ISCA monthly competition..Nelson Mandela

Cropping can have a definite effect on the success of a piece. I had done a quick Ebony pencil sketch of Mandela's head and shoulders, which I scanned into Photoshop. Then I did some painting, but something wasn't working for me...til I cropped it tightly to emphasize his serene gaze:

Here you can see the preliminary stages.

The pencil sketch on the right had some problems (mainly his eye positioning and cheek widths) which I fixed on the next step. Generally, nowadays my under-sketch just needs to be 'in the ballpark' and I do the refining as I go along. When I was a kid, along with many other aspiring artists, I'd rush to get to the fun stuff---the details-- before making sure the foundations of the drawing were solid. Guess I still have a little of that mindset!

Update 4-1-11: My Mandela took second place in a field of twelve entries! The other winners were Euan McTavish and Jan Opdebeeck. The judge was 2009 Golden Nosey winner Glenn Ferguson, who offered this feedback:
2nd Place: Emily Anthony! The likeness on this was perhaps the best overall, and it hobbles the fence between caricature and portraiture, it really "feels" like Mandella, which is what I always preach to beginning caricaturists. The mouth for me is the strongest point, and I like the cropping you did in the end. My only critique is that it feels a little like a floating head. I'd love to see a hint of a neck or shoulders underneath him.

Doggie caricatures...

Yes, I draw dogs too! This digital canine cartoon caricature will be used on invitations to a wedding rehearsal dinner at--what else could it be?-- an Italian restaurant.

I love wall-eyed dogs!

Update: Here is what the client said when she saw it: "I love this.  I think it is so amazing!  This is incredible.”

Caricaturama SD 3000- Sharon Stone

This week's CS3K celeb is Sharon Stone. Although she and I share a birthday, and are both Pennsylvania natives, that's all we have in common! ;-) She certainly was luminously beautiful when younger, but it's hard to tell if she is aging well or horribly (she's six years older than I). I've seen photos of her with botoxed perfection or saggy, crinkly skin. So here's a caricature that is nicer than it coulda been...

Here are some steps in my process. I just upgraded to a new Wacom Intuos 4 pen tablet; my old Intuos 3 was having issues with its USB cable (it wouldn't work if jostled) so this is the first piece done without that annoyance. 

And besides, the Intuos 4 is vastly improved over the 3 in many other ways as well. Can't wait to do more with it! 

Happy caricature subject!

The client who ordered this digital caricature for her friend shared a photo with me. He's even wearing the same shirt!

She was also nice enough to put feedback on my new Thumbtack.com listing. Here's what she said:

I cannot say enough about Emily Anthony's talent! I was looking for a unique gift for someone who is hard to buy for. I thought a caricature might be a good idea. I came across Caricatures by Emily. She was very friendly and very easy to work with. When I got the finished picture, I was thrilled! It was great! The likeness was amazing! The gift was a hit. Not only with the person I bought it for, but with everyone he shows it to, and he shows everyone!

Thank you, Karen! I am tickled that he liked it so much.

I love my job!


If you are a past client of mine, and would like to give me  a testimonial, click here. Thank you!

R.I.P. Liz

What a beauty.

Digital.

Caricature Save-the-Date-for-our-Wedding Magnet

Save-the-Date cards are popular, but this one is headed for all this couple's friends' refrigerators! They had my digital caricature printed on 4 x 6 magnets.  This commission was a lot of fun to do. The bride had some great ideas...

Philadelphia landmarks and the wedding venue make up the background, and their beloved cat is a tiny silhouette in one of the windows. I went for a watercolor look and palette, because it suited their clothing colors and the architecture.  Besides the all-important date, the couple's wedding website is also printed on it. I provided them with a non-text version of the art if they wanted to use it for anything else.
Yes, it ended up on my refrigerator, too! Thank you, Rachel and Eric!

Caricaturama SD 3000 salutes Japan...

...by having a week devoted to caricatures of notable Japanese people. There are so many excellent ones, please check out this link and browse through them.
I chose to do a color pen & ink of Crown Princess Masako, which started out as a color sketch first. After a while, I wasn't pleased with it and so added the pen & ink layer, which is the opposite of the way I usually work. I like it better now---it's more defined.

Dozens of Japanese caricaturists come to our ISCA convention every year, and I am honored to know some of them. It's good to know that they are safe (thanks to Facebook) but my heart (and everyone else's that I know) goes out to all of Japan after the devastations of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear  power.

Girls' ice hockey tournament

Every year, I get to caricature ice-hockeying tweens and teens on the last day of a regional tournament, and yesterday was the day.

At first, I was drawing quite a few siblings dragged along to watch their sisters' games, meaning they most emphatically didn't want hockey poses:

The young lady on the left asked to be drawn doing a spiral, so I  Google-imaged it on my trusty Iphone for reference. Then I used it for the next little girl who asked to be drawn figure skating.

Eventually the players arrived and sat for me with their jerseys on their laps so I cold draw them correctly--here's a few:

These are the only two boys I got to draw all day!

Couldn't resist taking a photo of this girl's hockey-inspired creativity!

A little monkey business at a 1st birthday...

This afternoon I drew caricatures for little Ian's first birthday! He likes monkeys. Isn't his cake cute?

I drew him first off, then he had so many guests to greet that I finished him and his monkey BFF after he wandered off with his mommy, so I don't have his photo.

But here are some other guests:

 This young lady from Perth, Australia, had a delightful accent!

 And here are Ian's proud mommy and daddy.

  These three young gentlemen were seated at the table immediately behind me. I asked them several times if they wanted a caricature, and all three shook their heads Nooooooo. The adults kept trying to convince them, but then I got busy and forgot to eavesdrop! ;-)

Towards the end of the party, they plunked themselves in my chairs and I asked them why they had changed their minds. The oldest one said they were threatened with a beating by their relatives if they didn't get one!!
 :-D

Click to see their reaction on my Youtube channel.

2011 Texas comic sneak-peek

The upcoming issue of Exaggerated Features, the quarterly magazine of ISCA, will have our first two-page comic about the adventures of your favorite pair of lady caricaturists at the State Fair of Texas---namely, Celestia Ward and myself. We outdid ourselves this year! Once it is published, I'll share it in its entirety here on my blog.
Here is a tiny, tiny peek:

We actually planned more for this year's comic while we were still actually at the Fair, writing down ideas and happenings last fall while they were fresh. A good day would hear one (or both) of us exclaiming, "THAT'S gotta go in the comic!!"

Here are links to our previous comics:

Lady Caricaturists in TX 1

Lady Caricaturists in TX 2

My caricatures on Thumbtack.com

As of today, I am listing my service as a caricature artist on Thumbtack.com. It's an intermediary website that links service providers with potential clients, but unlike Craigslist or Yelp, their interesting angle is verification of the vendors in various ways. That way clients can feel safe in knowing that the vendor is who they say they are! Check it out if you are in need of any type of service. 

The Artiste at work in her studio (ha)

My S.O. took a nice photo of me this afternoon to use on my Digital Caricatures page on my website...to illustrate how I draw with my Wacom tablet. So many non-artists are confused about how digital art is created, not realizing that the computer doesn't do it for you, nor is it photo manipulation.  It's done the old-fashioned way, by the eye and hand of the artist, but with new-fangled tech-y toys standing in for traditional media! :-)

The "ha" in the title of this post is due to the fact that I posed for this...I'm not really working...Prince William and Kate were done awhile ago! ;-D
Photo credit: J. B.  (who appears in the top middle as a painting)

Cartoon-style digital caricature commission...

I have been slowly re-vamping (not done yet!) some parts of my Emilyarts.com website to create an online-store, which necessitated making clear exactly what I can offer a client in the way of caricatures. There are now four categories of commissions I can do from photos: party-style, airbrush, cartoon-style digital, and painted-style digital.
This is an example of a cartoon-style digital, which is a black-outlined, mostly-flat-colored drawing. The client gave this to the subject for his recent birthday! Hope to get a photo from her soon of him with it, and/or hanging in his bar!

Charlie Sheen...everyone is rubbernecking.

Including myself and my busy little Wacom tablet:

This is done in my less painterly, more cartoony style. 

Todd and Lisa-final

I tidied up my Caricaturama entry of Bill Murray way-back-when. Strangely, mine seems to be the only one so far  (out of more than one hundred) to depict him as an SNL character--everyone else is doing one of his movie roles...

If you compare this version to my previous post, you can see what subtle changes made a big difference, especially to Bill's likeness-- he's a toughie!

WIP for CS3K

This week's Caricaturama Showdown 3000's subject is the not-so-easy-to-capture Bill Murray (in my opinion, anyway). Bonus Gilda thrown in for good measure. She is missed...I loved them both on SNL in the 70's.

Digital....NOOGIES!

ISCA forum's February challenge winner...

...was my digital caricature of Sarah Palin!

Moderator Klaas Opdebeeck posted the results on the ISCA forum yesterday: 

February Challenge: The results!

---

Hey! Although there weren't a lot of submissions this month, I still want to congratulate everyone who did participate!!
For this month I asked Jason Seiler to choose the winner, so here is his top three, which comes together with some honest feedback.

Quote:

1. Emily Anthony. I think Emily had the strongest likeness . . . . she also captured "character" which is equally important. 2. Glenn Ferguson. 3. Euan Mactavish.

Congratulations to all 3 and especially to Emily Anthony!!! 

There were some completely phenomenal entries, so I was very surprised and honored.  The judge was Jason Seiler, illustrator, teacher for Schoolism, and past ISCA Golden Nosey winner. Thank you, Klaas and Jason, and congrats to Glenn and Euan as well! The winner receives an caricature oil painting by Klaas, so I will have to send him some current photos of me soon. :-)

Caricaturama Showdown 3000-Nick Cave

Another guy with a crazy face for CS3K! I think he looks like the long-lost child of Ric Ocasek and Neil Young.

Digital speed-painting...took about an hour and a half.