Hectic days at the fair...

The State Fair of Texas ends on Sunday (tomorrow) and things are heating up! All four artists at our stand are getting a steady stream of customers, and Celestia and I, as newbies, are even getting our own repeat clients--several people have come back with more family members for us to draw!
Here are some of my favorites from the past three days:








This young lad wanted to be the Crocodile Hunter, so I had to pilfer from Vlad's sample on our wall..thanks Vlad!

This young lady wanted her pit bull puppy included and had a photo on her cell phone!

Lorin came by and this is what resulted.

Two more days!!!

Texans on Tuesday, and a ride on the Texas Star

ON Tuesday, Celestia and I drew for most of the day, then took an extended evening break to have some fun at the State Fair. The Texas Star is supposedly the largest Ferris wheel in the Western hemisphere. Well, it did have some amazing views of the Dallas area. I'm still enjoying learning the idiosyncracies of the airbrush. My next goal is to be able to do hair well with it. Celestia, myself and Lorin, who took a break from working a competing caricature stand! Big Tex is silent and almost sinister at night!!

More fair-goers

This family asked to be drawn with Big Tex, the fair mascot!

A Sunday in Texas

A busy day airbrushing...

Two brothers...

A lady who likes flowers (in retrospect, I should have made them YELLOW roses).

A slender young lady whom I drew even slender-er...

...and a family of three. The dad cracked a smile only once, but I saw it--and got it down on paper! :-)

Longhorns vs. Sooners Football game!

The Cotton Bowl stadium in the midst of Fair Park here in Dallas was full to capacity with college football fans yesterday. As a consequence, we didn't draw much til after the game!

These are scenes of super-football-fandom in Texas...



After the University of Texas Longhorns won, though, people wanted caricatures non-stop til late int the evening!

New sample and more...

I finished up a new sample this morning. All four of us have been making samples aplenty...here's one of Paul's:

Here is one of Paul's sly caricatures:

This is Celestia's version of Vlad the baby-tamer:

Finally, my own favorites for today:



This couple had just gotten engaged on the ferris wheel before coming to me for a caricature to commemorate their big day! Aww!!!

I'm still in Texas!

We are now well past the halfway point of the State Fair of Texas, with the excitement mounting for the final week or so looming over us.

Celestia, myself, Paul (the non-slacker) and Vlad.
I am getting more confident of my airbrushing skills, although I did have the mother of all clogs yesterday (that's what I get for tempting fate by mentioning clogs in my last blog post). It required the borrowing of Celestia's spare airbrush for a bit, ( thanks!!!!) then a new side-feed cup (miraculously produced by Paul and his toolbox)( again, thanks!!!!). And once mine was again firing on all cylinders, Celestia's starting acting up!!
However, the benefits of the lush saturated color and effects you get with this medium are worth the hassles.

These two lady Texans asked for a Sea-doo, a flag, and Crocs!

This Yankee gentleman loves his lady enough to wear HER team's jersey, even though he's a Philadelphia Eagles fan (so I included their logo just for him! )

Every day, I gain more control of my airbrush...

...and I am enjoying it more and more. The main thing I worry about is having a mid-drawing clog. That might mean taking the airbrush apart, finding the problem, cleaning it and re-assembling it. All in front of many inquisitive eyes, while sitters are waiting! So far it has happened to me twice, and both times one of my colleagues helped me. I have gone several days now without one, so I am tempting fate by mentioning it here!
These are my favorites from yesterday:



The above couple sat for me and announced they were marrying next spring in Las Vegas-- and wanted me to include the iconic sign (as I sat next to Las Vegas native Celestia Ward!)

Yes, Paul, I stole your 'swooning boyfriend' visual.

Cute ( but toothless) kids

Had a few of these on Tuesday:




I thought these two were kids til they told me they were newlyweds!

This young man saw Celestia's 'Hellboy' comic book under our drawing boards and asked ME if I could draw him that way for his thirteenth birthday...oh well, now I know who Hellboy IS!

Below is one of my new colleagues, Vlad's beautifully drawn and rendered pieces. I certainly aspire to this level of artistry!