CHINA PUG

This is for my friend's benefit for dogs in Seattle show- it's a silent auction.

It's all colored pencil.

The ERA of Ted

This was from my sketchbook- done in colored pencil and then some photoshop color for the background. I didn't feel like it was completely finished, but I lost my reference, so here it is for now anyway.

Woody

This is colored pencil.

commission

Didn't have the clearest photo for this one, but sometimes you have to make do with what you have. It's colored pencil on Illustration board.

2 Commissions

These are 2 commissions I did for a client: his 4 kids done with brush pen and colored pencil and pastel, and one of his wife in pastel.

The Boss-2

This is the new Bruce Springsteen painting I finished last week; just been really busy, so I haven't had a chance to post it until now. It was hard to get a good photo, but I think this was the closest color-wise. It's acrylic on wood, 30 x 36".

Old Bruce drawing

I did this colored pencil drawing of Bruce Springsteen back in 91 or 92 (I don't remember) for the Asbury Park Press. I'm posting now cause I never did, and I just sold it last week. Better late than never...

Ok- one more...

Just wanted to give you a sneak peek in case you actually go to my flickr page (it's worth it- trust me). So here's just a few of my friend's walls- Fred, Kage, Jason, and Tomo Tabata. Check them out from my links. There are many more friends with great work, but I can't list them all here- sorry- just go to the flickr page.
Also a photo of me and my 2 roommates, Don and Josh who were really cool. That photo was snapped before I could smile... what are you going to do?

Last ISCA post

Ok- this will be it for the ISCA Convention.
This is a drawing of Teresa Farrington referencing the movie "Dune". She liked it and wasn't offended at all; she's really cool. It's colored pencil, and unfortunately, I didn't get a good photo. The flash made everything too bright, so this is shot without a flash but with the shutter open longer- thus the blurriness.

The third one is done by Marlo Meekins and I include it here only because it really blew me away. It's a brilliant idea (it really looked like the guy) and brilliantly executed as well. Her subsequent work during the week was equally as good or even better, so check it out on her blog: http://marlomeekins.blogspot.com/
One day I will have an actual conversation with her.

I took many more photos, with many other brilliant artists, and you can see them on my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26569636@N00/4099054369/in/photostream/

Better views

Here's my friend, Mongol Mike- from sketch to acrylic painting. The sketch was done from life and then the painting was done from the sketch and a few photos.
The one of Alison was done from life and is mainly colored pencil with some pastel in the background.
The one of Dan is the same medium as Allison, and is referencing the "Ministry of Silly Walks" from Monty Python, obviously because he resembles John Cleese.

Mt. Lar

The first sketch was done while listening to Lar's lecture "Caricature 101". Then I did the sketch of him as a mountain, and then took a better photo to get some more detail.
The last one is included to show the texture which was done with a heavy gel medium. I had to let it dry about 20 hours before applying the acrylic. (This is actually the first photo).

More ISCA (International Society of Caricature Artists) Convention

So, I'll try to include sketches where I can- like this one of Don, which I did from life, and then did most of the pastel that way as well, but took a photo reference just in case.
Here's a better view of the one I did of Ed Lilywhite with the photo ref. I used. That one was col-erase pencil on pastel paper with water. I discovered the col-erase pencils are water-soluble and had a water-color effect.

ISCA Convention-2009 in Sandusky, Ohio

Just got back yesterday from the International Society of Caricature Artists Convention in Ohio and it was quite a trip.
Here are a few photos for now.
The first one is of Theresa Farrington who reminded me of the actor who played Baron Harkonen in the Movie- "Dune". I was worried she might be offended, but she told me beforehand that she has a really thick skin and she really liked it. I actually wanted to color it all in but ran out of time...
The second one is of Mongol Mike and it's an acrylic painting on painters paper.
The third is of Ed Lilywhite and is done with a col-erase pencil on pastel paper with water.
The fourth one is of LAR, who had a seminar about caricature 101. I used a heavy gel medium to create a mountain, and then painted on top of it with acrylics.
The last one is of my roommate, Don, who was a great guy (follow up photo for comparison to come...), and it's done in pastel.
I have more photos to come, and will have all of them up on flickr eventually.

Commission complete

Just finished it- now I have to deliver it.
It's Acrylic on Pastel Paper.

And the latest commission- WIP It

This is my latest commission; the first two sketch were rejected- because they were too caricatured... The last one of the 3 of them was approved (barely if at all caricatured)- now I have to paint it in acrylic and finish before Halloween when they get married. And now to get to work...

The Boss-WIP

Here's my latest painting of Bruce Springsteen. The client basically wanted the same thing that's up at "Rumours" (55th & 8th Ave. in Manhattan), but it pains me to copy something exactly, so I altered it slightly. The original concept was to focus on a red, white, and blue color scheme, because I didn't want to show the typical American Flag in the background like it was originally requested from my client. After I explained it to him, he agreed. So, for this newer version, I added a bit more color and strayed from the original concept a bit.
I'm still not finished yet, and really have to start a new commission, because the due date is coming right up and I haven't started yet (the sketch is done, but not the painting), and it's pretty involved.
So, eventually, I'll have the finished version of Bruce-2 up here- with a much better photo as well (these were quick snapshots, and I couldn't get rid of the glare, so I had to take most of them on angles for now...)

Bank of America

This is 5 of the 11 quick caricatures I did for Bank of America. I worked in-house one day to get most of the work done and then did the rest at home. I never saw a trading floor before and it was a little overwhelming- kind of like the "Ministry of Information"in the movie "Brazil". People had at least 4 big computer monitors each in their cubicles and some had up to 8! It was like information overload, and there I was drawing caricatures from photos. A strange juxtaposition to be sure, but at least it was a new experience.

Yadda yadda yadda

A few more live caricatures

More live stuff

I know this is a real fan favorite as evidenced by the 0 comments for each entry... so here are some more!

Some recent live stuff

Here's a couple of cell phone pics from the Park and one from a party I did last Friday where I had to draw everybody in one page(18 x 24"). Unfortunately, I didn't know how many people it would be beforehand, and neither did the hostess, so it was hard to leave enough space for everybody. It's also challenging to work with the brush pen that small and get all the details right. Most people at the party liked it , but of course there are always those who won't, know matter what you do. And lucky for me they weren't shy about telling me! Good times.

MJ head

Here's one I was doing of Michael Jackson while I was waiting for customers in the Park; I still want to put a body on him and maybe have him moonwalking out of his grave... or something. Or I might try to show the public's fascination for stars who have died, and how it gets overblown.
For now, here's his head.

The Park is Central

Old stuff

Here's some older paintings I never posted; The Beatles and Pete Townshend were done in 2001 for my friend in London, and I only had transparencies of them until a few days ago. The Lou Reed and the Roseanne Barr were done waaaaaay back in school in 1991. The Roseanne Barr was done in reaction to her singing of the National Anthem where she grabbed her crotch afterwards to mimic what some ball-players do. I don't think it was disrespecting the country- just a failed joke, so I was just showing the general perception in the country of what she did and how it was misinterpreted. I probably could've worked more on the body of this one, but I didn't have a reference... so I probably just got lazy at the end.

The Lou Reed painting was donated to The Riverside Church Weekday School's Auction for its Annual Spring Benefit to assist in bringing children a strong educational start.
It's going to do more good there than in some corner of my apartment collecting dust.

Anyway, I want to move onto some new work.

Faith

And the last of the Power Women.

Next is a new painting of Bruce Springsteen... but a copy of the one I already did.
Otherwise, I've just been busy with Gigs and other minor projects.

Lesley

Another of the Power Women.

More Power Women

They have the POWER!!!

A couple of these I might go back into... I'm just a little pressed for time.
Anyway, check out their website at http://womensvoicesforchange.org/
They do important work.

A couple of couples in the Park

I drew these 2 couple today in Central Park.

Power Women

Here's 3 of 9 Women I'm caricaturing for their group's (Women's Voices for Change) website. There's more to come.

Julianna

This is a quick one I did of my friend, Julianna for her Birthday.

Horton Foote

This is the latest profile caricature for the "Profile Theatre" in Portland, Oregon. It's of Horton Foote, best known for his screenplay for "To Kill A Mockingbird" in 1962, but also known for his many plays and other film scripts.
I think this is the 9th one I've done for them since 2000. Unfortunately, Horton died a couple of months ago, but he had a long, productive life.

More Park Caricatures

Here's some more Park caricatures taken with my cell phone camera (not the best way to do it). These take about 5-10 min. to do. It's funny how the peoples expressions rarely match up from when I take their photos to when I draw them.

"The Caricature King" is a business name!!!!

Just had to say again for the millionth time that I use the name" Caricature King" as a business name only, and I don't think I'm the "King of the Caricaturists" or anything of the sort. The idea is ridiculous and I don't have a huge ego like that.
I say this again because I heard from a friend that they were told that another caricaturist was talking about me like I DID think that and I had a lot of gall for thinking that. Obviously, it was someone who doesn't really know me, but THEY had the gall to think that they know what's going on inside MY head. Thanks for thinking the worst of me- fellow caricaturist- whoever you are. Feel your hate flow.... Embrace the Dark Side.

Every artist has their struggles to go through, and it's tough just to survive and make a living. I was working in the Fashion industry on and off for the past 17 years- delaying my progress as an artist in my opinion, because I needed to make money and survive. I've only recently been getting consistent work doing caricature gigs- so whatever I need to do to help me pay my rent and buy food, I'm going to do - within the law of course...
That's also why "The Caricature King" is in quotes.

Do you remember this guy?

Yes, you're right. It's Ross Perot- the Independent who ran for President back in 1992. That's when I did this drawing; I know, it's old, but I never posted it before and did it at a time when I didn't have a computer, blog, etc. Most people didn't at that time.
Anyway, if I would change anything on it today, it would be to make his eyes farther apart. The way I did this drawing back then was to draw "blind" at first to get at the person's psychology and to be able to see more. When you work this way, you're using your "inner eye" and it's more highly concentrated. More of the details tend to emerge and you get a better likeness. After the contour is drawn, you can then look back and forth to re-asses things and put the shading in.
I was also trying to work with the idea of the duality of people. Most people will have a difference from one side of their face to another, and it's important to see the differences if they're there. If you cover up one side of his face and then the other, you should be able to see two different aspects of his personality.

I just altered the original in photoshop to separate the eyes a bit- here it is.

Heath

Here's a quick Heath Ledger caricature done for the ISCA forum- Birthday section. It was his Birthday back on April 4th. R.I.P.

Ballerina

I did this for my cousin's 40th Birthday- she's a dancer.
It's pastel.

DeJa Vu

This is a drawing of Elvis I finished recently for a client who saw the same drawing I did 17 years ago and wanted one. I normally wouldn't do this, but they really wanted it, and I never got a really good copy of the first one anyway, so I did it.
It was very time-consuming because I build up the tone gradually and use a wide range of pencils- from 6H to 7B and a black colored pencil for the darker darks. In the hair, I used a black oil-bar, which is a bit darker than the black colored pencil and sticks out from the background. You can't really see that effect from this copy; you need to see the original.

Marina-2

Ok- here's the redo of Marina, and she got back to me right away and said she loves it.
So that's a relief... Eventually it will be on her show with the history of the word, "Caricature". Look for it at www.hotforwords.com

Some more Park Caricatures

Here's some caricatures I did in the Park yesterday- captured with my cell phone (not the best way to take a picture).

Spike

On the forum of the International Society of Caricature Artists, there is a Forum where members post artwork, and Jan OpDebeek started a daily caricature of whoever's Birthday of a famous person it was, and Spike Lee was one of them.
So here it is.

More Park Caricatures

We get all kinds in Central Park, NYC; An Aunt/ Niece from Spain, 3 friends in good spirits from India, 2 girls from Texas, and my third couple who got engaged through caricature. She said yes, so it hasn't failed yet(I can't imagine if it did...)
Keep in mind some of these people change their pose a bit or put on a hat, etc. when I photographed them through my cell phone with their drawing- so it's not always an accurate comparison.

Marina

Here's a caricature I did of Marina the philologist, who saw the drawing I did of Jill Hanner and wanted one herself. She's going to put it on her show: www.hotforwords.com and research the origin of the word "caricature". I have a couple books which go into this, but I'm curious to see what she will find.
I have one other caricature of her which isn't finished, but which I felt captured her face better than this one. I'll post that eventually...

More Live Caricature

Here's some more live caricature- 2 from the park and 2 from "Faces and Names" (159 W. 54th St.) where I've been doing caricatures since they opened 11 years ago. I've been trying to go in once a week again, if they let me, and I just work for tips.

In the Park

This is the first year since Iˆstarted to go out to Central Park where I've gone out all year round. Anything over 34 degrees was fair game; I just learned how to dress warmer. Most of the time, I didn't bring my camera, thus the lack of entries to my blog as of late. However, I took this one with my cell phone- a nice couple from The Caribbean. They were not used to our cold weather here in NYC, but they were smiling all the same...

Brother-In-Law-In-Law

I think that's what you call your Sister-In-Law's Bother...and if not, that's what it should be. Anyway, that's who this is; he commissioned me to do his caricature for his website and after a couple of tries- this one being the last one, he decided to go with a photograph- just like a lot of magazines do. I offered to just give him the artwork, but he didn't want it.
At least he paid me some money...

Live party painting

This is a painting I did at a Bar/Bat-Mitzvah during the party in about 5 hours. It was my trial painting for the company- "Untouchable Events" and I'm going to do some more in the future. The challenge was to try to get some recognizable people in the painting even as they were moving. The light source was all over the place- constantly moving and changing color, so that was a challenge as well.
For the next one, I'm going to get photos ahead of time for the main people at the party and incorporate them in the scene.
This is acrylic on masonite.

Their hate has grown strong

Do I really need to say anything?

The answer is blowin' in the wind

This will be the last dog drawing I post here- the rest will be on my pet-blog at www.danspetproject.blogspot.com

I liked this photo of my old neighbor's dogs because they show absolute bliss in the simplest of things- the wind. We should all be so grateful.

The drawing is colored pencil and pastel pencil.

Another Kato

Here's my friend, Justin's dog, Kato again- this time more caricatured. This is his prize for the most comments on the blog in 2008. I'm also going to use the image along with the other dog ones (and one cat) to get more pet-work.
I already got one gig from the flyers I put up already, so I guess it's starting to work. It's a dog-grooming party in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Gobobean

Here's a caricature I did of my new friend, Jill Hanner- aka: Gobobean. She's on Youtube with her own channel, as well as a multitude of other online outlets. I still haven't seen all the video's she's done. YOu can see her on Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/user/xgobobeanx From there you can get to her other sites.
I met up with her last week and gave her this drawing and she was really cool.
A couple days later she gave me an extra digital camera she had, cause I mentioned how I'd like to start shooting some videos... How cool is that?
I already shot some video of the James Jean show, and will try to get it up on Youtube as soon as I have time and figure out how to do it.

And the winner is....

Justin again- for the most blog comments of 2008. You win one drawing. I'll give it to you next time I see you.

Mabelle and Kato

Here's a couple more dogs done on commission for some friends of mine. The drawing of the Pug is "Kato" for my friend, Justin and the Acrylic painting of the Hound Dog, "Mabelle" is for two of my old roommates- Becky and Eric. Now I might start a new business drawing and painting dogs.