A reporter came while I was caricaturing in Maine...

…and wrote a very nice article about Ben's and my artistic endeavors in Boothbay Harbor, that appeared today in their community newspaper. She'd happened by on one of my last days up there, watched us draw quite a few faces, and then asked good questions---probably because she's a watercolorist herself. 

Click here to read the whole article:

http://www.boothbayregister.com/article/pencil-mileage-talent-or-both/37326

Thanks, Suzi!

Very Pinteresting….

Just received this email from Pinterest:

Wow! I haven't really spent a huuuuuge amount of time on my Pinterest page, (I've had it a long time but have been adding to it more recently) and somehow one particular board of mine----my caricatures---has been racking up some followers lately. It will be interesting to see if this form of social media exposure works as marketing. 

Caricature surfing

I am trying to learn how and why things turn up where they do on the internet. Having been a seat-of-the-pants pilot when it comes to advertising my own stuff, it would probably benefit my business to know more than I do about it. So, towards that end, I Googled "airbrush caricatures" and found two of mine in the top five, alongside (literal) heavyweights like Tom Richmond and Chris Rommel. How'd THAT happen??? ;-)

I am the proud illustrator of the cleavage-proud Texan lady and the broadly-grinning guy with the pink-haired girlfriend (also cleavage-proud :-)

My studio actually boasts caricatures of myself by both the aforementioned artists. One of my other goals on that miles-long to-do list is to get a "Me Gallery" up on my website. Sounds pretty vain, but if you're a caricaturist, it's kinda not…!

GIFS. Otherwise known as animated images...

Yes, I'm waaaaay behind the bandwagon on this. But I just learned how to make GIFS in Photoshop!! Apparently they are becoming as popular as they were in their heyday, way back in the '90's.



This is from a set of photos my Other Half took at Jimmy and Brittany's wedding a few weeks ago.

Newsletter shout-out!

My caricatures made the year-end newsletter of the L.E.G.Up Foundation! I drew at their 5k and Spring Benefit Dinner. :-)

Thanks for having me!

Playing the Independent Filmmaker...

...with iMovie. (After all, I DID character---I mean CARICATURE-act in it, shoot it, edit it and publicize it. ;-)
It consists of dozens of my caricature reaction clips  strung together and set to some jaunty royalty-free music.

Social media spruce-ups...

The dead of winter is usually when I revamp some of my online presences…so, I am sitting here with a big mug of steaming Earl Grey tea, doing just that. It certainly helps that I have electricity at the moment  (another snowstorm IS on its way, though. Ugh.)

YouTube now has video trailers and a cover photo, Google+ (which I don't quite understand yet) has a cover photo, and I'll probably find some more things to play with, in my internet meanderings. I decided to use this photo from the  2013 Humanist holiday party for my cover photos: it needed to be a horizontal shot. This is the doctored-up version, to better go with my blue-and-green-background profile pic.

Below is the original version, as taken by my talented Other Half.

I used my favorite workhorse app on my iPad, PhotoWizard, to get the interesting atmosphere. Then I emailed the pic to myself,  and put the text and some more little fairy lights in with Photoshop on my laptop. Click here if you want to visit my Youtube channel.  I chose a trailer that really encapsulates what my caricatures are all about. :-)

Welcome 2014! Adele, etc.

2014 has arrived and with it, a perpetual resolution (amongst several): to remember to sign my artworks with the correct year!

I've finished several caricature commissions already since New Year's, but can't share them yet, so this is a look at a current little project of mine: 

Bodacious torch singer Adele is the face of the week on Caricaturama Showdown 3000. This FB page is one I used to frequently post on, back when it first started several years ago, but haven't done so for quiiiiiiite awhile. Why not? Well, each artist is free to use whatever media they like, whether it be traditional or digital. I like to use both, but digital became CS3K's predominant mode (and one of my friends referred to it as "a rendering contest"). Some of the digital caricatures entered, frankly, looked like nothing more than photo-manipulated…photos. There was much controversy, on and off, as artists accused other artists (justly so, IMHO, in some cases) of painting on top of stretched photos, after using the "liquify" tool in Photoshop. Well, contention between artists is sad, so I lost interest in going there. When I did have time to do extracurricular art, I posted in Traditional Caricature Art Contest, where digital is an absolute no-no.

When I saw Adele was the current face on CS3K, though, I decided to see how things were going there. She's a fun one to caricature (this was done last year and ended up in my portfolio) so I opted to have another go.

First, I did a pencil sketch and posted that, (89 (!) "likes" at the moment, which is astonishing to me) then continued on to paint her using Procreate on my iPad, thus making it digital. Truth be told, I am a rather bigger fan of traditional media than digital. I nearly always sketch in pencil first and scan it before completing a digital commission, and I still have not joined the 'live-digital-caricature' movement. I need to remedy that. :-) There's no organic original with digital, but of course it is far better suited for the fast pace of today's illustration needs. So call me a fence-sitter! 

My friend Celestia Ward, who isn't afraid of public speaking, just did a talk on using social-media-as-an-artist to a group in Las Vegas. My Adele made it into one of her talking points. :-)

Now I just have to finish her, among all the other January-type things I'd like to do...studio-sorting, website-revamping, and general catch-up stuff. My last two Januarys were spent in Thailand, so it's way overdue.

Marketing my caricatures: Gigmasters has revamped!

My live caricature service has long been available on Gigmasters, which is a very popular online source for party entertainment. Last week, the powers-that-be there decided to reveal their completely revamped website, and after a few hiccups, it seems to be a good thing!

There's now a cover photo, inspired by Facebook, and lots of other small changes which make it very easy to choose and book entertainers and most importantly, be assured you are getting a professional. Every client is asked to provide feedback after their experience, and I've been lucky enough to get great  reviews and also to have a very high feedback-to-number-of-clients ratio.

 In addition to making a brand new cover image for my Gigmasters page, I decided to replace some of my older caricatures with more recent ones. In some ways, it was tough to part with some of the samples, as they'd been there since the get-go, and obviously worked well to get me booked!

Gigmasters is also using their Facebook page to get more fans…and they are giving away free memberships or membership upgrades to some of those fans. So feel free to check that out!

Now, I'm off to a Gigmasters gig this evening! :-)

Caricatures on Instagram

Instagram, the photo-sharing app, isn't one I have used as frequently as Facebook, but that's changing for me. Many young people who've gotten caricatures have told me FB isn't cool anymore but Instagram  and Twitter are. My presence on Twitter is actually linked to my Caricatures by Emily FB page, but I plan on posting more on Instagram. Last night, I decided to hashtag #caricature on Instagram  to see what's out there, and found several of mine! 

Apparently blogs 'aren't cool' anymore either, but I am not giving up blogging! ;-)

A lenticularly frightening face for Halloween...

Happy Halloween! When this post goes up (it's automated) I'll be dressed up and drawing already at a morning party, wearing a brooch with this handsome countenance on it...

The really cool thing about it is that it's lenticular! I've always been fascinated with such images. (I've owned since teenage-hood a John Lennon/Beatles pin that can be seen in this post.)

What has this to do with caricature or for caricaturists? I recently ran across this Kickstarter campaign for a company that will produce anyone's GIF as a lenticular card. Imagine what this could do with a series of caricatures. or caricature business cards, etc?

May the road rise up to meet Irish caricaturists and photographers...

Earlier this year, I had to chance to caricature my friend Patrick at a fundraiser for Irish Charities. He's always been a fan of my work, and has sent some commissions my way. Now I can share his project: he's running an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds to turn his fantastic, other-worldly photos of his homeland into a calendar. I contributed! Links are below.

 

I still laugh at that 'Edgar Allen Boh' shirt!

Patrick's Indiegogo campaign

Patrick's Ireland the Old Country FB page ( he is close to 4k likes!!)

Gigsalad

It's a funny name for a online party/entertainment booking service, but it works! I just signed up with it five days ago and I have my first gig already. Thanks, Gigsalad!

Free Caricature Contest on my FB page...

I've decided to offer a monthly free caricature to people who connect with me on my FB fan page:

Here's the link: "WIN a Caricature at Caricatures by Emily"

Since it's mid-month, there's two weeks left to go before I'll choose a winner, but I do have a retroactive free caricature that went out yesterday to the person who inspired me to do this! I'll post about that tomorrow!

Little surprise from Gigmasters...

Got this in my email this morning:

It's to recognize all Gigmasters performers who received five or more "5-star ratings" from clients in the past year. They have been a reliable source of events for me---in fact, one of my upcoming gigs this weekend is through them.  Thanks Gigmasters!

My LinkedIn page recommendations

It's housecleaning time, as usual in January, and that means some attention to my various online presences:

My LinkedIn page is updated automatically by my Twitter page, which is in turn updated by my Caricatures by Emily Facebook page, so I haven't actually logged into LinkedIn for quite awhile. I decided to spiff it up by asking for some recommendations of my work...and wow, I was very happy to read the nice words that came in from clients and colleagues. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! 

Caricatures by Emily Anthony

“Emily Anthony is one of the finest caricaturists working today. Her ability to entertain and provide crowd-pleasing drawings in her live work is unsurpassed. She has an accessible style that brings a smile to the faces of the recipients. Her studio work shows a mastery of her chosen medium, be it digital, airbrush or sculpture. Anyone who does business with Emily has made an excellent choice!” January 15, 2012

“We hired Emily as part of our entertainment for an event for the Domestic Violence Center of Chester County. She was wonderful and all the guests loved her! I highly recommend for your next event!” January 10, 2012

Top qualities: Personable, Good Value, Creative

“We had Emily come over for our daughter’s birthday party as one of the entertainments for both kids and adults and she was a big hit! Emily is very easy going and friendly, and interacts well with people while remaining very professionnal. She is careful about people’s sensitivity about their looks and does not make too harsh caricatures even though they remain very funny and resembling to people. That said, if you have enough sense of humor to laugh at yourself, you can ask her to draw a “meaner” caricature and she will be glad to do it. Emily is a very talented caricaturist. She truly “sees” people and seems to catch their features at the very first sight. Drawing fast is another strength she has, which is very valuable for parties with a lot of people or for caricatures of small children who don’t sit still.Everybody at our party was thrilled with their caricature.
To summarize, Emily is the artist to go to if you are looking to give the gift of a high quality caricature.” January 10, 2012

Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, On Time

“I have known Emily for a number of years as a colleague in ISCA. Her work is excellent and she has been her own caricaturing business for some 16 years. Emily has a broad range of versatile skills in various mediums and an eye for attention to detail. Her outstanding attribute is customer focus and professionalism. I highly recommend Emily to any client who requires top of the line caricature work.” January 9, 2012

“We hired Emily for the wedding rehearsal dinner for our son and daughter-in-law to draw caricatures of the guests. She also drew a large caricature of their engagement photo, which everyone signed and is now framed and hanging in their home. Emily also provided small copies of the engagement caricature that we gave each guest as a memento of the evening. People still talk about how unique and fun Emily's caricatures were -- and many have the caricatures hanging in their homes. Emily was fun to work with and didn't leave until everyone who wanted one had a drawing - which meant staying past the originally agreed-to time.” January 9, 2012

Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Good Value

“If you`re looking for a caricature artist that`s at the top of their game-- Emily is the artist for you. Emily gets a great likeness with all her caricatures, She is also very professional in every way.” January 9, 2012

“In the past several years that I have known Emily, I have watched her flourish as and artist and a business woman. She is passionate about her work and determined to make her clients happy. I admire her professionalism as an artist in business. Hire her to draw at your event and you won't be disappointed. Your guests will love her, just as everyone that meets her does.” May 20, 2010

“Emily is a excellent worker and artist. She is reliable, always on time, her work is great, she's fast and she's very personable with clients.” February 10, 2010

Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, On Time

Pimpin' my ride...

...caricaturist-style!

Thanks to John Hannum at Goshen Signs, who was even able to get the fonts I've always used on my various marketing stuff (Ravie and Georgia for the font-freaks out there :-). It will be a thrill to hear from the first client who found out about my work through my car!

Happy caricature subject!

The client who ordered this digital caricature for her friend shared a photo with me. He's even wearing the same shirt!

She was also nice enough to put feedback on my new Thumbtack.com listing. Here's what she said:

I cannot say enough about Emily Anthony's talent! I was looking for a unique gift for someone who is hard to buy for. I thought a caricature might be a good idea. I came across Caricatures by Emily. She was very friendly and very easy to work with. When I got the finished picture, I was thrilled! It was great! The likeness was amazing! The gift was a hit. Not only with the person I bought it for, but with everyone he shows it to, and he shows everyone!

Thank you, Karen! I am tickled that he liked it so much.

I love my job!


If you are a past client of mine, and would like to give me  a testimonial, click here. Thank you!

My caricatures on Thumbtack.com

As of today, I am listing my service as a caricature artist on Thumbtack.com. It's an intermediary website that links service providers with potential clients, but unlike Craigslist or Yelp, their interesting angle is verification of the vendors in various ways. That way clients can feel safe in knowing that the vendor is who they say they are! Check it out if you are in need of any type of service. 

The Artiste at work in her studio (ha)

My S.O. took a nice photo of me this afternoon to use on my Digital Caricatures page on my website...to illustrate how I draw with my Wacom tablet. So many non-artists are confused about how digital art is created, not realizing that the computer doesn't do it for you, nor is it photo manipulation.  It's done the old-fashioned way, by the eye and hand of the artist, but with new-fangled tech-y toys standing in for traditional media! :-)

The "ha" in the title of this post is due to the fact that I posed for this...I'm not really working...Prince William and Kate were done awhile ago! ;-D
Photo credit: J. B.  (who appears in the top middle as a painting)