Congratulations to William and Catherine...

This is still a work-in-progress, but now the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are wearing their wedding regalia---she made a beautiful bride! Time to go to sleep now, I've been up since 4 am watching the coverage from London.

Hopefully, I will finish this by Monday evening--they are this week's subjects for Caricaturama.

Take-Your-Child-to-Work Day 2011

One company's corporate staff thought it would be fun to bring to have caricatures done of their kids today....they also got name tags, t-shirts, and other swag!

My two cohorts in caricature today were Rick and Dave...

Here's a tableful of caricatures (they were kept with us until departure time, so the kids didn't have to carry them around). Can you tell which ones are mine?  (Clue: I seem to draw on the large side!)

And after we got through the kids, we did the adults!

 This man's son said it made him look like a "psycho clown"!!! Hah, yeah, it kinda does!

From Emily's Archives #2: Royal wedding 1981

The last time there was a major Royal Wedding, I was an entralled teenager--- and I sketched the new Princess of Wales many times. It's hard to believe it was almost thirty years ago that Charles and Diana married. I actually remember doing this conte drawing in art class my senior year, the fall of 1981:

Ah, the likeness is sorta close, but not quite there. (Improvement in that came with age and practice--- I keep wanting to go in and fix it!)
Of course, wake-up time is 3 am tomorrow, to watch Diana's son William marry his Kate. I think this marriage has a much better chance of succeeding. Back then, despite the fairy tale aspect,  I had doubts about a twelve-year age gap and the very short and formal courtship of Diana and Charles...so sad how it all turned out. Hopefully William and Kate will have every happiness.

Work-in-progress: William and Kate

Whether you love the British Royals, loathe them, or are indifferent, it's hard to avoid their dominance in the news right now (and at least it's a happy diversion, with all the bad news in the world at the moment) --the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton is two days away. I started a digital caricature of them and plan to have the faces done by Friday morning, and will finish their finery once I see what they're wearing!

Latest FB avatars (that I know of!)

Every now and then, I check out who has joined my FB Caricatures by Emily page, and happily find that people are using my caricatures as their profile pictures! Here are the latest two, one is from last year's State  Fair of Texas, and one is from a recent birthday party. Thank you for the honor, ladies!

I'd be willing to bet there are more avatars out there that I just don't know about--so many people mention doing this (not to mention myself)  when I hand them their drawing... :-)
If you have, or know of someone who's done this, let me know!

Update: I heard from a Facebook fan--someone who modeled at one of our NCN/ISCA conventions at a seminar years ago, she put up my life-drawing of her as her avatar! :-)

Thank you and nice to hear from you!

Yankees vs Orioles vs torrential thunderstorms...

Before the deluge...

(Note the preponderance of Yankee fans in line)

I don't ever want to forget a navy blue prismacolor artstick on a Yankee day---it looks almost identical to the black one, which I use more often, so it's easy to think I have one when I don't.

One girl asked to be drawn in O's regalia, but it turned out she was visiting different ballparks and just wanted home team stuff!

Below is Gary drawing a guy with sunglasses---is that caricature cheating? ;-)

And just as the game went into extra innings, the skies darkened and opened the floodgates, luckily JUST as we boarded the shuttle to the parking lot!

5th birthday party for two cousins

Peanut butter jelly time!!!! Peanut butter jelly time!!!!
I still have it going through my head from this afternoon, drawing at a Rock-Star themed birthday bash for two five-year old girls.  :-D
It was definitely speed mode today, at one point I drew three kids in less than ten minutes. (They were the last three, that's how I know!)
Here's a couple of pics from before my line grew: (and I didn't get pics of the birthday girls, but theirs were full-body in color--and their outfits were adorable...)

 This young man liked his so much he gave me a hug! :-)

Aaaaagh! I forgot to sign and date this little guy's drawing! 

Lots of the little girls had adorable outfits, come to think of it...

Thank you for having me!

Caricaturama SD 3000-Natalie Portman

At least she's not this skinny anymore...

Unlike actresses and ballet dancers, I'm glad I don't have to starve myself for my art!! Digital, took a little over two hours.

Here's the link to an entry by an amazing Russian artist: Caricaturama Showdown 3000.

Carny Land.

This is our (Celestia Ward's and Emily Anthony's) 

comic magnum opus:

( click to enlarge)

Enjoy! We really crammed this one full.

It was published in the most recent edition of our ISCA trade magazine, Exaggerated Features.

Just for kicks, here is the actual Candy Land board game...

And here is a 2010 photo of Celestia, Vlad, myself,  my fiance John (who starred in last year's comic), and Paul at the fair:

We don't know how we can top this one...

Gaddafi ain't what he used to be

The ISCA forum's April competition subject is Libya's Col. Moammar Gaddafi.

I don't know if it is because his features are already a plastic-surgeried caricature, but creating this pen-and-ink (Microns and Copics--not digital!) piece didn't involve any struggle on my part; which is not necessarily a good thing. Creating art should be as much if not more of a mental process than a physical one, in my opinion, and I just kind of did this without thinking.  The most interesting part for me was doing the wispy, Larry Fine hair.
As political caricature, it isn't saying much except that he has aged badly..

...but as an American, I have the freedom to say that, in my preferred visual format of caricature, about anyone. Others are not so lucky: Libyan Cartoonist Shot While Drawing Caricature of Gaddafi
That is very sobering, but not sadly, not shocking...
When the controversy about depicting Mohammed in political cartoons raged, it was more about aniconism; the difference here is that the subject is a living person, still (tenuously) in power.

Caricaturama SD3000-Lou Ferrigno

NOT someone I would have ever drawn on my own...bodybuilders and bodybuilding are not my taste!
And after a busy week, I really didn't have time to do anything substantial. This digital quickie took me about half an hour, tops.

Click here to see my and other entries.

The West Chester Spring Bridal Show...included Caricatures by Emily

On Sunday afternoon, I decided to try a new avenue to market my wedding caricatures: a bridal show (held in an impressive banquet facility, Milestone Events) that featured seven caterers, a DJ, vendors for invitations, flowers, ice sculptures, and bridal party gifts, even a horse and carriage service...and my caricatures!

I had two laptops and my digital frame going full blast to show people the myriad things you can do with a caricature:

My Mac+ Intuos demonstrated how I create digital caricatures, and the Dell had a ten-minute Powerpoint presentation playing with wedding samples only. I also had two actual-size wedding sign-ins on display: one with a signature mat, and one printed on foam core board, which attracted some attention. The 

digi-frame on my easel showed my other repertoire, from live stuff to celebrity stuff to editorial caricature...

I also brought along my favorite photographer/salesman so he could chat to more people about my work, while I drew brides. :-) He was also good for bringing me tasty tidbits, including a fantastic fresh ginger mojito!

Uh oh! Usually I don't drink and draw!

Raffles were held for various prizes; someone won a free digital caricature from me. And John was able to get pictures from vantage points I usually can't:

Below are some sequence shots: 1. In progress, 2. Reaction! 3. With completed caricature. :-)

I did draw one bride who brought her fiance along:

Yes, he gets "Joaquin Phoenix" alot.

So, we'll see what happens. Some of the other vendors told me that work from wedding shows tends to come in time, depending on when the weddings actually are. Many of the brides I spoke to are getting married in 2012, but there was one optimist who hopes to pull one together for this June! It was fun meeting so many people all in the same industry.

A TRIPLE birthday party

My second event on Saturday was another triple birthday celebration. No, this time wasn't for triplets again, it was for the boyfriend (and his parents) of a lovely lady who found me through my Gigmasters page.
I won't reveal the ages of the matriarch and patriarch, but the BF was celebrating the
Big Five-Oh...
Here are the Elvis-loving mom and dad:

And here is the birthday boy:

And an assortment of guests:

 Above: She is very fond of her Blackberry, and was so intently using it while I was drawing them that her partner told me (right in front of her) to make sure to include the phone! And she didn't hear and got a surprise when I showed them! :-)

I had an absolute wonderful time chatting to everyone at this party. Some of the drawings ended up on the piano:

After I finished drawing, I was happy to see Elvis wasn't the only revered musician for this family:
(and yes, I know I usually only photograph decorated rest rooms at post-proms, but I couldn't help myself here!)

MY favorite band!

And I am on cake-pic kick now, too:

Thank you so much for having me. I love my job!

A First Communion party

My first event this past Saturday was a little girl's first Communion party. I drew her, her American Girl doll and all the kids...who sadly did not get to enjoy the bounce house that was there due to the torrential downpours. They still managed to have fun..it happens when you put twenty-three kids together!

                     At the very end, I managed to fit in the parents!  Thanks for having me! :-)