Jeuz Sumangil, aa 22-year-old AB Multimedia Arts student from the University of Mindanao, bested over 3,600 artists from all over the world to emerge as one of the five grand winners in Talenthouse’s “Venom” alternative poster competition.
The global contest was a collaboration between Talenthouse, a prestigious online community of creators and art appreciators and the Venom Team led by actor Tom Hardy who stars in the film as Eddie Brock/Venom. Tom Hardy himself selected the final five winners, the four coming from the US, Japan, Indonesia and Ecuador.
Jeuz shares that he got excited when he saw that the creative invite was for ‘Venom’. “Kasi pag sinabing Venom character, ang unang maiisip mo talaga is mabangis, malupit, kaya nakaka excite i- illustrate. However, due to my school load, I wasn’t able to immediately create.” Fortunately, the deadline was a month after the invite, giving Jeuz enough time to finish his entry.
Jeuz had learned about Talenthouse last February through his college professor, Sir James Racho, who is also a graphic artist. “Sabi nya try ko lang daw, kasi maraming magagaling at sobrang worth it ng prizes,” shares Jeuz.
Jeuz humbly admits that he didn’t expect to win because all of the submissions were really impressive. “You can see from the entries that some of the artists are already professionals with complete top-level tools,” he raves. “My only weapon was my unique concept, and that’s what I anchored my hopes on. While other entries had busy and elaborate ideas, I made mine purposely minimalist.” Jeuz says he did this because he had observed that the winning designs in the past were simple, but relied on strong concepts and proper execution.
Explaining his poster, Jeuz says that he first thought of something that could stand for a metaphor for Venom. To prepare, he watched the ‘Venom’ trailer ten times while brainstorming. “I hit on the idea of illustrating Venom as a shadow, a metaphor for a person’s dark side, which I think all of us have, we just don’t show or acknowledge it. That’s why I illustrated Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) looking at his hands as if clueless, lost and wondering what’s happening to him. However, Eddie’s shadow is in the form of Venom, who in contrast is smiling and perfectly aware of what’s going on.”
Jeuz hasn’t seen the film yet, but based on the trailer, he has concluded that the film might be about facing, accepting and embracing your dark side. “It doesn’t mean if meron ka nagawang masama or may dark past ka noon, di ka na pwede gumawa ng mabuti at mamuhay ng malaya,” Jeuz says. “It’s about turning it into positive and learning from it, making it your greatest strength in life.”
(Watch the trailer of ‘Venom’ here.)
Jeuz will receive $2,000 (around Php108,200) for his victory. Jeuz says he will probably use the money to invest in his tools, like upgrade the specs of his laptop, and buy a pen tablet to speed up the process because it takes so long with a mouse. “I also want to take my family out and treat my friends who’ve been very supportive,” he adds.
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