True Confessions of an Art Nerd

Christmas Orders

2009-12-05T13:01:00.001-08:00

Family Caricature Gift

Rocky Mount, NC based metal fabrication Christmas Card

Second Annual Jasper Family Christmas Card

Gift Caricature

2009-09-01T16:02:00.000-07:00

This is the first of 9 groomsmen I am doing for a New Jersey based client.

Sketch of the day

2009-04-09T19:16:00.001-07:00

Hocky Coach

2009-03-14T19:27:00.001-07:00

Sketches

2009-03-11T11:17:00.001-07:00

Save The Date Caricatures

2009-03-02T12:26:00.000-08:00

"About Your house" Radio Show

2009-02-23T12:34:00.000-08:00

Here is a new illustration for Ray Terry who has a radio show on a local AM radio station on Sat. mornings.
He had me come to the studio and sketch them while they were doing the show.
Taking my sketches and reference photos I put this together in photoshop.
The biggest challenge being how to get everyone in the picture and all the equipment without obscuring the faces.
This image will be added to his website for the radio show..
http://aboutyourhouseradio.com/

Dentist Illustration Completed

2009-01-26T22:01:00.000-08:00

Here is the final product along with a collage of some "process" screen captures.
Click on the images to enlarge.

Dentist office illutration

2009-01-17T09:40:00.000-08:00

I'm currently working on a digital Caricature illustration for a Dental office in New Mexico.
When completed this image will be used in all their advertising.
Not much to see yet as I am really just getting started.

Harold

2008-12-26T23:13:00.000-08:00

The Wandering Widow book cover art

2008-12-11T13:21:00.000-08:00

Here's a little Character I did for a local lady who's self publishing a paperback book.
The title is going to be "The Wandering Widow" and her name is Faith Eisler.

Christmas Card Design

2008-12-09T20:11:00.000-08:00

This piece was a true joy to work on.
This lady is so nice and easy going almost to a fault.
I consider her one of my favorite customers as she always gives me creative freedom to do whatever when I do a piece for her.

Here is a work in progress snapshot.

Here is the final image without border.

And with border and text.

Major Payne Revisited

2008-11-26T19:23:00.000-08:00

As you can see it is yet another digital painting of Damon Wayans as Major Payne.
I did a quick version of him from the front a few weeks ago
and watching the video the other day I noticed that
the Character has a lot more to play with when drawn as a profile.
If I can find the right images to work from I may put some of the kids from the movie in the final piece as all of them are great faces to Caricature.
These pictures were taken by taking screen captures off of the DVD while it was playing in my pc.

Holiday Gift Caricature

2008-11-21T11:11:00.000-08:00

Here is one of my latest "Portrait" Caricatures.
Nothing special about this one I just wanted to post and show the
comparison between the black and white sketch and the added colored pencil.

What a long stange trip it has been...

2008-11-20T14:38:00.000-08:00

Today I attended the funeral of one of my old classmates.
I have memories of this guy from as far back as elementary school.
I won't divulge the circumstances of his death because in the grand scheme of things what does it matter because nothing will bring him back.
I was never a really close tight friend with this guy but do have a lot of fond memories of him in school. He was the kid who was friends with everyone and always wanted peace and love for everyone around him.
It is so sad to see such a brilliant life and mind gone at such a young age.
So here it is , my tribute to Steve Anderson.
I hope wherever you are that you are at peace.

Just posting

2008-11-14T12:40:00.000-08:00

I just feel the need to post something since it's been so long.
Here's a 10 minute quick sketch from photo in my "live Caricature" style.

Joe Gibbs Racing Fan fest and Charity auction.

2008-10-11T18:21:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I was hired to draw Caricatures at joe Gibbs Racing Fan Fest.
For those of you who know nothing about Nascar, they are the shop that Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, and Denny Hamlin drive for. In addition to being hired to draw fans I was asked to do Caricatures of the drivers for a charity auction. Although I am not happy with how these turned out they were well received. I had a total of 4 prints done of each driver. One for the driver to keep, one for myself, and two for the auction. Since I didn't charge them for the prints, I asked that I get to meet the drivers and get my picture made with them which I feel was a fair trade.
I'm not sure what the total amount raised from the prints ended up being but I did hear that one of the Denny Hamlin prints went for $150.00.
100% of the money goes to feed local homeless so I feel especially proud to have taken part in this event.

I - caint - hear - yooou!!!

2008-09-29T11:18:00.001-07:00

Here is a practice piece of Damn Wayans from Major Payne.
Traditional drawing with digital coloring.

Regatta pics.

2008-09-07T17:34:00.000-07:00

Here are the few photos taken this year.

Charleston Regatta

2008-09-04T19:37:00.000-07:00

I'm finally somewhat recuperated from four 12 hour days at the Charleston WV Sternwheel regatta.
This year wasn't about critiquing my work but about survival.
Between capel tunnel making my hand go numb and a drunk montain woman trying to molest me I had quite a time this year.
I was proud to read in the local paper that they thought of the Caricatures as one of the featured attractions.
I'll post some pictures once I find my camera.
This cartoon will have to suffice for now.

Another Cartoon Chick

2008-07-12T18:05:00.001-07:00

hot chick and the not so hot chick

2008-07-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

here's a continuation of the female bikini shots.
I quickly bore of one thing so here's a couple of extremes.

Not Pamela Anderson

2008-07-10T23:20:00.000-07:00

No, this isn't any particular bikini girl.
I was simply experimenting with my quick spot illustration style and after reading about bikini babes on a fellow artists blog was already in the mind set to try my hand at drawing one.
This was about a 10 minute quick study.

Whisky Hell Child Album cover completed

2008-07-07T23:33:00.000-07:00

I estimate I put roughly 40 hours into this one.

Album cover progress

2008-07-05T11:28:00.000-07:00

This is proving to be both challenging and fun.
I'm spending a lot of time on this because I am learning the program as I go.

Rock and Roll Album Cover

2008-07-04T23:32:00.000-07:00

I am in the beginning stages of an album cover for a local southern metal band.
Although this isn't a big paying job it is a chance to build my portfolio and finally cut my teeth on my new WACOM tablet that has been sitting her collecting dust for the past 3 months. This is going to be a fun project!

Frankenstein

2008-07-03T10:19:00.001-07:00

Sketched, scanned and photoshop filtered.

Doodling

2008-06-30T20:05:00.001-07:00

Common Courtesy University

2008-06-25T22:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a logo and t-shirt designs I'm doing for these guys from SC.
If they ever get this thing off the ground I believe they plan to sell t-shirts in places like Spencer's Gifts. If they make it big just remember you saw it here first :)

Gift Caricature process from start to finish

2008-06-17T18:01:00.000-07:00

In case you were wondering what goes into all those nice gift Caricatures you see on my website here is the process I go through when producing one.

After the initial email and price quote a client sends me photos and gives me instructions on what they want drawn.

In this case the client is having this drawn for a colleague who is leaving a Gyn-Oncology Fellowship in Chapel Hill.
Style wise she wanted the portrait type style as opposed to the funnier exaggeration style.

At this point depending on the price I either collect a 50% deposit or the full fee.
Then based off of the clients instructions I produce a "Pencil Rough" which is sent to client for approval.

Upon approval from the client I next do an inked version of the image which is again sent to the client for approval.

Finally, color and rendering is done to produce the final image.

If the client wants framing this is done or if they prefer to do their own framing picture is packaged and shipped out or arrangements are made for local pick-up.

The whole process usually takes about 10 to 15 days but in some cases are done as a "rush" job which I charge more for.
This particular piece was a "rush" job and I completed it in 6 days starting on June 11, 2008 and finishing on June 17,2008

InThe Studio

2008-06-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of snapshots of me working on one of my latest
gift Caricatures for a client at UNC Chapel Hill.
These type of Caricatures are more often portraits with a little body
which I enjoy just as much as the silly Caricatures.

Cartooning

2008-06-11T17:53:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of older cartoons I found on my pc today.

This first one was drawn for a local Home Remodeler who used the artwork for a raffle ticket. The 2 top prizes being a hunters rifle and a big screen tv.

(Same Client)
This one was drawn for a sales pitch to the Charlotte Observer to do a series on why to hire a professional when doing home remodeling projects. If they would have decided to run the article I would have had work in an ongoing weekly series. Unfortunately, they didn't buy the idea.

And this one was a request by a father and son from Charlotte who had this cartoon idea but couldn't draw.

Obama

2008-06-04T20:22:00.001-07:00

Just Practicing

2008-06-01T22:18:00.000-07:00

These are a couple of quickies to keep my quick sketch skills sharp.
The boy was drawn first and the blonde second.
The blonde was a much quicker sketch.
I sketched the boy in about 3 minutes and the blonde in about 1 minute.
I spent more time coloring her than actually sketching.

Caricature of the Day

2008-05-29T22:23:00.001-07:00

frame by frame animation test 1

2008-02-18T13:03:00.000-08:00

After a wonderful 2 weeks of laying in bed sick I'm back with another test.
This is my first test with frame-by-frame animation.
As you can see it is a lot more involved than the "cut out" type animation.
I spent about 30 minutes on this one and I see that it will take a lot of time to make anything that looks even somewhat smooth and fluid.

Another animation test

2008-02-04T11:35:00.000-08:00

As you can see I have made considerable progress learning the program.

Learning to animate.

2008-01-31T22:40:00.000-08:00

I am attempting to teach myself animation.
I am using a program called toonboom to learn vector based 2d animation.
Here is my first successful test animation which is after a week of watching tutorials and a lot of trial and error.
Look quick because it's only 1 second long.:)

Sketch of the day

2007-11-28T19:57:00.000-08:00

Caricature of the Day

2007-09-17T07:50:00.000-07:00

Caricatures of the day 11-12-07

2007-09-12T20:44:00.000-07:00

REJECTS

2007-09-11T11:39:00.001-07:00

My copy of Joe Bluhms new book titled "Rejects" arrived in the mail today.
After reading or should I say studying over it I have come to a couple of conclusions.
1. Joe is a master of the live Caricature sketch and his exxagerations and likenesses are awesome.
2. I'm not as bad as I thought I was. Looking back at some of my work when I let loose and exaggerate I see that what Joe does is an obtainable goal.

Here are a couple of 10 minute sketches I drew immediately after reading the book.
I look forward to further practice and improving my skills.

Sketch Book doodle

2007-09-10T14:30:00.000-07:00

As an artist I often look at other artists work for ideas and inspiration.
Here is a couple of little sketchbook doodles inspired by Jason Seiler's blog sketches.

Goth Girl

2007-09-09T16:17:00.001-07:00

The green was originally blue but I played with the hue in photoshop because I felt green suited this face better.

Critiquing myself (Charleston, WV) part 2

2007-09-04T18:33:00.000-07:00

In my last blog I was ranting about art vs product and being true to the art.
In this post I would like to show off some of my better work from the festival.
Although these are still tame exaggeration's, I am fairly satisfied with the level of craftsmanship and overall skill I put into these 3 to 5 minute drawings.

I like what I did with the man, the lady leaves much to be desired, especially in the chin area.

This is one of my favorites of the whole festival.
Decent exxageration and it captured the fact she was more into her new ring than anything.

I don't know what the deal is with women but I seem to have a bad habit of giving them small chins.

These 2 guys refused to smile and I think I nailed the expressions.
As always, the exxageration level could have been so much more.

I like the baby, I made the mom way too good looking.

And finally here is a fun snapshot of my neighbor who was kind enough to let me have fun with her. During the down time I was telling her about my plight of cutesy vs real caricatures and about Joe Bluhms "Rejects" book that I will be purchasing soon.
This photo is of course staged, she loved the drawing.
Thanks for reading my little self critique and feel free to add your comments and suggestions.

Critiquing Myself (Charleston WV) part 1

2007-09-03T20:25:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm home from a long 4 days in Charleston WV where I drew live Caricatures on the riverfront with good friend Steve Schweinebraten.
My wife came along to run the register and control the crowd (Thanks Sandy)
We worked hard, made a lot of money to pay the bills and came home ready for some r&r.
As always, there was a colorful assortment of people to be seen at the event.
Here's a sketch of one of the more colorful people I drew.
I drew this from memory where she is forever going to be etched...

One thing I hate about live Caricatures and more specifically myself is that I hold back so much on my customers because I have to make money to keep the lights on, the car payment made, etc.
I can't wait to see the day that I have enough money in the bank to not give a shit and just go wild on people the way I know I am capable of and do true Caricatures like Joe Bluhm does.
I feel like by not being true to my art I am doing myself a disservice.
Not that I think my live work totally sucks, but looking at it and critiquing it I see that I make a lot of stupid mistakes because I let myself get in money mode.
People love it and buy the hell out of it but sometimes I feel a bit like a cheap prostitute at the end of the day or an "Art Slut" like a t-shirt a good friend of mine has.
Here's a few drawings that while the general public may think are just wonderful, I see as pure crap.
The lines are bad, the likenesses are stiff or anatomically wonky, or other problems....

Iguess the face is ok but I don't know what the hell was going on with this kids neck!

I should have put his buck teeth in instead of making the top lip bigger to soften the blow.

This one isn't too bad, but I hate the thick black lines on the sides of the face where his beard hair should be. Notice the smiley face? That is something I've picked up from studying Joe Bluhms work.

I like the mouth on this one, but not much else.

Well, that's it for now kids.
Look for more pictures from Charleston WV as soon as I get the pictures off of my wifes camera.

Sketch of the day August 29, 2007

2007-08-29T14:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything.
I have been busy with a lot of gift Caricatures which pay the bills but are boring for me to do and not something I care to post on here.
Here's a fun sketch I knocked out today in my "quick sketch" style from a photo I found on the internet. The photo is on a photographers website and out of respect for copyright I can not repost the image.
If you want to look at his photos which I use a lot to draw from you can visit the page here...
http://photo.net/photodb/member-photos?include=all&photo_id=5637721

Latest Self Caricature

2007-06-28T16:28:00.000-07:00

Pizza Hut Bistro

2007-06-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

This was a very fun job.
I did these in 2 of the local Pizza Hut Bistro Restaurants.
One in Monroe, NC and one in Concord, NC.
These pictures are from the one in Concord, NC.

Sketch of the day. 4-26-07

2007-04-25T22:04:00.000-07:00

Logo Design work

2007-04-12T21:44:00.000-07:00

Being a Caricature artist let's me have a lot of fun and creativity.
However, this job was one of the more cut and dry "Git R Done" type of commissions.
I didn't actually design the Character, I basically just put everything together for him... he basically told me what to do and I did it. This is what I refer to as one of those "Pay the bills" commissions. Parts I did actually draw were the pipe, dryer, and the no flex hose symbol on the side of the dryer.
This was all put together using a combination of CS2 and Illustrator.

I think he has a good product and a good business strategy here and hope it does well.
When you have one installed in your home you will be able to say you saw it here first.

David Murdock

2007-03-31T20:10:00.000-07:00

Anyone who is from Kannapolis NC knows who this is although he is well known the world over.
This is the man responsible for the big changes and growth our town is experiencing.
Here's a little quick 10 minute ink sketch from internet photo.

Sketch of the day 3-25-07

2007-03-24T21:54:00.000-07:00

Baybey, the other, other white meat.

Doing myself

2007-03-21T11:14:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest self portrait.
I know... if I don't stop doing myself I'll go blind!

Caricatures of the Day 3-19-07

2007-03-19T13:51:00.000-07:00

Caricature of the day 3-18-07

2007-03-18T21:32:00.000-07:00

Ellen DeGeneres

2007-03-07T14:43:00.000-08:00

Here is my next promotion piece.
I'm sending this to Ellen's show soon.

Deal or No Deal Again!

2007-03-01T21:56:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is...The final picture of Howie Mandel.
I will be shipping it out to Culver Studios this Friday and it should be in Howie Mandel's hands by sometime next week. I am so excited to see what he says when he receives it.

Sketch a Day

2007-02-27T14:44:00.001-08:00

Just For Fun

2007-02-25T09:42:00.000-08:00

Doing Caricatures for a living means that I rarely get people who truly want a funny Caricature.The sad truth is 90% of people walking around at festivals and carnivals have no clue of the true meaning behind a Caricature. And out of the 10% that do understand, well it's funny as long as it isn't them I'm jacking up.
For the sake of a payday and keeping people from throwing rotten food at me I generally draw fun but cute pictures. One of the reasons I started this blog is for a place to relax and do whatever the hell I want without fear of upsetting a customer and not getting paid for a picture. Here is a couple that I did today purely for fun.
It's nice to be able to have a place to let loose and just go wild.

Big Deal!

2007-02-14T20:52:00.000-08:00

Deal Or No Deal!

2007-02-13T19:09:00.000-08:00

I am currently working on a picture of Howie Mandel.
I am not going for any exxageration of the features because quite frankly Howie is tough to exaggerate! I am therefore going for the realism route on this one.
I plan on sending this to him once it's completed and hopefully it will get shown on TV.

Hound Dawg

2007-02-07T12:49:00.000-08:00

Here is one of my first attempts at drawing a hound dog.
This is about a 30 minute study drawn from photo.
Hound dogs have such a sad dopey expression making them an easy target for Caricature.
I didn't stretch this one a whole lot but I'm sure with a little practice could really do a lot with a face like this.

Domino

2007-02-02T21:25:00.000-08:00

This one is of my dog "Domino".
The dark wispy fur was a challenge to draw.
I imagine I will eventually be drawing all of my animals
since they are so much fun to draw and a challenge at the same time.

PUG!

2007-02-01T19:40:00.000-08:00

Caricature of my pug.

Commissions

2007-01-29T21:37:00.000-08:00

Here is one of my recent commissions.
This is what I refer to as my "Cartoon Portrait" style.
What was funny was the couple started off asking for exxageration.

As soon as they saw the first draft it quickly changed.

I explained all of the differences to them up front so it wasn't a big deal to go back and re-draw my sketches. I was actually expecting it anyway but I thought I'd humor them anyway.
I do think it's funny how most people think they want a true Caricature until the moment of truth is placed upon them.
I would try to fight for it more, but then again I like getting paid.
I have a very happy bride who is going to show and tell all her friends and send me more business.
It's always a balancing act in this business.

Post of the day

2007-01-16T21:15:00.000-08:00

Between general work for clients and a little lazyness I'll admit I havn't been working like I should.
Here is a face I drew from the facial expression book that I stumbled across while cleaning up my studio today.

George W Bush study

2006-12-26T20:40:00.000-08:00

30 minute sketch of our President.
I may flesh this out to a full illustration piece.

Practice,practice,practice

2006-12-18T13:17:00.000-08:00

Here's today's study.
Couple more sketches drawn from my "faces" file.
I think these are decent but definetly see 100's of things I could do differently if I drew them again.

Just Drawing

2006-12-17T20:01:00.000-08:00

Here is about a 30 minute study I did from a photo in my "faces" file on my computer.
It's not the greatest of likeness in my opinion. Looking at the final version I see that I totally missed on just about every aspect of the face.
I know it is no excuse but I was really concentrating more on practicing my color than likeness for this one.

And here is a 10 to 15 minute quick rendering of one of my fellow NCN'ers.
It's funny how you can knock yourself out over a sketch and not get it right and then do something quick and it's funny and nails the essence of the person.

Caricature

2006-12-06T22:27:00.000-08:00

Here's a 20 minute pencil study of one of my fellow NCN'ers.
Kathy Bailey drawn from photo's she posted on our forum.

Edit. Here is the source photo.

MAD cover completed

2006-11-28T20:16:00.000-08:00

Now I get to wait and see how bad the judges pick this thing apart.

November Face-off contest update.

2006-11-27T19:01:00.000-08:00

Here is my final sketch for the MAD Magazine cover.
Look for the final rendering on Wednesday.

This weeks work 11-12-06

2006-11-12T10:04:00.000-08:00

I have just picked up a big order for a local company that wants all of their employees Caricatured to be matted and framed for the employee break room.
I was told to let loose for the most part ,but have had a couple of requests of "Be nice to me".
These aren't nearly as exxagerated as I could get but I am trying to hit that happy medium to where they are funny but not so outrageous as to end up redrawing 1/2 of them.
I'll be posting some of my favorites as I go along and plan on making a slideshow of all of them for my website after it is all completed.

MAD contest continues..

2006-11-07T19:07:00.000-08:00

I am a little ahead of schedule so I have started the next phase of the project.
Getting my likenesses and anatomy nailed down to how they will appear in the final illustration.
I am ok with the body position I just need help deciding which one has best likeness.
Look at these and give me honest feedback.
Is there one that stands out and screams "Yo Adriaaaane!" at you or are they all misses??
Edit: Added reference pictures to this post.

Oh, and here is my sketch of Alfred.

This weeks projects

2006-11-06T11:56:00.000-08:00

I think I have nailed down my final layout sketch for the MAD cover contest.
I am still awaiting feedback from the judges but I think I've pretty much got it layed out except for a little tweaking here and there which can be done in the next stage.
I am also working on a rendering of 2 Ford Mustangs for a client who plans to surprise her boyfriend with it for Christmas.
That is all for now.

November Face- off contest

2006-11-02T19:29:00.000-08:00

Court Jones, one of the National Caricaturist Network's senior members and Golden Nosey winner has started a monthly contest to help hone our artistic skills. In addition to Court Jones, the other 2 judges are Ray Alma and Tom Richmond of MAD magazine.
The task is to design a cover illustration for the December issue of MAD magazine and poke fun at the upcoming Rocky 6 movie. Although this is not a real MAD job and the winner won't actually be on the cover, it is still being treated like the real thing. We have to follow the illustration process from rough to final and get feedback from the judges at each stage just like we would working with an art director.
The main reason I find this so exciting is because I am gaining the knowledge and hands-on experience to start producing the work I need to one day land real magazine illustration jobs.
I'm posting my rough sketches so you can see how the picture is progressing.

1st rough

2nd rough

3rd rough

to be continued......

Another Facial Expression Book study

2006-10-18T07:05:00.000-07:00

Here is the lady from page 196.
I adjusted the levels just a little in photoshop.

New Live Samples

2006-10-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

I have been working on some new samples for display when I do Festivals.
Here is a guy taken from the Facial Expression book drawn in my "Live"style in all 3 versions.
I am sold on doing a combination of chalks and prismacolor sticks now. Thanks to Joe Bluhm or whoever first thought of using the foam sheet and black color stick to do shading.

Pushing The Exxageration

2006-10-12T07:27:00.000-07:00

Here is my attempt at pushing the exxageration to higher levels.
I'm not sure how well I maintained a likeness but it sure was fun to do.

Quick Facial Sketches

2006-10-11T20:44:00.000-07:00

Here are a few quick studies from the facial expession book.
These took around 5 minute each.

NCN Artwork

2006-10-11T10:26:00.000-07:00

Here is a few pics of my work fom the NCN Con.
I feel like I grew 100 fold during the week and look forward to more improvement in my work next year.

memory sketch

2006-10-10T16:45:00.000-07:00

This was in line in front of me today at the gas company.
I sketched her in sketch book first and did this color version later.

Fellow Artist John Sprague

2006-10-10T16:06:00.000-07:00

Facial Expression Book studies

2006-10-10T15:40:00.000-07:00

These are all drawn form Mark Simon's Facial Expression book.
Hovering over image will show page number in filename.