Happy Hallowe'en 2008!

Graphite + Photoshop.
Neeeeeeeigh-eeeeiiiigh!

Weekend work...

My caricatures appeared at three festive events this past weekend: a wedding on Friday, (see previous post) a bar mitzvah on Saturday, and a little boy's 5th birthday party on Sunday! ( the only one for which I was actually present).

This huge hand-drawn caricature was used as a sign-in board at this young man's bar mitzvah.

This little boy and 24 of his closest friends were drawn live at a happy but hectic pace, so this in the only photo I was able to get.
Afterwards, I went home and watched the my hometown Philadelphia Phillies get within one game of a World Series championship. If they win tonight, this city will literally go nuts!!!

Uodate: The Phillies DID win the World Series, and Philadelphia did indeed go nuts with happiness! I was very proud of the team, as I drew caricatures there for four seasons, and became a baseball fan in the process. :-)

Digital wedding commission

Another happy couple getting hitched--today!
This was commissioned by the groom's mother, as a gift presented to the couple at their rehearsal dinner last night. The wedding colors are chocolate and latte, mmmm. This was done completely via email, and the client had it printed at Kinko's (I did provide written consent to have it printed for personal use.) I also recommended putting it in a 'signature mat'.
Congratulations, Carmella and Ben!


Update 10-27-08: I just received this email from my client!

Just wanted to let you know that everyone, especially Ben and Carmella, LOVED the caricature. I gave it to them at the Rehearsal Dinner, then we had it at Reception also, and everyone signed it for them.
Thanks again for all your work on it. I will recommend you to anyone I know who needs one.

Thank you!! :-)

Thanks to my mentors...

Thanks Celestia, Vlad, and Paul for putting up with an airbrush newbie. Your help and example inspired me to keep at it. Wait til next year!!!

Time in Texas has ended...for now

My Texas trail has ended and I am back home in Pennsylvania. What an experience!
In so many ways, my life has been enriched...new friends, new caricature techniques, different accents, different foods...and I plan on doing it all over again next year!
The last days were non-stop busy. I drew so many people, as did my colleagues!


This guy came back later without his daughter for a caricature of himself, by himself!(below)


The young lady above was drawn from a photo provided by her mom, whose son was drawn by me earlier in the fair...she was kind enough to send me a photo ( below) of her daughter with the framed piece later on! Thanks!


The gentleman above told me he was an artist who did inspirational comics, and had brought his portfolio to show me. So I had the idea of drawing him at his desk with a blank page for him to draw in his own cartoon!

This brother and sister had to be coerced into sitting for the caricature by their parents! They did like it more than this photo shows...:-)


I do enjoy drawing babies!

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!