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Rod Tinapay unlocks the secret to happiness

MOST people usually find happiness once they achieve success. But for one visual effects artist and 3D animator, it is the happiness he feels when immersed in his art that paved the way to his success.

His name is Rod Tinapay, the owner and founder of Syndicated Digital Happy Boy Corp. His studio specializes in 3D animation, computer-generated imagery (CGI) and special effects.

From the name of his company alone, there is no mistaking that Tinapay is ecstatic over what he does. “It sends a clear message across the television industry that Digital Happy Boy is a group of artists who simply love what they do,” he related.

His attitude toward life and career is one and the same: That “things get easier when you enjoy what’s in front of you.”

The artist
As a young boy, Tinapay already knew that his calling is rooted in the visual arts. He remembers drawing as early as primary school. Later in high school, he represented the National Capital Region for a nationwide editorial cartooning competition where he placed seven among the Top 10 winners.

Naturally, Tinapay enrolled in Fine Arts for college at the Philippines Women’s University. It was there he learned most of the traditional arts, including painting with use of different media like water color or oil, as well as sculpting.

Eager to hone his craft even more, he became a working student, apprenticing under Ricardo Manapat, former National Archives chief of the National Library. Tinapay’s job back then was to duplicate old maps. According to him, these maps were needed as reference for locating properties of lands, since the original maps were too delicate and fragile to serve the purpose.

Engrossed with what he was doing for the National Library, Tinapay eventually found himself to be behind in school work. He had to rely on his classmates to teach him what he had missed, but he also helped them graduate by making their plates as a sideline.

Soon enough, Tinapay made the decision to quit college and work full time instead. “I thought to myself that I’d not only learn on the job, but I’d also be earning a living.”

The search
When his stint ended at the National Library, Tinapay studied comic book illustration under Whilce Portacio, a famous Filipino-American comic book writer and artist who had worked for DC and Marvel. “I thought that time that maybe, comics is my art. But still, I got bored in the middle of it,” he remembered.

It was shortly after that Tinapay’s first foray in animation came about when he joined Fil-Cartoons, a locally based animation studio of Hanna Barbera Cartoons Inc. It was the 1990s and animation was still done the traditional way, sans computers.

While he enjoyed drawing the stills that would eventually move on television, the ever adventurous artist felt there was something missing. “There was no growth,” he said.

Wanting to go beyond traditional art, Tinapay began studying Adobe Photoshop on his own. He then entered a short 3D animation course at the De La Salle University, together with Choy Eleazar, his future partner in Digital Happy Boy.

There, he finally found what he calls “my art:” Computer-generated imagery, more commonly known as CGI. A fast learner, Tinapay was accepting commissioned works almost as soon as he finished the course. He was enthusiastic. He was excited. He was finally happy.

The rebirth
In 2004, Tinapay was hired as a visual effects man by the ABS-CBN Network. That put him among the station’s first batch of CGI artists. His friend Choy Eleazar also joined him there.

But as younger and more aggressive visual effects artists sprouted from nowhere, both Tinapay and Eleazar lost their jobs in 2008. For the longest time, the pair of artist looked job openings but their age proved to be a handicap. If and when they were hired, they pay they received hardly compensated for their output.

“At some point, I thought, if we can do these things for other companies, why don’t we just put up our own studio?” Tinapay related. That moment led to his rebirth as an artist, and the birth of Digital Happy Boy in 2010.

The company started out by passing demo reels to GMA Network. Tinapay describes the reels back then as “hilaw na hilaw pa” (raw or unrefined), and far from the quality of work they do today.

They were turned down several times but they just kept on trying. “It’s called guts,” he laughed. Until one day, GMA was impressed by their work and hired Digital Happy Boy for the visual effects of the fantasy series, Trudis Liit.

The pride
As owner, team head and director of Digital Happy Boy, Roy Tinapay is very hands on. “I take care of our projects myself—everything we do go through me. Because this is my passion, I keep an eye out for quality all the time.”

He also takes prides in the studio’s pool of artists. Usually numbering 10, Tinapay takes under his wing on-the-job trainees and the fresh graduates, and enjoys helping them develop their talent. Apart from making quality CGIs, Digital Happy Boy’s advocacy is to help other artists grow.

In fact, one of Tinapay’s protégés is now a visual effects consultant for a big-scale TV show. “He was able to learn everything because he had the desire to do it,” he said of the young artist.

Aside from the demands as Digital Happy Boy’s main man, Tinapay still finds time to make independent animation pieces and enters competitions. In 2010, he joined the Animahisnasyon competition by the Animation Council of the Philippines and was judged as a finalist.

The challenge
While it is evident that the Philippines lags behind Hollywood’s visual effects and 3D animation, Tinapay still believes that the Filipinos produce the same quality of work.

“I’ve asked myself a long time ago why Hollywood films have visual effects that look so real. So I read up on how they make it and I found out that it’s the same way as how we do it. Their computers and programs are probably better but the process and techniques are the same,” he explained.

The problem supposedly lies in the restriction of time. Tinapay said that in the other countries, especially in the United States, extensive time is given to finish one movie or TV episode, like the Lord of the Rings, which took five years to produce.

Tinapay experienced this “luxury of time” when he worked on the CGI of Jurassic Fight Club for the History Channel. His dinosaur models were of top quality because the clients never rushed him.

Always the optimist, he firmly believes that the Filipino artist can do more. “I still think we can be at par with the others. Baka masyado lang tayong mareklamo [Maybe we just complain too much],” he shared.

So long as the likes of Rod Tinapay stay happy, the Philippines has a bright future in CGI and 3D animation.