subwaysurfer animated cartoon

limited animation clip of me drawing person on the train who was so over whelmed he wanted to share his latte with me....

"Where Do You Get Your Ideas for Comics?

HI! IM ELGIN BOLLING, ALSO KNOWN AS SUBWAYSURFER! BUT THEN, YOU ALREADY KNOW THAT DONT CHA? TODAY i WILL BE TEACHING ON HOW I GET MY IDEAS FOR COMICS. IM OFTEN ASKED THIS QUESTION, AND CHUCKLE AT THE ANSWER, BECAUSE ITS REALLY QUITE SIMPLE. EVERY PERSON ON THE PLANET IS LITERALLY A WALKING BOOK, FILLED WITH BILLIONS OF STORIES THAT KEEP GETTING ADDED TO EVERYDAY! ALL THE MATERIAL ANY ARTIST NEEDS TO CONSTRUCT A COMIC STORY IS NOT TO BE FOUND "OUT THERE" IN SPACE, BUT "IN HERE" BETWEEN THEIR TWO EARS. WHENEVER I NEED A STORY FOR ONE OF MY COMICS, I ALWAY GO INSIDE FIRST FOR INSPIRATION....



USING A SHARP CLEAN KNIFE I CUT OPEN OFF THE TOP OF MY CRANIUM AND CAREFUL TAKE THE BRAIN OUT AND START SEARCHING MY MIND FOR DATA. THERE ARE BILLIONS OF STORIES, OBSERVATIONS, AND IMPRESSIONS BURIED DEEP IN MY CONCIOUSNESS THAT I JUST HAVE TO BE PATIENT ENOUGH TO ACESS. OF COURSE SOMETIMES PANIC SETS IN AND I DONT QUITE REMEMBER WHERE I PUT ALL MY STORIES. ONCE YOU GET TO THIS STAGE, CONTINUE SEARCHING, BUT BE CAREFUL TO NOTE WHERE YOU'VE PUT ALL YOUR GRAY MATTER, AFTER ALL, YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE FOR PUTTING IT ALL BACK!

IN ORDER FOR MY WORK TO "RING TRUE" I MUST HAVE A STRONG EMOTIONAL CONNECTION WITH IT. EMOTIONAL CONNECTIONS COME FROM DEEP INSIDE BASED ON HOW I FEEL ABOUT CURRENT EVENTS, PAST HURTS, REACTIONS TO FILMS OR SONGS, AND ESPECIALLY CHILDHOOD AND YOUTHFUL MEMORIES. iT'S ALL THERE INSIDE. ONCE i HAVE A STRONG EMOTIONAL CONNECTION TO MY WORK, i KNOW THAT THE AUDIENCE WILL FEEL IT TOO AND NOT JUST BE LOOKING AT :"PRETTY PICTURES" mOST ARTISTS KNOW HOW TO DRAW A PRETTY PICTURE, BUT THE TRICK IS TO WRITE A "PRETTY STORY" WHICH IS WHY SO MANY ARTISTS WHOSE WORK LOOKS LIKE A TEN YEAR OLD CAN BE MORE ENTERTAINING THAN AN ARTIST WHO DRAWS EVERYTHING"PERFECT".

ANOTHER METHOD I USE IS TO JUST GET OUT A REAM OF PAPER AND START 'STREAM OF CONCIOUSNESS DRAWING" sOMETIMES THE OLD IDEA ENGINE NEEDS TO BE WARMED UP, SO I JUST DRAW ANYTHING! ONE DRAWING FLOWING INTO THE NEXT, FORMING ASSOCIATIONS AND VISUAL CONNECTIONS.... SOMETIMES FRUSTRATIONS SET IN AND I START TO LET OUT PRIMAL SCREAMS OF FRUSTRATION ESPECIALLY AROUND DEADLINE TIME.....

WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, SOMETIMES IT'S JUST BEST TO CLEAR YOUR HEAD AND GO OUTSIDE FOR A WALK. A SIMPLE CHANGE OF SCENERY CAN SOMETIMES HELP SPARK YOUR IDEA ENGINE. FOR ALL YOU KNOW, THE NEXT BIG IDEA CAN COME TO YOU UNEXPECTEDLY OUTTA "NO WHERE!...'

SOMETIMES OUT OF NOWHERE, AN IDEA JUST HITS YOU!! THAT'S JUST HOW THE CREATIVE PROCESS WORKS!!! WOW... THAT'S GONNA LEAVE A MARK!

condom cartoon

This is a perfect example of a joke "coming to you out of no where.

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Love Letter comic

Here's something different. I was in the mood to do a tragic love story wanted to use an animation/comic minimalist technique. We all know a little bit about heartache, dont we?

Dont get HUNG by your TONGUE!!! cartoon

Ever notice that what the things you SAY concerning/about yourself usually come true? Think about those times in your life when you've said, " I cant do that" or " Im too old," "Im tired" "I'll never be able to afford that!" " I'm stupid..." the list goes on and on..... If we're honest, the WORDS that we SPEAK are not just "harmless meaning less things" which pop and disappear like soap bubbles. Words have POWER! Power to transform, uplift, and heal, or consequently, to teardownk, or distroy.The Bible says ... whether you believe it or not... God created the heavens and the earth and everything in between by speaking it into existence. Since he made US, he put some powerful stuff in US too!
I was listening to a broadcast on Christian TV one day and the host was speaking on this very subject:

Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth

He then exclaimed, " I WISH I HAD A CARTOON SHOWING SOMEONE BEING HANGED BY THEIR TONGUE!!!
I immediately got to work on the cartoon, confident that I was the ONLY one who thought of the great idea to send it to this broadcaater!

Weeks later I got a very nice rejection letter, thanking me for the toon, but informing me that it would not be used, just like the many hundreds of others who got the same idea to send a cartoon in! LOL!

It's STILL a great cartoon, and still a truism.

There's a reason why your mom used to tell you to
WATCH YOUR MOUTH!!

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Law enforcement officials are finally installing video cameras in the Hammels Housing Projects in an effort to discourage a rash of shootings in the area. A New "crew " is in town, hopefully to stay.

Subway Comic Beware of Passengers with Hot Coffee

CANT TOUCH THIS!!! NYPD Comic 100 Pct

From what I understand there's this bizarre law on the books that limit or prohibit cops from frisking suspected felons. Law enforcement is upset about this, but felons seem to have no problem with the law..... Ive been noticing of late with my drawing style how I inadvertently end up paying tribute visually to one of my early artistic references, Robert Crumb.