A fabulous wedding with caricature fun!

This adorable couple had me do their caricature from photos beforehand. I'm glad they did because it was such a large wedding they would have had a hard time finding five minutes to sit for me! 

The venue was impressive!

I was in the foyer/bar just outside the ballroom. 

Video caricature reaction!

Thanks for having me, Justin and Gina!!

2015 ISCA convention #2

Ah, the camaraderie of caricature artists!

The ISCA convention flew by as it always does. The final evening is the awards banquet for which many of us dress up as only artists can...here's my roomie and I, about to make our way downstairs for a whole NIGHT of selfie-taking ;-)

See what I mean?

Outgoing ISCA president Nolan Harris is a snazzy dresser!!!  After dinner and an art auction, the awards found their way into deserving hands... 

This year's Golden Nosey winner, to no one's surprise, was Grigor Eftimov.

These are some works I particularly liked; Grigor's oils are on the far right.  

Here is one of his subjects, Kira Layli-Moore, who gets to keep that masterpiece:

Ok, as for what I did this year...my studio piece was a pen and ink of Benedict Cumberbatch aka Sherlock, along with Dr Watson and The Woman:

And for my wall, I decided to try something totally new for me: silhouettes!

...and two stray pencil sketches ;-)

I'd always wanted to try this, and had gotten a book on the subject at Half Price Books in Texas (a place we sadly don't have where I live, so it's a must-do excursion while working the State Fair). It turned out to be quite fun! Some of my subjects left the convention before the banquet, so I don't have photos of them with their silhouette, but here are  the ones  I DO have:

My two non-silhouettes were of some very amazing men I am proud to know:

The silhouette-cutter and the digital web-comic artist. 

I have a looooong way to go before I'll be able to cut anything like his work!

THAT'S ALL CUT OUT OF ONE SHEET OF PAPER!!!!

Lar did a silhouette of ME!

And Celestia and I both received sketches from Danielle Corsetto, author/artist of 

Girls with Slingshots.

Then it was off to the after-party!

Til next year (actually it's THIS year now---seven months away!)

2015 ISCA convention #1

November is always an exciting month for me, it's when the International Society of Caricature Artists holds its annual get-together somewhere in the USA. In 2015, the city was Sandusky, Ohio, which meant I could drive to it. The first night is our opening ice-breaker reception and Artfight, which is always fun. Caricaturists of the world, unite!!

Bright and early the next morning the seminars started with Caricature 101, featuring past Golden Nosey winner Paul Gaunt. His style is classy and funny and clean all at the same time. He did several caricatures while explaining his particular process.

One of our guest speakers was a personable young illustrator named Torren Thomas, who spoke of his inspirations, and diligent hard work on his part--to become proficient and then a master of digital portraiture.  That's his Breaking Bad sketch and color chart. We also had noted artist C.F. Payne with us, who did that lovely little John-Lennon-as-a-child sketch...and showed us a range of his art (heavy on baseball figures ;-).

Next up was the Likeness Competition..a roomful of artists all drawing the same subject:

Here was my version:

and here are those of my colleagues:

They run the gamut, don't they?

In another room, there's a time slot set aside for the Party Artist competition. A real party is simulated for the competing artists...with music, food, and hecklers!

While that's going on, in the main ballroom there are dozens of artists hard at work on their "walls" which will be judged by their peers at the end of the week. This is my dear friend Lar...beyond him was an area of heavy hitters...two past Golden Nosey winners, and 2015's eventual winner. 

One of the aforementioned heavy-hitters: Jason Seiler and his amazing Steven Tyler caricature which Steven himself shot down for commercial use--he HATED it!

Another competition some artists look forward to all year is the Speed Competition. How many recognizable likenesses can one artist draw in five minutes? Bruce here has the right idea!

An amazing silhouette cutter showed up this year and I was mesmerized by his work:

I want to do that!!!

People pull all nighters at this convention!

I think this was about 4 am!

Once free competition time is over, we have a break before the awards ceremonies. So we decided to go see what there was in Sandusky...

We did find a pretty manhole cover!

Part #2 will be next---artworks and awards. 

Hospitality Suite Caricatures

The ONLY gig I did in November (the rest of the month was taken up by other pursuits ;-) was a two-night event at a pre-Christmas convention---held in the delightful Hershey Lodge. 

Hershey, PA... as in CHOCOLATE TOWN. 

I'm usually early for gigs anyway, so there was time to visit the cafe---such yummy treats! That's a Chocolate Chai and a Dutch Chocolate-dipped waffle cookie.

The folks at the convention were quite an appreciative bunch! 

 They had a wonderful sign made for me!

Great reaction!! This was a Gigmasters gig, always fun to meet new folks through them. :-)

This client left a glowing review: 

Emily was fantastic! To begin with...she communicated with me prior to the event. She was on time both nights. She was friendly with all of our guests. Talented??? Her talent is overwhelming!!! I would recommend Emily a million times over again. Thank you so much, Emily!