Hipsters, art, and the internet according to Rob Cham

When I first heard about Rob Cham, I had no idea who he was. I'd seen some of his work online, including art for Meiday and the movie "Ang Nawawala." Too cool. 

 

I met Rob Cham one night at Route 196, where we ended up sitting at the same table. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't the soft-spoken 23-year-old with neat clothes and a clean haircut. He seemed nice, and it was easy to forget that he was a bit of an internet star. 

 

Cham, who became popular on Tumblr, says he was just lucky. "I would just post stuff I like, and people would reblog it. I went up the charts and people added me, and that added to the Tumblarity," he says, explaining that Tumblarity is a point system based on likes and reblogs.

 

Eventually, people who were famous on Tumblr began reblogging his posts, and his followers grew, gaining 2,000 in a week. After three years, Cham said he has around 11,000 followers. 

 

"It was a weird thing... I wasn't in it for the following. I just really had stuff I wanted to make... then I'd post it online. Why not?" says Cham, who posts illustration jobs he does for work, as well as things he does on his own. 

 

"Stuff I respond to, like I just happened to find this movie interesting. I want to make fan art of it. I just happen to have this idea for a comic, I'll make a comic. I have this idea for an illustration about this issue that I care about, like the RH Bill or the Cybercrime Law. Then I just post it. It's just me as an outlet," he says.

 

 Internet as a tool

 

Although gaining a following wasn't intentional, Cham says the experience taught him a lesson. "The internet is a great tool to get yourself out there," says Cham, who explains using an analogy from writer Dan Harmon: "If you're lost in a mall, and your mom is looking for you, it's better to stay in one place so that she can scour the mall and find you. But if you two are looking around, it's hard. So the internet is sort of this platform that makes it easier for someone to find you."

 

Cham shares that knowing that people appreciated his work encouraged him to pursue art. "Pre-internet, I really kept it to myself because I wasn't proud of it. But like, I just wanted to make it better and better and better, until I got comfortable with releasing it. And then it never really reached that point of comfort. I just threw caution to the wind and posted stuff," he says.

 

Cham now works as a designer at Create.ph, although he graduated with a management degree. "I don't regret it. Taking that course led me to meet a lot of people... I would appreciate an art education but it comes down to you anyway. That's what I try to tell myself so I don't have to spend on art school. I really push myself to self-study," he says.

 

In order to have enough time for both school and art, his advice is to get all the work done, and then do art. "It's stressful to try to do art when you know you have a school project... I was studious that way. As soon as they give homework, I'd do it right away, so I have more time to draw," he says.

 

His topics can be simple observations, such as "Did you know that waffles are more expensive than pancakes, but they're essentially the same thing?"

 

'Art is a powerful thing'

 

Cham says he also tries to do bigger things for free, such as jobs for Muni PH and AHA Learning Center. "Whoever asks, if it's for a good cause, I'm game for it. If you don't have much money, sure, why not. Because for me, art is a powerful thing. It's been used as propaganda and that is enough to spark nationalism. For me, seeing one piece of art changes a lot inside me already," he says.

 

Cham shares that the one illustrator he really admires is Moebius, the French artist known for his science fiction and fantasy art. "Each illustration just hits me in a way. I want that power, ish. If I can make something that changes people's minds about like, how they should litter cigarette butts or maybe donate books, why not? It's a righteous thing," he says.

 

His philosophy is, "Make the work you want to see." For him, art is a way of connecting. The feedback he gets online isn't always positive, but comments like "This is my life in a nutshell" remind him of his work's purpose. "Relating to someone through your art is pretty amazing. That's what art is for me. My people connector," he says.

 

Asked which of his works are most visible, he says people relate most to his comics. Some are three or four panels, but he also has longer comics, like "01" which is about growing up.

 

For inspiration, Cham browses the internet to look at art. "It's input and output. Nothing's original, you take from everything you can and hopefully you've milled it into something that's you," he says. 

 

'Hipsters'

 

When it comes to material, Cham doesn't need to look far. His next project is a full-length comic about his friends called "Hipsters." "I want to make hipsters something interchangeable with different cultural groups. It's more about growing up," he says. 

 

According to Cham, the term is "only derogatory if you let it be." "My friends from college used to call me a hipster because I was into the arts scene. and because I happened to have a Tumblr, and a following, ish. They were like, 'Ang hipster mo Rob Cham.' Whenever I'd watch a movie, 'Hipster 'yan ano?' That's a hipster film... I learned to embrace it na parang 'Okay, fine. Why not.' I don't see anything wrong with it other than people think it's a snobby culture," he says.

 

Cham hopes to release the comic this year, but says he's taking his time with it, describing it as an ongoing project.  

 

'Be patient'

 

His advice to aspiring artists is to be patient. "You don't have to stop anything to start anything. It just takes time," says Cham, who spent hours figuring out how to use language and panels in comics. "Right now I can say I'm proud of some of the comics I've made. Unlike before where I didn't know anything, and everything was laid out bad, everything was scratchy," he says. 

 

Illustration also used to be a daunting task for him, but he says it comes more naturally now. "Put in the time and you'll get something in return," Cham advises. "It's like this idea [that] you have 10 thousand hours to try and be good at something. Five thousand hours, you're halfway there. I haven't put 10 thousand hours in. I'm getting there, hopefully," he says. —KG, GMA News

 

Photos courtesy of Rob Cham