Orley Ypon, born in 1973, hails from Toledo, Cebu, Philippines. He discovered a love for art at a very early age, doing portraits of himself and of family and friends throughout his growing years. His art is a result of mainly self-study, with only a couple of semesters at the Cebu Institute of Technology and at the UP Cebu College of Fine Arts as formal training. The 40-year old artist has achieved much since his young years. A constant finalist in painting exhibitions in the Visayas and Metro Manila, Orley gained attention when he won the First Prize in the Art Association of the Philippines' National On-The-Spot Painting Competition in 2001. In the same year, Orley made his mark at the Art Petron National Painting Competition, bagging the Grand Prize in 2001 for "Ober-Ober". He won the Grand Prize in the same competition for the second time in 2004 for "Pamaling", earning him the honor of being the first Hall-of-Famer in the history of the Art Petron Painting Competitions.