portal of dreams

Spawning a Universe

A dream started it all. From the first day each of us picked and learned to scribble with our pencil, we knew we were destined to become someone else, a part of a collective artistic force of maverick artists willing to risk and go beyond our limitations. The dream taught us to find each other, share our thoughts and a strong friendship that spawned a parallel universe of imagination.

It was more than a year ago when we were gathered to train for a 360-hours 2D animation course offered by Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Iloilo under PGMA-Training for Work Scholarship and Western Visayas College of Science and Technology (WVCST). We were the second batch of trainees that pursued to learn the expanding craft of animation industry in the country. Filipino animators were known for their skills and passion for animation though they were just commissioned or contractually employed by various international animation companies. I guess, Ilonggos are good and gifted as well in this craft.

When we started to call our group “Kuris” which is an Ilonggo term that means “scribbled line”, each of our gifts and talents were somehow collected into one thought, dream and ship that would explore the ocean of possibilities as we chase our goals. We wanted to inspire budding young artists not be afraid to use their God-given gifts and passion to make a difference, create a distinct cultural impact and legacy even in the most simplest way. And I must say now--it was truly fun and life-inspiring experience to share, live and dream together with your fellow artists. We graduated on October 19, 2007 at SM City Iloilo, the first-ever graduation held in the city’s biggest mall. During that affair, our dream to inspire is igniting inside us as we showcase our first animated group project “The Adventures of TASI” and the compilation of our individual projects—Kuris Universe.

Like Marvel Comics, Walt Disney, Cartoon Network, DC Comics or Nickolodeons, we compiled each of our original animated characters as part of our individual projects as one presentation, revealing our distinct artistic style, stroke, inspiration, reveries and personalities to become an imaginary parallel realm that we called KURIS UNIVERSE. Each of these unique characters shares their own original stories, saga, conflict, battles, origin and destiny that would reflect the deepest recesses of our souls.

As TESDA Iloilo Provincial Director, Mrs। Lorena Yunque used to say, “the intro seemed poetic…”. It was indeed poetic for us and definitely represents our collective dream to inspire and find our place under the sun. In this realm, we are free to express ourselves, fight our own personal battles and change the world in our own way. There’s something for everyone who loves animation and cartoons. We hope everybody can relate and find themselves in the characters we created to live life with passion, happiness and dreams.

I’d also love to credit Brynh de los Reyes for doing the animated concept and drawings for the Kuris animated intro. It rocks greatly with Bryan Jandonero’s editing and artistic retouch. It was used in almost all of our animated projects and music videos. But yeah, we‘re going for innovation coz’ this year we will have a new Kuris animated intro that’s gonna be more stunning and creative with 2D and 3D fusion courtesy of Marx.

Today, we once again share a fragment of our artistic soul. A piece of our thoughts and imagination through Kuris Universe...thank you for believing in our dreams!

So if you’re dying to see it again, will you click the video below?