Last post for 2010...recent commissions

These are some of my 2010 Christmas commissions. Bring on 2011!!!!

This last one was a client's gift to the CEO and her husband. I'm only responsible for the caricatures, not the logo design...but it was a joy to fit my work in with it!

A bloggy Christmas gift

I hope everyone had a great holiday! Here is something wonderful that Santa brought me:

It's my blog...printed as two soft-bound books! Actually, it's posts from the first two-and-a-half years of my blog; I started it on April 16, 2007 as a marketing/motivational adventure, not really knowing where it would take me. As of right now, I've written/illustrated a whopping 885 posts, covering my unconventional professional life as a caricature artist. ;-)
Santa was able to do this with help from Blog2print.
The first book encompasses 2007 and 2008. The second book, which is slightly less thick, covers 2009, and I'll be ordering the third book, 2010's posts, very soon.
Each book's table of contents covers every post by name and date, and the photos are economically spaced, as you can see, so that you are not printing lots of white space. It's great to have a hard copy in hand for several reasons: it's easy to go back and be reminded of various things, (which I've definitely been doing), as a way to chart growth in my craft (both writing and caricaturing) and especially as another form of back-up if anything bad should ever happen online. I do back up the blog via Blogger's way, but I don't believe that includes the photos.
If you have a blog, or know someone that does, this is a wonderful way to pull it in from cyberspace and make it exist in your hands!

Merry Christmas 2010 to everyone!

These were artistic objects of fascination to me as a child at Christmastime:

...the Santa and the Celestial Star. 

I drew Santas alot as a kid, ( he was easy!!) following my preference for drawing people over objects. I'll have to see if I can ever find any in my boxes of old papers. The little Santa crouched below the star was one of my mom's decorations which are now in my collection.

 The Star, I couldn't have even dreamed of drawing, as its effects were so ephemeral.I would sneak downstairs at night in December just to turn on the tree and gaze at the flickering effects on the ceiling and walls.  The actual name for this electric tree-topper is the Bradford Celestial Star and they were made in the late 50's/early 60's. They now sell for hundreds of dollars on Ebay. My mom still has our old one for her tree, but I was able to find one at a flea market very cheaply some years back. (My sister got hers at an antique store!)

Anyhow, my best wishes to everyone for whatever holiday you celebrate!

Drawing by my son George

..who is a yoga teacher in Bangkok, Thailand. This is his third year living there and while I miss him, he is doing what he was meant to do with his life. Now he's blogging about it, and this drawing illustrated a recent post about doing acro-yoga (partner-yoga):

I can see all sorts of influences in it, especially Eastern ones. My favorite parts are the faces and the whole entire mouse...and I hope he keeps drawing!

Caricaturama 3000-Kyle MacLachlan

Caricaturama's subject this week was actor Kyle MacLachlan, who starred in some eccentric 80's stuff---Twin Peaks, Dune, and Blue Velvet. I chose to do a scene from that movie because then I got to draw Isabella Rossellini too!

Digital.

Corporate holiday party

Yesterday, during the first snowfall of the season, I found myself in a warm, festive Italian restaurant, helping a small company celebrate that holiday spirit with caricatures! I drew during the cocktail hour, the meal, and the after-dinner speeches. Thanks for having me, happy holidays!

Nurse graduation caricature

This was so much fun to create!

My client saw the nursing school graduation caricature I'd done of my daughter, and commissioned me to do one for her friend. She requested the 'sexy nurse' body, of course. So I sent her a preliminary sketch to approve, and she told me to spice it up! This was the result!

Caricaturama 3000-Jennifer Aniston

I only had time for a quick pencil sketch this week, but there are some really hilarious more fully-rendered entries (since she is so big-chinned and manly-looking---perfect fodder for caricature artists!) Check them out at Caricaturama Showdown 3000.

Family Christmas Party

I knew Sunday afternoon's Christmas party would be a good one when the hostess came down the stairs wearing the same light-up Christmas-light necklace I was!

 There's my merry line of prospective caricature-ees...

She took the above photos for me and did quite a good job! I didn't see these photos at the gig, so it was a nice surprise when I uploaded them from my camera.
Below are my in-the-chair photos:

You can actually see her necklace lights up! (couple on left) :-) I had to also get a shot of her lovely home, decorated with lights and Santas and sleighs, because it's not visible from her street. Now the whole internet can enjoy it! Merry Christmas, and thank you also for extending my time at your party!!!

Update 12-28-10 My client submitted the following feedback to Gigmasters:

Emily was fabulous, fun and friendly.My guests really enjoyed the pictures and now they have the best party favor and remembrance from our party.I would without a doubt recommend her to all my friends. 

 Thank you, I had a blast myself!!!

Children's Christmas Party

One of my longest-running Christmas gigs and still one of my favorites, it's ALL kids at this one!

I was seated next to Pat Harrington and got treated to both his hilarious art AND his regularly singing along with the all Bing-Crosby-with-a-little-Johnny-Mathis-thrown-in-for-good-measure holiday music that was playing...

Magician Chris Capehart has been doing this party as long as I have, if not longer. I got  a grainy shot of him at work between little faces in my chair...

Draw-in with friends

Every once in awhile some artist friends will have a draw-in, which is an informal, fun, hanging-out type of get-together-- that only differs from other people's get-togethers in that we bring sketchbooks and draw each other. This week, artists and new PA residents Sean Gardner and Nick Mitchell ( they specialize in zombie caricatures!) had one, and here are some of the results:

Chris Chua drew me!!! :-) :-) :-)
I drew Stacy Pierce:

Sean and Matt Zitman drew JB and I:

Here we are hard at play:

Sean and Nick have a wallful of amazing caricature art of themselves, done by some of the absolute best in the biz--check it out:

It's been thirty years...

and he is still very much missed.

I found out the next morning when my mother told me before school (10th grade). Having discovered and worshipped the Beatles (particularly John) since seventh grade, I was crushed...and so was the rest of the world. RIP, Mr. Lennon.

Graphite pencil in sketchbook, about 4' by 4".

Caricaturama tribute to Leslie Nielsen

This week Caricaturama Showdown 3000 paid tribute to the late actor Leslie Nielsen, star of Airplane! and Police Squad. I've seen Airplane! with my kids more times than I care to count, and it's a cherished memory of their childhoods to me..
Here's my entry:

Santa, gingerbread houses, and caricatures of families

One of my favorite recurring gigs every year is this one:

A family-run company goes all out for the children of its employees. And I mean all-out:

 All the kids get to decorate a real gingerbread house before they meet with Santa...

 Plus, they could hear carollers,  and visit a balloon twister or a face painter...or two caricaturists---
myself, or the jovially sketchin' John Sprague.

As I said in the title of this post, often we draw entire families at this one, groups of three, four and even five, so I really don't go through much paper here! :-O

And yes, I made sure to tell Santa I've been a good girl this year too!
:-)

Wedding reception in a historic (and delightful) venue

Last night, I contributed caricatures to a young couple's wedding reception in another fantastic venue...Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park,  Philadelphia.

This historic Beaux-Arts building was created as the centerpiece for the 1876 Centennial celebration, and was then used as the city's art museum before our current (beautiful) one was opened in 1928. It fell into disrepair after that, but has been refurbished and is now the Please Touch Museum of Philadelphia. And what a magical site for a wedding reception!

The room used for the cocktail hour was a whimsical child's paradise, which is where I was situated. I even tried taking a panoramic photo--my easel is on the extreme right.

And now for some drawings:

The bride and groom had too much going on to sit for a caricature, but I know they had alot of happy guests who got one. :-)

And what's a wedding without a little bad romance?