Halloween gig 2010---

It's my favorite time of year for a gig---Woo woo woo!

I absolutely LOVE drawing at Halloween parties, especially this one (for my second year running, and I'm booked for next year already, too).

My client is such a sweetheart, when she booked me, she asked if I wanted to bring my significant other---so I did, in costume of course!
I'm the one with the goatee on the left, LOL. My homemade "Hello, my name is" tag said 'P. Cezanne', and my 'painting' walked around to hearty laughter. Yes, it included naughty bits, which I cropped here (this is a mostly-family-friendly blog). We had those covered up with a fig leaf for the early portion of the evening when kids were still present...

The couple I'm in the midst of drawing came as "black-eyed P's" !!!
This couple came as "White Trash" and a "Bathroom Stall". LOLOL
Here's a reaction photo. I have some videos to do from this event, but they'll have to wait til I have time to do them justice in Imovie.
This is a composite shot of everyone I drew, minus the bartender. Check out some of the FANTASTIC costumes people wore! My time was even extended because everyone wanted a full color, full body caricature! :-)

Noah's sign-in caricature...

This beautiful photo of a sign-in caricature I'd done some time ago, with its owner, recently showed up in my email. Thank you to my client for sharing it with me. :-)

Since it's a professional photo, I wanted to include a link to the photographer's website. In the process of looking her up, I found that she has a blog as well, with a touching entry about Noah's Bar Mitzvah that I just have to share.

Mazel tov, Noah!

Digital pen & ink...and not a caricature for once!

I was recently commissioned to illustrate a save-the-date card for an upcoming Philly-centric wedding. No faces desired, just architecture!The LOVE sculpture is certainly appropriate here!

My client wrote: "It looks amazing and is exactly what I had in mind..."

:-)

Some recent digital commissions...

I've been busy with my Wacom Intuos as well as my airbrush lately:

Above, a 40th birthday caricature for a smiley-face fan.
Below, a leaving-the-company caricature for a Panera fan.

Finally, the one below was a commission for my fiance (and his family), whose uncle passed after a long illness. Everyone knew that Uncle Bill was extremely proud of his Silver Beaver award, which is for distinguished service to the Boy Scouts of America. I purposely tried to straddle the line between caricature and portraiture on this one, because my intent was to invoke warm memories of him for his loved ones. RIP Uncle Bill.

Now it's on to my current commissions, one of which is a very challenging fifteen-person one!

Yet another caricature reaction video!

Check out my Youtube channel to see it!

Wedding in turn-of-the-(last)-century manor house...

Last night, I drew caricatures at a wedding- in one of the most lavish settings I have ever put my easel.

This is the Elkins Estate, home of William Lukens Elkins, a Bill Gates of the 19th century. As I pulled up, the bridal party was being photographed on the front steps.
I went in and proceeded to walk around with my jaw on the floor...






My appointed spot was to be on the right of the grand staircase:

...which presented a problem because there didn't seem to be any electrical outlets for my easel lamps (I had my battery one with me, of course, but more light is always better).

Luckily there was one lurking in the closet.
Below: how this space looked in its heyday. For more photos, visit the Elkins Estate Facebook page.

Well, no matter what my surroundings, my caricatures are still...my caricatures. I had a hoot as usual:

I actually didn't get to draw the bride and groom, as they were so busy (it was a laaaaarge wedding) but I got to draw the next best thing: this guy-- who had a hand in getting them together AND who sported the most original hairstyle I have seen in forever---and his lovely lady, who was pleased at how I depicted her assets!





There'll be a reaction video of these last four subjects in my next post. :-)

Autumnal 1st birthday party

Yesterday afternoon, my first gig (after doing my marathon at the state fair) was a little boy's 1st birthday party. As the kids bopped in a moonbounce set up in the backyard, I drew the little ones on the deck on a beautiful fall day.

Normally, I don't do one-hour gigs (most caricaturists have a two-hour minimum, sometimes more depending on distance) but I made an exception for this party because it was literally one mile from where I live. When I arrived at the house, I noticed that one of my front tires looked really low--and I had another gig (an hour-plus away) to get to immediately afterwards. So I called my trusty fiance to come pump up my tires while I was drawing the kids, which he did (the dear). Couldn't have done that if I was far off!

Some client feedback :-)

Some time ago, I did a company picnic for About Faces Entertainers. When I do such agency gigs, all my paper is marked with their website and contact info, not my own. Two of my subjects that day took the time to email a photo of their caricature to AF with their enthusiastic comments, which was just uploaded by the webmaster to my comment page. I am always touched and floored when someone goes out of their way to show their appreciation of my work. :-)

Um, I think I'd better get AF an updated self-caricature to represent me--that one is probably from four years ( and several pairs of glasses) ago :-O

Whew! The Fair has ended...

and I drew alot of people!

....including the children of a friend I hadn't seen since high school graduation! He and his family live in Texas and we reconnected via Facebook. It was great seeing them at the fair! :-)
So, without further ado, here are some of the faces I produced during the final frenetic days:

I just HAD to draw his t-shirt in addition to his face!
Below: Lots of cozy couples:

He wasn't at all shy about his missing choppers!

Her lipstick took two coats of red!

I think I am improving at drawing bosoms... ;-)

Height differences are always funny, and so are goofy expressions!
Lots of cute little kids:

(Yeah, hadda draw her t-shirt, too)


Below left: She wanted a profile! Below right: Bring out the Gimp! (he really looks like Ving Rhames, huh?

Some families:

Loved doing the expression on this guy:

I tried the "baby kicking" scenario that I'd seen Paul use, and they loved it, but I wish I'd made her shirt pink instead of the actual black she was wearing. Hindsight...( it's one of the reasons I take photos of my work)

Here's a photo of the line as I returned from my last bathroom break of the fair. Thank you, fair patrons! Celestia and I can't wait to get to work on the 2010 edition of our Girl Caricaturists in Texas comic. :-)

Gearing up for the final weekend of the Fair...

Time is running out for the great State Fair of Texas. We're still pumping out airbrush caricatures...even though three out of our four artists has had some glitch with our airbrushes, temperamental pieces of equipment that they are. Mine had an intermittent clog today that slowed my proceedings down for a bit. I just kept fiddling with it and blasting water through it (and getting the better airbrush-heads to help me--thanks Paul) til it was working again. I do have an extra airbrush with me, but the one I'm using is my preferred one.

This expectant mother had on a t-shirt that...well, you can see that I drew it too! The background is pink because...well, you can guess!

These two teenagers were done by myself (left) and Celestia (right) at the same time. Her girl had on a Queen t-shirt, which meant that Celestia got to recreate Freddie Mercury's own design for Queen's logo.

These two sisters and their mother got a state-fair-themed caricature to take back to Vietnam. The mom told me something really sweet...that she thought my drawing captured her soul! :-) That meant alot to me, as I feel that good caricatures certainly can do that, and she felt that mine belonged in that category. Awwwww!

This couple were from Bangkok, where my son lives. I knew it when I saw the writing on his shirt!

It was fun drawing and chatting with these two sweethearts! It's not often that I get to do a great-grandmother-and-grandfather caricature.

This young man came back for his second caricature by me this week! I drew him with his shades, braces and green gum last time. :-D He wanted a serious one today.

For these three, I tried a landscape orientation.

This little girl that I'd drawn, wanted to show her older sister, who was in the midst of being drawn with her friend, by Vlad.

Paul drew an expectant mom today too, with hilarious results!

It wouldn't be our work environment without the Killdares. We'll hear their set 120 times by the end of the fair, as they play very near to our booth.

Above: A Black Forest ham sandwich. Below: Self-explanatory...