While I wasnt PHYSICALLY on BET's 106 & Park Music video show, my work sure was, and to my delight got MAJOR air time!!!!
As you know, today is opening day for the Wolverine Origins movie, and Hugh Jackman, made an appearance on the show to promote. In my favorite segment of the show, the host brought Jackman, I mean Wolverine over to the monitor to ask how he would handle some of the HIP HOP X Men characters....
The monitor flashed Puffy's Character , known as SHOWTIME, followed by Ciara's character, Super C, and then followed by Kanye West's character, VO CAL.
I was going banannas, waiting for them to show my favorite character, Grillz, aka Lil' Wanye, since he was the first and best character I created!
to my dismay, that character was never shown!
SOB, SOB , SOB....
Oh well, that's show biz though! I'm thankful to have been asked to do the project, was very proud of what was shown, got major air time, and got a piece of this whole X man Extravaganza! What more could a freelancer ask for!
I cant wait to see the movie, and hopefully, I 'll be getting some calls for th work ive done... at least that's the dream!
Being a caricature artist really came in handy for this particular job. I had to draw this QUICKLY, or risk them going with a "in house" artist and losing any opportunity for future work. As a party artist, "quickly" is my middle name. instead of going to reference photos like I normally would I turned to youtube instead. Doing this gave me the opportunity to view their faces from several angles and to get to see what their faces "did" so to speak. On Ciara, I checked out her music video to see how she moves and although I exaggerated the pose a LOT, trust me, she is REALLLLLLY flexible and a great dancer. Fror Puffy, and Kanye, instead of checking out music vids I looked at vids of them being interviewed which gave me a lot of close ups and frontal shots, and in Kanye's case, helped me to see what he looked like with his mouth wide open, as opposed to smiling at the camera in a photo shoot. I would recommend any caricature artist to do this as its just more "lifelike" then a dull still photo. The comic posing was relatively simple as Ive been a comic fan all my life, being fans of Jack Kirby,and Gil Kane especially. Since my assignment was to draw it "comic book style" I knew I hat to "spot blacks" use exaggerated dynamic anatomy and flat color. Again, it wa a LOT of fun, and Im really thankful at the folks at BET for choosing me once again to work with.
still....
I wish they would have used Lil' Wayne's character!!!
But... true to their word, at the end of the broadcast when the credits were rolling, my name, Elgin SUBWAYSURFER Bolling, came up first as the illustrator while Soljah Boy's performed his new song in the background. not bad for exposure.
Check the clip by going to google and typing in 106 & Park | “Wolverine” goes up against hip-hop celebs
or ,click this link here
http://www.bet.com/video/282277
Posts
Couldnt quite put my finger on what animal this guy resembled while I was sketching him on the Q53 bus, then all of a sudden I started smelling bacon and thinking of BLT sandwiches....\\In an odd way he sorta resembles another one of my favorite caricature artists, Matt Zittman.
I just could not help it. The more I thought about her the more I felt the need to jack up her face a littttle more.
this was the day to draw crazy flyaway hair.For some strange reason, this woman's hair looked like it wanted to excape from her forehead, and the MTA workers hair was fighting to escape from underneath his hat. The MTA worker slept the whole time I was drawing his caricature, and at some point, felt he was being watched. His eyes snapped open, he looked over his sunglasses just in time to see me point the finishing touches on his caricature.
He looked pretty pissed that he was being drawn, but his face was too intense to pass up.
lGreat party I did over the weekend. I took a chance on this extreme exaggeration and this guy loved it!!!
Looked at this dude on a Brooklyn Bound L train on the way home from my gig, and noticed that he was sporting a 1970's Bruce Lee Hair Doo, complete with the bangs and sideburns. He even had the thick eyebrows like Bruce. The two things that killed the look was the spectacles and those lips. He reminded me of a Mick Jagger Bruce Lee Hybrid.
Forgive me If i uploaded this before, I really dont remember, and I may sincerely be having a senior moment.... wierd thing about "senior moments" is that the senior in question doesnt KNOW they're having one....
"Kool" is something so undefinable that you cant really describe it, you can only point at it and exlaim , "there it is!" when you see it. Kool is that unexplainable "IT" that makes you just LOOK at a person in awe and wonder. Bruce Lee had IT... James Dean, and Elvis had IT... and so did THIS guy I caught on the Brooklyn bound L train this afternoon. He wasnt doing anything special, just sitting there with his shades and that hair, but he had this prescence that was unmistakable. My frist quick sketch of him made his look a little older and weaker, but there was still something I liked about it, so I decided to develope it more. My 2nd attempt at his was the most satisfying, and even had a touch of cold, cool menace and attitude behind it. I regret overworking the backgrounds on both pictures, which I feel distracts too much and takes away from the visual punch. It just goes to show you how an otherwise excellent picture can get ruined because the artist doesnt know when to stop!
I couldnt resist drawing her pretty! She had me under her spell. I admit it.Eric, had that quick disarming type of wit that put you at ease and made you feel she was laughing with you and not at you. She was very poised, funny, and charming. I simply couldnt draw a busted looking picture... but That doesnt mean Im gonna fall under EVERYONE'S spell.
Done a Lot of parties in the last coupla weeks. My body actually started to "rebel" against drawing so quickly at first. Ive been doing so much studio work where I take my time, do a lot of practice sketches, look at photo references, and then carefully model and shade in the caricature, that I "forgot" that i have to crank out these things in 23 minutes. I could take five whole minutes but for me it defeats the whole purpose of a party where the host wants you to move fast so the maximum amount of people get drawn. At parties you quality of line is king.
