Meeting of the Minds
Article Transcript
Elgin ‘Subwaysurfer’ Bolling and Dave ‘Bippy’ Boyer Trade iPad Caricature Tips
When like-minded friends get together, the day can be quite exciting and magical.
That is what happened when Dave and Cindy Boyer traveled to Times Square to meet up with noted artist Mr. Elgin “Subwaysurfer” Bolling over the Passover/Easter break of 2011.
Elgin knew I wanted to talk shop about drawing on the iPad and the ArtStudio App. This was part of the “homework” and practice I wanted to do to get ready to launch into drawing digital caricatures for a major marketing function with the Xerox Corporation in Rochester New York in May 2011. (Deepest thanks to ISCA’s Tad Barney of www.The-Nose. com for referring me.)
Everything came together in NYC. Picture perfect weather. Some lunch at Micky D’s. And two iPads charged up ready to draw.
What made this work is that Elgin and I started drawing freelance about the same time: Elgin in 1990, myself around 1989. We’ve got a sincere rapport and respect for each other, and have that certain chutzpah or spunk that we both use in our caricature work. As we are both native New Yorkers, everything just fell into place, sprinkled with laughs every minute or so.
Elgin had been drawing on the iPad professionally for over a year. Using ArtStudio, he showed me how one can create and control a drawing down to the single-pixel level. The easy-to-carry portability of the iPad and iPad2 is a big plus. Ten hours of working battery life and 100 hours of standby battery life is key to long mobile usage (away from annoying trips to the wall charger).
Elgin’s advice was something like this: “The iPad, ‘is what it is.’ Most people try to use the iPad like using a traditional art medium. You can do that. But I think it is even more fun when you use it as its own thing. So you can control cool effects that should have a playful digital look.”
He advised me to use as few layers as possible to not have a problem with running out of memory. I had the chance to show Elgin my iPad2—I only had it for 30 days and ArtStudio for just 20 days. But I had practiced in preparation of my visit with the famous Subwaysurfer.
I showed him a bit about layer masking, multitasking and switching between a reference photo and the caricature one is working on. And then the ArtStudio SELECTION tool to cut, paste, resize and rotate part of a drawing that you just want to tweak. I use this if an eye especially is too big or small.
We were both satisfied that the new A5 microprocessor in the Apple iPad2 can handle the speed of drawing, much like any high end gaming console. (One wonders if Apple is going to make a game machine in 2012).
Elgin also wanted to take me into his real “office” to watch him draw riders on the subway using paper and graphite. Elgin said, “I do this because it forces me to be loose, quick and make fast observations. I usually can get done with a rider between stations. And yes, some riders have later thanked me for the caricature I did of them.” My feelings afterwards would be to welcome any chance of drawing at a gig together: Elgin and Bippy!
About the Xerox venue at the Xerox Rochester NY Jazz Festival: the marketing directors were delighted at how well that went. I was part of a team of digital artists that Tad Barney assembled.
I have to admit that my BS degree in Electrical Engineering Technology from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) helped me get my head around the details of using the iPad2. I felt like I was funneling 23 years of traditional experience of 58,000 caricatures into one flat, glowing tablet.
But for me, the iPad2 is part of my Business Plan for 2012 and beyond. I am over 50 and not really liking the weight of all the traditional STUFF one has to bring to a gig. Not to mention making sure the markers are juicy. Paper is clean and flat. Clear bags are ready to put the art in to keep it tidy.
A father at a Bar Mitzvah reception put it perfectly to me. “If you project what you are drawing on a wide screen much like the DJ is doing right now, you will fill the room with your caricature magic too. All the seated guests will see your work. Even if they can’t make it over to your corner. It will add to the ambiance of a fun evening.” So why should DJs have all the projector fun?
Will this stop on a dime drawing traditionally? No. Film for cameras hasn’t stopped yet either. Yet I’ve been waiting 30 years for a mobile device to bring the “drawing stuff” on one hand right up to where guests are seated. The iPad can do that. And double as an expensive serving tray (haha!).
Look at how many ISCA caricaturists now bring some form of computer equipment to draw with at an ISCA con. At least over half I would say. I am committed to using a Verizon Wireless’ MiFi, HDMI cables and adapter modules, Apple TV module, an iFaraday stylus, WiFi enabled printers, e-printing Apps such as “Epson iPrint” and the “Xerox Mobile Print Solution” that I was pleased to demo. I’ve even done a more formal portrait using the iPad2, ArtStudio, the iFaraday stylus, and LOTS of years of experience.
Many thanks to Elgin and other ISCA artists (you know who you are!) who gave the Bip some tips to fully catapult me into the digital caricature domain.
Dave “Bippy” Boyer
NCN/ISCA member Since 1994
Traditional and digital caricaturist with iPad2, ArtStudio and the iFaraday stylus
Rochester, New York
www.bippies.com
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