SUBWAY COMMUTER MULTI-TASKER CARTOON by subwaysurfer

As I'm sitting on the train vegging out one day, not even remotely interested in drawing, which is extremely rare for me,I happen to glance up, and regain my creative conciousess long enough to spot my muse.
If you've been on a New York City Subway lately, it's becoming increasingly hard to tell if your actually riding a commuter train, or sitting down inside BEST BUY, or the APPLE Store!
Electronic gadgets are EVERYWHERE! People are talking on cellphones, playing, video games on playstation devices,popping their fingers while listening to iPods, swaying to unheard beats with gigantic headphones! And that's only the beginning! You see women of all ages, with contorted faces of intense concentration, playing games on their cellphones, teenage girls typing at breakneck speeds, texting with their thumbs, and incredibly, people with DVD players if every size and shape,watching movies like they're in they're living rooms. If course, there are the ever present iPads, iBooks, and laptops.

Judging by what you see you never ever would have believed that at one time there were actual announcements to COMMUTERS to NOT display their electronic devices! Man!it's unbelievable How far we've come!

Which brings me to my muse...

In the middle if this intense scene of talking, texing,and video viewing, was thus businessman with this enormous laptop typing as casually as he might in his own office. With Wifi soon to be coming to the subways, followed by an increase in cellphone reception power, I see the subway itself becoming even MORE of a mobile office than it us now! In the future the need to "go to work in an office" will be totally obsolete. The subway car itself will BE your office! I thought ud illustrate my vision by drawing an executive hard at work,multitasking if corse, talking on the cell to a client,which simultaneously emailing over a contract, in operation to take a sip from his hot frothy latte (there will be latte vendors on trains in the future folks).

Caricature Avatars for two satisfied clients.

REALLY had fun on the last face! As soon as my client showed me a profile of his face, my mind went immediately to the character, King Leonitus, in that scene from the movie 300. Who could forget that famous line that he screams at tge Persian messenger before kicking him into a bottomless pit;"THIS...IS...SPARTAHHH!!!!!!" of course, I did a little play on words, THIS IS SOCCER!!!

Both guys are best buds, bar owners I believe, hence the beer mugs they're holding onto.

The dude on top gave me a photo reference of him in a checkered shirt and I could help but think of hay, barns and scare dancing. Of course, I had to give him the Lil' Abner Boots!

Character Designs for Bankable Script.com

https://www.facebook.com/BankableScript

It's always a joy when you have a client who respects your creative talent enough to be able to let you "do your thing" without micro managing everything. Vince, the brains behind Baabe Script is tgatkind of client.Vince commissioned me to create characters based on him and a cat who would be the mascot, and our relationship has been smooth sailing. If you are serious about doing screenwriting, and getting paid, this is the place to put up or shut up. There's no guarantee that you will win the competition, but you'll be a definite loser f you don't try.
Follow the link to the FACEBOOK page, which will give you more information on hw to enter.

Are You A Tortoise or a Hare Online?

When it comes to working style, according to Sonia Simone, Guest blogger on the Copyblogger blogsite at http://www.copyblogger.com/critical-business-question/#comment-1009018 you fall into two categories, Tortoise, or Hare. Unlike the fairy tale, this story has a happy ending for both characters. Find out which one YOU are in regards to your working style online, and discover how you can maximize your particular personality strength. The title of the article is CRITICAL ONLINE MARKETING QUESTION YOU NEED TO ANSWER NOW. There is a great audio podcast you can listen to where Sonia Simone breaks it down in an entertaining way.

If youre wondering which one I am, I would say Im a Tortoise, Hare Hybrid. A Rabbit with a shell! LOL! As a freelance artist, I have to on the one hand, get work done quickly and efficiently as my business is very competitive, and deadline sensitive. As a business person, I also have to cultivate business relationships and friendships, as well as build and maintain my brand, and that takes time and patience. If i was to decide which approach is "better" I would have to go with the Tortoise, personally. In life, and business, you will encounter a few storms. There are times that you can go full speed ahead, but must stop, regroup, and recharge. If you have a shell on your back you always have a sanctuary where you can go to find peace, and also have a defense system to repel the slings and arrows that will inevitable come your way. If you're a rabbit, you'd better watch out for foxes , wo are faster, stronger and more cunning....

THE MAKING OF AN AVATAR Part One Creating "Captain Actuary" By Subwaysurfer

"...I WANT YOU TO MAKE AN AVATAR OF MY BOYFRIEND, HE'S AN ACTUARY!..."
I recieved this email from an enthusiastic female client, who wanted to surprise her Actuary Boyfriend with a unique Valentines Day Gift in the form of an Avatar. I was glad that she couldnt see me scratch my head as i wondered just what an Actuary was, and did. I found out that  an Actuary is a financial professional who specializes in risk analysis. They use statistics and other mathematical formulas to calculate the risk of financial instruments. Which means her Boyfriend is a pretty smart guy.

As always, I asked her to email me some great pictures of him that showed front side and three quarter view, and to include a character description of his personality, work habits traits, etc. So that i could use my genuis imagination to construct a humorous caricature/avatar/  I then had to put my genuis on hold as she gave me one of the greatest things that any client can give a caricature artist. A BACKSTORY!!!!  It seems that her pet name for her beau, was "Captain Actuary". She explained that he solved problems with his "ABBACUS OF TRUTH", and being an amatuer paleontologist, he rode. as his Noble Steed, "ALI" the ALLOSAURUS! Continuing on, she explained also how her boyfriend was an avid runner, and as a result, had very large leg muscles. In the course of our conversation, she had provided me with more than enough "visual hooks" for me to  sink my caricature invested  brain into !
We had almost too much fun on the phonecalls devising ways i could have fun breathing life into "Captain Actuary" and I said my goodbyes, and enthusiastically went to work.

STEP ONE:  ROUGH IT OUT FAST!

Whenever I create a character I ride the first wave of emotion that comes to me and immediately rough out the look and postion of the character. At this stage my emotional connection to the drawing is the most important aspect. I like my pictures to have the feel of the character either "getting ready" to move or "in the midst of moving" and drawing quick enables me to do that.  I draw very quickly using the other side of the Tombo Brush pen, which has a nice fine tip marker that is excellent for making rough sketches. As far as the face goes I look for really strong geometric shapes that I can exploit. I do my initial drawing s on tracing paper  knowing that i will go over the rough sketch in the second stage.

STEP TWO: B:OCK IN THE MAIN FEATURES;

Once satisfied with the initial quick sketch i slow things down a bit and really start looking for the main shapes that are going to define the drawing. I start paying attention  How all the propls that make up the caricature will be presented. The face is very important6 at this stage so i really take my time to get that right.  I also start esperiementing more on how individual proportions relate to each other. Even though one pictue is shown here I due about two or three progressions before proceeding to the final stage.

STEP THREE: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER!

Once Successful In the two previous stages, Im not ready to go full out and ink it before taking it to the coloring stage. Once i get to the final inking stage i get very meticulous about my linework and never rush. It's important to love every stroke you do, and not to '"veg out" on your drawing. I want to have as much an emoritonal connection at this stage as i did in the beginning. Since I am now adding very definite expression to the drawing, in the case of the Allosaurus  especially i want to be sure to get that right. At this stage ive also added additional elements like a kind of collar to the cape, the "Captain Actuary" "CA" Insignia to his chest, as well as refinitng the look of his Abbacus of Truth.  Once this final Inking stage is done, I do one of the hardest things that i have to do as an artist. I divorce myself emotionally from the piece, and take a hard objective look at it.  Within minutes, i can see that I need to do this over, because Ive gotten it

ALL WRONG!

There was nothing wrong with the physical likeness, perse, but one look at the picture made me realize that instead of drawing for the client, I had "drawn for myself."   My client was a female. This was a gift for the man she loves, and while she allowed for a certain "comic license " on my part, Im sure she didnt want me to "drive off the road" Trying to look at this from a womens point of view, I asked myself would I like this? Probably not. The Allosaurus was too ferocious looking, and the foot was obstructing  the view its head besides. The "BIG FACE" little body angle wasnt really working, here and ended up making her boyfriend look kinda goofy in this pic. Im sure she wouldnt appreciate that. The Abbacus of Truth, seemed like it should have a more prominent role in terms of size, and the "CA" Captain Actuary Insignia, was just downright Lazy! Oh yeah, and what was up with the collar on the cape thing? Overall, I had done an exaggerated wacky portrait that I WOULD HAVE LIKED, but when we are drawing for others we must think in terms of them. As an artist, you must be willing to swallow your ego and start at the drawing board again...... which is exactly what  I did..... See part TWO of

HE MAKING OF AN AVATAR Creating "Captain Actuary" By Subwaysurfer

Gift Caricature , logo , Avatar of AJ the Bartender

Best Gift caricature Ive done this year. I got an email from AJ a Bartender in the city who loved my style and wanted to be caricatured subwaystyle. LOVED how this turned out and did it in two styles. The first one is done in my style, with a focus on character design.Who knows I may even use AJ's Character for some other stuff! LOL the second one is drawn in a "Peter Bagg"slash Andy Urzua Style. I was just Goofin on this one after being in such a good mood of nailing the initial likeness.

Elgin Bolling Featured on The Erik Dillard Vocal Clinic.

What's up Surfer fans! Good things happen to those who give! Ya know, Even though I draw for a living, sometimes it pays just to GIVE PERIOD for the sake of GIVING. Case in point is my recent caricature of Erik Dillard, of the hit online show, THE VOCAL CLINIC. To make a long story short, I loved his show, his vocal exercises helped my voice, and I wanted to show my appreciation in a tangible way, so I drew his picture. He then, did ME a favor by giving me a major shout out on his show!! and man, does he have a VAST audience!!! This is Something he DID NOT HAVE to do, but it goes to show you that true giving is like a virus!!! it has a tendency to spread once you come in contact with it. As far as social media is concerned, its not about sell sell sell, you, you, you, all the time. YOU MUST DO STUFF FOR OTHER PEOPLE. It always comes back to you. I know that Erik and I will be doing a lot of business in the future. Yu can guarantee that.

AGAIN, if you people out there are aspiring musicians, PLEASE check out his site!!! You WONT be sorry and your voice will love you for it!

"WHAT'S COOKIN' IN DA SKILLIT?" AVATAR OF The multi talented Erik Dillard

For those of you who may not know, in additon to animation, illustration, storyboarding, editorial cartooning, and of course, live caricature, your boye, The Surfer is also "into singing"

No, I aint interested in cutting no album, going on American Idol or singin in your shower, but singing, just like art, has always been a passion of mine,and In the past few months Ive been blessed enough to be led to a vocal coach and friend who has really done wonders for my voice, and reignited my passion.

Inquisitive soul that I am, whenever I'm interested in something, I ALWAYS do my homework on it to get better. Ive been going online lately and discovered a couple of excellent online vocal coaches whose vocal exercises I've been practicing and enjoying. This is the first in a series of their pictures and stories.

The first one is ERIK DILLARD, the host of the show, "ERIK DILLARD'S VOCAL CLINIC" which can be seen on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/user/lloyd614
His WEBSITE
http://www.erik-dillard.com/

The first thing that attracted me to ERIK was that he's a funny guy. Being an artist and a joker myself, it made me instantly connect with him. He also has a very engaging online persona that really gets you involved, and makes you feel like he's really talking to YOU personally in each lesson. Many people on line attempt this, and only end up looking and sounding forced and contrived. Erik makes you feel each lesson was tailor made for YOU personally. Another interesting thing about Erik is that he is an African American who speaks fluent Japanese and is teaching music in Japan. I found this especially interesting having never encountered this, which added to his appeal.

I can also honestly say that by following his exercises, I can HEAR and FEEL a marked change in my voice! I cant wait to see my vocal teacher to show off! LOL!

Do yourself a favoe, if you have a passion for singing and check out Erik's Channel on youtube.

You wont be dissapointed and will definitely learn something!



Oh, I almost forgot to tell ya, The line,'''


"WHAT'S COOKIN' IN DA SKILLIT?"

Is Erik's Tag Line!

Nothing like a great tag line if you're in business!

Subwaysurfer on BET 106 & PARK with WOLVERINE! Hugh Jackman...well, kinda sorta....

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

Geraldine Chapey, Lew Simon, Glenn Di Resto, Mike Ricatto, Michael Ulrich Political toon for The Wave

Its a long title but I couldnt leave anyone out. This is my Biweekly cartoon doen for The Wave on the upcoming special election. My first reaction was to have them all fighting it out slinging mudd at each other while they urged voters, but decided instead to make it more dignifired. It's time to take the dirty out of politics.... at least for this post.

You GOTTA LOVE YOUTUBE! This time out, I searched youtube to see if I could find any film on any of the candidates just so i could do a more accurate picture. It turns out that someone had uploaded a recent debate they had in Howard Beach which offered excellent footage from a variety of angles. How did freelancers EVER survive without youtube?!! what a great resource!Ed

BROTHER JOSCEPHUS of the LOVE REVIVAL REVOLUTION ORCHESTRA

Brother Jo is a client of mine who wanted a character design/caricature of himself to use in his promo advertizing of him and his group. I did the prelim sketches of him in Starbucks on Spring Street, and took the roughs home to clean up . Drawing Brother Jo was a treat, as his stage persona is already a caricature waiting to be drawn. He reminded me of a Parliament Funkadelic character from the 70's called, "Sir Nose Devoidafunk".

Albert Einstein character Design

Character Designs of Albert Einstein I'm currently working on for an Ad Firm in NYC. This gig sure is a lotta fun! I always wanted an excuse to draw him.

The Twilight Zone! Rod Serling Caricature

A few Concept Drawings of Rod Serling here that's part of an animatic for a major NYC Ad Firm. I'm having a lot of fun with this, and it was challenging drawing the "original man in black" in a simplified style.

WPSC 88.7FM Promo

Just completed this promo flyer for radio station WPSC FM In NJ. I bartered on this for 30 days of free airtime so we will see what this gets me...

snnneaaaak peak character design.....

heres a sneak peek at some characters Im doing for an upcoming cartoon shordo done in conjunction with the folks at snidetv.com

This character is a comedy club manager . Wehen I developed him, I channeled Comedian, Ben Stiller, of the show, "The King of Queens"> Siller plays the character, Arthur Sponner hilariously. I also thought about Danny Devito. This character is appearing in a skit with President George Bush. More later when it launches. If you havent seen the first cartoon check it out on www.snidetv.com

Pulp Fiction the animated series by subwaysurfer

Let's not forget Samuel L Jackson's character, "Jules" from the same movie. My task now is to combine the two characters into one picture. i will probably take the suit off of Sam and put him in his skivvies, like John.

here are two earlier versions of Vincent that i thought I'd go with, but i think the first one of him getting hosed down is the strongest.

Larry Youngstein HAVIN' A PARTY

I recently had the pleasure of doing a character design logo for my very first Agent, Larry Youngstein Of Havin' A Party in Canarsie Brooklyn, Larry took a chance on me 10 years ago when I walked into his shop on Ave L to audition for the nonexisting job of a caricature artist. I'll always be grateful for him for giving me a shot, treating me with respect, and teaching me the business of live entertainment. Even though he cant afford me now, LOL! I still to this day, use many of the things he taught me about how to run my own business, and he never steered me wrong.

character design sketch

Did this character design sketch for a client in the city that owns a business called "downtown dog house. I can see that I should have put him in a more urban setting, and eliminate that grass, add some concrete, and some buildings in the background.... but I just wanted to show her the picture of the dog first, for approval.