the stars.

True enough, this 26-year-old proud ‘probinsyano’ artist from Mindanao is the force behind the Star Wars comic book series, inking three issues of the phenomenal George Lucas creation since 2006. His work has been praised in the mainstream comics industry and is now among the growing Pinoy force in the US comics.
“Ang mga dayuhan ay hanga talaga sa mga Pinoy (Foreigners are awed by Filipinos)," Harvey told GMANews.TV.

“From boxing to billiards mayroon talaga palagi ma-i-prove ang mga Pinoy. Pero sa pagiging artist humanga din sila dahil bihira lang ang nakakapasok sa comics industry (From boxing to billiards, Filipinos have already proven something. But as artists, they become more impressed since it’s not very common for Filipinos to break into the comics industry)," he added.

Since being featured in QTV-11’s Review Philippines, Harvey has been receiving a lot of attention as one of the new breed of mainstream comic illustrators which used to be an elusive dream for many aspiring Filipinos and Asians in general before the 1970s.“Because of the skill and talent we have shown abroad, I am always proud of waving our flag and saying, Pinoy Ako!" he beamed.

Despite being known for his work on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (issue 12), Harvey’s pride and glory is the fact that he was able send his two sisters through college. He is also taking care of his younger brother’s education at the Far Eastern University of the Philippines, taking up Fine Arts, majoring in Advertising.

Currently, Harvey has been very busy working on other comic book projects; in fact, he just squeezed the little time left for himself for this interview.“It’s really important for me to follow through with the deadlines otherwise I might just wake up next day without the job," he jokingly said.

Hard life

Harvey grew up in Malaybalay City, an urban district in the province of Bukidnon in the southern Philippines more popular for its long stretch of pineapple farms than its hidden pool of talented comic illustrators. But this didn’t mean people there have not heard of comics. In fact, Harvey attested that most of them would spend their idle time leisurely reading the local ‘Komiks.’

Noticing how people were entertained by reading komiks, Harvey began to collect and copy the drawings. Like many gifted yet underprivileged artists like him, Harvey did not have formal training in the arts and just learned the ropes through constant imitation and perfection of his craft.

He also admits to have been a fan of the Star Wars movies.

“It was my dream to work on comics since grade school but living in [Bukidnon] where I was born, comics was impossible to work for," he said in an interview.
For Harvey, it was just natural to be involved in the arts; after all, his father drew the huge film advertisements in cinema houses that replicated the movie posters in the absence of modern tarpaulin printers.But his father warned him that artists like him often go hungry.

“Sinasabi n'ya palagi sa aming magkakapatid na mahirap ang buhay ng isang artist, nasa bawat isa ang desisyon kung ano ang gusto mong gawin sa iyong buhay (My father always tells us that an artist’s life is never easy. It’s an individual’s choice what to do in life)," he revealed to GMANews.TV.

Instead of being discouraged, Harvey became more determined to go for his dream and carve a name in the mainstream comics industry.

Shooting for the ‘Stars’

In college, Harvey went to the “Queen City of the South" and pursued a course in Information Technology at the Cebu Institute of Technology. Faced with financial constraints, he was only able to study for three years. Determined to succeed, he tried his luck and did jobs as a tattoo artist and furniture designer.

Two years after staying in Cebu City, he found his way to Manila and became a web designer and messenger. It was there, Harvey revealed, that he found a way to contact the person in-charge of the Glass House Graphics (GHG) Inc. in Asia.

After showing his portfolio to the people of GHG, they prodded him to attend a comics seminar. But Harvey didn’t have enough money to participate in it. Instead he waited for the event to finish, get a chance to go inside the venue and finally show his portfolio to the group of another notable Pinoy artist, Stephen Segovia.

It was Stephen who then introduced the young Harvey to Dave Campiti, the founder of GHG, an international agency for illustrators, writers, painters, and digital designers.

Impressed by his skill, Stephen employed Harvey to be his assistant artist on “Tokyo Knights" for Topcow. Since then his projects never ceased and soon he was drawing the background of Carlo Pagulayan’s “Emma Frost," “Unlimited X-Men," “Fantastic Four “and “Planet Hulk."

He also assisted other comic illustrators like Noah Salonga (“Red Sonja"), Lui Antonio (“Lightning Kiss" and “Warhammer"), Ariel Padilla (“Maze Agency" and “TOMOE") and Roy Allan Martinez (“Son of M") for Marvel comics.

Soon after, Harvey was commissioned to be the penciller of the new Star Wars comic series, a dream come true for this true-blue probinsyano. Through sheer hard work and determination, Harvey proved to himself that you can shoot for the stars and reach them at the same time.

“We all have our dreams in life but it’s up to you to find a way and reach them. The real lesson in life is that you don’t step on other people when you’re pursuing your goals. One day you’ll reach it and if you do, you have you’re whole life to cherish it," he said.

Harvey had just had just recently finished working on another project, “Ironman: Agent of Shield Annual" and enjoys waking up in the morning knowing that his passion in life also happens to be his day job at home.

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