caricatures- Eyeball sharing! cheek teeth! Tony the Tiger dominatrix! teeth bite head! Alex Starfish! Zitman Octo! you're Whalecome head! (SEPT/OCT 2009)

last batch of sketches from the end of the season at Dorney Park, PA.

comments, crits, ones you liked or didn't always appreciated!

1. this one was one of my more ambitious ones...backstory time! gather round kids!--so I was drawing all day at the caricature stand and decided to check up on some of our other operations, which is part of my duties (hee hee doodies!) as an assistant manager, when my co-worker, Kimmy, calls me and says that there are some customers that saw me drawing earlier and wanted me to draw them. this is usually a very cool thing cause now there's less pressure cause they know how I draw and want one similar especially since my style is more out there and I can relax and just do my thing...ALTHOUGH, sometimes I'll draw more tame and lame and if people see that and like and want that sort of thing, that becomes more of a chore and less fun. but I remembered that I had been pushing my drawings more and doing my thang  pretty much for every drawing earlier in the day so I had a good feeling they wanted a wackier sketch as opposed to a tame and lame one. when I got to the stand and greeted the family waiting for me, I asked them which drawing they were watching me draw and the mom described it and used the words "the asymmetrical one." the fact that she used "asymmetrical" made me think that I'm gonna be able to have fun with this one. so the dad and sons sit down and one of them says "....make sure to get our eyes, we all have similar eyes..." then the idea hit me to let them share eyes. I was pretty happy with it and think I pulled it off enough. I think the likenesses are decent it's just not as exaggerated but I wanted to focus on making sure I got it to read correctly and if I went too crazy with the exaggeration I might sacrifice clarity and it's already a pretty out there concept. the mom really liked it and said "all of New York is gonna be asking and talking about your drawing" heh. I don't know about that, but glad she liked it. the dad and sons I think were more perplexed when they saw it and I had to show them more where each person was by blocking the other faces with my hands on the sketch itself, eventually, I think they got it and appreciated it.

2. this was the drawing that the eyeball sharing family right above saw me draw and got me that sketch.

3. this couple was awesome and very appreciative! I like her cheek to his teeth sharing. I also liked that I added "...and --->" on his hoodie. very colorful background.

4. this is a fun one where I just throw some vague lines around and see how I can make it work. scarier that way but makes for more unique solutions. I missed on the girl- her mouth area and eyes, the guy is better likeness.

5. missed on the guy. couldn't really get a good game plan on him. just one of those faces.

6.this is a previous sale that I redrew for fun. trying some things.

7. Zitman in the background

8. yellow cartoon skull, yay!also makes no sense eyes on other people's faces, yay as well!

9. they wanted two copies of the same sketch...I rarely do that as it's not fun to try and redraw the same sketch over and can sometimes be even harder cause you have to try and make it so similar. plus, you don't attract business when you are drawing with no one sitting in your chair. so I told them that I wouldn't do it and they were cool about it. they left their sketch at the stand to be picked up later. It was kinda slow and they were really cool so I was like, ok I'll do it this time and drew them another copy and surprised them when they came back to pick up their original sketch. they were happy and couldn't even tell which one was the copy so that was cool.

10. so these two guys come up to me and ask me if I can draw them in dominatrix outfits. they just wanted something really silly and outrageous. cool, I like customers who get caricatures and just want something funny and wacky as you should, so I was like, all right, now since we're going for it, why not keep upping the ante and make it even sillier and have you guys riding on animals? the one guy immediately wanted to be riding a kangaroo- not sure why, and I think he didn't really know why but he knew what he wanted right away, heh. the other guy couldn't decide on what his animal would be. I saw that he was wearing a Tony the Tiger shirt and suggested that I could draw him riding Tony and he agreed, heh. I think this one came out pretty decent all around which for me, when drawing bodies, they might turn out iffy cause I'll be spending too much time making sure that the bodies turn out ok cause that's not my strong suit (also cause it's not as interesting to me) and then everything else gets sacrificed. but with this, it was still pretty sylized, fun and the animals were stylized and fun as well, I got my connect lines and his ear doubling as the other dude's tongue too. they asked for whips and themselves wearing speedos, I threw in everything else.



*NOTE* no animals were hurt in the making of this drawing and I do not condone the harming of animals. but I did punch a baby seal yesterday, ha ha just kidding...everyone knows that baby seals aren't in season this time of year. It was a baby hamster that I punched...exploded on impact too...right on top of a baby seal. which again, I did not punch cause that'd be mean...and plus they aren't in season yet...so I have it waiting, to rippen...to be punched.

11. could have pushed it more but I do like the ear to nose line.

11. I like this one, that sweeping line that connects their faces especially.

12. this guy watched me draw the previous one and waited for me to draw him. he was into yoga and so I came up with this pose. he said that one leg over the shoulder is called a half moon, so I said then this must be a full moon pose, heh. zitman makes another cameo as a crabby crab.

13. Alex Clare likes to do that sorta background effect, I tried it out.

14.

15. this was a really cool couple, just had very positive good people energy, if you know what I mean. I like the idea with the nose mouth thing but felt I lost likeness on the girl, put too much emphasis on her nose.

16. could have made his body more dynamic but overall I was happy with it, I liked the background.

17. I thought this one came out nice, nice to have that great contrast between the brothers. the mom watching me draw it really liked it.

18.

19. I like the simplicity of this one and the sharing of middle face line.

20.

21. I like this one.

22. their parents asked me to draw him as a chicken. done! I added the egg to make it more eggcellent. well, not really, it's an ok sketch I just wanted to be able to make a stupid joke.

23. this guy was one of those people that had wanted to get a caricature for a very long time and finally got around to it. he was very excited about it. he was a cool guy and had a very cool face to match. he also had a really cool tattoo. I like the upper lip to eyelid line.

24. I don't know what's going on with the drawing of her hands either.

25. prolly one of the longest connect lines that I've done- connects all their faces.

26.

27. I suggested he be an alien. he was cool with that.

28. I was pretty pleased with this overall. I thought the exaggerations were fun, I liked her cheek doubling as the other girl's nose line and made their t-shirts blank and put it in the background- thought that was fun, gonna do more of that. I'm also been eating soft pretzels and putting peanut butter on them, gonna do more of that as well.

29. he couldn't decide between spiderman and soccer so I suggested both. venom soccer ball too.

30. I like this one, parents with their kids drawings are always sweet. I like his mouth overlapping the kid's hair. after I did this one the rest of their family wanted one, like the next two below...

31. he was hesitant about getting one so I didn't go as crazy as I could have.

32. They wanted bodies but didn't know what they wanted and let me do whatever I wanted. lately, my go-to bodies to draw if they let me do whatever is them riding on animals. I can finagle that pretty easy and it's fun. I drew my buddies/co-workers, Alex Clare as a starfish and Matt Zitman as an octopus--which is what I drew them as in my 4 pages I drew for Marvel comic's Strange Tales #3

33. I like the woman on the top left the most of the 4.

34. oh boy. this is BAD! this was one of those times where I'm just trying stuff and then I get to a point and suddenly realize, oh no. yeah...I prolly shouldn't have done that. so I usually do the whole overlapping 2 people's faces thing. but this one just turned out that the placement of his hair makes it look like she's got a goatee. oopsie :( I think usually draw the guy on top cause he's usually larger and the girl on bottom so it's not an issue, but still, just the way I designed it is just bad.

35. face meld, yay! these folks came back later on to watch their friends get drawn by me and the guy asks me if I purposely melded their faces to signify that they're more as "one." which IS part of the reasoning behind why I do that among other reason. It's funny in that not as many people ask me or seem to realize when I connect their faces so when someone asks me about it I get kinda surprised. I'd think more people WOULD ask me about it, cause I'd think it'd prolly be kinda jarring and pretty obvious to most.

36. I like the way the boy came out, heh.

37. I like the vibe of this. thought it came out fun.

38. this is one of my favs of the season and maybe just in general. I really tried to push it. the guy was more of a challenge to figure out how to push it, it wasn't as obvious as the girl. It's funny how in the one picture of her when she smiles you don't really see her gums and then when she really smiles, it really changes her mouth shape. It would have changed my approach if I didn't see her fully smile. I liked both of their bodies as well, hers I just had a last minute throw it in idea that she was hanging onto him in a weird way. I think this sketch is one of my more bold take-chances-not-really-sure-what's-gonna-happen-strange-design ones. I should try doing more of this type.

39. I like this one as well. I tried drawing a bit smaller too which I don't do enough of and should definitely do more of but has always been a tough habit for me to break out of.

40. just a quick one that I thought came out decent.

41. this couple was mad cool. I think I made the guy's lips a tadpole too big- lost some likeness. I like the way the girl came out.

42.

43. I like that his chin line doubles as her hair line.

44.

45. I like the 3-D shapes, gonna try and get back to doing more of that again. his friend (kid in green below) wanted one after watching me draw him.

46. this one is pretty jacked, heh. after his friend #45 saw this he wished that I had gone as crazy on his as this one, heh. one of his eyes is in his braces and doubles as one of his braces. and I threw in two happy whales on his top braces. why, you ask? cause whales are awesome!...for me to make my dum whale puns. you're whalecome!

47. I was happy with this one. I like the odd neck face sharing connect and thought the coloring came out solid and not too overworked which is my tendency. also been trying to experiment with black in the background more, as usually that's a no-no in general, but I think it can work to an extent. I usually eat Chee-zits but ate Cheese nips recently which had a "new and improved taste" label on it and you know what? I really liked it! I might start switching over now.

48. fun.

49. he wanted me to change his hat into a Boston Red Sox logo. I don't remember what he said on why he was wearing a Mets hat then which seemed strange to me if he wanted a Red Sox hat.

50. I redrew this one for myself for fun.

51. I think the mom was kinda shocked when she saw it. the kid kept saying " look mom, your eyes are in your nose!" which is actually my favorite part of the drawing, heh. I think i caught the kid's vibe. my buddy, Shaun Stipick is in background. He came to visit and drew a bunch of times during the summer and is one of my favorite people to draw with. he really pushes it and draws some of the best bodies ever which is great cause he likes drawing bodies and I don't and I like drawing couples and he doesn't so if a customer wants one thing we can maximize our chances of drawing what we like to draw and yes I write run on sentences. oh and we both like using 2 chairs for multiple people, yay!

52. I thought this one came out really fun and they were just really really cool people. I was really happy with it for the most part. I missed on his eyes though, one of those times where I just couldn't figure out what to do with them.

53. my favorite part of the drawing are the crabs I drew coming out of the mom's shirt.

54. not too crazy, but I like the design of this one a lot.

55. So I was finishing up drawing another sketch when I see a guy waiting to the side of me and I recognized that I had drawn him last year and say, hey! didn't I draw you last year? and he was really surprised that I remembered him. as a caricature artist I stare at a person intently for like 10 minutes or so, so a lot of times that person is ingrained in my head...well, moreso if I draw a crazier one as I tend to remember those sketches and people more. and I remembered that I drew the guy with his daughter last year and it was a more designy wacky one that they loved. It's also nice to be able to get another chance to draw someone again to hopefully see that the one you do now is better. I like this one a lot, I like that line that goes thru them, although it is a lil bent that bugs me. grr...

this was drawn last year 2008 of same guy above

56. eh, I just like the transformers logo background really.

57. a quickie.

58. I had high hopes for this one and was really gonna try pushing the great contrast with their size and their hair but really didn't turn out as crazy as I hoped.

59. I like this one, especially how the girl came out.

60. I was happy with the nose connect.

61. this was a fun one drawn on a really cold fall night. drawing when it's cold sucks, it effects your color stix and makes coloring much harder and less vibrant. Kimmy Martel peeking in the background.

62. this guy was really cool and fascinated by caricatures. yay shapes!

63. so I was drawing with my buddy, Shaun Stipick, and this woman comes up to us and wants her two kids to get drawn. I take a kid and Shaun takes a kid, then the mom whispers to me, can I ask a favor? could you make sure it comes out really really funny. of course, that is pretty much music to the ears of a caricature artist. I was more than happy to oblige. I turn to Shaun, who was about to start drawing his kid and whisper him the good news. so I started drawing my kid, finished up the marker part and is just starting to color (see above) when the mom walks to Shaun and I can overhear her saying in an angry manner "what the HELL is he drawing?!" obviously referring to what I was doing. and Shaun starts to explain that everyone draws differently and has different styles and the mom pretty much just says that that isn't what she was expecting...anyhoo, the mom comes up to me and stops me (in a pleasant manner) and says what she was telling Shaun. I nicely explain that this is what I do when I draw "really funny" and that I would be happy to redraw it less funny. which I did and drew it as fast as I could, which is pretty much what my "quick don't really think about blah tame sketch" looks like. although I missed on his eyes. she was cool with it and all ended well. This is a situation where I pretty much had a get out of jail free card as I could go as crazy as I wanted and if they didn't like it I could say what I said and just redo it really quickly and not really get anyone mad. well, not too mad cause they "asked for it" anyhoo number 2, I didn't really like my crazy one either. it WAS coming out more in the vicious creepy way and I didn't really get his likeness. as opposed to cute crazy exaggerated so I could understand why she didn't like it.

64. kid didn't really like it, but mom totally did. this was a cool and appreciative family that my co-worker, Kim, and I drew. I remember that was a fun day as Kim and I had to cut some deals to get sales as there was literally no one in the a park that day. but we did end up drawing a good amount of people, heh...

65. this was cool in that I drew this girl and Kim drew her friend, then they decided to switch and get another one and I drew her friend and Kim drew this girl.

66.

67.

68. so the guy above this one (#67) convinces his friend to get one as well and says that he has some specific requests for me. he whispers to make sure he's got a big forehead and big teeth. well, it's always a bit weird to take art directions but essentially what it meant was that I could really just do my thang and jack him up. so as I was drawing it. the friend  watching me draw kept saying "that's just TOO funny" a bunch of times as I was drawing him but he said it in a more serious way in that I didn't know if he was being serious in that I had gone too far and he was getting pissed. so I was a bit worried...but luckily it turns out he was loving it and when the guy saw his caricature he had a big laugh and loved it too and shook my hand. yay!

69. ha ha, this was to be the ultimate collaboration between Zitman and I. so these 3 kids come up wanting to get a caricature done. I convinced them to come back a bit later when Zitman got back and we would do a collaboration. The plan was for Zitman and I to both draw the tall guy (switch back and forth) then I'd completely draw one of the guys and Zitman would completely draw the other. so the kids come back and I start it off by drawing the middle dude. Zitman watches me draw a few lines- I had drawn the nose/eye/brow areas then Zitman says he doesn't want to do the collab anymore. I was like What?! why?! I finish the drawing and later on he tells me he didn't want to collab because he had no idea what I was doing at that point and didn't know how to continue it from there, heh. I always thought that was the fun where you try to stump the other collab-er and force them to figure a way out. anyhoo, so I finish it up. oh and it's kinda hard to see but I tried to make the tall guy into a whale- there's a blowhole and tail. also the big "you're whalecome" in his hair, heh.

70. Zitman(drew dude)/Chua(drew girl) collab.

so our previous collabo of the girls in cowboy hats was a reject (our 1st and only and oddly enough our tamest collab) but I convinced Zitman to do another one, this one is prolly our best. Zitman started it off and drew the guy and I finished it off by drawing the girl. they both loved it. success! there's Zitman in the background too.

71. a demo to end the season with. eh. could have been lots better, but wanted to end the season on a more exaggerated note.

you're Whalecome! whale, err...squash whale by Carla.

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Thoughts on Dorney Season '09

so ends the season. this is my 3rd year as a caricature artist as well as 3rd year with Kamans Art Shoppes and I have to say that this has been my favorite and most fun year since I started. Mostly due to getting to work with my good buddies, Matt Zitman (our new manager) and Alex Clare (our new caricature supervisor). Going to work everyday drawing silly pictures and hanging with your buddies is always awesome. and just in general, it was just fun coming in to work, even if Matt and Alex were off that day. Matt and I tried to create a cool and fun working environment and I'd like to think we were pretty successful and hope that our employees had a lot of fun as well. and speaking of, we had a pretty great staff this year made up of some old returners and new employees that made it a fun season.

Also, Matt and Alex pushed me to be more sales minded as they are some of the best and highest selling artists out there and I'm pretty happy that I ended up being the 2nd highest in overall sales (behind Alex) for the year...while still drawing some crazy silly stuff, heh. There's still plenty I want to do and try, still not even close to being bored with caricatures. I got off to a slow start but I think towards the end of the season, I was pretty happy with a lot of my sketches and did some of the best ones I've done yet. I really do like the drawing live aspect of caricatures. especially for someone like myself who I guess is more a perfectionist and does a LOT of sketching at home and in my most of my free time but not as many finished completed pieces, it forces me to do more finished pieces, cause I have to, obviously. Also, I really do like the aspect of seeing what I can get away with, heh.

also, I will be visiting and drawing caricatures at Sea World, Florida Dec 17- Jan 3. come say hi if you are in the neck of the woods...or if you have extra cake lying around, I will gladly dispose of it...in my mouth.


still some more posts coming up of some caricatures of friends, a few I did at the recent ISCA caricature convention in Ohio and a post that explains what is going on in the 4 pages I did for Marvel, which apparently no one understands, heh. I've collected some reviews that I'll post and there are some strong haters out there, hee hee.