Cartoon Editorial illustration

Been a while since I posted any editorial illustrations for The Wave News. I recently got some Editorial copy  where the Far Rockaway residents are"bugging out" over a series of rumors regarding  housing, shelters being built, criminals running wild in the streets, ETC All of these rumors are unsubstantiated, but more residents in the community are getting worried, and if they get too worried.... well we could have problems in the community as people act on their imagined fears. The article, not shown hear is basically a call to sanity. In this illustration , I decided to do a montage of past caricatures to stand is as"Rockaway  residents". Looking at the drawing now I can appreciate just how varied the faces that Ive drawn over the years are, and how versatile Ive become as far as illustration style is concerned. What a great job!

THE RETURN OF THE STARBUCKS MONKEY

okay I KNOW that someone, SOMEWHERE is going to be offended by this picture so let me explain it right now before the fire starts, and even though I give an explaination I realize that sadly, I still wont satisfy some people......sigh.....
First off, Im a caricature artist. As such I make fun of FACES... not RACES, and EVERYONE gets slammed, especially when I see a face that reallllllly deserves it. Im not trying to be mean or make a statement just having fun visually with what I see at the moment. I notice also that some groups of people seem to be highly sensitive to being made fun of to the point of wanting to take serious issue with a drawing that was not meant in spirit to be derogatory. This happened to me once with a certain NYC Queens Congressman... but thats another story....

In learning to exaggerate, I sometimes see people as animals. I figure since there facial structure or vibe reminds me of a particular mammal, fowl, reptile, or fish, ill just draw them along those lines. It makes the caricature more powerful. Below is a picture of a young man I saw a few years back in Starbucks. he looked sooooo ridiculously ape like that I could NOT resist drawing him him full on as a Simeon!

Hope you guys especially my fewllow African Americans can appreciate this for what it is. Humour. If you attach anything else to it, Its YOU. not ME. Im just having fun.

Whether you agree or not, I DO welcome your responses or criticisms though!

The Christ Chronicles Comics Update

For the past couple of weeks I've had some down time which enabled me to work 
on some personal artistic projects, like my " THE CHRIST CHRONICLES COMIC" 
Project. The work is based on the adventures of Jesus depicted in the Biblical 
Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I find the Biblical accounts as 
dividing as any adventure story I've ever read. It's an epic story containing 
heroes and villains, it's loaded with action, intrigue, horror and humor. I've 
taken creative license on character designs, removing them from the traditional 
ancient, biblical, Middle Eastern vibe, and replacing them with a more campy 
contemporary look. (what can I say? I am a cartoonist!) I gotta admit, John The 
Baptist was the most fun to do, and since the Bible does give more of a physical 
description of him, I decided to leave him as is!

The Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducces ,were a challenge to depict, until I heard 
Jesus refer to them as "blind guides" "teachers of the law" which made me decide 
to dress them in formal professor robes I'd recently seen at my sons college 
graduation. The cap covering their eyes, which adds to their inability to see.

This is an open ended project that I will continue to work on as time permits. 
I'm really having a lot of fun with it

ANTOINE DODSON CARTOONS by SUBWAYSURFER

When Fame came knocking on the door of  Alabama  resident, Antoine Dodson he 
didn't just answer the knock, he flung the door wide open, and broke off the 
hinges. Huntsville Alabama  native, Antoine Dodson, has become a member of an 
elite group  of unlikely hometown celebrities whose fame and notoriety 
skyrocketed thanks to the phenomenon of YouTube.

Antoine'sqq fame is the result of what could have been a tragic episode for his 
sister, Kelly Dodson, had Antoine not scared off a  rapist who gained access  to 
the 2nd floor bedroom if their  Webster Drive apartment. Kelly's screams alerted 
her brother, Antoine, who managed to chase the intruder off, and had a few 
choice words to say to the intruder once the news reporters arrived on the scene 
with the cameras.

 Antoine's, angry yet animated demeanor caught the attention of a legion of fans 
who after seeing the broadcast on YouTube literally skyrocketed him to Internet 
stardom.  

I personally admire Dodson for coming to his sisters rescue like he did That 
took guts, and he obviously loves her.

 For me, as an artist, I found Antoine to be a perfect animated character. 
Clearly he has the personality! LOL! He's, vivacious, flamboyant, and "in your 
face", even though he was angry, you could still see that sense of humor peeking 
through. The first thing I noticed about Antoine was his eyes and mouth. Both 
very expressive, and very animated. He's a character that definitely calls for a 
lot of dialogue, and it's would be hard to conceive of him NOT getting the last 
word in any conversation he finds himself in. The next thing was his neck, which 
was unusually long.Again, visually, this is  something, once animated than can 
add to his characters "in your face vibe" and make his  dialogues even more 
entertaining. Finally, I love his "costume" if you're doing any type of 
sustained cartoon, whether it be comics, or animation, it helps if your 
character has a " signature look" that doesn't change.   Imagine Charlie Brown 
minus his Yellow shirt  with the jagged stripe.  Antoine's red bandana with the 
pokadots combined with his Afro and black wife beater tee shirt are as 
recognizable as the late Steve Job's black turtleneck was. In an interview on 
the George Lopez show,  I was a little disappointed to find out that he 
had......changed his look considerably, which I feel  was a mistake. In order to 
"milk his celebrity status" Antoine would do better to appear in the attire "we 
first met him". Could you imagine seeing Mr. T in public without his trademark 
Mohawk, gold chains and feathered earrings? It's all about public branding. At 
the very least, he could've sold a line of tank tops or head scarfs! But I'll 
leave the marketing up to his agent.

I hope if he somehow sees these cartoons that they will bring a smile to his 
face and adds another 15 minutes to his fame! 

Rachel Grant Coaching: It's Just My Personality - Part 3: Being An Introvert

Rachel Grant Coaching: It's Just My Personality - Part 3: Being An Introvert

my 6th grade drawings

I got a really unexpected email the other day. It was from my 6th grade teacher 
who had found me due to the magic of this great Internet driven, social 
networking , find anyone at the click of a mouse, age we live in! 

I asked her how she remembered me after all these centuries and she recalled 
that I always liked to draw, and that I had an unusual name. I gotta admit, 
there ain't too many kids with the name. "Elgin" running around.

She informed me that she was retiring from teaching, and was cleaning out some 
of her papers from her cases she'd accumulated over the years. She was delighted 
to find some pages from a class magazine I had illustrated, and asked me if I 
wanted them. Before I could the out a es, the pictures were sitting in my email 
box waiting to be downloaded,

You gotta love this electronic age.

The drawings I got were very revealing. It's a weird feeling going back in time 
and seeing yourself, and what impressed me the mst was that I had remained 
consistent to my dream of becoming an illustrator. Looking at this pictures, I 
can tell that objectively I wasn't the greatest artist. The figures are horribly 
dsproportioned, the anatomy isvmisaligned, the line quality is terrible, and the 
perspective is awful.  And yet none of that mattered to e. Judging how I kept up 
with it obviously, it shows thst I had a commitment to improve, and I 
objectively did. I also see that even back in six grade I had a love for comics 
and story telling, and an interest in drawing faces and capturing personality. 
Today I'm still drawing comics and doing caricature.

These drawings are inspiring and demonstrates that even the most talented 
artist, starts from humble beginnings. It's all about practice  and not giving 
up folks.

drawing live on the subway

here i am drawing e live on the train. i look at live drawing as just my way of communicating to the world. it puts people at ease, and makes an otherwise boring ride more exciting. its important not to treat this as anything special or else youll get too self concious and mess everything up.  learn to be in the moment and just draw.

CARICATURE TUTORIALS FEATURING AJ TOONHEADZ JENSEN

AJ TOONHEADZ JENSEN CARICATURES

exaggerated couples

There are some couples who stand in front of me that make me tremble with fear because once they mate, they're going to unleash something visually horri8fying !

iPad caricature of the lady who looks like Bugs Bunny

WHAT'S UP, DOC?

Lately I've been looking over some of my favorite black and white exaggerated caricatures I did in the past, and adding color to them to breathe new life into them. This girl with the "Bugs Bunny" mouth is one of my all time faces!(I know, I know, I have soooo many!)

HIGH UPON GOLGOTTHA'S HILL Easter Sunday Poem

High upon Golgotha’s Hill A Poem For Easter Sunday


High upon Golgotha’s Hill
Upon an old rugged cross you lay so still
As still as the sea that you calmed
Until it did us no harm.
No, None at all…
So How could you , Lord Jesus of Nazareth, Fall?
Submitting to mere flesh and blood
You, the creator from up above!
Rejected by those you dearly loved.

High upon Golgotha’s Hill
The Lamb Of God was Killed!
A holy sacrifice, whose blood ran down,
From furrowed brow adorned with thorns, in matted hair

The Pharisees, The Sadducees, they did not care.
The Sweet Love of Christ They did not share.

But all I could do was stare
And ask,
WHERE?
WHERE was the Love of God?
Was it somehow hard for God to see
That this innocent man should be set free? Instead of a thief?
My soul cries out in mourning because of grief…..But then, God said
My child, Cease and Desist, from thinking thoughts such as this!


This is no tragedy!
He hangs there in glorious transcendent majesty!

It’s because of my Love, that my son is Dead.
Dry thy tears! let another not be shed.

For He was willingly led right to this cross,
Knowing the cost, that at the end none would be lost
My love is HERE hanging upon this cruel, cursed tree!,
Embodied in Christ on Calvary.

He took on this pain, so you would never know the shame
So that you could have power in his Name!
That’s why he was slain. Upon the cross, and will remain
Till every guilty stain is washed away from you

THAT’S what Christ came to do.

And then, I said,
WHO KNEW?
What a brilliant, yet, unorthodox plan!
Which could only have been conceived by the great I AM!
That A GOD would become a child
That a KING would come become a Servant
That a WARRIOR would surrender
And because he did, this Easter Sunday, we all remember.


By El Prophet The Scribe Elgin Bolling copyright 2011

BUBBLY BLOND WITH BIG TEETH

I decided to go back to my party caricature roots" with this drawing on this bubbly blond. I drew this with a Pitt artist brush pen on slick photo gloss paper. Paper like this is fantastic for speed drawing as your pen literally glides across the slick surface f the glossy paper. There is no chance for reading,so your line must be confident and sure. This particular party style is reminiscent of how I first learned how to draw quick sketch party caricatures mimicking my favorite artists.

Big , Bodacious Brunette Businesswoman in Bright Red Dress

She was walking down the street with all the power and authority her size warranted. Move outta this lady's way, she's packing some power! If you wear a red dress, you definitely want to be seen!

EASTER POEM by Elgin bolling

GOOD FRIDAY POEM EASTER ILLUSTRATION

Man on subway with the cool mustache

Struck up a conversation with this man who had a cool mustache while waiting for the train. We spoke fr about forty minutes about the weather, all the real estate going up in The Rocaways, and of course, hs cool mustache, which started the whole conversation to begin with. I drew the understjetch using a red china marker, inked it with a Pitt artist brush pen, threw it in the ole iPad and added the finishing touches in Art studio using the art brush tool.

Long chinned female subway rider.

Saw this feel commuter with a chin sooooo looooooong that she could probably take your eye out if she hit you with it. I've never seen a chin formation quite like that on the female f our species, and it just goes to show you that youllnever know what you'll see in the concrete jungle. Her face was so interesting that I had to draw her face from two angles.

I drew both pictures using a red china marker, inked it wit a black Pitt artists pen, and put the finishing touches with the airbrush tool found in Art Studio for iPad.

iPad caricature of man who resembles a duck

Anybody who thinks God doesn't have a sense of humor, obviously aren't looking at people hard enough. I came across one f the most hilarious faces on the planet recently tat I just HAD to draw.

I call him "DUCK MAN!"

frequently when I'm having trouble getting a likeness I ask myself what particular animal that person resembles, and it usually helps me to get a hilarious likeness, and then there's others where God beat you to the exaggeration. What can I say? The guys lips stuck out like a beak, his eyes were popping outta hs head, he had that angry constipated expression on his face I've seen Donald Duck sporting, and tgat hair looked like a black greased up, frozen title wave!

I drew this initially in my notebook, then colored it in my faithful Art Studio App in the old iPad.

APRIL FOOLS DAY CARTOON

in the world of freelancing you just never know what type of assignment is going to come your way! When I was given the opportunity to draw an April Fools Day picture for a children's ministry, I immediately thought of the nook of Proverbs found in the Old Testament of The Bible.

Proverbs is a wisdom book filled with many practical user friendly teachings applicable to daily life, as well as numerous observations like the one I'm illustrating.
If you've ever had a dog or studied canine behavior, you already know the truth of this verse! A dog vomits up food that is so bad for his stomach that his body can't even digest it, and yet returns to it like it's gourmet cuisine!

How many of us are like that? The woman who stays in an abusive relationship she knows is bad for her, the guy who constantly goes back to the same bar swearing "it'll be different this time!" and a thousand different scenarios that add up to one thing: insanity.
Doing the same idiotic things and expecting a different result.

Food for thought, no? ...er... That is , of course, if you consider vomit...food.