And So On

A couple more Park Caricatures

Here's a couple more caricatures from good ol' Central Park; I don't know what I'd do without that Park...probably move out of the city.
Anyway, the first one is of identical twins, and the interesting thing about identical twins is to find the subtle differences of which there were actually many. The girl on the left had a little bit fuller face and a small gap between her teeth, the one on the right had a few freckles on her face, and had more of a "devilish" look. I guess she was the evil twin out of the two. Also, the one on the left had her chin up a little more than the other, so that made the point of view different- (ex.-you could see more of her nostrils).
The other one is a couple from Texas.

Mihail Sadoveanul

This is Mihail Sadoveanul- a famous Romanian- for what, I'm not sure...
Anyway, this is my first caricature for a show in Romania showcasing caricaturists from around the world. I have one more to do. It's also a contest, and 20 artists will get to go to Romania for a week all expenses paid. Sweet.

Even more Park Caricatures

Here's some more Park Caricatures. Remember, there is no age limit to getting a caricature- note the older couple. I like drawing older people in general; they tend to have more character in their faces. Of course, it depends on the individual.

John Guare

Here's my caricature of John Guare, the famous playwright, for the Profile Theatre- a theatre based in Portland , Oregon. My first cousin once removed- Jane Unger- is the artistic director. Here's brief description about what they do:
Profile Theatre was founded in 1997 with the mission of celebrating the playwright's contribution to live theater. Each year, Profile showcases a single playwright, giving you the opportunity to enter a writer's world for a full season. This experience allows the audience to view each play as part of a flowing dialogue, and to see the important connections that help us to grow and learn and understand. We are one of only two theatre companies in the nation with this particular focus.
Here's their link: http://www.profiletheatre.org/about/

So I draw a profile caricature of the featured playwright every year, and have also done Harold Pinter, Terence McNally, Lanford Wilson, Romulus Linney, Wendy Wasserstein, and Edward Albee. Check out September and August of 2006 in my previous posts on my blog if you want to see the other ones...
The caricature of John Guare was actually done last year, but I didn't have the brochure until today, so that's why I'm posting it now.
This year's caricature was of Neil Simon, but unlike most of the other playwrights, he didn't want me to caricature him in person apparently. So I worked from a photo for him. I'll post that one when I get the brochure back from the Profile Theatre.

More Park Caricatures

I'm always interested in meeting people from all over the world, and these Park caricatures I did recently show 2 girls from Uzbekistan, a family from Indonesia, 3 American girls, a couple from Italy, and another couple from right here in New York City. They were the second couple I've drawn who got engaged through caricature. People stood around and applauded when she said yes. It was a nice moment.

The Race is on

Here's my Obama and McCain. Young vs. Old, Liberal vs. Conservative, Half-African-American vs. Whitey; this election will have it all. This country is so divided it's scary... I could go on, but I'm too tired.
I think the meaning behind the stylistic differences in the artwork is obvious.

MoCCA 2008- part 2

Here's some more photos from the MoCCA festival- the first 4 are from Chip Kidd's new book on the influence of Bat-Man in Japan in the 60's. The Japanese artists came up with their own stories and art-work and created an interesting amalgam of cultures. Nothing has been written about this work until now.
The last photo is of Steve Ellis who drew "High Moon"- check him out online as well.

MoCCA 2008

Here's some photos from last weekend's Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival; it's an amazing showcase for alternative and independantly published sequential art. The first photo shows the famous Molly Crabapple and Fred Harper hard at work on some commissioned drawings or whatnot. The second is the Lovely Julia- singer, songwriter, and great figure-model for artists, watching over Crabapple's table. The third is the great Kim Deitch signing and drawing in my book oh his- "Shadowland". It's really a great book; nicely drawn, very creative story-telling and very engaging. The forth is one of Tara McPherson who does some great illustration and the fifth is one of Alec Longstreth standing tall. He has a great comic called "PHase 7". Check all of these people out!

CECP Summit

I did a 2-day gig last week at the Time-Warner building for the Summit meeting for Corporate Philanthropy. I had to draw all of the key speakers (40 people)- some while they were speaking and it would be presented to them in a frame by the time they were done with the speech. There were some really interesting people to draw- like Bill Clinton, Andre Agassi, and Katie Couric. They made me move out of the front position to draw Bill Clinton, (I was right in front of the podeum) so I moved off to the side and drew him from a distance. They were going to mail his caricature to him, so I don't know what he thought. Some I had to draw ahead of time, cause there were just too many people speaking- sometimes in different rooms. As is always the case, some people just don't like or appreciate caricature, so they were not always happy to get these gifts. What can I do? Then again, some people really liked them. I did my best and felt priveledged to be a part of this event. They actually do a lot of great work which benefits people all over the world. Check them out: http://www.corporatephilanthropy.org/
Sorry, I don't have any of the caricatures I did- I had to give them to the people right away.

Central Park Caricatures

Here's a few caricatures done this past weekend at the Park. You can't always tell the point of view I saw from looking at these photos; the people will rarely make the same expression, and the point of view of the camera is obviously a little different than my direct point of view. There is also a time constraint when doing live caricatures- I have to get them in one shot, and I try not to spend more than 5 or 6 minutes on the black and white ones, and 10 minutes on the color ones.

Justin and Nancy

Here's a caricatured pastel drawing of my friends Justin and Nancy for their wedding. I hope they like it...
Sorry for the delay guys.

Jay Z at 7- part 2

Here's the b&w version; they didn't want any shading, so the animator could color it up, if it gets accepted.

Jay Z at 7 yrs. old

Here's a drawing I did today for a possible job on an animated series I saw through Craigslist- thanks to Juliana, Laura, and Jesse for forwarding it to me.
They wanted a rough caricature-sketch of Jay Z as a 7 year old, so this is what I came up with. I might've made him look more like 8 than 7, but sometimes an 8 year old will look seven and vice versa...

Boss sketch

Here's the sketch of Bruce Springsteen- my latest commission for Rumours (55th & 8th Ave.) along with the photo reference. I showed it to one of the owners yesterday and he had no reaction. I'm still waiting to show it to the other and get a deposit, but if he doesn't like it....I don't know. I got a great reaction from one of the bartenders there and a few other people I've shown it to. The only thing the other guys might object to, is that they wanted more of the "Born in the USA" Springsteen look and have the American Flag somewhere on it. My problem with that is that it feels like too much of a cliche' and just way too obvious. It also makes Springsteen seem like a flag- waving Nationalist, which he isn't. He's protested the American government in his songs. His lyrics to Born in the USA are obviously ironic in tone, and have been misinterpretted by such idiots as Ronald Reagan. Sorry, I should say "former idiot".
Anyway, I'd rather show the American colors subtley in different tones in his face to show that he's an American rather than the flag. We'll see what Mike (one of the owners) has to say....

Latest published art

I have 2 things published right now: one is a small drawing on page 29 of the latest "Eye Candy from Strangers-2". Don't blink when you get to that page; the blue color of the pencil I used to draw this 10 minute sketch of Sheila had to be changed to black, and thus, lost some line integrity. (And it's small.) Next time I'll submit something a little bolder. Go to http://processjunkie.blogspot.com/ to check out some of the inside of the book. If you want a copy, e-mail me at cking1@earthlink.net and if we are friends, I'll get you the discounted $15 price. Otherwise, it's about $25.

The other published piece is in this month's "Paracinema" magazine: a B-movie review mag. mainly, but also has an article on Captain Quint from "Jaws" on page 20, which has my quick caricature of him. This was literally a 10 min. sketch, cause they don't pay, and I didn't want to spend any more time on it, but figured I'd do it for posterity. At least I got a free copy of the $7 magazine. I don't know why they can't afford to pay if they charge $7, but I guess their readership is limited...
Go to http://www.paracinema.net/ to see what they have in their mag. for free.

Faces and Names

Here's the drawing I did of and for Faces and Names (159 w. 54th St.)
It's graphite pencil and black colored pencil and it took much longer than expected. Sorry Faces! Better late than never, ay?

Steve Brodner's latest "Naked Campaign"

Another great one from the master- check it out.

The new boss standing up to the spot

Here's our new Governor - Patterson after telling a few jokes. He's much more at ease than most public officials and has a good sense of humor.
He came right out with his extra-marital affair, but to be fair, if you're legally blind is it really an affair? He just didn't know who he was with- he couldn't see her. Yeah.... that's what happened....
This one I did from a referrence.

Spitzer revealing himself (take a closer look!)

Ok, here's my inevitable Spitzer. I did this on the train from memory; his face is plastered everywhere and he has such a distinct look that it stuck in my head.

Steve Brodner's animation

Check out Steve Brodner's latest "Naked Campaign" at http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/nakedcampaign/tippingpoints

He brilliantly uses caricature to make statements about the campaign, our society and politics in general.

Steve used to (and still is- indirectly)be my teacher about 14 years ago when I took a class at SVA.

Some people have integrity

I just got an e-mail from Chris, the webmaster of sarahsilvermanonline.com, who said someone sent in this caricature I did of her and that Sarah saw it and liked it, but didn't know who did it. You always think about people stealing your images on the web, as has been done to other artists, but luckily, Chris did some research and found me and plans on giving me credit on the site: http://www.sarahsilvermanonline.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=random&cat=23&pos=-4113

Thanks, Chris- for having integrity, and thanks, Sarah for checking it out.

3 Stooges

Here's an older painting; I never got a good photo of it until yesterday, so here it is. It's oil on wood and hanging at Faces and Names. It's at least 5 years old.

MY NEW SITE IS UP!

Check out my first official website at: www.danspringer.net

There are a couple things that need to be tweaked, but it looks good- thanks to my web-designer and friend, Tami Swartz.

Laurence Fishburne

Here's the Laurence Fishburne painting in 4 stages. I feel like I'm starting to get more of a handle on the acrylics than I have in the past; the key for me is to establish most of the colors ahead of time and keep them wet in tupperware containers- mixed with retarder and a polymer medium. That way, I can mix them on the surface before they dry and blend them if I need to.
This one is hanging at "Rumours"- 55th & 8th. Ave. in Manhattan.

And the winner is.....

Justin- for the most comments on my posts from all my blogs for 2007.
You win 1 free drawing- I'll get it to you whenever I see you next.