Live caricatures AND a caricature sign-in at a stylish wedding!

Last weekend, I drew at a looooong-ago-booked wedding…the bride is definitely more organized than I am! Well, the day finally came and they had me do both a studio caricature for a sign-in, and live caricatures at the reception:

When I asked her what her wedding color was, she said gray…

 (this is the room at Allentown Brew Works---cool place!)

with a touch of pink:

If you noticed in the top photo, their beloved canine family member was included, and the bride said he even visited during the wedding (wearing a bow tie!). The party favors were doggie-thoughtful, too!

Here's my view of their triumphant entrance!

My little area became busy immediately, of course, (plus it was next to the bar ;-) and I tried to remember to tell everyone to sign the framed caricature:

Lots of happy faces!

I had to video their reaction because they were so funny while I was drawing them. He told me people call him Bart…it's pretty obvious why!!

Here's one more close-up of the happy bride and groom at the end of the reception. Thank you so much for having me, Nicole and Joey!!!

And here's what I enjoyed while packing up!

The After-prom that was AT the prom

Gigs come to me all sorts of ways but this one came via my Facebook page. A friend of a friend was looking for caricature artists for her son's after-prom…and so, very soon, I ended up at the Hotel Dupont, along with my co-caricaturist, Colin Harris---drawing silly faced-teenagers wearing slinky sequined evening gowns and sharp-looking tuxes!

The hotel is a venerable landmark in Wilmington:

The prom itself was in the Gold Ballroom, but it segued into the after-prom at 10:00 pm,  with casino 

games, photo booths, and our caricatures in an upstairs salon...

Our parent coordinator decided to have us sit downstairs after all since there was more room for us there, so we ended up in the Gold Ballroom's foyer.

I've actually done several other events here.

(one   two!)

Colin and I had to get a caricaturist-selfie in front of all the luxurious surroundings!

Then we discovered that WE BOTH MATCHED our gig suitcases! Hee hee.

It was tons of fun for me to actually get to draw gowns (which are oh-so-different to what was worn in my prom-going days!) but there was another difference: We were asked to draw as fast as possible ( which for me is 15-20 faces per hour) since there were so many kids. That meant dispensing with shading and only doing line drawings:

I used a Copic Wide for dark hair.

I kept count and indeed was able to do 40 kids in two hours. 

Here's my view of Colin at work:

I usually check out the work of one of my favorite non-shading live caricaturists for inspiration before doing this kind of gig. That would be Mr. Mike Giblin of the UK. The one thing I miss when doing line-drawings-only is the ability to quickly show dramatic eyeshadow with my Prisnacolor Artstix!!

Thanks for having us!! :-)

A snazzy, jazzy 60th birthday party!

One evening last week, I found myself having a fabulous evening…at a 60th birthday party for a beautiful, much-loved lady:

Her husband artfully arranged the whole thing, in a VERY cool restaurant, with live music by Dave Posmontier...and my caricatures. :-)

To start off with, the seating for my subjects was some of the BEST at any gig ever! A heavy, old-fashioned double chair, it was sturdy and pretty much unmovable. So many of my sitters plop down and then immediately drag the chair up so they are INMYFACE too closely--- and I have to nicely ask them to "skooch" back. Not at this event! 

Then, there was the music….some Beatle-y stuff in among the jazz: 

:-)

I drew for the whole four-hour party, and the restaurant staff thoughtfully brought me a plate of Moroccan Carrot Slaw while the birthday singing was going on. MMMMMMM!

Now for the caricatures!

 These two were a hoot, they chatted away the whole time I drew them, then really laughed when they got an eyeful. They were my first drawing of the night, so they had NO idea what to expect. I'm glad they loved it!

This guy said he had a pompadour----and I said, you have a seersucker suit too!

One word-EYELASHES!

CURLS!

OK, I need two words for this one: BUSHY HAIR!!!!!!!

and this one: CONTRASTING EXPRESSIONS!

It was an interesting night in a few other ways…

I saw the Heimlich Maneuver performed on someone who was choking on a piece of bread not five feet away from my easel. He was fine afterward, thank goodness. It happened in my peripheral vision, and at first I thought the lady was a chiropractor trying to crack the man's back! 

The birthday girl's guests included a relative who is a musician in a band I actually saw in concert….in 1983!! I have been to maybe five or six live concerts in my entire life (that's not counting hearing live music at gigs ;-) No, I didn't get to draw him and tell him. 

Finally, my client (who found me through my listing on Thumbtack.com) was such a gentleman, that he insisted on walking me to my car afterwards…and as we were chatting, we found out that he knows my cousin and her husband! It's a big city but a small world. THANK YOU for having me be a part of your wife's big celebration! :-)

A Princely 1st birthday!

Thanks to Gigmasters, I helped a little prince celebrate his first birthday!

I sat in a beautiful sun room to draw all the kids:

Lots of little ones:

and a few big ones! :-)

Happy birthday, Benji! 

My wonderful client left me some much appreciated feedback on Gigmasters---THANK YOU!!!

Emily was AMAZING. We had the HONOR of having her at my son's First Birthday party yesterday and let me just say that everyone is still raving about her!!! Emily is the real deal. If you are looking for someone professional, kind, and extremely talented, book her. We used the caricatures that she drew as party favors- the kids will always have something to remember my son's first birthday party with! Her work is amazing. I can go on and on. I'll leave you with this, she is truly a professional and her passion for what she does shows in her work. Beyond happy with her services. Emily,thank you again for a job well done. Would love to have you again! xoxo -Marie

High School Formal Caricatures...

...as opposed to Informal Caricatures. :-)

Actually, my meaning is, I drew at a dance that WASN'T a prom or a post-prom, (thanks to

 513 Entertainment) but it was still a dress-up dance!

The evening started out with----UGH----big ink spillage on my hand, as I topped off my pens. I was too busy looking at all the stylish shoes...

I let it dry and was very glad it was on the underside of my hand.

Then it got busy:

It seemed to be a night full of nifty eyebrows:

Tee-hee!!

As I packed up, there were still a few drawings waiting for their owners to finish dancing: