ipad caricature The Riverdale Series VERONICA LODGE by Subwaysurfer

Almost forget that I had left out a MAJOR character from my Riverdale series and that was VERONICA LODGE. What's different about this particular cartoon rendition, is that it is taken from real life, of a New York City Subway commuter I drew last week. There she was, looking cold , aloof rich... My version of Veronica Lodge, Riverdales Rich girl. Veronica is Riverdales "BAD GIRL" or at least she WOULD be if the creators took her as far as her personality profile REALLY goes. VERONICA, as stated earlier, is REGGIE MANTLE'S soulmate. His evil twin, his true match. The comic tries real hard to make her endearing, but with just a casual reading she's like any other rich female brat that has populated the soap operas for years Rich, self centered, greedy and spoiled. Veronica is Veronica's number one fan with two loves, herself and high fashion, not to mention money... okay, that's THREE loves.

A lasting gift from Uncle John by Elgin Bolling

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

ipad Editorial Cartoon for THE WAVE NEWSPAPER

Yep folks, this is my FIRST EVER all digital Editorial cartoon Drawn for THE WAVE NEWSPAPER in Far Rockaway, New York. This illo enhances the editorial copy featuring NYC School Chancellor, Joel Klien, who is getting a less than positive reaction from the UNITED FEDERATION OF TEACHERS UNION in response to Klien wanting to submit a "teachers report card" based on information that is "less than accurate" to put it mildly. I had some computer issues that prevented me from drawing it and hooking it up to the scanner, so I was FORCED to draw everything from start to finish with the ipad. Its wonderful what can happen when you're put under pressure.

I found the illustration easy to put together. Chancellor Klien has a hilarious face to begin with, and having drawn him previously, I was able to draw him again with no difficulty at all. Being a fan of Tex Avery, The old "kick in the pants" gag is a standard device that came to mind immediately when I read the editorial copy that came from my editor. The Art Studio app for ipad is very user friendly and since it works with layers, I was able to do the initial sketch  in the same way I would with tracing paper,and use subsequent layers for the line and for shading. Ive grown accustomed to using the Pogo Stylus, even though it's not the best tool, and now that I have the ifaraday stylus, http://ifaraday.com/  which is much more responsive, my drawing will look even MORE powerful. I was able to create this in about one hour, which is good considering that it was my first time doing it from start to finish.  I KNOW in the future I will be submitting all of my editorial illustrations, using the device, and will save lots of money on paper as well!

ipad subway caricature: SENORITA BIG EYES by Subwaysurfer

After completing this digital caricature on the ipad I couldnt but help say to myself, "why in the world did I fight against digital painting?" you can paint with such incredible ease, it's added dven MORE fun to my drawing! This particular senorita was enjoying the last precious days of unseasonably warm weather before being assaulted by one of NEW YOUR CITY's legendary winters. I was attrcted to her animated expression, vivacious personality, and very BIG eyes. These things were like saucers! LOL I toned it down a little, wanting to not make them the total focus, because she really did have a lovely face and wanted to capture that as much. Im getting SOOOOO relaxed on the ipad that Its now competing with my traditional drawing style with pen and paper...

Subwaysurfer ODD CAST PODCAST WHAT I LEARNED FROM THE NCN NOW KNOWN AS THE ISCA

In this podcast segment I explain the things that I learned as being part of the NATIONAL CARICATURISTS NETWORK formally known as the NCN now known as the ISCA

My First Ipad caricature commission BY SUBWAYSURFER

Paster James Taiwo Of World Outreach Evangelical Ministeries commissioned me to do my first exclusive IPAD Caricature . Pastor Taiwo needed an illustration for his Holloween Online Newsletter as well as his Printed Tract Materials, and I created this exclusively with the IPAD. Since I've been suing the device dillgently for the last few weeks, if felt very natural drawing and painting this with the device and the apple software, and the job was completed in record time, comparitively speaking using my old methods. Being the caricature artist I am i couldnt help having that aspect creep into the work. Like most things Im not TOTALLY satisfied, but Its a good start.

IPAD SUBWAY CARICATURE by Subwaysurfer

Well it finally happened, folks. I did my first satisfying Subway Caricature today. The train was jammed MORE than usual with a variety of faces and I filled my sketchbook with lots of drawings that I will upload later. THIS particular guy here, reminded me of one of those rockers from the eighties. I sketched him origially in my notebook, later transfering him over to my ipad where I quickly made this masterpiece. The only drawback with the ipad is the amount of attention it gets! It was hard enough hiding my drawing while in a drawing pad! My work had gotten easier and harder at the same time now.... sigh....

SUBWAYSURFER ODD CAST PODCAST :My Subwaysurfer Persona

In this Podcast feature, I explain why I created the SUBWAYSURFER Persona, and How It enables me to do Life drawing without fear in public places, like a New York City Subway train. Enjoy.

SUBWAYSURFER ODD CAST PODCAST humourous poem DO YOU WANT A CARICATURE?

SUBWAY SURFER'S CARICATURE RAP

Im a master of observation
A facial news caster who draws even faster than
Eyewitness News
Zero time to snooze
Before they report what's happened,
I've already started to move
Right onto the next face in line
I'm finished in 60 seconds
I do it all the time.

I'm a facial assassinator
Never a procrastinator
When it comes to drawing party favors,
I'm one of New York City's BEST!
I drew at Bloomberg's party,and satisfied his guests.

Dont let me get started on the rest
Corporate parties are " The Bomb!"

So are those
Bat Mitzvahs where I draw your baby sisters,
And your soccer cheering mom!

When I step into a room
Lesser caricature artists
Hearts fill with gloom
Because they're lines start getting shorter...
Now that SUBWAYSURFER'S drawing, they know that they're goners

I can literally sketch all night
No need for a break, I guess some artists NEED IT
After a few lousy sketches,
Their energy's depleted!
No wonder they're defeated by the " energizer bunny!"
I think it's madd funny
How I take all their money!

I leave 'em all gagging
I cant help it if their skills are lagging behind mine!
I've paid my dues in the caricature skool
Always paid attention,never acted a fool.
Learned from the best,never failed to ace my drawing tests
This skill dont come easy,
Many nights I was queasy
Drawing my fingers to the bone
Now thanks to work and persistance, my unique style, i OWN

So let the haters moan, and groan
They need to complain
In a caricature drawing contest
Im a Jumbo Jet
They're paper airplanes
Trying to fly high in my sky
Which is totally insane
What's that on the ground?
Look!
I think it's their brain!

GUESS WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? by Subwaysurfer

This is an old illustration I rediscovered on my sequential drawing site that i drew a couple of years back for a great client called ROCKETSHARK RINGTONES. I drew close to one hundred character designs for the company before the decided, unfortunately to go in another direction. This particular toon was part of a series they were developing called, "WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?" and  their setups were pretty hilarious/ They were one of the few companies I worked with who actually "got it" as far as zany sense of humour was concerned, and we had the wildest brainstorming sessions. I originallky did this in Black and White and recolored it in ART STUDIO in   You guessed it, The IPAD. LOVE the way those colored POP which makes, the toon even more hilarious.Of course you KNOW what happens next, dont you??

subwaysurfer podcast The Starbucks Phenomenon

HOW TO BE A GREAT PARTY ARTIST by subwaysurfer

These wordless single panel comics were drawn to enhance an article I'd written for Exaggerated Features magazine, entitled, Gig Do's and Dont's. These were my set of rules for party caricature success and were geared towards beginning artists entering the live party drawing field.

Rule One DONT BE LATE It Looks bad embarasses your host/hostess and guarantees you will not get a referral, a tip, and even a cut in pay. Nothing spells unprofessional more than lateness. It shows that you are a rookie, and people dont hire rookies, they hire professionals.

Rule Two Seperate Couples: I seperate couples because they have a tendency to "love all over each other" too much and spoil the drawing angle. While I am still able to get a decent likeness if a couple moves, for a beginning caricature artist, it's best if the subject remains relatively still until he/she gains experience and confidence.


Rule Three Show the Paper whose Boss , In other words dont be afraid or hesitant about putting your mark on paper. It cuts down on speed, and causes you to second guess yourself too much.

Rule Four: Have FUN! you're a party artist! you CAN enjoy yourself! If you think of it too much as "a job" that stiffness will show up in your work.

CBC News - Books - Archie comic to introduce gay character

CBC News - Books - Archie comic to introduce gay characterI guess Riverdale's getting more interesting. It will be interesting to see who else in Riverdale comes out of the closet...Jughead perhaps?

ipad caricature of MISS GRUNDY from the RIVERDALE project

I remember reading the comic,"little Archie" as a kid, and remember that all the gang were taught, as younger, by Miss Grundy. She was OLD THEN...
Fast forward to the teenage years at Riverdale, and the gang is STILL being taught by Old Miss Grundy.
How IS That?.
Maybe a better name for her should be Miss Gang green. We know NOTHING about this character other tha her designation is "teacher" and it's all she gets to be.
I remember when I was a kid in elementary school how I thought on some level, that teachers weren't "really real." They were that special class of Beings who remained frozen in their designated area until the next day when you would see them again, trying to teach the same thing. It's funny how we assign categories to people forgetting that there's a real man behind that police badge, or girl behind that cash register, or woman who holds chalk in front of a blackboard.
Grundy is a mystery. Who is her family? Where does she live? What does she do on the weekend? What is up with that polka dot dress she is always in?
I see Grundy as a sad character locked into a profession she's poured her life into...unappreciated, un noticed, and now too old to do anything else but wait for death...that doesn't seem to come

ipad cartoon of BIG ETHEL from The Riverdale project

Big Ethel is yet another one of the disposable characters that populate the Archie comics Universe.She exists, simply as "comedy relief", the "tall, doody girl with the buck teeth, and bad hair who chases after Jughead Jones.
Like all the other disposable characters, there is no backstory on her to make her an interesting character, so for the purpose of creating this illustration, I decided to create one.
Just like "Big Moose" knows that he's a big lummox, Big Ethel knows she's a big tall doofus. Like Moose,she uses her physical attributes to her advantage. Ethel, in MY Archie Universe excels in womens sports,particularly basketball where she is captain and center of the Riverdale team.
I've always been struck how in the comics she was so determined to get Jughead, never getting discouraged. I attribute that attitude to her warrior spirit as an athlete.
Athletes, on and off the field, are competitors possessing an indomitable spirit to win and excel, Ethel is no different, and carries that same attitude into the greatest game of all, the game of love. Jughead being the prize.
I feel Ethel, in spite of her lack of physical beauty, would ultimately win her man.
As a competitor accustomed to analyzing an opponents strengths and weaknesses,
It's relatively easy to know what Jughead's is.

FOOD.

In order to win the heart of the man she loves Ethel would simply become Riverdales premiere chef par excellence, cooking up cuisines that would keep the love of her life forever eating at her table.
Like I said, athletes like to win.

DEATH IN THE FAMILY. RIP my poor PC

Hope you guys have been enjoying the Riverdale series that I've been posting. There's still lots to upload, and I've recently completed "Miss Grundy," and "Big Ethel". I would love to show them to you but can't.

There's been a death in the family.

My computer started acting buggy last week, opening up windows, error messages popping up, and shutting programs unexpectedly. I'm fairly anal when it comes to maintaining my system, since it's my chief form of finance, so I ran all kinds of tests, to fix the problem,without my usual success. Finally I installed a killer anti virus program that I hoped would kill the nasty little virus so I could continue with my happy computing.
It installed correctlY, and I looked forward to being up and running again in minutes.

That's when the war started.

I'm no computer expert, but it was like there was this mini war that was activated in my system, judging from the noises I could hear coming from the processor. It was like a combination of the Jedi knights vs the mongul hordes vs The United states Calvary,vs yo' angry mama!
When the shaking ceased and the smoke cleared, I peeked at my monitor only to be confronted by a sight no user wants to see...

THE BLACK SCREEN OF DEATH

It was like looking into the abyss...

I'm in the process of replacing my system, and also recovering from bookmarks on my backside placed by me for not having the foresight of backing up my system enough. I have an expert looking into whether I can recover some of my files, hopefully I will have good news at the end of the day.
As I type this post on my little iPad It occurs to me how funny things "just seem to work out" If not for me winning this iPad weeks ago, I would literally be cut off temporarily from the online world where a lot of my living is done.
Conincidence?

I'd like to say it's God's Providence.

R

ipad cartoon of BETTY COOPER from "THE RIVERDALE HIGH" project by Elgin Subwaysurfer Bolling

BETTY COOPER is the "Sweetheart of RIVERDALE" in the ARCHIE COMICS Universe. She is the "All American Girl Next Door " stereotype of the 1940's 50's. Pretty without being glamorous, unpretentious, caring , giving and sweet. Betty is the girl who remembers your birthday, brings post roast to the new neighbors ,or bakes you an apple pie "just because."
I gotta admit, as a character, it's pretty hard to dislike Betty. Even though she a fabrication, there's something in her that makes you wish, on some level she was your girl. Betty is the kind of girl you marry, and rightfully so. Not only is she attractive,and a good cook, but she's also smart, and agreeable. Betty is the shoulder you can cry on and she'd never tell your secret. She's honest and forthright, which is why I didn't caricature her TOO much....
But Betty has this flaw, which says a lot about her as a person, and it's called,
ARCHIE.
Given her character Betty is the "natural" match for Archie, just as Reggie is the "natural" match for Veronica. Betty loses her composure frequently around Archie who clearly treats Betty like the "throw away second string girl".
Betty is the girl ARCHIE comes running to when VERONICA gets angry with him, or when MR. LODGE throws him out. Not wanting to be "dateless" for the evening , ARCHIE knows that he can count on ole' Betty to welcome him with open arms and apple pies.
BETTY has so much going for her and yet has no self esteem, in my opinion.Smart, pretty, athletic, but a warped sense of self. Clearly, Betty by her behavior, doesn't recognize the "catch" that she is, and continues to ward off all suitors so that she might make herself available for the one guy who doesn't see her as his first choice. As Ive already stated, ARCHIE is kind of a dunce, by any casual observation, and if ANYTHING he NEEDS Betty more than she needs him, but I guess its part of the crazy love game to always want someone who doesn't really want you.

I gave BETTY this earnest, "LIKE ME, LIKE ME, LIKE ME!" expression, and persona because in the comic that is whom she seems to be. She seeks to BUY her way into ARCHIES heart and he's just not THAT much into her.

Whats ironic about Betty is that her main rival for ARCHIE'S affection, recognizes her for the threat that she is. Veronica, with all her beauty and finance knows she cant compete with Betty on a human level.

JANIS IAN At Seventeen...

Got unexpectedly sentimental here when I ran across this song I used to listen to when I was a teenager. If you've ever been a shy, awkward, introspective teenager, this song, "At Seventeen" Will resonate with you. And while it's true that it's targeted at women, I'm sure a lot of guys turned their radios up and shut they're doors to cry a tear or two, when it played. I found two great versions, the original, when she was a young woman, and another, as an older woman. The later version resonates much more given the introspective nostalgic nature of the lyrics.

ipad CARICATURE of App Store Employee RYAN WEISHEIT by Subwaysurfer

Lately Ive been devoting a lot of time to the characters in my RIVERDALE HIGH series, and WE ARE NOT DONE YET!!! I will be posting another surprise character very soon, but for this post, I would like to present my very first, "real" ipad caricature of a real person. Actually my first.
Approx two weeks ago, I entered the APPLE STORE on 14th Street in the village,ipad in hand , to get some first hand instruction by one of the capable Apple staff members. One thing I LOVE about the Apple store is the hours, and also the friendly, knowledgeable staff. Whenever you step into an Apple store you KNOW you AREN'T going to get any "attitude" and that the staff members are going to be more than helpful.
One such member, is Ryan. I approached Ryan initially because he reminded me of the late graffiti artist, Keith Haring. He didnt LOOK like him exactly, just reminded me of him.... I had to laugh as I explained the Ryan WHO Keith Haring was, and he promised me he would check him out. I went on to ask Ryan questions about how to do various things in my ipad without crashing it, and was excited to demonstrate to him what I could do with my new app, Art Studio, that I had downloaded a day earlier. Ryan posed for a quick sketch and requested an email right away which I did. I promised him that as i got better I would email him a more finished copy, and today I completed this one.

I am not entirely pleased with my likeness, but the painting itself is a good first attempt at something I know Im going to get better at. Im already moving a lot easier through the program, using the brushes and adjusting the settings are beginning to become second nature. I await the day when I perfect my process and take my show on the road, which will be SOON.


JUST IN CASE YOU DONT KNOW WHO KEITH HARING IS