Edgar Tadeo, The Net, And Unrushed Art
The Philippine Star / Monday, July 15, 2002
Business As Usual / IT Monthly - Let's talk about technology
Headwriter: CORNELIUS S. MONDOY / Project Manager: BONG MONFORTE

The Internet has indeed provided a new frontier for everything: business, literature, pornography, music, art and animation, among others. Many of us have surely found delight with the creations of Joe Cartoon (www.joecartoon.com) and his revolting gerfils and grainbusting soupahflies. But for real cartoon fanatics, especially those die-hard anime fans, the Internet provides more-than-the-usual dose of hardcore action - and of course, a few laughs.

On one lazy afternoon, I stumbled upon a website by accident. I was searching for some free hentai sites but then - I don't how it happened - CyAnime (www.fractalcow.com/cyanime/home.htm) popped up on screen. Here was some serious anime, drawn and animated by Filipino. Checking out the site's anime archive of short flash cartoons and teasers, I soon found several gems. The Cyanime Presentation teaser, for example, is one heck of a smash, though it would have been better if it had some sound or dialogue. Then there was Round One, a short clip featuring a character patterned after the Street Fighter game versus one small fly*. Guess who wins? Funny.

The guy responsible for all this is Edgar Tadeo, comic book artist by profession, web animator on the side (if he has some free time in his hands). He belongs to the elite few Filipino artists who have cracked the comic book industry in he U. S. Dignitaries of this clique include Leinil Yu, Whilce Portacio, and Gerry Alanguilan. His portfolio of works include inks work for Wolverine, Uncanny X-Men; and colors for Iron Man, and Cable, among others.

The Internet as venue for animation holds much potential for Filipino artist like Tadeo. Dino Ignacio of the Bert is Evil fame also has his own cartoon site at www.mongodroids.com. This writer was recently granted a phone interview by the Rizal-based artist. Tadeo disclosed ti was only few years ago when he start to draw anime.

"I usually draw in the Western style, yung exaggerated lahat: muscles, hair, etc. It was my friends who inticed me to dabble in anime drawing. At first, I was a bit challenged because it did not know how to draw characters with big eyes and flowing hair. " Tadeo shares.
He is an undergrad of the Central Colleges of the Philippines and was introduced to the world of comic books at an early age. At age five, he drew his first comic book character, Spider-man. Currently, Tadeo accepts local freelance work but in the U. S., he is still under contract with Marvel Comics.

Tadeo shares the creating short Flash animation takes him a week or so to complete, which why he doesn't plan to make it a full-time preoccupation. It all started, he says, when he wanted to do something creative with his e-mails. One day, instead of sending ordinary e-mails, he sent flash cartoons to all his friends on the Net.

"The process was tedious the first time I did it. First, I had to draw on paper, then scan it, then polish it to Photoshop, then to Shockwave Flash. But now I draw directly to my computer," Tadeo explains.
He started his site, Cyanime, in 1999 but he maintains a personal website at members.tripod.com/edgar_tadeo. Tadeo reveals that some of the animations in the archive were originally planned as a series but somehow they never got to push it through because of time constraints and commitments.

For someone who has tried to draw and put up a personal site using Shockwave Flash, the achievements of Edgar Tadeo is quite an envy. This writer can only hope to expect more anime and action from the Ed Clone.