SARDIS PICTURES

MARCELO GUERRA CARICATURE BY SUBWAYSURFER

Cant believe I just found out about the amazingly talented European caricature artist Marcelo Guerra. Not only are his cartoon caricatures a throwback from the 1950s slash 60s retro which I adore, but his personal flair and style of dress make him instantly recognizable and is an excellent form of personal marketing and branding. initially i wrote him to draw MY caricature but couldn't help drawing HIS first!

HURRICANE SANDY TEE SHIRT DESIGN

Hi guys by now everyone has heard ad nauseau about the Hurricane Sandy tradgedy that sweapt through New York city and put us on the ropes so to speak. Far Rockaway, a coastal community took an especially hard hit. Sandy ruined millions of dollars of beach front property, including boardwalks, summer homes, local businesses, and oh yeah, transportation.For me, the devastation is particularly bad because as a self employed artist, I have to live daily with the aura of misery, depression, anger and despair that lingers in the air, and can be seen on the faces of the residents who have no where to go. one of the sadness things for me to face is that THE WAVE NEWSPAPER where I worked as an editorial illustrator,  is GONE. washed away like so much junk down a drain. if by some miracle it survived, I haven't heard anything.

following is the last picture I did for the paper. I dont even know if they got it. its my intention to put this illustration on a series of promo products including shirts in order to raise money for the relief effort, people affected by this tragedy, including myself.

im asking you to please not plagiarize this illustration in the effort to make a buck off of my work, and to take advantage of a situation. Please stay tuned for more details. Thanks so much.

Elgin Subwaysurfer Bolling

The "Scribble Scrabble" studio Caricature Drawing technique

Those who CAN teach!

im sure that most people have heard or even used the expression, "Those who can't teach". Inherent in this subtle putdown, is the belief that an instructor is resigned to "just teaching" a given subject because they are unable to perform adequately the thing they are teaching. As a result of this cock eyed mode of reasoning we look at vocal instructors as"failed singers", coaches as"wanna be athletes" and art teachers as"frustrated artists."

  THE JOY OF TEACHING 

Nothing could be farther from the truth. The fact is that teaching is a calling, of sorts. A person who teaches, has such a passion for their subject that it's unbearable to contain it within themselves! They have a need to impart it to others. Why does this need exist? I would say it's out of the sincere, selfless desire to have another experience the same level of joy that the teacher feels themselves when engaged in the activity. Although a "bad analogy" it's kind of like the moron who blasts his music loudly in his car. He's grooving on heavy metal and wants "everyone"to share in the experience right down to the last decibel!

  TEACHERS ARE NOT WANNABEES

If you dig deep enough, you'll find that that most teachers have achieved a level of notoriety and success in their chosen fields. That broken down, raspy voice, boxing coach with the nasty smelling cigar and beer belly, was regional or state champion in his prime, that piano teacher may have been a concert pianist who traveled Europe in her youth, the list goes on, and on. Sometime in the process of working on their own careers people find that they have a knack for imparting information to others. They find that while pursuing their own careers, they love to see others make it too, and view them as kindred spirits not competitors. Teachers are not wanna bees, on the contrary , because of their love for their topic, they've studied it above and beyond what the casual observer, the hobbyist, or even the so called "natural" has.

  WHY TEACHING IS IMPORTANT

 Without teaching knowledge dies. Nothing is more tragic than that. For years I have been the admirer of a particular pastor who serves a congregation in a so called Urban area, that most men in his position, given the same level of education opportunity, and breeding would have abandoned. And yet, he has been a staple in the community fir several generations. His social, administrative and political skills are legendary. He genuinely loved, honored and respected by the people he serves. I've often said to him that I hoe he is training someone to take his place because if he doesn't, what he's built, and the knowledge he posesses will due with him, never to be reproduced in another. Teaching is about reproducing. When I teach someone caricature and cartooning, it's a way if reproducing my knowledge so that it doesn't die with me. If I am successful in imparting to another I have the joy of knowing they will taje what I've given, and add to that what s uniquely their own, and give tray out to another. So the cycle continues. On and on. I guess that's what teaching is all about.

TAKE THE CARICATURE CHALLENGE!

In my early caricature days one exercise that was contributed to helping me learn how to exaggerate was the self imposed 30 day challenge. I literally drew a different caricature of myself for thirty days. since I was working with the same boring face it literally forced me to think up new artistic approaches to the same subject. THE hardest thing to do of course is the retain the likeness of course, but thats the whole point. Just to make it easy on you readers you only have to do this for five days. see what you come up with! I guarantee that it will revolutionize the way you look at caricature and you will discover a new style in the process!

Cartoon Editorial illustration

Been a while since I posted any editorial illustrations for The Wave News. I recently got some Editorial copy  where the Far Rockaway residents are"bugging out" over a series of rumors regarding  housing, shelters being built, criminals running wild in the streets, ETC All of these rumors are unsubstantiated, but more residents in the community are getting worried, and if they get too worried.... well we could have problems in the community as people act on their imagined fears. The article, not shown hear is basically a call to sanity. In this illustration , I decided to do a montage of past caricatures to stand is as"Rockaway  residents". Looking at the drawing now I can appreciate just how varied the faces that Ive drawn over the years are, and how versatile Ive become as far as illustration style is concerned. What a great job!

THE RETURN OF THE STARBUCKS MONKEY

okay I KNOW that someone, SOMEWHERE is going to be offended by this picture so let me explain it right now before the fire starts, and even though I give an explaination I realize that sadly, I still wont satisfy some people......sigh.....
First off, Im a caricature artist. As such I make fun of FACES... not RACES, and EVERYONE gets slammed, especially when I see a face that reallllllly deserves it. Im not trying to be mean or make a statement just having fun visually with what I see at the moment. I notice also that some groups of people seem to be highly sensitive to being made fun of to the point of wanting to take serious issue with a drawing that was not meant in spirit to be derogatory. This happened to me once with a certain NYC Queens Congressman... but thats another story....

In learning to exaggerate, I sometimes see people as animals. I figure since there facial structure or vibe reminds me of a particular mammal, fowl, reptile, or fish, ill just draw them along those lines. It makes the caricature more powerful. Below is a picture of a young man I saw a few years back in Starbucks. he looked sooooo ridiculously ape like that I could NOT resist drawing him him full on as a Simeon!

Hope you guys especially my fewllow African Americans can appreciate this for what it is. Humour. If you attach anything else to it, Its YOU. not ME. Im just having fun.

Whether you agree or not, I DO welcome your responses or criticisms though!

The Christ Chronicles Comics Update

For the past couple of weeks I've had some down time which enabled me to work 
on some personal artistic projects, like my " THE CHRIST CHRONICLES COMIC" 
Project. The work is based on the adventures of Jesus depicted in the Biblical 
Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I find the Biblical accounts as 
dividing as any adventure story I've ever read. It's an epic story containing 
heroes and villains, it's loaded with action, intrigue, horror and humor. I've 
taken creative license on character designs, removing them from the traditional 
ancient, biblical, Middle Eastern vibe, and replacing them with a more campy 
contemporary look. (what can I say? I am a cartoonist!) I gotta admit, John The 
Baptist was the most fun to do, and since the Bible does give more of a physical 
description of him, I decided to leave him as is!

The Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducces ,were a challenge to depict, until I heard 
Jesus refer to them as "blind guides" "teachers of the law" which made me decide 
to dress them in formal professor robes I'd recently seen at my sons college 
graduation. The cap covering their eyes, which adds to their inability to see.

This is an open ended project that I will continue to work on as time permits. 
I'm really having a lot of fun with it