JOHN THE BAPTIST.. sneak peek of my next Christ Chronicles Comic Post

John THE BAPTIST, is one of the most interesteing characters in Scripture. The son of a priest,Zechariah, he was the last in the line of Old Testament type Prophets, and the "official God appointed announcer" of Jesus, The Messiah( In case you dont know, "Christ" aint Jesus' Last name, it's Greek for Messiah) John was a rugged dude to say in the least, he lived off the land, wore camel skin coats and ate a non fat diet of locusts and honey. In my upcoming comic I take a step backwards and illustrate Johns preaching up until he baptises Jesus in the Jordan. It sure is big fun drawing this guy!

No Seats at Starbucks!!!

Theres a saying that goes, "there's Eight Million Stories in the naked city" Most of em sad ones,.... well, I got a chance to witness one of 'em, and I'll tell ya folks, Aint nothin' quite as heart breaking as seeing a loney yuppie in starbucks, trying to find a seat....

I was having my meeting with Illustrator George Ford, and looked up and there he was, this poor yuppie, hot latte in hand, desperately scanning the room with big sad eyes looking for an empty seat and finding none....

To Mr. Ford's delight, I temporarily interrupted our discussion just to capture that sad sack look on that Yuppie's face....

Poor guy had to drink his Latte standing UP! GASPPPP!!!!!



If you're sayin' to yourself,
"I see a little Peter Bagg" Influence, in this picture... give yourself a gold star!!!

Illustrator George Ford Jr. PART ONE

"Man, you ARE the real deal!" said Illustrator, George Ford, as he caught me re drawing a caricature I'd done of him at the Z Space Art Gallery two weeks prior. I explained to him that how I was never satisfied with my work and wanted to redraw it and present it to him as a gift, and post it on the blog. The truth of the matter is that I guess I wanted to impress him as much as he had already impressed me.
There's a lot to be impressed about... George Ford has illustrated over thirty books in his career, most notably the book, RAY CHARLES , written by Sharon Bell Mathis. and illustrated by George Ford. The book went on to win the 1974 Coretta Scott King Author and Illustrator Award,marking the FIRST time an ILLUSTRATOR had recieved the award. After that initial meeting with him at The Z Space I requested another meeting with him at a later date to discuss his career. This being Black History month I thought it important to focus on African American Artists whose work and accomplishments had caught my attention. Mr. Ford Gratiously consented and took three hours out of his time to discuss with me his approach to illustration, his career as an artist, how politica and social climate contribute to an artist's work, and even, Lil' Wanye! LOL!! I'll write up in subsequent blog posts what we talked about. SOME THINGS Not ALL!!!! He told me a few secrets that I AINT SHARING!!! LOL! Stay tuned!

Subwaysurfer at the Z Space Gallery in BROOKLYN

Well, I can finally put a check next to another goal on my list of "Ta Do " things. Last week on the 31st of January, marked the day that my work was shown in a gallery. The new Z Space Gallery located in Midwood Brooklyn, Featured my work along with several other emerging artists at this fun filled event. The work will be on display at the gallery until March 18th. This piece, entitled, "Bloo" is taken from my ongoing open ended "subwaysurfer extreme life drawing series".

"YOUR VOCALIZING CAN BE HEARD OUTSIDE!"

As my wife was coming in the door, there I was, doing my vocalizing to the top of my lungs. "DO YOU KNOW YOUR VOCALIZING CAN BE HEARD OUTSIDE???" she said, "DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS???"

What can I say? Since starting vocal training months ago, and most recently discovering some great vocalizing exercises from The Vocal Clinic, and other sites, Well, next to doing my art work, Im a vocal training fool! LOL!!! Maybe the fact that i can ve heard OUTDOORS is a GOOD thing! It at least means, Im opening my mouth wide enough! LOL!

Was even inspired to draw a caricature of myself. I admit I look kinda angry here! LOL! Maybe I'm straining my voice too much! Gotta remember to breath correctly!

Major Shout out From Erik Dillard of The 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.

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?" 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!

Nate Kapnicky....Barf oh riffic Caricature artist....

Nate Kapnicky is a guilty pleasure.... If I ever let my dark side loose, I would want to draw like Nate Kapnicky..... Nate is a master at chewing up faces, spitting them out, and using the uneaten parts to make caricatures. His Blogsite, "Jackin faces" is not for the faint of heart,or those of you who like those cute and fuzzy caricatures you sometimes get at theme parks. I visited Nate's site and saw this great pic he did of my caricature pal, Alison Gelbman. Alison's normally cute as a button, but Once Nate put her face through the meat grinder he reduced it to this horrific mish mash you see here. For all it's goryness, it's "totally her!" The man's a genius. All I gotta say is, if you want a "nice" caricature, sit in someone ELSE'S Chair!

Same face, different style...

Believe it or not, even though we're all individuals with distinct personalities, habits, and mannerisms, people STILL think that "all caricature artists draw the same". Frequently when Im doing retail caricature and I ask people if they'd like to be drawn, they sometimes say, "oh I GOT ONE OF THOSE already" as if its the same thing as buying an orange of something......
The truth is that any given artist draws the same face in a variety of ways basedon a variety of different factors including tools used, the artists mood, personal feelings towards the subject, or at the risk of sounding "spacey" the "energy" a given subject is projecting. Take This example for instance. Same face, two different treatments. The one of the left is "cartoony" simplified, something that you might see in an animated drawing, while the other is semi realistic.This guy's face had something undefinable in it that prompted me to draw hism in two ways and BOTH interpretations are equally valid. In doing two seperate caricatues like this, I usually draw the more "realistic" version first, then, taking the essential characterstics from the caricature, I use them to make a more simplified drawing. Its great fun, and easy to do.
Viva La Difference! It's what makes caricature MORE fun than simply "drawing a portrait. Booooooooooorinnnnnnng!!!!

Ridiculously Good Looking.....

Not EVERYONE is self concious about being drawn on the train, in fact some people think SO much of themselves, they actually show you what they consider to be their best side when they think you're drawing them, just like this guy here, who judging from his facial expression just KNEW that he was ridiculously good looking, Big NOSE and ALL!!! Self Esteem is EVERYTHING people!!

Bombastic Bigg Babe on the Brooklyn, Bound B Train...

She saw me drawing her and tried to turn away, but TOO LATE! she was sooo ticked off and started pouting!She was positively livid. Visually, she had nice rounded forms that artists always love to draw, and also had these great big cheeks that looked like she'd drank an entire pitcher of koolaid, and was refusing to swallow.

I roughed this out on notebook newsprint paper, started to ink it, and then felt it looked better rough. I thought it was really strange that she had this backpack which must have been so loaded down with books and junk that it hung sooo low down to her backside.

Hammer and Nail a LOVE STORY???

I wanted to focus on the complicated,yet dysfunctional, yet tragic, yet co dependant, yet confusing and sad relationship that some people find themselves trapped in......
This is a story about Domestic violence to be sure, but also raises questions about this very sensitive issue.... Does the Hammer "REALLY " WANT to change, but cannot? Does the Nail "REALLY" WANT to leave, but cannot? Each partner is tied to the other in this web of violence, forgiveness, passion.... No easy answers... just a lotta hurt.

Bonked on youtube

letting my story of dysfunctional parenting, bullying and it's consequences go out to a wider audience......hopefully.

colorized action pat pencil test animation sequence

NO PANTS SUBWAY RIDE

MAN! I WISH I WAS RIDING THE TRAIN THAT DAY!!! ARRRRRGH!!! ONLY IN NEW YORK!