Dragon Pineda

With the quarantines going on worldwide, many are stuck at home and some people have been able to make use of their time by exploring new talents as well as rehashing old ones.

Film and TV commercials director, Dragon Pineda revisited his love for paint and illustration while on quarantine and the result is his timely series depicting the many faces of the Coronavirus pandemic. We caught up with Dragon and he fills us in on what he calls his "Lockdown Doodle Series".

Please tell us a little about yourself?

I AM A FILMMAKER AND DIRECTOR OF TV COMMERCIALS, BUT MY BACKGROUND IS TRADITIONAL VISUAL ARTS. MY FORMAL TRAINING IS PAINTING, FROM MY SCHOOL YEARS IN THE PHILIPPINE HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS AND THE U.P. COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS. THEN ON TO MY FIRST JOB AS AN ART DIRECTOR FOR A MULTINATIONAL ADVERTISING AGENCY. SINCE I SWITCHED TO PRODUCTION AND DIRECTING, I HAVEN'T DONE MUCH ARTWORK BY HAND. I DID NOT PAINT OR DRAW EXTENSIVELY FOR ABOUT 15 YEARS UNTIL I STARTED PAINTING AGAIN LAST YEAR (2019). I'M STILL EXPERIMENTING, TRYING TO REDISCOVER MY TOUCH, BUT GOING BACK TO PAINTING/DRAWING REJUVENATED MY CREATIVE JUICES AND BROUGHT BACK PASSION TO MY CRAFT.

Run us through your Lockdown Doodle Series?

BECAUSE OF THE PANDEMIC, WE ARE BOMBARDED BY INFORMATION ABOUT THE DISEASE. WHILE READING AND TRYING TO LEARN AS MUCH ABOUT COVID19, I CAME UPON A SERIES OF IMAGES REPRESENTING A CORONA VIRUS, AND I THOUGHT THE FIGURES ARE QUITE BEAUTIFUL IN A MACABRE SORT OF WAY. I ALSO CAME UPON A SET OF CORONAVIRUS WALLPAPERS IN THE INTERNET IN BRILLIANT COLOURS, SO I STARTED DOODLING ON MY CORONA VIRUS MODEL AND EVERYTHING STARTED FROM THERE. THE "CORONA VIRUS ORB" IS THE CONSISTENT ELEMENT THROUGHOUT THE SERIES.

What is your favorite drawing or painting from your ECQ collection and why?

I'M FOND OF "MUTATION" BECAUSE OF THE EXPLOSION OF COLOURS I USED. I ALSO ENJOYED WORKING ON "DIRTY WORDS" AND "CONTACT TRACING" BECAUSE THIS IS JUST FREE-FLOW DRAWING.

Any plans for your next series?

I'M WORKING ON A NEW SERIES OF PORTRAITS, BUT I THINK I MIGHT REVISIT THE "LOCKDOWN DOODLES" AND ADD A FEW MORE PIECES DOWN THE ROAD.

What have you been up to this enhanced community quarantine?

TRYING TO KEEP MY SANITY. I CAN'T SPEND THE WHOLE DAY IN FRONT OF THE TV WATCHING NETFLIX, WE ALL NEED AN OUTLET, WORKING ON MY ARTWORKS HELPS.

A few more days to go until modified ECQ is over, what is the first thing you'd like to do when you get out of the house with no restrictions?

RIDE MY VESPA OUT OF THE CITY.