hello, welcome to asian pacific america on nbc bay area and cozi tv. we have a different show today looking at art and artists, we start with wizard world comic-con, looking at it through the eyes of an illustrator known for mixing images with pop culture with books, poster art, video games. when it comes to video games, the next guest will have a lot to say and show us. alan song, one of the founders of los gatos developers shop

will talk about a new mobile game they're working on based on a classic game of marbles. after we show you other big events in the bay area, we continue the tradition of show casing cultural performances. we will show you filipino martial arts with the help of grand master robert castro and joseph batista. you will see the artistry behind the martial arts later on the show. i don't know exactly when comic books became so associated with so-called nerds, i guess when the term nerd became a compliment. now comic books and comic-cons are cool and draw huge crowds. wizard world comic-con san jose is coming in september. wizard world produces first classy vents with the best of pop culture, comics, sci-fi gaming and celebrities. albert nguyen is an illustrator,

mixes pop culture and historical images in many ways. thanks for joining us. give us an idea in terms of people not familiar with wizard world comic-con, what's it about, what's happening there. >> comic-con is bigger than ever. wizard world is serving cities nobody else is serving, reno, tulsa, still produce a show where no one else ventured there. >> what is it people can expect that they haven't seen. >> we have comic books, local artists, every movie fan. >> i have seen a few, they were interesting. give me an idea for you and your involvement, what have you been doing lately, what are you bringing to the convention? >> sure. i have been doing the convention

since 19 off and on, 33 now. full-time job a year and a half. i bring prints and history of "star wars," ninja turtles, other characters, also doing sketch cards for sets. >> what you're doing sounds unique. is it something you developed? did you see some niche there or is there kind of like a number of people trying to do that? >> i think it is a different marketplace. a lot of people can make their own art, get on social media. people just like what they see. don't necessarily need to like a book you've done or book you have been part of. >> art is about expression. give us an idea how you express art and how it changes, how you adjust it depending on the type of format or method you present it. >> sure. if i do my own work, like in

toronto people didn't get my work there. when you pick video games versus -- do you have a preference for one or the other? >> it is all work to me. i enjoy all of the work. i try to bring a high level to it. >> do you think this is all sort of elevating comics to a different level or have comics always been at a higher level than people assumed? >> i think as far as acceptability, you go to a comic convention, you would see 90% men. now families show up, half the people showing up are women now. >> four peopr people attending first time, if bringing children or children bringing parents. >> you'll be there awhile, a few hours. wear comfortable shoes, bring some cash, you'll want some stuff. >> any way to familiarize yourself with the comic book culture if you haven't been in it before? is this a place to go you can

become familiar or is it something that will seem strange if you haven't immersed in it before. >> i think it is welcoming. to show up, if you love it, show up and love it. right now with marvel movies and tv shows being popular, everybody is part of it. there's no inclusive club no one can be part of. >> movies probably expanded popularity of comics and comics led to the movies. do you see as an artist one influencing the other? which is becoming the way, the one that's more influencing. >> i think they play off each other. movies are at a popular high level, comics are bringing a higher level to the art. >> i was thinking about when certain authors and books become movies. when i read books later, feels like books are like screen

plays. almost thinking of books for movies. are comics that way? when i read them, they had a feel. sometimes i pick up some my son had, it feels more like they understand this will be something bigger. >> i think it has evolved. from 1990 to now, how different the styles are. used to be very over the top. a lot of comics try to apply more realism to hit more audiences. >> what did you start doing and how did it evolve into becoming part of this? >> i have drawn my whole life. professionally had one crack as being a freelancer maybe ten years ago. that went okay. it dried up, the market wasn't where it was today. i was in the corporate sector five years. convention scene exploded, my friends were part of it, i showed up with my art and the

audience like the art, don't care what you have done before. >> what did you bring and show and demonstrate that helped you make that transition. >> a lot of people do a drawing. i want to think more deeply about it. i try to reinterpret american imagery, recast photos with "star wars" characters or marvel characters. >> how do you get albert nguyen into these things you're drawing, they're dominated by what people are expecting. how do you as an artist express yourself into that? >> i try to put thought about why i am casting who i am in images i do. i try to bring more traditional illustration style. i work with brush and ink. sometimes almost like a wood cut. >> looking forward to seeing that. good luck at the convention. >> thank you so much. >> that's the wizard world comic-con in san jose. from september 4th through the 6th at the san jose convention

center. get more information at our asian pacific america website and wizardworld.com. coming up, developing video games, what does it take, do you have what it takes. someone that does joins us next.

welcome back. a lot of young people i know want to grow up and develop video games. we are happy and proud to bring on someone who has done it. with me, alan song, art director and one of the founders of los gatos developers shop, he won first place in growing up asian poster contest. we're glad to see someone become a success story. alan, welcome to the show. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> let's talk about the poster you won with. how did you design that and was it sort of a launching point for you? >> kind of.

i was in seventh grade and i was attending sequoia middle school. my teacher asked me to enter this growing up asian in america contest, so i did. it was an illustration with pencil and watercolor. i won first place. it was an exciting time. >> giving you courage and confidence. >> definitely. all of the encouragement, mr. boyd, gave me and teachings were why i pursued a career in art. way thankful for that and the program itself. >> what were you headed toward, seemed like video games and things were on the horizon. was that something you could say that was a goal of minor you were developing talent and an industry appeared in front of you. >> i went to college at academy of art, studied traditional illustration under chuck pile.

at that time i didn't know what i wanted to do. i studied painting, drawing, stuff like that. naturally i decided i wanted to go into video games. luckily toward the end of my career, i found a job as a game artist and sort of started from there. >> of course, the artistry helps. i would think you have to have a way of looking at things in terms of being able to come up with an idea of a game. >> absolutely. although i did study traditional ways of doing things like painting and drawing. everything i learned in college applies to game art development, when you're making art for games, everything is done on the computer. knowledge of lighting, color theory, drawing skills, all of that is essential to doing good work. often times people say we take technology for granted, but the truth is we often forget how important traditional skills are using that technology. >> how did you make that step into wanting to do it and doing

it. >> just being a gamer. i love playing all kinds of games, specifically fighting games. as a fan, sort of launched it. >> how do you explore yourself in terms of finding a game, an idea you're developing and you know that you're kind of a fan of fighting games. how did you come up with an original concept? >> it is a challenge because working in the games industry, people are sharing his ideas. you have to find a medium where everyone is happy. at our new company, los gatos developer shop started by scott dale, we had the opportunity as a small team to share ideas and come up with something we all kind of like. >> i thought it was really interesting, i hadn't seen it before, basing a videogame on a traditional game, marbles. >> yeah. >> how did that idea come about?

>> the ceo, scott dale, likes the idea of playing for keeps. it is a modern take on the classic game of marbles where players battle to win each other's digital marbles. we call it darbles. the cool thing is they transform into robots. i was a huge fan of transformers growing up. this is by far the most fun i had working on a game. >> so it was a melding of a couple of concepts. >> absolutely. we are launching in a month or so. anyone can sign up at beta.darbles.com. >> does that inspire the art or did you try to think visually about what would make a good game and led you to looking at traditional games. >> both. visually we wanted it to look cool and appeal to a specific

audience. at the same time, we wanted to research other games, what mechanics work good, what do people like, what touches their heart as they're playing. those are all challenges that come with developing a game. >> what did you have to develop in terms of once you're in that company, what are some of the skills you had to develop to be well rounded enough not just to be an artist contributing but maybe becoming a gamer or game developer. >> the challenge is learning the digital tools, 3d programs, game engines, stuff like that. that's probably been the most challenging thing because art school obviously equipped me with the traditional skills required to make something visually appealing. >> you kind of had to evolve into the process. how about somebody just starting, do you have a more tangible path, more concrete path somebody needs to take? >> i would tell young artists focus on solidifying traditional

skills first because technology is always going to change. there's always new things to learn. what won't change is the basic foundations of illustration and design. that's absolutely something that you should nail down first. >> quickly, how do you change, turn that into a business. what did you have to do to develop a developing company? >> well, just takes experience i guess, putting yourself out there. i was lucky to work at a company that sold to disney, so that looked good on the resume. just get yourself out there, make good products, have fun while doing it. >> developing as an artist will pay off later, huh? >> absolutely. >> it is a never ending exploration of yourself, huh? >> yes. >> hey, good to see you again. >> good to see you. >> congratulations on everything. we will follow up more when that game is released. we will tell you about big events concerning asian

american and pacific islander communities in the bay area, then performance of martial arts coming up.

yoplait greek 100. for when you just can't make it without a protein-packed, thick and creamy, power-me-up-with-something filling taste-bud-loving, satisfaction by the spoonful, deliciously fruity, dinner feels a million years away, grab and go, let's take on the world with 100 calories, snack yoplait greek 100. there are hundreds of reasons to snack on it.

and here's a look at some significant events for the asian american and pacific islander communities going on in the bay area. if you didn't get a chance to get to san jose japan town 125th anniversary concert last night, there's another one. the second and final 125th anniversary concert for san jose japan town celebration will be saturday, september 12th, 7:00 p.m., at the wesley united methodist church fellowship haul. get tickets online at eventbrite, 125th anniversary concerts. and an event we talked about before, august 22 and 23, 28th annual oakland chinatown street fest. lots of live entertainment,

including chinatown soul band. from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and another event, the san francisco world percussion festival. the beat goes on september 18 through 20 at the dance mission theater in san francisco. coming up, our cultural performance of filipino martial arts. coming up next.

i'm a customer relationship i'm roy gmanager.ith pg&e. anderson valley brewing company is definitely a leader in the adoption of energy efficiency. pg&e is a strong supporter of solar energy. we focus on helping our customers understand it and be able to apply it in the best way possible. not only is it good for the environment, it's good for the businesses' bottom line. these are our neighbors. these are the people that we work with. that matters to me. i have three children that are going to grow up here and i want them to be able to enjoy all the things that i was able to enjoy. together, we're building a better california.

joining us now from the martial arts school in san francisco is grand master robert castro and his students. thank you all for being here. if you want to find out more about it, find it on our website for asian pacific america with robert handa. we are on facebook and twitter. follow us, we welcome your feedback. with help from robert, we will see filipino martial arts. enjoy it. >> as they're playing with sticks, this is in front of me,

they're using two sticks. now on the other side, they're doing the same technique, empty hand. and two sticks. as they play, one over the head, blocking the knee, one striking the face, blocking with his hands. now they're going to do this, it is very old. 500 years old. on the other side, three count combination, within philippine art. next they're going to be doing a stick and dagger.

the way the stick moves around, it is part of the philippine tradition of making the stick work for you. and drums are displayed in openings. next, stick to empty hands. how one deals with a weapon. because you will not have a stick all of the time. you need to learn everything with empty hands. in filipino art, we use all of the weapons. two sticks, swords, dagger, knife, everyday items, glasses, watch, purse. all of these are used in

filipino art. stick to stick, sorano means close. close in fighting. now they're going to disarm. the weapon, disarm. disarm, take the weapon, strike. beautiful disarms. stabbing. disarm. we used a lot of knives also, but we're not going to show you that today. take down. stabs. locks. there's a head lock, neck lock. wrist lock. arm lock. shoulder lock.

striking multiple strikes. very nice. empty hand to empty hand. everything we do with a weapon we do empty hands. night stick, doesn't matter. we have to teach to use with a weapon and without. a stick travels at 160 miles per hour, top speed. the hand only travels 80. when you train the filipino heart, you train your eye and

body at a fast pace, higher than regular martial arts schools train you. our kicking called sick a ron. the filipino art has all of the other arts in there. wrestling take downs. we have our own fighting. we all have weapons in our system. beautiful. i need to know the timing. yeah. >> thank you very much for that demonstration. we appreciate it. again, our thanks to this group. thank you all. to our guests as well. get more information on all our topics, including wizard world comic-con. join us every week on asian

pacific america. that's our show today. we close with the martial arts school. thank you very much. ♪ ♪ preconceptions r, challenge your and experience a cadillac for yourself. ♪ the 2015 cadillac srx.

lease this from around $339 per month, or purchase with 0% apr financing.

good morning, state of emergency. while fires exploding across the west this morning. one turning deadly. thousands run for their lives. extreme heat out west, triple digit temperatures making life miserable for firefighters. we're live on the front lines. no double agents. >> what do you tell conservatives when you and the clintons are in cahoots. >> donald trump denies running to make the opposition, and he continues to offer helicopter rides at the iowa state fair.