Sculpture progress on her big day...

I am still working with my sculpture of Amy Winehouse, and she's still working on herself in rehab, hopefully! It will be interesting to see if her talent nets her any Grammys tonight in spite of her personal life.
This is the first attempt at photographing my end result. I plan on making the background more of a graveyard, and drawing her skanky tattoos, with Photoshop.


PS. She won FIVE Grammys last night!

Cute little girl from Texas...

I just finished this drawing for a family who lost this little one to cancer last year. That made it important for me to show the sweetness and courage in her smile...

Marker and artsix with just a dash of Photoshop (for the tiger's whiskers!)

Birthday and wedding caricatures...

My little nephew is celebrating his birthday this weekend . Last year, I actually caricatured at his party, which was held in a firehouse. (He has a fascination for firetrucks and firemen!) My marker/artstix drawing featured him putting out a burning Precious Moments figurine (which his mother has a fascination for!).


This couple (she's a caricaturist) are from the Netherlands, and I met them last fall at the NCN convention in Reno. They fit as a couple so perfectly even their names are cozy together..Johanna and Johannes. Congratulations to you both on your wedding day!
I drew this in art markers and pencils at the convention, but I added the wedding details this morning in Photoshop.

Triple Pet Portrait

Those dog portraits I posted the other day reminded me of how much I used to enjoy drawing animal likenesses, and now I want to pursue doing that again. After all, pets are like people in that they have a huge range of appearances and personalities! The best caricature/portraiture catches that psychological essence in the physical form, and that's my goal no matter what media I use. This colored-pencil piece (Prismacolors on blue Canson paper) was done several years ago from three separate photos... The client was quite pleased with it; she hung it over her piano in her living room.

My evolution in business cards...

My focus lately has been on personal projects and marketing, as most caricature artists experience a bit of a lull this time of year. In doing so, I came across my old business cards and flyers. It's quite an personal eye-opener to see how my perceptions have changed in my work. What I thought was good then, is not what I would be proud of today. The upside to that is, it shows growth and perseverance, which I am proud of!

Here they are-- from most recent to long ago: ( that would be ten years ago!)

Late-night gig...

...at a health club this past weekend. It was quite a change of pace from my usual type of party, but I enjoyed the challenge. Here's one of my drawings.

Pen & Ink portraits of dogs...

Next month, I will be attending another NCN convention, a mini-con in the Midwest this time. One of the seminars will be "Inking Caricatures" with Tom Richmond. Tom is an award-winning artist known for his humorous illustrations--which appear in magazines and advertising--but his big claim to fame is being one of the 'Usual Gang of Idiots' in MAD magazine. I've had the pleasure of meeting Tom on several occasions, and his blog is in my links list. What does this have to do with dog portraits?

Well, back in the mid-nineties, before caricatures were a gleam in my eye, I did pen and ink pet portraits. They were time-consumimng, but I enjoyed bringing pets to life. These three were my favorites. The top one, a friend's cantankerous mutt, actually won a prize in a juried art contest. The second one was a commission from the mother of a college freshman, who missed his pets dreadfully. The third was a portrait of a friend's beloved Rottweiler, now in doggie heaven.

I just may be inspired to get back to pen and inking!

Toonweekly submission

Thie week's theme was "Medieval". I chose an existing character to draw, Graham Chapman as King Arthur from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which is one of my all-time favorite movies. My particular aim in this piece was to learn more of Photoshop's abilities.

2nd attempt at Yeltsin....

A whole slew of fellow caricaturists entered this month's NCN sketch competiton.
See Paul Moyse's blog ( in my links list) for a video of him drawing his entry!
I was not satisfied with my first try so I drew old Boris again from a different photo.

Painted my sculpture today...

The painting stage of my Amy Winehouse sculpture/figurine, whatever you want to call her, is pretty much finished. There are still some details I want to add (a fence, some moss), then the next step is to light her and photograph her properly. I was pretty pleased that I found a use for the wire from my old cell-phone earbud!