Sunday's first and last caricatures

Sunday was another busy day...the tenth day in a row working at the State Fair of Texas, so Celestia and I took a well-deserved day off on Monday.
I am progressing!!

Texans are awesome people!

Another fun-filled day of airbrushing at the State Fair of Texas:





One of Paul's saucy little girl drawings.



(this one was surely an oddball scenario, never drawn a man in a stroller before!!)


Paul and Vlad.

Celestia.




I had to turn my paper to fit their hair!!! :-)

A Friday full of interesting customers...

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My sample wall ( Obama is Celestia's) has Jessica Simpson, a new Sarah Palin, a revamped Brangelina, and a reject of two kids. All caricature artists get rejects from time to time.

The boy really wanted a caricature, his mom was not really into it, but reluctantly gave permission. I drew them, and just as I was about to color it, she told me 'it doesn't look like my kids.' So I just smiled and said, "Not a problem." After they left, I airbrushed it and hung it up, because to me, it was a successful drawing and coloring, but not everyone sees it from my perspective!



This last "couple" had a unique situation; she wasn't there except on his Iphone!! Usually I prefer not to work from cellphones, but this guy had both a large screen and a close -up photo to work from.

This young lady patiently sat while my colleague Paul helped me with an airbrush clog situation. Her left cheek was a huge splotch of paint that occurs when you get a piece of dried paint in the tip. I was able to recover by quickly blotting it and using my artstix to smooth over the final result. We gave her a free plastic covering for being so sweet about it!

This mother and daughter were from Switzerland and spoke German, and a little English. The mom told me she spoke five languages, but none were the ones I could get by in ( Spanish and French). She also wanted me to put cosmetics on her, and showed me her Swiss driver's license with her fully made-up and coiffed self. Her daughter just giggled throughout!



My last one of a long day was this father-daughter couple, who were alot of fun to chat with and draw!
I'm looking forward to a busy weekend of airbrushing.

New airbrush samples

Well, Celestia predicted that a week after beginning to airbrush, that I would hate my samples from my first day. She was right.
Today was Senior Citizen Day, and older folk are not known for lining up for caricatures, so we actually did have time to work on some new samples. Here are two of mine:

This woman is either a proud native of Texas or a curse to the Dallas cowboys...

This imaginary little boy is what I keep on my drawing board between customers, to give them an idea of my style, as our samples are all mixed up on the booth display.
Here are two couples I drew:


In the evening, I was told by a passerby that the Direct TV booth down the way had baseball playoffs on. It was the Phillies, where I worked for four seasons doing caricatures, so I had to take this photo. It shows almost exactly from where I sat in the stadium drawing hundreds of Phillie fans. I hope we get to the World Series!

Corporate commission

This group caricature, done completely in Photoshop, was a corporate gift to the lady at the head of the table. I was able to finish it away from home, on deadline, thanks to wireless internet! :-)

Each person was done from a separate photograph provided by the client.

Airbrushing hair...

One of the more frustrating aspects of airbrushing caricatures for me, so far, has been hair. Specifically, dark hair. Black and brown overspray is more obvious than lighter colors, and blotchiness is more apparent too. However, today, I think I have achieved some smoother textures ( and had alot of fun doing it!)

More Texas goings-on

Everyone in Texas seems to be friendly and chats with us as we draw, this dad and little boy that I drew on Monday were no exception. As it was slow day, Celestia and I were able to walk around a bit and see some sights. This juke-box fun-house had some exceptionally airbrushed rock stars painted on it, including my favorite, John Lennon...

Today we visited a fellow caricaturist, Lorin Bernsen, at another booth.


Below: I drew the guy on the left as Celestia and I were sharing some chicken-fried bacon (it was good!). We offered his friend a piece, so the friend decided to get drawn by Celestia, these are the results!

Finally, my last customer of the day was from Las Vegas, so I was coached through drawing the fabulous sign by Celestia, a Las Vegas native who drives by it every day!

More airbrush caricature progress

My airbrush is an Iwata Eclipse, with a side feed cup. That means you pour in several drops of whatever color of paint you are using. It's tough for me to gauge how much I need for different things, but I am coming along. The practice drawing in front of me is an imaginary sitter.
Here are a few favorites from today.

These ladies were my first customers and we got to chatting. They originally wanted BW but I talked them into color because I knew the polka dots and the hair highlights would look way better that way! They were happy with the results, and so far they are the only customers I have told that I am just learning how to airbrush!

This young family have a caricature collection, now they can add mine!

I was pleased with this one, and so was he! :-)

Airbrush caricature progress

The airbrush learning curve is in full swing here in Texas!




This young Dallas native is a Philadelphia Eagles fan! Go figure that one out!?!