Caricature Express

People don’t realize what they’re asking me to do.
I’m always willing to draw body/hobby if my client requests it, but that means that each person takes a longer turn while others are waiting at the party, less people get seen per hour, and the face is limited because I have to keep the party moving.

I always willing to preprint a logo onto each paper ~ so the guests will remember where/why they got the picture, so the guests will remember the event. But if I show up with creatively prepared logos, the writing and the symbols get mixed up into the pictures that I am to subsequently draw. (I’m thinking that I might start Boxing in those logos when appropriate. So they’d be more like part of the Frame than part of the Picture.)

I’m always willing to predraw a scene if my client requests it, but that means that I can’t be as creative with the composition ~ particularly affecting the picture when the guest requests more than one person to be included in the same picture.

And that brings to mind that I’m always willing to draw more than one person in a picture, but that means that each person would have to be with me for a longer time. Because I have to compare back and forth between each person, and I have to coordinate them all together at the end of the drawing. And of course (and this is something that always amazes me ~ Some people actually think it would be faster if I draw more than one person on a page), it takes more than twice as long to draw two people on the same page (and more than three times as long to draw three people on the same page, etc). Because I still have to draw each face, the same as if I was drawing it on separate papers, And I have to design the page to accommodate the way those particular faces fit together. (I don’t just divide the page into smaller parts and draw smaller individual pictures. This is Real Art.)

I understand why people want these things, but especially with body/hobby, I think they’re imagining large compositions in which I interview the whole life of a person and design it All into the picture, good likeness, funny twist, and more all in five minutes before I go on to the next. This is not realistic for a Party where I’m usually asked to draw as many people as possible.

I’ve drawn at Thousands of Parties. Countless Communions. Yearly Graduations. More Bar Mitzvahs than I can imagine…… I have a pretty good handle on what works best. On how to draw at a Party.

But I understand why people choose otherwise. These pictures, for example, were ordered for the express purpose of furthering Marc Jacobs clothing. For bringing people into the store. For encouraging them to buy one of his latest dress designs. So I was hired to come with a ready-made body. Okay. But then, the store customers, seeing that they could get free Caricatures, wanted pictures of themselves with their friends and families. To remember the fun outing when they shopped together. For example, one of these pictures is of a bride’s-maid-to-be who was taking her bride out shopping before the wedding. Of course they’d want to be in the picture together.

But did they realize that my client (who was paying for these pictures), had hired me to come with that ready-made scene. Of one woman walking down the runway. Smack in the center of the picture. So how am I to design two or more people onto that page?

Here are some Samples that I drew at the recent Marc Jacobs event. Decide for yourself. Which ’specials’ do you think were a good idea here. Which ’specials’ were not a good idea.

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

I work for the client. I work for the guests. I wish they would trust me to do what I think feels best.

Oh. Oh. And this reminds me of the guests who say things like “Don’t draw my nose.” Or “don’t draw my teeth.” But if I listen to that, it wouldn’t be looking like the person. Oh. I hope my pictures help people to like and accept themselves As They Are. I love you all.

Note: When full Party is ordered All on One Giant Page, each guest comes individually, just like when I’m drawing one-person on a page. And I don’t need them All together until the End of the Picture when I coordinate it all together. The Artwork is approached differently than when I’m asked to draw a small group on the regular-sized papers.

This guy was hilarious - . I thought I had drawn a rather tame picture of him, but he just laughed happy wow when he saw it. I could barely get a straight photo of him:

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

2 a.m. - I’m emailing pictures to my Power-Point client.
9 a.m. - Ring, ring -
me: Good Morning

client: “fantastic job. listen, because of snowdates, I have another day before the presentation. Can you do another picture?”

me, thinking that I have a 1:30 appointment at the spa, and a 3:30 appointment with my trainer, and I’m on to cook dinner for company tonight….: “Sure. What do you have in mind?”

client: “one face leaning forward on muscular arms……”
My client is UP. Talking faaaast.
Snap snap, so many ideas…… “Good Morning……”

We hang up, I go to wake up, morning routine…..
Luckily I didn’t start the picture yet, when,

Ring, ring - “Hi! What’s up?”

client: “Could we make that a 2-person Caricature? The first guy leaning over a brick wall. He’s in the U.S. - talking to our associate in the U.K - You’d have the Atlantic Ocean in there, and a phone in his hand
…………………
…………………….
…………………….”

then later, middle of the night - I draw the picture first in pencil, then in marker.
While erasing the pencil for this upbeat picture,
I flip on a movie - Ahhhh “Escape From Alcatraz”.
Point, Counterpoint.

Crazy day, Wild night, and I’m just sitting here alone.
It’s a good life:

Update: Aaaahhh, it’s all worth it. Here’s the email that I woke up to today: