clifton

drew this sketch of my friend, Clifton. He thinks I made him look like a thug. He usually has this wolfish expression when looking at a woman... which is often.

Gee, I wish Id done THAT!

there are times at gigs where I do an absolute fantastic job drawing a caricatue, take a snapshot, only to see it and wish that I'd done it better. In the case of this pic here, I definitely saw things in the face i could have drawn differently and tried my hand at redewing it.

The original party pic is at the top there, drawn in three minutes with prismacolor art stixx and a crayola marker. I noticed looking at the subject later that he had a loooong chin comparitively speaking, but I ran out of verticle space to express it properly, so had to extend it horizontally. It was still a good likeness and he loved it, but i felt frustrated that i couldnt get a KILLER likeness that was more exaggerated. I try as much as possible to redraw faces immediately following a party to test my memory skills and also to practice extreme exaggeration. I sometime drop the likeness completely, as is evidenced by the final drawing I did, but that's all part of the whole learning process.

Grimm Reaper Cartoon for The Wave Newspaper Far Rockaway

Sadly, The Grimm Reaper is making yet ANOTHER appearance in an editorial cartoon. No one's ever done a poll that I know of, but I would guess that The Reaper has starred in more cartoons than any other icon on the planet.

This editorial was done in response to the tragic death of a woman and her dog who were both struck by a reckless out of control, high speeding driver who plowed into them while they were walking on the sidewalk. What's more tragic is that this isnt an isolated occurance. In The Rockaways, their is a seven mile stretch of highway on Crossbay Blvd/Broad Channel leading into Howard beach where drivers ride their cars at breakneck speeds sometimes even on the sidewalk and the bikepaths. There are numberous flowers ribbons, crosses and other memorials that mark the passing of loved ones who have gone to meet their maker as a result of walking on that strip. Citizens are currently involved in petitioning the powers that be for much needed and long overdue guard rails and increased police presence in the area to deter speeding. At first I thought this pic would be rejected by the paper, but they felt it told the story perfectly. I consider it one of my best cartoons thus far.

Swine Flu Cartoon

Recently drew this editorial toon for The Friday, May 15 edition of The Wave Newspaper, just to comment on the whole Swine Flu scare that's sweeping the country. I'm not sure if anyone thought of THIS particular angle on the whole situation, by it's such an obvious joke I had no trouble coming up with it this week.

The Big Bad Wolf seems like he's huffing and puffing to get outta dodge to avoid being touched by piggy wiggy here!

Human Weasel... must be a BOSS.

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....
moving right along.
I was posting images on another blog when i came across this image locked in the basement of my computers hard drive and was intrigued with the expression. I dont recall the model.... uh oh, not ANOTHER senior moment!.....but from the cunning, weasel look of him, he MUST have been a Boss, crewchief , or supervisor of some sort. He has that, " I cant wait to write you up" look about him....

he KNEW he looked Kool....

"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!

hotel lobby caricature

I was in the hotel lobby waiting for my gig to start when this guy came up to the front desk and then sat down in the waiting area to work on his laptop. I could resist drawing a face with such great angles and did a full blown color job and was so proud of it i handed it to him on the spot. He didnt speak english and the look of shock on his face was worth any price i could name as I gave him his unexpected gift. I did, however photograph it... poorly though. I will revisit this again also.

Erica's pretty picture

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.

The child was stark ravin nuts I tell ya...

There are SOME kids where nothing less than a detailed fully colored sketch will DO!! this little girl had wayyyyyy too much cotton candy..... and need more!

More Party Pics

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.

cutie party girlie

Did a gig a few weeks ago and couldnt get this cutie outta my mind. I didnt exaggerate her to THIS extent, but i didd a little bit, much to her delight. This is a memory drawing. Looking at this now, I'm a little dissapointed. I was really thinking I was exaggerating it a LOT when It appears to b only a little bit, looking at it objectively. It's really HARD to exaggerate! Someimes you feel like you're doing a LOT on the "inside" of you only to see that it looks kinda tame objectively. Apparently a good rule to follow is this: When you feel that you've eaggerated all you could , EXAGGERATE MORE.

Horse on the A train

As soon as I saw her face I was looking for a saddle. I think this horsie ditched her jockey and decided to ride the rails instead. In all honestly this woman wasnt as bad lookin as I drew her here, and as soon as I finished, I KNEW i'd gone too far! LOL! Good thing she didnt see it. At this point Im really trying to stretch my exaggerations a litttttttle more.

Lady on the 33 Queens Bus from Laguardia Airport

Whew! When I looked at her I wondered where or where did SHE fly in from?

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

Watch the Surfer on BET again!

Tommorrow on Friday, Hugh Wolverine Jackman is going to make an appearance on BET's Music Video show, 106 & Park, to promote the "Wolverine Origins" movie, along with yours truly the SUBWAYSURFER

It's a done deal, they taped the show this afternoon!

You mean that YOU'RE going to be on the show??? well, not in the FLESH, but my artwork will be.
BET had this great idea of drawing Puffy, Ciara, Kanye West, and Lil' Wayne as X Men Superheros complete with their own pecular "powers" and The Surfer got to draw the characters.

This is the most fun Ive had on a freelance job in a while and since I was asked to draw it "Comic Book Style" I reached deep inside and found my inner "Jack Kirby" and drew with total satisfaction.

In fairness to the studio, I cant show the artwork TODAY as the program airs TOMMORROW AT 6PM. but stay tuned until tommorrow! and check out the show!

they're creepy and they're spooky....

You look at some couples and you wonder how did they ever get together. This one here was a truely odd paring...

feeling good in the hot sun!

People in NYC are FINALLY getting a taste of warm weather here, and although it's hot folks are reallly happy. The look on THIS particular guy's face is pure bliss! he almost looks drunk with pleasure.

blast from the past, but this time with pizzazz!

You may remember seeing this picture in a previous post a few years back in blk and wht. I colored it in today and wanted to display it again. This is hands down my all time favorite caricature as it brings back fond memories. It was done a couple of summers back when I took an artistic leap out of my caricature comfort zone and began experimenting with extreme exaggeration. I still remember staring at it for a long time after it was done unbelieving that I had actually pulled it off,and also remember wondering if i could do something similar again. Ive since proven that I could, but you'll always remember your "first". I originally did this in black and white and always knew it would pop out in color since the gurl I was drawing had bright greenish bluish hazel eyes red hair and freckles.

Manuel vs. The Statue Of Liberty Poster Project

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.
The plays very title is so intriguing, that I hope it lives up to it's hype. I have a feeling that it will.

HERES MY UNAPOLOGETIC CALL TO ACTION

if you're loving the way the arwork was drawn on this poster, let your passive admiration lead to decisive action! I am ready, willing, able, anxious and available to draw cartoons/caricatures to help you announce your special event. Maybe you don't need a poster, but how about a flyer, an avatar, an illustration for an EBOOK cover, or blogpost? I'm ready to go to work for you.
Email me at cartoons4u2@aol.com. Prices are more affordable than you think!

This post reminds me of a poem  From my  Ebook. Anointed Verse Unrehearsed on the statue of Liberty entitled,  "Miss Liberty's Got A Lot To Say Today" heres the Link: http://subwaysurfer.blogspot.com/2011/07/july-4th-poetry.html

Let the church say amen.

God is truly no respector of person, as this intense young man here is evidence of . He showed up to Church one warm sunday morning wearing dark shades, a long floor sweeper black leather jacket, and a long boat chain around his neck that had a single key on the end of it. You didnt THINK I WOULDNT draw him???? My only regret was not being able to do a BETTER picture!

When he say me sketching him he asked, "whatareyewdoin?" I replied that he had a great "look" and I wanted to capture it. When he saw the final product he examined it for a moment then replied, " I dont get it"and walked off without additianal comment. I hope I didnt scare him away from Church for good....