Even more still

Here's some more live caricatures from Central Park. The second and third ones are a father and son- can you see the resemblance?

TARANTINO

I was just re-watching parts of "Pulp Fiction" earlier today and started sketching Quentin as he was being interviewed by someone in the extras on the DVD. I did about 4 sketches of him before I got to this one, and by this time, I didn't need a reference anymore. It's an interesting way to work- to study someone enough through initial caricature sketches, so that the face is in your head- and you can translate it through your own interpretive mind and come up with something new and creative, but still carrying over the likeness. That's the aim, anyway. I think I had "Turcios" somewhere in the back of my mind when I did this one. Check out his stuff from my links- he's brilliant.
This was a small sketch with colored pencil on toned paper, with some added "Pulp Fiction Red" to the background thanks to photoshop.
I've been doing the more "realistic caricatures" for a while now (since 1990), and sometimes I get tired of it. It's much more common now than it was back then- I don't remember many people doing it until I saw Krueger's stuff. (Not that my stuff is up to his level of realism and exaggeration). Anyway, it was a little more fun for me to do this style, but I'm not sure if I can apply it to everybody or not. I'll have to work on it...

"Oh, they do those cartoons..."

I must look like more than one person to most people in the Park, cause I always get referred to as "they". Most live caricature artists know what I'm talking about-I'm not the only one who gets this. It's like we're part of a collective who learn how to draw one specific way and we always follow those guidelines when drawing caricatures with no deviation. We all can communicate telepathically as well and are actually from a different planet entirely. On the planet "Caricature", everybody has exaggerated features- it's normal there... that's why we draw that way- we miss home.

Anyway, enough of that...
With these latest photos, I made the images larger, and I think the quality is better; before my images got too digitized. Now they're cleaner. Can you tell the difference?

Variety

Here's some more nice people from around the world.
First we have a girl from India, a great couple from Great Britain, a woman from Mexico, a nice lass from Ireland, and a promising young lad from right here in the U.S.A.- this kid wants to be President some day... He'll have to wait until 2044.

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....