ROCKAWAY ARTISTS ALLIANCE VP,DAN GUARINO interview withSUBWAYSURFER

ROCKAWAY ARTISTS ALLIANCE PRESIDENT GEOFF RAWLING INTERVIEW with SUBWAYSURFER

PRETTY GIRL ON THE C TRAIN LOCAL by Subwaysurfer

Saw this reallllly pretty girl on the C local train, and couldn't help making her look more interesting! LOL! It's always a challenge to do extreme caricature on the so called pretty face, because there is sometimes not a lot to grab onto , since the features are so pleasingly balanced. After a few minutes of looking, I did notice how ridiculously curly and long the hair was, how her lips jutted out ever so slightly, and how she had that "dull" expression. I really should have shown it o her just to get her reaction but might have risked her tearing it up!

THIS IS ACTUALLY AN OLD POST, BUT REALLY ONE OF MY FAVORITE CARICATURES. IT MARKS THE FIRST TIME I REALLY STARTED TAKING CHANCES WITH EXTREME EXAGGERATION AFTER A LOT OF STUDYING. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS, ENJOY.


IF YOU ARE INTO EXTREME CARICATURE PORTRAITS LIKE THIS ONE, FEEL FREE TO COMMISSION ME TO GET ONE OF YOUR OWN! Prices are very affordable.

HOW TO GET EYEBALLS TO YOUR FACEBOOK PAGES

Here ia a great technique that can get people to instantly look at your posts on facebook, but be careful, you can also tick people off if you are not careful

HOW TO DRAW CARICATURES ON THE SUBWAY PODCAST Part five

HOW TO DRAW CARICATURES ON THE SUBWAY PODCAST Part four

HOW TO DRAW CARICATURES ON THE SUBWAY PODCAST Part three

HOW TO DRAW CARICATURES ON THE SUBWAY PODCAST Part two

HOW TO DRAW CARICATURES ON THE SUBWAY PODCAST Part One

INTERVIEW with Creator of iFaraday Capacitive Stylus .Rustle Laidman

BECAUSE WE ARE DEDICATED TO NOT JUST BLOWING OUR OWN HORN AND SHOWING OFF OUR OWN CARICATURE WORK, WE ARE PRESENTING AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE CREATOR OF THE WORLD FAMOUS I FARADAY STYLUS, RUSTLE LAIDMAN.

INTERVIEW : Elgin 'Subwaysurfer' Bolling interviews Rustle Laidman, inventor of the iFaraday Capacitive Stylus.

Oh. Hello, Elgin. First let me say what a handsome and charming fellow you are. Well, enough about you, let's get right to my interview. Shall we?

HOW LONG HAS THE IFARADAY BEEN AROUND?

The iFaraday website was started Aug 2, 2010, which is 4 months ago

THE NAME IFARADAY IS KIND OF UNUSUAL. HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT CHOOSING IT?

Well, like all my ideas, they come to me like a flash from above. But if I were to break it down, I would do so thusly...

The 'Farad', unit of 'capacitance' is named in honor of Michael Faraday, a preeminent scientist in the field of electricity. These new multi-touch devices -  iPhone, iPads, etc use capacitance as the basis for their touch screens. Naturally I had to have an "i" as the first letter, et voilà!

For many digital artists, myself included, the iFaraday is the stylus of choice. What is the reason for its phenomenal success?

I will tell you the very auspicious beginning of the iFaraday. I sent a stylus to my wife's knitting friend and blogger, Anne Hansen. Within a few days I had several dozen orders. Next I randomly chose to contact two iPhone artists - David Hockney, and Angie Jordan. Needless to say Hockney never wrote back (I don't blame him in the slightest) Angie Jordan was incredibly receptive. It was disarming really, because here is this talented artist corresponding with me and the next thing I know she includes my product in one of her videos. Now the orders, really started coming in. Recently, I'm searching the internet for words about myself (as I am wont to do) when I find a  glowing review by Elgin the Subway Surfer. But you knew that already didn't you Elgin? I am definitely off to a good start. I've had to shut down the website several times to catch up on orders.

DID YOU ENVISION THE PRODUCT WOULD BECOME AS IN DEMAND AS IT IS, TODAY?

Well yes and no. I made it for my wife with no intention of selling it. But I found that there was more than meets the eye to such a deceptively simple product. It took me several iterations before before my wife would even use it. By watching her I learned where improvements were needed. I won't bore you with details, but suffice it to say that by the time I was finished I knew this stylus was superior to anything I had seen.

I READ THAT YOUR WIFE WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR THE CREATION OF THE IFARADAY STYLUS. CAN YOU ELABORATE ON THAT?

First, I must explain that my wife has a knack for technology. Here are a few examples, going way back...

Wife: Let's get a Macintosh.  Me: What's wrong with the Amiga?

Wife: Let's sell on eBay         Me: What's wrong with the pawn shop?

Wife: I'm getting an iPhone   Me: What's wrong with the Palm Pilot?

So you see Elgin, my wife is the forward thinker in the family. (If only I had listened when she told me to buy stock.)

She bought that iPhone, despite my protests and she spends countless hours playing 'Bejewelled'. So, I set about to make a stylus for her. I didn't own an iPhone; I had to borrow hers in the beginning for testing, but she stopped letting me use it.

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOU. DID YOU ALWAYS HAVE AN ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET?

When you say 'ENTREPRENEURIAL' the first thing that comes to mind is one of those 'As Seen On TV' gadgets. No, I don't think like that. I make things for for myself, as the need arises, and by the time I'm finished, I've usually learned something valuable that I can pass along. (I'm a slow learner but a good teacher.) During the process, I invariably hit some obstacle that makes my original idea extremely difficult, and I want to give up, but that's exactly what keeps me going. And that's what separates me from the pack. I have several products, and they all have this commonality - they took a lot of painstaking effort. I'm good at that.

WERE YOU ALWAYS ONE OF THOSE GUYS WHO TINKERED WITH THINGS, TRYING TO BUILD A BETTER MOUSETRAP, TO USE AN OLD CLICHE?

Yes. I'm a tinkerer. Starting with my dad's Twistoflex(TM) watch. The commercial on TV showed somebody twisting this amazing watchband, exactly how I did, before it broke. I left it in his shoe, so he would step on it and think he broke it.  How's that for creativity?!

Tinkering on the iFaraday stylus involved experimenting with materials. You probably would not believe the number of materials I tested. Did you know that some of the most exotic materials can be found in a toy store? Exotic materials tend to show up first as playtoys.

ARE YOU PLANNING ON EXPANDING/ DIVERSIFYING YOUR PRODUCT LINE? I THINK ITS FINE AS IS, BUT WHATS IN STORE FOR THE FUTURE OF THE IFARADAY?

Yes, in fact. By the time you read this, there should be some new developments on the iFaraday.com website.

HOW HAS THE INTERNET IMPACTED YOUR BUSINESS? COULD YOU HAVE ACHIEVED YOUR CURRENT LEVEL OF SUCCESS WITHOUT IT?

Once upon a time I was a computer programmer, and one of my first offerings  pre-dates the internet. In those days, one would distribute 'Shareware' on diskettes, which would circulate, somehow, and if you were lucky people sent you money in the mail, as a thank you. I still have the check I received from Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple)  A check for $5 for my program, 'Rosarium', which you've never heard of.

I've always had an abundance of ideas. The only problem was marketing them. But with the advent of the internet, this problem has been solved. It's really so easy if you have something decent to offer. I don't know what I would do without the internet. Work a regular job, I guess. Maybe I would invent the internet!!

WHAT WORDS OF WISDOM FOR SELF-ERS?

Be yourself.

What More NEEDS to be said?? Make sure you BUY this great product folks. It's affordable priced, and will MORE than pay for itself, I guarantee it! 


The Subwaysurfer uses the IFaraday exclusively  to create his digital gift caricature work. if you would like a digital caricature of yourself,or your love ones,etc. drop me a line, and lets talk ! prices are reasonable, and you wont regret it!

cartoons4u2@aol.com

CARICATURES BY ELGIN!: ONE OF NEW YORK CITY'S BEST CARICATURE ENTERTAINERS Elgin Subwaysurfer Bolling

CARICATURES BY ELGIN!: ONE OF NEW YORK CITY'S BEST CARICATURE ENTERTAINERS Elgin Subwaysurfer Bolling

Im the ORIGINAL SUBWAYSURFER Accept No Imitations

There are a few folk out there who are trying to reinvent themselves and feel that they're going to try their hand at SUBWAYSURFING or doing live drawing on the train and acting like THEY "came up with this" Im not saying that artists have not always drawn on the train and in public places, but among my circle of influence as a caricature artist, I was the first . Some people are trying to use a back door approach to make a name for themselves realizing now that on the net you need to do SOMETHING to make yourself stand out. Subway drawing and sketching has ALWAYS been my thing, by niche, Go find your own niche, or at least ACKNOWLEDGE that you are following MY LEAD. Thats what this podcast is about .

Animated Short Chipmunk vs Warrior based on Pencil Tests In Monkey Jam

This is the end result of the film I worked on based entirely on pencil tests I put together in this great free program called, MONKEY JAM. The program is simple to use, downloads easily, and as far as the learning curb is concerned, if you can operated an ATM machine, you can use this program. With indy animation being so popular today, this is a must have tool for beginning animators, especially. I highly recommend it.


Ive personally had the program for YEARS and up until now to be honest was just too darn selfish to tell anyone about it. But this is, after all, SOCIAL MEDIA, and as such, it's not about ME as much as it is about YOU! ... having said that, let me tell you about the NEW features the software has. This list comes from their site

Audio support for WAV and MP3 files.

Audio scrubbing in Xsheet and Preview.

Export AVI with audio.

Dialog markup.

Keyboard shortcuts (+/-,1-9) for changing image duration.

Improved Scanner interface.

Better support for PAL resolutions.

Import images to new layer option.

Drawing duration change shortcuts.

New Windows installer.

Option to re-name drawing in Xsheet and file on harddrive at same time.

Option in Xsheet to edit image in program of choice.

Full second preview in StopMotion capture mode.

Full size image viewer in Xsheet.

Support for non-English translations (Latin-1 characterset only).

Find out more about MONKEY JAM by going to their website at

http://www.giantscreamingrobotmonkeys.com/monkeyjam/

Animated short Pencil test created with MONKEY JAM for Wiremonkey films by Subwaysurfer

This is a sequence I created initially on tracing paper, scanned into my computer, then through into the FREE Monkey jam pencil test program. The results were magical. This is a great program for beginning animators to use. I highly recommend it.
Find out more about MONKEY JAM by going to their website at

http://www.giantscreamingrobotmonkeys.com/monkeyjam/

Animated pencil tests by subwaysufer for Wiremonkey Films

Star Trek's Mr.Spock caricature by subwaysurfer

I got all jealous and nostalgic after seeing Steve's version of Mr. Spock, so I searched my subwaysurfer archives and found this version. Live long, and caricature!

MR. SPOCK CARICATURED by STEVE DORRIS

My former NCN Roomate, caricature artist, Steve Dorris, just made me throw up in my mouth a little bit, followed by me turning green with envy when I saw THIS pic hidden away on his Face book site. Theres Steve with MR SPOCK himself, actor Leonard Nimoy. Getting the pic WITH Nimoy woud have been awesome enough. Getting the pic with Nimoy holding your cariature of him? Priceless!
Steve did an excellent caricature of me some years back as the cartoon character , THE TICK, and also as DOG the Bounty Hunter.

See MORE of Steves great work at
http://www.gatorgrafx.com/

Elgin's video testimonial - How to draw caricatures

I was approached to make this commercial for fellow caricature artist/animator Jim van der Keyl Years ago at an NCN Caricature Artist Convention, and was more than happy to do so. In my caricature drawing infancy, when I had zero knowledge, and do connections, Jim's series,which were VHS at the time, and I still HAVE, provided me with structure, useful information, and a point of departure. As a testimony to what I had learned, when I met him years later at The caricature Convention, he asked me, over dinner, to explain my particular approach to drawing caricature TO HIM!! what a compliment and a mind blower to find that I had come full circle. When the teacher asks the student a question, you know that you've learned your lessons well!


Jim has a brand new book out as well that should be part of every serious caricature artists library, I suggest you get it! From what I've seen, it's-an updated version of his teaching series, but on steroids!!!



While we are on the subject of inspirational caricature books,remember that my book,SUBWAY SURFER EXTREME LIFE DRAWING ON DA TRAIN is still available by clicking the link to your right directly above the "FOLLOW"  tag

BEWARE OF "ART TEACHERS" by Subway surfer

Following is my response to a young artist who almost had his dream of becoming a professional artist due to the insults of his art teachers that he couldn't do it because of his inclination and earlier artistic influence in anime, particularly the series Sailor Moon. Not ALL art teachers are bad, but so many of them start fires that burn down the house of other peoples dreams just because THEY are burnt out.




Let me tell you that I was So angry that first off how angry I was when I read your letter. I was SO angry that I felt compelled to answer you immediately, and have literally put my breakfast aside to do just that.
First off, your teachers are FOOLS. I am appalled how people who are PAID to be EDUCATORS can so easily, and coldly "write off" someone's ability to draw based on viewing ONE genre that person is currently working in.  What's equally infuriating is how arrogantly, and contemptuously they can spit on your dreams!!  Finally, for them to conclude in their "wisdom", that you will   NEVER make a career as an artist overflows with imbecility!!
Treat those haters like dandruff on your shoulder,
Brush 'em off.
Develop a thicker skin to critics, trust me, you'll run into a LOT of them.
Having said that, let me take a bite of my eggs and bacon as I continue.
First off, the majority of professional artists get into the profession as a result of an initial introduction by way of a Saturday morning or weekday cartoon.  Even though all children watch and enjoy cartoons, there is always that one kid, like you, like me, and countless others, who take our fascination a step further and want to MAKE what we are seeing and drawing. For you, it was anime, and Sailor Moon. For me, it was Underdog, and the Flintstones.  
Imitation is how we develop hand eye coordination, and confidence as artists.  When your picture comes close to what you are  admiring, you know you're making progress.
Apparently your..." teachers" don't understand how vast and complex the world of anime actually is, and in order to draw it correctly you MUST be a master draftsman .

Think of anime as your entry point into the art world and just another tool in your toolbox.  Photo realism will just be another you will add.  YES it is difficult! Having said that, SO WHAT! Every new skill you have ever acquired in life, involved practice, struggle, and persistence to get it right.  Drawing anime probably didn't SEEM like a struggle to you at first, because you embraced it,and wanted to do it, so you were willing to sacrifice time, energy, sometimes even sleep itself in order to get a drawing just right. The result is that now it 's in " your blood" it is a part of you, and you will never get rid of it, and that is not a bad thing. It's just an artistic influence.

I myself, although I draw caricatures that come close to photo realism, especially when I draw in pencil, nevertheless, my artistic influences come shining through.

You can view my work at

Www.subwaysurfer.blogspot.com

Apply that same energy to realistic drawing. Take a life drawing class. Draw still life pieces,sketch the nude model, go to museums and sketch the statues. You must go at this aggressively. Remember, you don't draw with your hands your draw with your MIND and it's your mind that controls your body.
As for school, no need to quit LEARNING Just quit THOSE TEACHERS.  Go to another school. Become pro active about your own education.  There are now courses you can take online, YouTube tutorials,and of course continuing Ed college courses, art groups etc.  If I could give you any advice at all it would be to forget about the goal and focus on the journey, the present moment. One sketch, one line, another sketch, another line until the picture is done. You Will get better. Winners always do, and you will never be the loser your shortsighted teachers implied

Another useful book is DRAWING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN
Which has some excellent info.

For additional inspiration you can also purchase my book, SUBWAY SURFER extreme life drawing on da train, that you can find a link to on my site at

www.subwaysurfer.blogspot.com

Good luck to you.
Happy drawing!

Elgin SUBWAYSURFER Bolling

EARTH, WIND & FIRE REASONS Singing Techniques by Erik Dillard reported by subwaysurfer

There are a lot of non singing people online these days claiming to be "vocal coaches"... Ladies and Gentlemen, ERIK DILLARD is NOT one of them.
If you follow this blog of mine, you know that one of the subwaysurfer's many talents in addition to cartooning and caricature are spoken word and vocal singing. Erik Dillard is a coach I discovered online a couple of months back, I used many his exercises contained on his Erik Dillard Vocal Clinic youtube channel to supplement my live, offline vocal training, and have been more than pleased with the results, as my coach would agree!

I did a series of cartoons and caricatures for Erik as well that you can check out online, but let me tell you more about this amazing guy. First and foremost, he is one of those rare teachers who is genuinely concerned with YOUR development as a vocalist, and is willing to work with you to achieve your goals whatever they are. Erik has an engaging, gregarious personality that isn't so strong that it overwhelms you, but puts you at ease immediately. As I mentioned also, Erik Can REALLY sing. I know this shouldn't even be a point that should be made, but there are a couple of other vocal coaches online, who, although fine teachers, leave you feeling cold when they open their mouths to demonstrate. It's like me, the subwaysurfer, trying to tell you, the viewer, how to draw caricatures, when I am unable to draw a straight line....

On his Erik Dillard Vocal Clinic channel, he breaks down in detail many of the most popular songs, and a few from the past, and gives concrete advice on how YOU can attack the song vocally. and what you need to focus on. I personally love the way Erik takes the "mystery" out of singing, and demonstrates WHAT a singer is doing to achieve certain effects, and shows you HOW. The site is jammed packed with vocal drills exercises, and motivational advice that will enable you to follow your dream of being a singer, whether in front of an audience, or your shower head!

I've been at Erik for months, begging him to break down Phillip Bailey's Soaring falsetto vocal style, and it was worth the wait!

Check out Erik at

http://www.youtube.com/user/lloyd614