Happy 6th anniversary, "Emily's Caricature Sketchblog"!

Happy 6th anniversary to my blog, which was started on this date way back in 2007, and has had 1283 posts by now!

I can't believe I am starting my SEVENTH year chronicling 'all things caricature' in my life.

Every year, I use Blog2print to have a real physical copy of my writing and photos. These books are all quite thick, it's really a surprise to see how much happens in a year, especially as I couldn't possiby take a photo of every caricature that comes out of my pen...

Funnily enough, this article appeared in my feed this morning:
Would you still be writing (a blog) if no one was reading?

My answer is definitely yes. :-)

Adele...again

In my previous blog post, I displayed my marker drawing of singer Adele that I'd entered in Traditional Caricature Art Contest on FB. Completely forgetting the "traditional" (natural media) part of the title, I went ahead and colored my drawing digitally with Photoshop...going for a watercolor look, and then entered the color version.
DUHHHHHH.
The moderator of said group, Mac Garcia, (whose piece has MY vote) sent me a very nice message explaining the rules  (there has been some recent controversy over people using digital manipulation of photos to produce "painted" caricatures, and this group completely sidesteps that problem by requiring all entries to be traditionally done) so I was laughing as I told him that it had just plain *slipped my mind*.
So now there are THREE versions, ( I entered a marker/color pencil one just now) and it's kind of cool to see the progression side by side. Of course, my favorite *IS* the digital one...

Adele, sketched with markers

She's this weeks's subject for Traditional Caricature Art Contest on FB. I used Markettes, Micron,  and Pitts...varying markers with varying ink levels (meaning, some of them were pretty dry...I used those to get the shine on her hair).

I remembered I wanted to make a Vine clip after I'd gotten a ways in on it...

Amazing artist. What songwriting and singing...

25th anniversary caricature sign-in

Recently, I had a digital commission that resulted in this party sign-in caricature for these two! The client was the wife's sister, so this was a total surprise for the couple.

When I do a digital caricature, the client receives the file in several sizes, so they can use it for various things. The large print looks fine! My inventive client also had pins made out of the 2" x 3" size for all the guests-- Great idea!

Here's a look at the artwork itself:

It's my cartoon-style digital caricature, which is my most popular type of commission. 

This is what my client had to say: 

"They LOVED it.  A couple took a picture of the bottom of it so they would be able to contact you (your website is on there I believe).  They have an 80th birthday for a relative and they loved the idea.  My sister also said they would use you if they have the need.  Many said it was the best that they have ever seen!  Thanks again!"

Thank YOU for the photos!! Today is their actual day, so happy anniversary, Melissa and Steve! 

(1988 doesn't seem like that long ago.)

Caricatures at a 1st Communion party

I wonder how it is that Communion parties and caricatures came to be such a good combination? :-)

Here is Sunday's little angel, complete with halo:

Below: Cousins and grandparents!

They still make cute plastic Communion party decorations, just like when I was little!

50th birthday celebration

Saturday night found me in a beautiful Gilded Age hotel ballroom:

...helping to celebrate a surprise 50th birthday with caricatures! I actually didn't get a photo of the birthday boy and his partner...my brain cells were kind of exhausted by the end of the night when they sat for me. But I did manage to snag a few Vine videos, they're included in this clip:

Now for some more faces:

The hotel was a stunner. This was on the way in:

and this was before the guests arrived:

and THIS is the first ink spillage in my new half-box French easel that my Other Half gave me for my birthday!

Happy birthday Mac and thank you for having me!

Feedback from client: Thank YOU! You were a big HIT.  SO glad I decided to hire you for the party :)

O's Opening Day 2013

Nippy air but clear skies on Friday made caricaturing baseball fans a pleasure for me (and them!)

 in Charm City (Baltimore).

This guy had really fun eyebrows. 

This lady said,"I need my Starbucks fix in this!"

Below: some more happy fans, especially as the Orioles won, propelled by a Grand Slam. You don't see one of those every day...and actually, I didn't. I was drawing!!

Did see the whole stadium leap up and start jumping for joy, though. :-)

The sunglassed couple is the subject of this video montage made up of attempted Vine clips. I couldn't upload them to Vine as there were just too many people using their phones in a small radius, I guess.

Hard to capture, let alone caricature...

... this woman was one of the most physically beautiful to ever walk the planet. I've tried to draw her before and never succeeded;  this is my first half-decent version of Vivien Leigh. Everyone knows her as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, but she followed up that role by playing a tragic heroine in the 1940 tearjerker, Waterloo Bridge. The B/W cinematography of this movie quite possibly captures even more of her beauty than the Technicolor GWTW.

This started out as a marker drawing which I then scanned and added some painting in Photoshop.

Dallas from Ft. Worth gets married...

Last fall at the State Fair of Texas, I had the good fortune to meet and draw this young man, Dallas Wiens:

He's the recipient of the first full facial transplant in the US and came to the fair with his fiancé, Jamie, a fellow patient he'd met in a support group at the hospital. They were the sweetest couple, and told me they were getting married in the spring. Well, they just did, so I thought I'd share their happy news!

While I was drawing him, Dallas explained that his outlook on life was "you could be bitter, or get better." He chose to get better. :-) I'm so happy for them.

No foolin'! Proposal by Caricature

I am so happy for this couple...he ordered a caricature from me while I was in Thailand, I created it and emailed it to him (and it looks like he had it printed it on canvas!) he used it to propose on Valentine's Day, (they had someone pretend to draw it where they were, in Mexico) and she said YES! Here is a beautiful photo of them. :-) Congratulations, Michael and Michelle!