Getting a portfolio together...

There is also a portfolio competition at the upcoming NCN convention. I'll be including all of my Face-off pieces ( thanks, Court Jones!) done since last year --I've participated in all but one-- and some other stuff, such as this piece.

This duo's DUI jail stints are already old news, but at least I haven't drawn old relics from the sixties and seventies for once!

Back to the ballpark...

Tonight was the first game in the Phillies' last homestand of the season. Will they/won't they manage to claw themselves into a post-season berth?
(This is the third year it has come down to the final nail-biting week to find out!)
They ended up losing tonight. :-(
Luckily, there are still plenty of baseball fans who want caricature souvenirs. :-)

my entry for NCN "Best Studio Piece" competition

Can you tell whose eyes are peeking out of this small portion of my latest digital work?
It's actually a work in progress; my entry for yet another NCN competition. This time it is for the upcoming Nationl Caricaturist Network's annual convention being held in Reno, Nevada next month. Hundreds of caricature artists will gather for a fun-filled week of education , contests, and camraderie. It will be my fifth convention and I am really looking forward to seeing my artist friends from all over the world...

Company picnic

Today brought summer-like weather and a company pinic for me to draw the attendees, held in a local county park. Here's a few humans--and a dog!

Open house...

Saturday evening's gig was an open house on a beautiful farm. I got to work in the loft of a bank barn:

Here's the finished caricature I was working on in the previous photo:

The hostess graciously extended my stay when some of the guests asked her to keep me going! :-) Here are some more people I drew!

Health Fair

Saturday afternoon's gig was a health fair with lots and lots of people...the other artist and I had long lines during the entire event.

Degas-almost finished...

My entry for the NCN Face-off is reaching its final stages-- I will probably just tinker with it between now and the deadline next Friday. Happily, there has been some enthusiastic feedback on it from other NCNers on our members-forum!

John K study

One of the blogs I visit daily belongs to John Kricfalusi, hilarious cartoonist/animator and creator of Ren and Stimpy. He often deplores the low quality of today's cartoons and CG animations, but he then specifically explains why and how some of the classic old ones were far better. (And Disney is specifically not included here; I've never been a Disney fan, but could never articulate why. John explains that with aplomb. My favorites were always the Warner Brothers shorts.)
Today he is talking about what animators would ideally learn, if he had his own school, to turn out quality---yet funny--- stuff. Caricature plays a role in it, along with other factors.

I decided to draw a study of some of John's characters...

There's a link to his blog in my Links list.

Degas digital progress

The deadline for the finished NCN Face-off entry is Sept 28th, but I am trying to get this done before that. This is all one layer in Photoshop. It's also a learning experience for me to use this palette of earth colors and neutrals.

Fall Festival...

This sunny afternoon I enjoyed drawing lots and lots of kids at a community fall festival. Here's a sampling: