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.

First gig of 2010...

..was a little girl's slumber party--for her and her seventeen closest friends!

I managed to draw them singly in my usual manner...plus the birthday girl's little brother and his friend...then create a giant 18 x 24 group caricature...all in two hours!
Here's a closer look at the big one:

It was hard to remember to write '2010' on them. Hopefully the '2009' habit is now worn off!

Happy birthday, Eric Clapton!

Wow, two Erics in a row! This one is for the same purpose as yesterday's post, and for March 30. I don't know if I can keep up with Jan, but I'm going to try!
One hour in Photoshop.

Happy birthday, Eric Idle!

On the NCN/ISCA* forum, master artist Jan Opdebeeck had the bright idea of organizing a daily caricature sketch practice--and the subjects are well-known personages celebrating a birthday. I have been wanting to participate, but real life has intruded a bit lately. For March 29, the chosen celebrity is Eric Idle of Monty Python. Had to have a go, know what I mean, nudge nudge!!

The sketch is a half-hour exercise in Photoshop.

* The National Caricaturist Network, of which I am a long-term member, is in the midst of re-organizing itself as the International Society of Caricature Artists, to better reflect its global membership. I don't know when it will be official, so I am going with both acronyms.