Lord of the Forest
The Fall and Rise of the Great Philippine Eagle
Book Design by Vinz Pascua
Book Author: Alain Pascua
Release Date: June 6, 2026
I had the chance to design my dad’s latest book, Lord of the Forest: The Fall and Rise of the Great Philippine Eagle.
Designing this book was a challenging task since I specialize in coffee-table books rather than the traditional format. In the end, I was sooo relieved with the final print after several revisions during the production stage!
The bulk of the design naturally centered on the cover, which took on a bold yellow spine accent to make the book striking in the nature aisle, and to complement my dad’s dark green photograph (the choice was a remix of the Haring Ibon and Bird Finder Philippines brand colors, hehe). The yellow color eventually influenced the promotions and product photography, and it pushed us to make the hard cover gold and black.
One aspect of the cover that the author wanted to carry over from “Haring Ibon: The Great Philippine Eagle” was the font, to connect the two books. But for the rest of the book, we went with a combination of Libre Baskerville, for an old classical body, and Jad Maza’s Maragsâ, to embody the book’s Philippine narrative through its headers and quotes, which was a delightful complement when it all came together.
My favorite part of the main text was the Part/Prologue/Epilogue pages, which feature epigraphs refined and polished by Ron Canimo (Filipino) and Deejay Santiago (English) in black print and are adorned with several textile patterns from Mindanao, Eastern Visayas, and Luzon.
Apart from that, I also contributed a bit to the book with my own pencil & graphite illustrations for the “Anatomy of a Sovereign” section, which showcase the major measurements of the Haring Ibon, as well as a photograph of QC’s newest senior citizen, Girlie of Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center, with her blind eye.
Anatomy of a Sovereign
I drew a couple of Philippine Eagle illustrations that showcase the major measurements of the largest Philippine Eagle specimens, from John Whitehead’s 1896 discovery to Prof. Blas R. Tabaranza, Jr.'s 2004 findings. This is just a simple page preview of a spread of Eagle drawings that I did early 2026.
Drawing these Philippine Eagles was a fun little project, since it allowed me to tap into my traditional art roots rather than my usual vivid digital art style. I was actually given the freedom to use any style I wanted for this spread, so I opted for a fully traditional black-and-white approach, using pencil and charcoal. While my vivid digital style has its place (and I do find drawing digitally a lot easier), I felt that a realistic, gritty, and textured pencil drawing of the Eagle is much more warranted for the book's grounded narrative.