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
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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.
I was approached by an indy playwright/director to do a caricature/cartoon poster for his two person play, Manuel Vs. The Statue of Liberty. The main character, Manuel, had such an intriguing face I knew I wanted to draw it on the spot. I wish I could have exaggerated it more, but when you're doing work like this, it's more important to please the client and give them a recognizable picture of the subject, and not just your artistic rendition. 
This is a remake of a caricature i did a few years ago of a distinguished Asian Gentleman I saw on one of the Eastside trains, mabye the 4 or 5 train.... I recall him catching my eye, after commenting on his appearance he looked quietly in my direction so i could get a VERY tood look at him. Something like this almost NEVER happens, and because it was so unusual, I remember his face sith complete clarity. I couldnt help thinking how he reminded me of a thinner, more elegant version of Pat Morita's Character, Mr. Myagi, from the "Karate Kid" movies starring Ralph Macchio in the title role in the eighties. I was between customers at a gig when I drew this. I always felt that he would make an excellent character as the role of the "ancient master" in some kind of anime series.
