Caricature Express

Oh - Thousands of pictures pile up here in my Studio. I was just enjoying this one that popped up - It was a Studio piece that I did over a year ago. I remember doing it well - the way I enjoyed the face that my client asked me to work with - the scene my client requested - my friend’s adorable feet which I used as reference when I had to draw the scene…..

I’m putting it onto my blog so I’ll be more likely to come across it again. I particularly like remembering my friend’s feet. The life of an Artist. What really goes on behind the scenes when we’re creating stuff.

BTW - I had the woman’s name and information about her company written in the oval at the bottom of the picture. I just covered up the information to protect her privacy.

To Hire this Artist:
(516) 579-4706
optidust@gmail.com

This client hired me to create two pictures from one Caricature.
One was to show him with playing cards and money.
The other was to show him with musical notes.

Lol - I laugh now as I remember how focused I felt while I decided
that I had to take my time and shade with dots. Each little dot.

To Hire this Artist:
(516) 579-4706
optidust@gmail.com

I like the pictures.

Which style is Better? Well, what’s the Purpose of the Caricature. Sometimes one way is better, sometimes the other way is better.

I have recently been posting simply-drawn pictures. Nice. Very Very Quick production. But today I’m going to post some of my Caricatures that had been drawn with Intense Exaggeration.

Different skills are required of me for each type. But which is Better? Well, it depends on what the client wants.

To Hire this Artist:
(516) 579-4706
optidust@gmail.com

Whew ~ That was Fun.
On Your Mark, Get Set, Go !

A woman called last Saturday morning,
asking me to draw at a School Event on Monday.
But the event is for a limited amount of time.
And the PTA wants a Lot of kids drawn.

“Well, I could do what I call ‘Line-Only’ “, I told her.
“And the pictures would go faster if we’re not doing ‘couples’……”

The woman saw this website. Asked if I could send her some
samples of the ‘Line Only’.

“Wellllll, okay”, I said, as I thought about getting out of here for tonight’s gig.

Then I took out my supplies,
setting up my work area which has papers and bills all over the place.
I opened to a recent post here,
I set my timer for 20 minutes,
and I started drawing. Amazed that I felt calm as soon as I started drawing. In my Very Quick-Cac Style that I use when a party needs it. Here’s what I came up with. Looks good -

I did notice that when I started drawing, I did still need a slight pre-draw,
but once I started Going, many did not need a predraw.
And if I had ‘lines’ on the paper from the predraw, I did have to put in a little shading - to make the picture look right. And I could have skipped some of the darkers outlines - things like that. But I did want the pictures to look good - even though I was ‘in a race’. I was hitting 30 per hour alone at home. But I would still only estimate 20 - 30 Quick Cacs per hour at an Event. (My regular Caricatures usually run about 10 per hour.)

Fun experience. But it doesn’t use all the more-advanced Caricature abilities I’ve developed. Glad to do Quick-Cacs when needed, but I wouldn’t want to do Only these. I wouldn’t want to forget how to do what I worked so hard to develop.
So we could say that I do the real detailed Studio Caricatures,
then the moderately detailed Party Caricatures,
and Then the Quick-Cacs - like these.

To Hire this Artist:
(516) 579-4706
optidust@gmail.com

Still pretty Quick, but I was really enjoying practicing that Black/White stuff that so many people have been requesting recently. I guess it’s difficult economic times or something, but so many people have been asking more about ‘how many can we squeeze in per hour’ than about ‘how much Fun can we have at the Party’ - So many people have become focused on ‘What Things Can I Get?’ - instead of ‘Let’s take time off to Hang Loose, to Have Fun’.

So, in trying to accommodate them, I’ve been doing a lot of Black/White Parties. Obviously, it takes less time to draw a face than it takes to both draw a face And color a face. Still, even if the customer asks me to just get a paper to as many people as possible, I want to Enjoy the Art. I want to See and Experience each person. Here I was practicing to Both See well And draw quickly at the same time. The first three needed a predraw. But the last two were drawn directly with the marker:

To Hire this Artist:
(516) 579-4706
optidust@gmail.com