O's Opening Day

Despite the dreary, drizzly, chilly day, the Oriole and Yankee fans turned out en masse for Opening Day at Camden Yards, ready for the 2009 baseball season to commence. I saw many people attired in April appropriate attire: hoodies and warm clothing, and also a few crazies in shorts, flip-flops and t-shirts! I myself had on my wonderful Under Armour thermals, and they really do keep a body warm. Here are two couples that I drew--one for each team!

O's Fanfest

Yesterday was the prelude to baseball season in Baltimore, where I found myself once again drawing fans of our national pastime!



This one was a challenge! The dad asked me to draw the two kids as a shortstop and second baseman in a double play. While I know what a double play is when I see one, it happens so fast, I needed him to explain exactly what I was to draw each boy actually doing. They also asked for an Oriole bird to be included.

This little sleeping angel was a total joy to draw. His mom tried to wake him up, but he was so deeply asleep that I just went ahead and drew him like that! This one attracted a lot of "oohs" and "awwwwwwws". :-)


Lots of happy faces turned out for the day. We're all hoping Opening Day doesn't get rained out tomorrow...

Emily's Cyber News: Good and Bad

Good news or bad news first?
I'll tell the bad news first, to get it out of the way and hope that is it short-lived. My main website's server, Register.com, has been hit with a cyber-attack and as a result, theirs, mine, and many other people's websites that they host are not accessible for the time being. As my website is VERY important to my business, I am upset about it, of course. They are working on it...and I hope it comes back intact.

The good news is that my page on Philly Side Arts, has generated some interest! According to their recent newsletter, my page of caricature art was the second most viewed last month out of 78 artists! Wow! And their home page got more visits from people who came from THIS blog than any other! THANK YOU BLOG READERS!! :-)

Congratulations to the top referring artists (the artists that have linked to Phillyside Arts from their own website and have sent the most new visitors to the Phillyside website from that link) from the week of March 2nd: 1) Emily Anthony, 2) Dave Glass, and 3) Ali Williams.

March's top ten most viewed artists (out of 78 artists): 1) Daniel Chow, 2) Emartiste, 3) Mary Harju, 4) Jennifer Renshaw, 5) Adam Vinson, 6) John L. Langsford III, 7) Sean St. Patrick, 8) Dave Glass, 9) Angela Lackey, and 10) Bridget O'Grady

I hope to utilize PhillySide arts in a more meaningful way as the year progresses. They hold events and such in Philly. However, spring is when live caricature season heats up, and judging by the amount of emails and calls I have been getting, it looks promising even with this economy. I hope that holds for many businesses besides mine. :-)

Take Your Child to Work Day 2009

Every year in April, a day is set aside in many workplaces for employees to bring their child(ren) to see what a typical workday is like for their parent. Some places even provide fun meals and treats such as caricatures for the kids!
This year it will be held on Thursday, April 23. I was actually booked for this in advance for 2009, but my client just called and decided to book me for their employee picnic instead! So, I am now available that day for anyone who would like to add a fantastic souvenir for the kids who attend. Please visit www.emilyarts.com for more information and samples, or just scroll through my blog to see my many kid-friendly caricatures!

Cub Scout banquet

For the second year running, my caricatures were featured today at a large Cub Scout pack's annual banquet. This year, not only did I draw the Cubs themselves, but also many parents and even entire families. The Cub Scout leader, Andy, does a phenomenal job of both organizing and emceeing the event. (Thanks for having me back!) He and his wife told me that my caricatures of their family from last year are framed and proudly displayed in their basement. That really is a warm fuzzy feeling for me!




Okay, why did I put a photo of a chair on my blog?
Look closely at the rollers on the legs. I have never seen rolling chairs in a banquet hall--I imagine they are better for the carpeting than metal chair caps. But for this caricaturist, they make it far too easy for my subjects to do what some instinctively do when they sit for me...pull themselves up til they are THISCLOSE. I just laugh and tell them I don't need to see their pores or their molars to be able to draw them!!! :-)

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.

Corporate Mardi Gras party

This afternoon, I found myself helping some hoteliers celebrate a late Mardi Gras...

I thought they did a great job with the decor..and they served a 'shrimp with grits' dish (there was actually some left when I finished up--mmmm!)

Below are some of the faces that came and went...






There were supposed to be nine faces on this drawing (all managers) but two of them got diverted somewhere, despite the fact that I was asked to ( and did) stay on a little longer. So I remedied the big white space I'd left for them by putting in a title. It went over quite well. Their copy machine will be busy tomorrow! :-)

MORE marketing

If folks don't know about you or your service, how can you expect to find new clients?

I believe in marketing wherever or however I can, to expose what I do--caricature-- to new audiences. You can't sit back and wait for gigs and commissions to come from sources you've come to depend on, especially in this economy. The most important world marketplace is definitely now the Internet. So, any time I learn of a new site to do that, I try to take advantage of it. Twitter has turned up some advantageous methods already. Today's tip came from Steve Hearn, a caricaturist friend from England, who posted a link on the NCN forum about making a Google profile. So that's what I did today!

My Google profile

Thanks, Steve! :-)

BW Party-style caricature from photo...

These neighbors of the little birthday girl couldn't be at her party that I drew for earlier this month, so recently her mom sent me this photo-- so they could also have a special memento to commemorate Josie's 1st.
Doing party-style caricature from a photo involves a somewhat different skill-set than doing it live. A person in front of you offers a lot of visual information; a photo is more limited and sometimes misleading. This was a good photo to work from, however. Also, in my experience, drawing from a photo can't be done as quickly as a live drawing. That's why I usually turn down requests to draw from photos at a party gig (unless there is a special situation.) At big corporate events, I don't do them at all, because the point is to entertain the guests who are there. Earlier in my career, I also found that if I drew from one photo, everybody in line would start pulling out their wallets and hunting down too-tiny snapshots!!
But photos ( and the more the better) work just fine for studio situations, and I enjoy it as a different discipline. Thank you Laura!:-)

This photo caught me mid-squint! Honestly, I am not winking at older men, but gauging shapes and sizes of features. Either that or my glasses aren't strong enough!

I didn't get a photo of this young man, but my client did. Thank you Laura! :-)