Digital wedding caricature commission

Last Wednesday, I got an email from an about-to-be bride who was interested in having a wedding caricature done. Her wedding was on Saturday! Luckily, it was do-able and she received it on Friday, after sending me photos and details of their wedding finery. Here is the result, completely done via email and Paypal. She was thoughtful enough to send me a photo of herself and her groom at the reception posing with it. Thanks, Patti, and congratulations to you and Chris!

Day 3 at Nurses' Convention

Today was the final day at the nurse convention. Marlo and I had an instant huge line the minute they opened the exhibit hall, and we rose to the challenge! The company we were promoting had handed out coupons all along to nurses who had viewed their high-tech sales presentation, so we wanted to make sure all coupons were honored.
Here are some of my final drawings from a very enjoyable event. Nurses are awesome people with great senses of humor!

Day 2 at a Nurses' Convention

Our second day drawing at the nurse convention has gone by in a blink.


Marlo had the genius idea that we should display our self-caricatures inside our easels where our subjects would see them. Now instead of asking us "How long have you been doing this?" the big question is "Is that you? You drew yourself?"

Here are some general views of the booth, along with the line. We were told by some of the nurses that we were the most popular exhibit on the floor!




And finally here's a few of my efforts, including the incoming president of the nurses association with her husband, the "First Man" !

Day 1 at a Nurses' Convention!

My daughter graduates nursing school, and the next thing I know I'm being hired to draw nurses at a big convention!
My friend and fellow artist Marlo Meekins and I are part of a booth in the exhibition hall. We were asked to decorate the wall behind our easels with giant self-caricatures, so we created a truly joint drawing.


Here are some happy nurses with drawings by me!

Three gigs in twenty-four hours...

It's a good thing I love drawing people. I'm in for it today!
Here's some happy, super-caffeinated high-schoolers from my first gig this morning, my second year at a midnight-to-dawn post-prom....









After this, I went home and slept for a few hours, then went to a very cool art-minded boy's 1st Communion party, held in a quaint country restaurant. He sat next to me while I drew many of the guests, and asked some very good questions about my techniques. Here he is ( and a few others..)




This family was nice enough to feed me afterwards and it was a total pleasure drawing for them. Thank you!
Finally, I headed toward Center City Philadelphia for an evening birthday party held in the Please Touch Museum. This is a child's delight of a place, all sorts of neat exhibits kids and adults can get right into and involved with. Before the festivities, I sat down with these folks...

Then it was back to drawing!



Another wonderful caricature-loving family really made it easy and enjoyable for me to draw as many people as I could. This party was very large, so there wasn't much time to take photos, but it was alot of fun. Thank you too!
I can't even imagine what number of people I drew today!

Event planner extraordinaire

I'd been meaning to do a digital caricature of my friend Debi Kain, owner of Entertaining ConXections, ever since becoming a digital caricaturist (in addition to doing the live stuff). Frequently, caricaturists get gigs through people such as Debi, who know the ins-and-outs of the event entertainment industry.
Debi took me on when I was first starting out years ago, and and has seen my work improve over time. She's always taken good care of her entertainers and I'm quite happy when I represent her company.
www.entertainingconx.com

First gig with my new banner!

My new vinyl "Caricatures by Emily" banner arrived yesterday, and was put to good use this morning at a very pleasant outdoor gig. A local retirement community was celebrating "Take Your Child to Work" Day, so I got to draw a group of kids who were enjoying a day off from school, having fun at Mom or Dad's workplace.




I couldn't be happier about my banner! The vinyl is heavy and glossy, and the whole thing is lightweight and easy to put together. I hadn't know my spot was going to be in the courtyard, where there was a slight breeze, so next time I'll bring a weight for it.
If anyone would like to order one, go to www.okieartist.com, Teresa will take care of you!

NCN April sketch contest, part deux

I re-drew Matt Damon, on the advice of some respected mentors, and this time I exaggerated him a bit.

NCN April sketch contest

This month's subject is Matt Damon. Once again, the only rule is: any medium is allowed except digital, hence this Ebony and Prismacolor drawing. I posted it on the NCN forum last night, and the feedback from three artists whose work I truly admire, was 'great likeness, hardly any exaggeration.' So it's back for a re-draw if I get a chance...

PA Democratic Primary Day!

Today is the day we'll find out which Presidential hopeful takes my crucial home state of Pennsylvania...Hillary or Obama. As much as it matters to the country, it will also matter to caricaturists--which one will we get to keep on drawing til the general election in November??

UPDATE: HIllary won, but it's far from decisive--or over!

Charm City and its charming weather

This bright and sunny morning found me heading back down Baltimore way...to find the weather nothing like it was at home. Storm clouds broke just as I arrived at Camden Yards. It didn't deter either Orioles or Yankee fans from getting caricatures!


The dad of these two kids bought an early Mother's Day gift!
I attempted some different baseball bodies:


It was so dark at times under the concourse that I could not distinguish some of my more similar artstix colors, but better that than have dust smeared all over me like the other day's game!

Gift sign-in caricature for a nurse graduation party...

Today was my daughter and her friend's double celebration for their recent graduation from nursing school. I had done a digital caricature of the two of them (friends since age five!) to use as sign-ins for their party. Here they are signing each other's--the mat is 11x14 with an off-centered 5x7 space for the caricature, which I thought worked out better in this instance than a huge 16x20.


My other contribution was--- the cake. As LPNs, they'll see alot, which explains this...


It was as much fun for me to hear guests' reactions to the cake as it was to the caricatures! My cake-making skills have been hibernating for a long time (since caricature took over my life, actually) so it was a relief to me that I still can create custom ones.
Amazing that just a candy thermometer, orange, red and black icing, and just a little bit of dark chocolate elicited such laughter ( and some groans!)