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!?!

My first airbrushed caricatures!

I've always been awed by my friends who are masters with an airbrush. So when the opportunity came along for me to try it, I admit to being a little apprehensive. It's such a technical medium, and I am technologically challenged! However, with a little rudimentary practice this past summer, I arrived here in Texas ready to work. First, here's the booth, with Celestia in it:

These are my first pieces ever, in airbrush, my samples:


And here are some of my first customers!


I have a ways to go on these, my color application is spotty in places, but I am having fun and learning at the same time. Doing it live is different than playing in my studio, which is the only practice I have had before this.
Not everyone wants color, and even the method for BW is new to me: a 6B lead in a holder.

Celestia is a wonderful teacher/mentor, so it was fitting that she was featured in a news story on the opening of the fair!

TV news story on opening of Texas State Fair
I did try a corny dog, and I'm going to draw them on alot of my caricatures, but I don't know if I can stomach chicken-fried bacon!!!

Deep in the heart of TEXAS!

YEEEEEEEEE HAWWWW!
I am venturing into the wild frontiers of airbrush caricaturing!
I was invited to draw caricatures at the Texas State Fair this year, along with my friend, Celestia Ward. We both arrived in Dallas/Fort Worth on Wednesday to get ready...


The fair is within sight of the Dallas skyline!

Here we are with Big Tex, the symbol of the fair...well. caricaturists are supposed to be naughty!

Digital Wedding Caricature Commission!

This digital caricature was ordered after the fact by a friend of the couple. The background is the actual locale of the wedding. Both the bride and groom (whom I was told is not a big smiler :-) were done from separate photos. I really enjoyed getting their expressions right!
Congratulations Dave and Becca!

Community Day (sixth year there)

All the boys seemed to gravitate to my chair today!
This shy young man did not want his photo taken after I had drawn him...later his dad came back, took my camera and got this photo for me! :-)
Lest anyone think I didn't draw any girls all afternoon, here's a clip of two teenagers reacting to their caricature. They were notable because the first girl I drew (on the right) opted to stand where she could not see it, and waited til they could both see the finished product!

Double duty drawing day...

I drew at two events today. The first one was a large health fair, the third year I have been invited.






It's rather difficult to draw a child whose face has been painted so exuberantly, but this one's mom assured me that it looked like her! Specifically, I have a hard time with the eyebrows; usually the paint completely covers and distorts them. And nine times out of ten, the parents say, once the child gets in my chair, "Oh, maybe we should have gotten her face painted after the caricature..."

After wrapping up at gig #1, I simply crossed town to go to gig #2, a block party only 2 miles away--- That was luck! Once I had a double gig day where the two locations were 100 miles apart!
The block party was pretty hectic, so I only got these two photos:


All the little kids were drawn, I'll probably be dreaming of big, expressive eyes all night...

Audrey Hepburn for NCN contest

Here's my final for this month's NCN forum competition:

Hand-drawn marker sketch scanned into Photoshop and finished there.

Pleasant surprises on my website's guestbook

My Emilyarts.com website (done for me by the brilliantly talented Sam Gorrie) is due for some updating, so I was giving it the once-over yesterday. There is a guestbook on the "About Me" page that I've neglected for quite some time... What a surprise to see some nice feedback on some of the gigs I have done!

One particular post included a link to a blog. Back in April, I did a 1st birthday party at the Please Touch Museum for an adorable little girl. Her mom posted about the party on her blog, and included some photos of me and my work!
Here is one of my photos from that day:

Thanks to all who took the time to write something. One of the things about my occupation that really makes me happy is knowing that my art is treasured by those who own it, and that I have made them happy!. :-)

Final O's game of season for me...

..and some very interesting faces and personalities passed before my easel.
This dear lady works at the sandwich stand near the caricature concession, and is always good for some stimulating political conversation! She's a fervent Obama supporter, so I included that fact in her drawing.

As I drew a heart between this couple, whom I thought were a "couple", I found out they were co-workers! So some quick thinking saved the situation, by converting the heart into some directional lines from a whizzing fastball...

This last twosome told me they were getting married next week, and that they weren't particularly Orioles fans..they liked the Philadelphia Phillies! :-) Luckily, I haven't forgotten how to draw the Phanatic. Both the lady and gentleman told me how much they were going to treasure ther caricature....awwwww!

Company picnic

Today was one of those gigs where every drawing was a couple, or a triple, or a even a quadruple....in four hours, I think I could have counted the number of single caricatures I did on one hand. It's always funny how different events seem to take on their own quirks that way. I definitely didn't use as much paper as I would have otherwise! :-)

September (and August's) NCN contest

Last month's challenge was Elton John. I drew a younger, more outlandish version of him on the almost last day. The winner was Pete Emslie, whose work has been inspiring a lot of NCNers lately!
This month, we're attempting Audrey Hepburn. I hope to get back to this, to flesh her out a bit in color.