Alistair and Etta..

My contributions to Traditional Caricature Art Contest (most votes I have gotten in awhile!) this week:

Alistair Overeem

and Caricaturama Showdown:

Etta James

Both done with markers.

James Dean and the elusive EE pencil

One of the coolest souvenirs (okay, several  of them) that I brought back from Thailand was the Staedtler Mars Lumograph EE pencil. The majority of street artists there were using them and I am a magpie for art supplies...
It has a nice range of tones--including a very rich black-- depending on your hand pressure and it lays down nicely. Here is a sketch of this week's subject for Caricaturama, done with it:

In doing a little research on the internet, I found out that the EE might only be sold in Thailand and *may* be the same item as the 8B pencil. There are many listings online to buy all the other grades of Lumograph  pencil, from HB on up, but the EE seems to be very hard to find. Unless you're in

 a stationary store in Bangkok!

Sketches for Caricaturama, etc..

While I was out of the country, I didn't really keep up with the weekly online caricature competitions, but a few subjects were just too fun to resist....
Bruce Willis for the forum at caricature.org done in Mars Lumograph EEE pencil, which I am really liking:

Paris Hilton, (Mar Lumograph again) Adrien Brody ( Ebony pencil) and Marilyn Manson (Microns) for Caricaturama and/or Traditional Caricature Art Contest....

There was a recent heated discussion on Caricaturama pertaining to the "cheating" of some digital artists by using photo manipulation as a basis for their caricatures,  (that's a subject for another post, though!) which resulted in some calls for preliminary sketches to be shown before a final digital work. My works for these competitions usually never get past the sketch stage!

FB caricature pages

Weekly caricature competitions have sprung up on Facebook like weeds...and I haven't had time to participate in any of them for ages. There used to be only Caricaturama Showdown 3000, which I regularly entered in the past. My motives were A. practice and B. having samples for my portfolio. One colleague of mine, at the recent ISCA convention, entered the portfolio competition--- and his consisted only of pieces he'd done for Caricaturama.
So, now there is Bookface Caricature contest, Awkward Faces, Traditional Caricature Art contest, etc. etc. etc. Some pros around the world enter these with very elaborately rendered pieces, and I always wonder how they find the time...and there are also plenty of newbies trying out the artform and hoping to learn something.
Anyway, since my portfolio was nonexistent this year, it's back to doing small sketches for these competitions. I don't want to spend more than an hour on any of them. Here are a few recent ones.

Pencil sketch-Rosario Dawson

Marker sketch-Fred Astaire.

Another pencil drawing--Ella Fitzgerald. They are all going in the same sketchbook. 

Caricaturama: Frida Kahlo

I haven't submitted anything for Caricaturama 3000 in ages, partly due to time constraints and and also because Facebook changed the group format to one that's less intuitive (in my opinion anyway). However, this week's subject is the enigmatic Frida Kahlo, so I had to have a go at her and her famous eyebrows! This is a one-hour marker sketch, done with Pitt pens in various grays, a lone Markette and a red Sharpie.

Caricaturama--Dexter

This week's Caricaturama subject is an actor, Michael C. Clark, whose television show, "Dexter" I have never seen:

Apparently, the character is a vigilante serial killer with a non-threatening public persona, which some commenters told me that I emphasized in my digital painting of him. Below are the stages my piece went through:  

Happy Halloween!

And this week's Caricaturama, which I have neglected lately, is the oh-so-appropriate Mr. Vincent Price:

Airbrush sample/Caricaturama entry!

I killed two birds with one stone today. Vincent Van Gogh is this week's Caricaturama subject and now he's my airbrushed sample at the caricature booth here at the State Fair in Texas.

I have to credit my very funny friend Bob East for his great idea---the ear of corn!! I had originally done ol' Vincent with the ubiquitous food item here, the corny dog, and posted it on Facebook:

So I just airbrushed corn on another piece of paper and taped it over the corny dog. :-)

Caricaturama-John Krasinsky

This week's Caricaturama subject is a actor from NBC's "The Office"---John Krasinsky. One of the cool aspects about this weekly challenge (beside forcing me into creating pieces for my portfolio) is that I draw subjects I am not familiar with (never watched the show, although I have friends that tell me it's really good.) Sometimes, that's easier than doing faces you know well.
The final is digital, over a quick marker sketch:

UPDATE 9/19/11: This piece has gotten more "likes" (101 at the moment) from fellow artists than any other I have ever submitted to Caricaturama in almost a year and a half. I am grateful, and this proves that practice and persistence pay off in the long run. :-)

Caricaturama-Sting

I couldn't just draw Sting for this week's Caricaturama, I had to do all the members of Police, since they were a major part of the soundtrack to my late teens and early twenties...

This started out as a marker sketch that I photographed with my Police pin (that was worn on my collar in high school, on days when it wasn't a Beatles pin :)

Can you tell what small changes I made in coloring it?

Caricaturama-Patricia Arquette

I've only ever seen this week's Caricaturama subject in a few episodes of her  TV show, Medium, and I thought she was pretty blah, but her haircut was fun to draw...

This one is a Markette-Micron--Pentel brush pen-sketch with a dab of PS hatching on top.

Caricaturama SD3000--a few of mine that have backed up

Caricaturama Showdown 3000 is still steaming along, with over 100 entries every week. I try to keep up, but I haven't been posting my efforts here...til today. Ketchup!

Who are they??

The current week's subject: (I've been trying to go for subtle jokes--maybe they're too subtle. Unlike the SNL skit this character appeared in)

Graphite and prismacolor pencils...

Digital.

Graphite pencils...

Chartpak, Micron, and Prismacolor markers.

Caricaturama-Liam Neeson

Another week has flown by without much time for anything more than a quick sketch--this past week's Caricaturama subject was actor Liam Neeson. I went with black, white and blue Prismacolor pencils on gray Canson paper. He's proven to be a popular subject, at the moment there are more than 160 entries!

Caricaturama-Bill Cosby

I haven't had much time lately for Caricaturama's weekly challenge, but I just had to do The Cos!

It's not digital for once... I had a hankering to draw something with Prismacolor pencils and markers on a piece of pearlescent pinky-grey Canson paper. Now that I'm looking at it, I wish I hadn't made that first "H" so big, but-- oh well.

Caricaturama- Courtney Love

Words can't describe how pitiful this woman is...but a caricature can!

It's really a shame, she once did have musical and acting talent.

Here's the link to CS3K so you can see how many caricaturists nailed this week's subject.
I used some wonderful Photoshop smoke brushes from a site called Brusheezy.

Caricaturama- Tina Turner

This weeks's CS3K subject was Tina Turner, owner of a mighty voice and non-stop legs. I think Mick Jagger learned alot from this lady...

Digital caricature, done in only two layers. Her hair and dress were especially fun to render.

Caricaturama-Alan Rickman

This week's CS3K challenge is an actor with a mesmerizing voice, especially if one likes British accents!

I don't usually care for action movies, but when the first Die Hard came out, Mr. Rickman as the ultimate bad-boy Hans Gruber shook me from my (then) allegiance to Bruce Willis. Below are the stages this piece went through--it was a pen-and-ink before I decided to paint it.

Most of the other artists are rendering him as his character of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies, a role JK Rowling said she always envisioned him playing.

Caricaturama-Gary Sinise

This week's CS3K challenge was CSI- Forrest Gump-Green Mile actor Gary Sinise:

Many of the artists commented that he is a difficult likeness to achieve. I concur. Click here and scroll through to see if you agree...
Below: my preliminary drawing.

Caricaturama SD 3000-Stephen King

My entry for this week's Caricaturama*---I've been so busy I missed out on last week's subject. My goal has been to enter something for this competition every week, almost since it started last spring, for the experience and portfolio-building it affords me...even if it is a quickie, like this digital pen and ink.

Love King's short stories ( The Mist, Shawshank Redemption), and earlier novels (The Shining and The Green Mile are my faves); never got into 'It' or the 'Dark Tower' series though.

* Facebook has changed the format for groups such as CS3K to a less navigable, more confusing one and it's not going over well with me!

Caricaturama SD 3000-Natalie Portman

At least she's not this skinny anymore...

Unlike actresses and ballet dancers, I'm glad I don't have to starve myself for my art!! Digital, took a little over two hours.

Here's the link to an entry by an amazing Russian artist: Caricaturama Showdown 3000.