Friday, August 29, 2008

Subway Caricatures at Summer's end...



You can feel it in the air.... it's getting a little cooler out, the trees are just starting to turn color....the faces of children are growing sadder as the faces of parents are growing happier..... yep... Sumer's at it's end.... and its been a great one. Learned a LOT this year about this art of exaggeration that has become my magnificent obsession...Today was a good day to draw and I wante4d to take my time once again with these pencil sketches that took about 30 minutes each to do, but the results was well worth the effort. The first guy has a lower lip that reminded me of a diving board. When I spotted him on a downtown A train i thought he was pouting for some reason, then realized after a few minutes that his lower lip really DID stick out like that..... and then there's the gentleman i call "mr. Head... or Headquaters...... I sweat this guy had the most mis shapen head ive ever seen... it reminded me of a sweet potaeto.. I stuck up a conversation with him and realized that he had some sort of mental disability with this slight physical distortion.... oh well, it was STILL a great caricature! Finally there's the lady with the headlights for eyes... You gotta wear sunglasses just to look at her!!

Sunday, August 24, 2008

42nd Street Caricature Artist FAKERS Exposed




New York City's 42nd Street, also known as Times Square is the "Mecca" for Caricature Artists. Tourists from around the country flock by the thousands to this historic location in search of bargins, broadway shows and, of course, great Caricature Art. The competition for sapce out here on the street is fierce, but if you are one of the lucky ones to get a coveted spot here, you will make a small fortune as tourists literally run to your chair as if commanded by some unseen force. Yep, you can make a LOT of money here, alright...
Funny thing is, you dont even have to KNOW how to draw caricatures really well to do it.

Take for example this "artist" here, he's a regular on 42nd street, and there are many like him... Chinese, I mean. In order to make a living on 42nd street it seems you "must" be Chinese or at least Asian. for some odd reason the police seem to take delight in harassing anyone else who tries to set up here BUT Asians, and even if you are lucky enough to get past the cops,you have to deal with the Asian mafia who will LITERALLY threten you with bodily harm if you dare set up in thier designated spots...... yep, been there, done that.. but thats another story, let get back to this "artist" here...

If you look at his blk and wht drawing in the 2nd level , you might notice that his picture, although "ok" (im being generous here) doesnt seem to match the highly exaggerated samples he's dislaying on his stand in the background... not that this matters to tourists who jump in his chair without even questioning why their picture doesnt match the sample whown, which incidently prompted them to stop at his stand in the first place. Its a crime.... and the one thing about crime is that sometimes it hits close to home...
One day, fellow caricatue artist, Kenly Dillard, looked at his stqand and noticed something familiar.... if you look at the third set of photos (the one with "Mr. Bean's head) You should see a variety of female sketches that dont quite fit his drawing style or that of the Mr. Bean caricature.
THOSE picture sketches were lifted directly from the site of my other "partner in caricature crime" Alison Gelman. Alsion's work can be seen by clickin on one o9f the links i have on my blog on the right side. Whats outrageous about this direct steal is that it was lifted from her website. These arent even her BEST sketches, according to Alison, and I even remember some of theim in particular. Again, this is a crime.
So the next time you see this artist, maybe it would help to yell out FAKER! whenever you see him try to draw someone.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Good Hunting on the MTA Today!



Definitely a good "hunting day" today. I bagged a coupla live one on the 35 bus today, in route to a gig. I was in the mood for pencil today and took my time. Glad I did, because the exaggeration is perfect. I did rough thumbnails first and copied those and looked up every now and then to see how I was progressing.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

New Color images






The first image is the caricature I WANTED to do at a gig last year of a client from canarsie Brooklyn. I didnt know how she would recieve an exaggerated version, but I always wanted to do one like this here. I also reworked a pic I did of a Frat boy who wanted me to do a massive 25 person caricature poster. This guy had such an intense look that I KNEW I wanted to slamm him at a later date and well, the date came yesterday. It never fails to amaze me how the buys in Bay Ridge Brooklyn CONTINUE to hold on to that 1970's Saturday Night Fever, Tony Monero Hair Doo like this greaser is sporting here. LET THE 70's GO!!!This final shovel faced gurl is a picture that was hidign in my sketchpad. I dont remeber if I copied this from another artist or actually drew it myself but its still a good pic, so I decided to use it.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Family Affair





I recently met up with my two brothers, Clyde,(top pic) and Howard,Bottom pic) at the funeral of our Uncle George, who passed away recently. Even though it was a solemn ocassion I just couldnt HELP snapping some shots of my two siblings with the intention of clowning em both later! heh, heh! Ive never done by brothers before , so this was big fun. I also did myself, in the middle again.

Friday, August 08, 2008

Color street caricatures



One boy one girl both exaggerated. Really like the coloring on these too.

Sean Gardner Revisted



My basement is flooded, my gas wont turn on, I got a leakey fridge, and Im totally pissed off. Perfect time for drawing a caricature. I re did Sean's pic today and the results were fantastic. I guess I have to be pissed off to do a really exaggerated caricature. did one here is EXACTLY the picture I had in my head before and couldnt execute. Sean's face kind of reminded me of a boot. Dont ask me how I came to THAT conclusion, but visualizing that shape really helped pull this together.