January corporate party...

Sometimes, companies enjoy having their 'holiday' parties in January, then they don't have to deal with December's hustle and bustle. This one was on Saturday night, in another lovely 19th-century mansion that's been refurbished into an event venue...
I had some very willing sitters, all couples:    :-)

They don't make staircases like they used to!!

Here is that last couple's reaction--such a cute laugh!!

A 6th birthday party for twins...one of whom shares my name!

Saturday afternoon found me in the warm, fuzzy atmosphere (literally, it's been a warm winter in these parts) of a family birthday party for a pair of six-year-old twins. The girl twin, Emily, got to have her name emblazoned on her caricature to excess: my website, my signature, her name and the party name!

In two hours I was able to draw twelve kids in full color with bodies and themes--dogs were popular at this party:

And I LOVE drawing aliens in spaceships, with dubious spectators:

Or just dancin' with personality:

I didn't get a photo of Emily's twin brother Benjamin, but he had an awesome dinosaur hat he'd made himself. After the kids were done, I got in five adults before having to hustle off to another event.

While drawing the client and her hubby, I asked how they'd ended up having me at the party since Gigmasters (where they'd booked me) offers so many choices. She said they'd wanted a lady artist so the kids would feel comfortable, and then they saw my name was Emily, too!! So I jokingly said, you did look at my samples, I hope??? After laughing, she said that my video of caricature reactions was what sold them.  :-) :-)

Here is the feedback she provided to Gigmasters this morning:
Emily was the best - personable, patient, just went with the flow as we shuffled guests in and out of her chair - our guests have been calling all morning about how much fun it was to have Emily draw for our party and the kids were so excited to have something special to take home rather than a goody bag that gets tossed out the next day!


Thank you for having me! I love my job.

Another great video from our 2011 ISCA con

Fellow artist and videographer Brian Vasilik of North Carolina just put up his video impression of our most recent ISCA con on Vimeo...lots of great shots of caricature art being created and enjoyed.
Below: I made the cut! Screenshot from about five minutes in---watercolor of me by the talented Mr. Court Jones....

Oh, my freezing hand(s)!!

My drawing hand is always cold in the winter, especially when I am using my Wacom tablet...

My untalented left hand gets cold too, but somehow, the one I am using most seems to suffer the most. So I snipped off the fingertips of a pair of gloves and voila! Help for the poorly-circulated freezing appendages. The digital image onscreen is a sneak peak of this year's upcoming Texas comic for Exaggerated Features by Celestia Ward and myself...

My friend Johanna Veerenhuis-Lens

Over the years of attending NCN/ISCA conventions, I have made many wonderful friends from all over the world. A special one to me is Johanna Veerenhuis-Lens of the Netherlands, whom I first met years ago at one of our Orlando cons, but also bumped into at Salt Lake City's airport while we waited for a connecting flight to Reno...

 ...anyway, we've been friends ever since. This photo is from our 2011 ISCA awards night, where she won 2nd place for 3D caricature (to add to her growing collection :-)

She started out as a party artist like me, but three years ago discovered that her true passion was caricature sculpture...specifically Sculpey sculpture. Since then, she has won lots of awards, written a book, and opened a museum with her husband in her lovely barn home where busloads of visitors come, see her creations, and learn about what she does. This year at the con she gave a seminar and shared her book with us.
Here is my copy: it is half how-to, and half motivational:

I certainly love what subjects she sculpted for the cover!!

This year, she has been asked to showcase all her sculptures that were on display in a new Museum of the Twentieth Century in Hoorn, the Netherlands.  In order to do that, she'll be closing her own museum, and is now putting out the word that she is currently taking new sculpture commissions. Click here:  commission Johanna if you'd like to look into doing so (site is in Dutch, but it's pretty self-explanatory-- or you could call her, she speaks English with a most appealing accent ;-)

I am so happy for her success!

O's Fanfest 2012

Yesterday, on the first sleety/snowy day of the year, some people's thoughts were jumping way ahead to spring, and baseball season in Baltimore...

It was O's Fanfest day, and even though Baltimore's NFL team, the Ravens, are hot,  hardly anyone was wearing their purple--but there was lots of  Oriole ORANGE in evidence---and we were drawing it!

I was part of Rick Wright's A-team:

My easel is sandwiched between Gary "Toonboy" Smith's to my left, and Dan Ginter's to my right.  I'd never actually seen Dan work live except at conventions, (where the motive is not to please customers!) and very much enjoyed seeing him do these lushly colorful, appealingly alive pieces, using the chalk-and-glove technique:

Above: by Dan Ginter. Below: by Gary "Toonboy" Smith.

Gary is a big fan of "defunct 60's and 70's sitcoms" (his words, not mine) so he was pretty happy when this young lady sat in his chair. He asked her parents if they realized their daughter bore more than a passing resemblance to the Partridge Family's Susan Dey...they hadn't, but agreed---now that he'd mentioned it!  :-)

Thanks to Rick, for having me. Here he is, drawing away:

And here's a photo he took of us, before the onslaught:

L-R Dan, Gary (whose face Stan Laurel seems to have possessed) and myself.

The "Caricature episode" of Frasier

For those who have never seen it, and for those who haven't seen it in a long time:


Enjoy!

My LinkedIn page recommendations

It's housecleaning time, as usual in January, and that means some attention to my various online presences:

My LinkedIn page is updated automatically by my Twitter page, which is in turn updated by my Caricatures by Emily Facebook page, so I haven't actually logged into LinkedIn for quite awhile. I decided to spiff it up by asking for some recommendations of my work...and wow, I was very happy to read the nice words that came in from clients and colleagues. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! 

Caricatures by Emily Anthony

“Emily Anthony is one of the finest caricaturists working today. Her ability to entertain and provide crowd-pleasing drawings in her live work is unsurpassed. She has an accessible style that brings a smile to the faces of the recipients. Her studio work shows a mastery of her chosen medium, be it digital, airbrush or sculpture. Anyone who does business with Emily has made an excellent choice!” January 15, 2012

“We hired Emily as part of our entertainment for an event for the Domestic Violence Center of Chester County. She was wonderful and all the guests loved her! I highly recommend for your next event!” January 10, 2012

Top qualities: Personable, Good Value, Creative

“We had Emily come over for our daughter’s birthday party as one of the entertainments for both kids and adults and she was a big hit! Emily is very easy going and friendly, and interacts well with people while remaining very professionnal. She is careful about people’s sensitivity about their looks and does not make too harsh caricatures even though they remain very funny and resembling to people. That said, if you have enough sense of humor to laugh at yourself, you can ask her to draw a “meaner” caricature and she will be glad to do it. Emily is a very talented caricaturist. She truly “sees” people and seems to catch their features at the very first sight. Drawing fast is another strength she has, which is very valuable for parties with a lot of people or for caricatures of small children who don’t sit still.Everybody at our party was thrilled with their caricature.
To summarize, Emily is the artist to go to if you are looking to give the gift of a high quality caricature.” January 10, 2012

Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, On Time

“I have known Emily for a number of years as a colleague in ISCA. Her work is excellent and she has been her own caricaturing business for some 16 years. Emily has a broad range of versatile skills in various mediums and an eye for attention to detail. Her outstanding attribute is customer focus and professionalism. I highly recommend Emily to any client who requires top of the line caricature work.” January 9, 2012

“We hired Emily for the wedding rehearsal dinner for our son and daughter-in-law to draw caricatures of the guests. She also drew a large caricature of their engagement photo, which everyone signed and is now framed and hanging in their home. Emily also provided small copies of the engagement caricature that we gave each guest as a memento of the evening. People still talk about how unique and fun Emily's caricatures were -- and many have the caricatures hanging in their homes. Emily was fun to work with and didn't leave until everyone who wanted one had a drawing - which meant staying past the originally agreed-to time.” January 9, 2012

Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Good Value

“If you`re looking for a caricature artist that`s at the top of their game-- Emily is the artist for you. Emily gets a great likeness with all her caricatures, She is also very professional in every way.” January 9, 2012

“In the past several years that I have known Emily, I have watched her flourish as and artist and a business woman. She is passionate about her work and determined to make her clients happy. I admire her professionalism as an artist in business. Hire her to draw at your event and you won't be disappointed. Your guests will love her, just as everyone that meets her does.” May 20, 2010

“Emily is a excellent worker and artist. She is reliable, always on time, her work is great, she's fast and she's very personable with clients.” February 10, 2010

Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, On Time

First gig of 2012

On Wednesday night, I had a rare mid-week corporate event, held at a trendy restaurant:

Four artists and our sitters took up several booths on the mezzanine, which was reserved for the party.
One of our aforementioned sitters took this shot of John Sprague and I plying our craft (it was also a rare color gig and we were working from sign-in sheets):

We were asked by a guest "Which one of you is Dali and which one is Rembrandt?" which we found strangely appropriate in a caricature sense!

Here's a couple of my drawings:

Of course, on the first drawing of the evening, I wrote "2011"....duh!

Afterwards, we went downstairs and enjoyed some fancy cuisine with my fiance, (who was my chauffeur for the evening)! Luxury!

L-R... Caricaturist John O'Connell, my JB, "Rembrandt" and "Dali"! 

First thing I've signed 2012 to...

Doodled this of some strangers early this week. Everything I do always turns out somewhat caricature-ey! And I made sure the lady never got a gander at my sketchbook...

RIP Ronald Searle

Another artist I admire has passed on---Ronald Searle. Here is a caricature he did of characters from TV's Bewitched...