Friday, May 21, 2010

Post-prom--tough crowd!

Did another post-prom last night---and it was one of those ones where there was a definite split between caricature fans and non-caricature fans...
I'll explain. When I draw couples all night, sometimes the vibe is that ONE half of the couple really wants a caricature. The other half could care less, and is just sitting for their partner. Sometimes the outcome is that my drawing will sway the reluctant sitter, and they'll laugh and like it. Last night, I misjudged on a few occasions...

I thought these girls (above) would both like it. You can see one did... and one did not.
The girl below micro-managed the whole drawing process: "Make me pretty!" "Don't mess me up!" "You're not makin' me ugly, are you??" These are usually warning signs that the person WON'T 'get it':

...but surprisingly, (especially to me) she loved it!

However, the best story of my mixed signals last night came from the couple I DIDN'T get a photo of...I drew what I thought was a very cute version of a couple whose female half had a rather elaborate hair-do. When I showed them the drawing, he laughed and she...got up and stormed off!!!! Later, she came back behind me while I was drawing and said, "Why didn't you draw me like HIM??" motioning to my colleague (and friend) Colin Harris, who was working alongside me. I said, "Uhhh, because I'm not him??" ;-D
She dragged her boyfriend into Colin's line and sat for him, after showing him how NOT to draw her (my caricature). Colin told me later he overheard her saying that she'd ripped up her half of my drawing (her BF wanted his) and thrown it in the trash!!! ( Couldn't find it---and I did look!) And to think that this was one I'd considered one of my best efforts that night. Oh well, maybe I'll take some psychology courses...

Before the festivities got under way (the prom-goers' bus was actually a bit late) we drew some of the people on hand.
I drew two friendly cops:

Drawing on left-no flash, drawing on right, flash. Interesting how it affects the photo's colors.
Below, a view of the gym, myself, Colin and another artist with whom we've never worked with before. We told him all about the ISCA convention and told him to check out the website. :-)

3 comments:

  1. man you are brave :D great work Emily!

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  2. HAHA!
    I don't know what's funnier about that!
    That someone ripped up YOUR piece-(which I'm SURE wasn't TOO abrasive) or that Colin is now the NICER CAREicaturist to the Not-so-nice-no-more Emily!-(the MEAN one!)
    Wish you had pix!
    SSweet Moses, if that girl got drawn by Sprague, she'd probably decapitate and debowel the poor lunatic!

    PS-here's some psychology-Some people just DON'T get it!
    Bwahahahahahahaaa-ripped up an EMILY???!!!

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  3. IMHO whenever someone doesn't like a caricature which has the entire audience laughing, in unison, "Hahahahah it's SO YOU", it means it was TOO TRUTHFUL. I actually thought she would love it, as she had quite the smirky smile which, I recall, was my emphasis as much as her hairstyle. After showing them, it was my intention to take a photo but she nixed my chance by stomping off...and yes, it occurred to me that had you or Sprague drawn her, it might have had a different ending!!

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