My niece's wedding sign-in and reception...

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of seeing my niece Jess marry her best friend Justin. I also had the pleasure of seeing their guests put their signatures to the caricature sign-in I made for them...and drawing many of those same guests at the reception.

Here are the newly married couple with their caricatured selves...

Below: This is a better look at the custom-cut mat (the lower area is bigger then the top, to accommodate more signatures) and 12 x 16 frame. The silk flowers in their wedding color, periwinkle, were glued to the outside of the frame.

A couple of signers in action:

The groom has an aversion to cotton balls, so I glued a few to the frame's corner protectors. ;-)

Below are some of the faces I drew---some I've known for years:

Others were new to me, like the groom's family:

Got a great reaction from that last couple, and he really did twist his mouth up like that!

Congratulations, Jesstin!!!  (I couldn't resist). It was a beautiful wedding and I was so happy to be a part of it.

Periwinkle wedding digital caricature...

...for a very dear couple: my niece and her about-to-be-husband.

Congratulations, Jess & Justin, your day has finally arrived!

Jess was one of my first subjects ever when I first started caricaturing in 1996. My sister and brother-in-law still have this hanging up in their dining room, even though it's baaaaaarely a caricature and makes me cringe now. ;-)

It was done with Sharpies and lecturer's chalk. 

Hip-hoppin' company picnic

Yesterday, I thought I was setting up my easel next to a DJ for a big company bash (behind, as opposed to in front of the speakers, of course)  but it turned out the DJ only hosted some of the party. At the end, I was situated next to classic old-school hip-hopper Rob Base and company!

Ya never know WHO might turn up at a gig. 

This was definitely a lady-populated event:

A cheer went up when the ice-cream truck arrived:

Here's my view of the proceedings on the way back from my one break; everyone was up front dancing...or waiting for the caricaturist to get back:

A few reactions:

And some rappin'!

College freshmen get oriented!

What's hotter than being the caricaturist at a college freshman orientation, in a gym on a sticky, humid summer night? That's easy...being the mascot of said college!

"Mac" entertained my line and posed for a pic with me. :-)

And when I say it was humid, this is the sight that greeted me as I arrived at the gig:

Lotsa good faces once again ( I was here last week too)

Yay for higher education!! :-)

A family's caricature tradition

Yesterday's grad party gig was amazing for me in a way that doesn't often happen. In the course of doing live caricatures, many subjects will tell the artist they have a whole wall or room hung with a collection of caricatures. Usually said artist doesn't get to see that, but yesterday was DIFFERENT...

The caricature I did of this family's daughters...

is going to join all these others, done over fifteen years, in this stairwell on the way to the family room!

I was so excited to witness this, and see whose work I could recognize. With the family's permission, I took LOTS of pics to share here. They run the gamut from awesome to...no words. ;-)

First up, my hands-down favorite---an airbrushed one, on the left, that had the best likenesses to the two girls, of all the caricatures they had. They think it was done in Myrtle Beach, SC. 

Update: My eagle-eyed colleague Celestia says it's the work of artist Ben Schell, who travels the country doing airbrush caricatures at various fairs and other venues. Found a photo of him here.

On the right, well, I was taught that if you can't say anything nice.....;)

I will say that even bad caricatures can be funny...because they're so bad!

Above: These appealing caricatures were done by friend and local colleague Donna Needs, and were the only ones that I was sure were done by someone I personally know. 

Below: These two elegant drawings were done by another lady artist in our area (whom I have heard about for years, but never actually met) Barbara Thornton:

Below: two more that I thought were done very appealingly, from 2000 in Florida, with good likenesses and strong rendering.

Above: watercolors done in Disney World, 2003.

Below: Portraits rather than caricatures, can't read either signature. The charcoal drawing on the left has a particularly good likeness of Kelly.

Now for some theme park caricatures of a particular style:

My favorite above is definitely the Sea World one...the tiny bodies and sea creatures are hilarious.

Below: two more ocean-themed ones, with two totally different types of media:

Finally, a last theme park-y one. Gotta love neon-yellow hair. ;-)

So why don't I have a photo of the girls themselves to compare all these to? 

Because I took a video of their reaction:

...and forgot to get an actual photo, as I started drawing all their guests. By the end, they had changed and were playing volleyball, so I didn't want to bother them. You'll just have to take my word for it, that my caricature looks just like them! ;-)

Thank you to Katie and Kelly, and your family, again, for letting me share these!

Grad party for sisters!

On Sunday afternoon, a backyard graduation party came my way, through Gigmasters:

The first up were the two graduates, beautiful twin sisters who'd been caricatured before---many times--but more on that later. :-)

Here is my drawing of them, and their reaction!

Then came family and friends in BW: 

 There were quite a few large craniums in this family! (filled with knowledge, as I later overheard some of this boy's conversation with his relatives ;-)

 After I happened to mention to the mom of this bouncing baby boy, that MY son's head was on the large side as a baby too (come to think of it, still is), I told her about my recent experience of caricaturists' brains being MRI'ed in the name of science...she knew of the previous study on jazz musicians, had heard about it on NPR!

 No big skull here, this guy's huge-osity was on the lower end of his face!

 Lady cousins with contrasting hairstyles. I love contrast.

 This little sweetie was fidgety---until both her parents started singing the Fly Eagles Fly song!!!
It was adorable!

Then I drew her parents with my usual pregnancy schtick. ;-) Always gets a laugh!

Thank you for having me, Katie and Kelly and family! :-)

Update 6-28-13: got some wonderful feedback, thank you!

"We, our family and friends were very happy to have Emily at our party. She was engaging yet professional, and her talent was without question. We would highly recommend her to others."

The Big 5-0 on a summer solstice...

Yesterday was the longest day of the year, and I spent its waning sunlight doing what else...caricaturing!

It was this lucky gentleman's 50th birthday:

His beautiful wife threw a crab feast in their yard for family and friends...

and here are few of the faces I drew: ( in order of sun to sunset!)

Took one clip:

(tee hee)

As I left, they were starting up the fire pit and waiting for Super Moon. Which I forgot to get a photo of!!

Thanks to my friend Julie Borysowski for passing this gig on to me, I owe ya one!