Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Ipad Caricature Cartoons by Elgin Subwaysurfer Bolling

At the urging of Angie Jordan, The Worlds First ipad caricaturists, I purchased sketchbook Pro, the digital program of choice among caricature artists, and went to work on my first.SERIOUS color caricature using the software and this device. Right now I'm getting over the learning curve of adjusting to the slight time delay of the Pogo Stylus as it draws on the pad, the location and choice of different brushes and settings, as well as the art of painting itself, which until now, I all but ignored. I started the above sketch at 9pm last night working slowly in layers first laying down the initial blue line sketch in one layer, then gradually building up the color on subsequent layers. For an artist like me, who prides himself on his speed and accuracy, the slowing down process took a LOT of gettig used to, but was very satisfying as I explored new ways to color and shape my drawing like some digital sculpture. I looked up and it was 11PM. Where did the time go? I wasn't tired, and determined to COMPLETE this drawing, I put my head down, grasped a cup of lipton and continued. The next time I looked up it was 5 in the MORNING!! I had literally been at this for 8 hours!  This fact alone is phenomenal , as i am a BIG fan of getting a good nights rest, but like many people around the world, I am caught up in the ipads spell. It's not perfect, but Im very satisfied with the results of my second picture. It's GOT to get easier from here! I cant imagine going to a party and spending 8 hours on one face... unless its a very GOOD caricature!

WIth renewed confidence from the previous all nighter, I attacked this self portrait with gusto. As a result of my 8 hour ordeal, this painting came a lot easier, although it still wasnt QUICK. It took approx three hours to do. I wanted it to look kinda sorta realistic. Closer at least to how I actually draw caricatures. I can see by the way the materials perform, or at least the way I interact with them , that when I start using the ipad for party caricature I will probably lean more in the direction of cartoony caricatures, rather than the cartoon portraits  that I normally do. On another note, I can see the ipad is excellent for making quick wireframe sketches and later printing out the result to go over in marker like I have done for years.

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