AKEELE, here's your pic

This is a memory sketch of the young man who recognized me and stopped me on the street the other day. His name is Akeele I think.

Soooooo Cute, you could just PUKE!!!

Just returned home from a great gig at Toys R Us, in Times Square, with fellow caricature artist, the self proclaimed, caricature king, Dan Springer. (Dan really IS that good and if anyone deserves a crown, HE does, check out his blog listed on this site... but I digress....) We werre invited to draw at this event by an absolutely adorable husband and wife, party team, Jason and Stacey. I'd never met them before, and was blown away when they both arrived in custom made matching white tuxedos covered in hearts. Upon seeing this, I thought to myself, man, I reallllly got work on my party wardrobe more! They both looked like two life sized plush toys that jumped off of a little girl's bed. I gotta admit, they were so cute you could just puke, and i had to restrain myself from saying "AAAAAWWWWWWWW!!!" Each time I looked at them.

Jason did some fantastic baloon twisting and sleight of hand tricks while his wife handled the facepainting It was a fantastic gig which ended with us all partaking of a delicious buffet while overlooking Times Square. I love the Christmas Season!

I between drawing kids i drew their likenesses in a cartoony style that dipicted their vibeand couldnt wait to bring it home to color it and upload here! Enjoy! .... dont forget your barf bag.

Corporate gig sketches

Dragged myself in at 2;30 am last night after doing a fantabulous corporate gig held at the Hudson Hotel in the city. My Hostess, was EXCELLENT, the crowd was enthusiastic, the music was not too loud and my hostess, who was EXCELLENT provided the best lighting and seating that I've ever had at a gig. For those of you who are party artists, you know how RARE it is for clients to really get this right, and my hostess, who was EXCELLENT, hit a home run.

Out of the faces i drew these two were the most memorable, particularly the woman with the big grin. She thought at first that she waouldnt like such an exaggerated picture, but actually cracked a smile bigger than the one I gave her here.

The guy had unbelievable eyebrows, ears , lips, forehead, jawline.... I got so excited I thought I was going to crash and burn on the exaggeration, but I managed to pull it off. This was an absolutely FUN gig!

Surfs up!

Drew this on the number two train today en route to a great gig at Toys R Us.... feels good to be drawing folks again! Havent done it since.... yesterday.
These are two minute sketches done with a brick colored woodless pencil.

World Outreach Evangelical Ministries Tract Illustrations

I got an opportunity to do a series of tract illustrations for a Dynamic young African pastor in Far Rockaway named James Taiwo of The World Outreach Evangelical Ministries organization.( http://www.woem.org/) Pastor Tiwo has been very receptive to my offbeat style of artwork, feeling that eye catching illustration will help be to be more receptive to the content inside, and I must agree. I did tract illustration years ago for several ministries including the American Tract Society, Focus on The Family, and Apple of His Eye Ministries, and always looked forward to doing other assignments like this. How could I resist drawing cartoons??

The Host of Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art Show

My friend,and fellow NYC Caricature artist, Laurie Edmomds, invited me to an onorthodox live drawing extravaganza called, "Dr. Sketchy's Anit Art Show" Held at "The Slipper Room" at 167 Orchard Street last saturday afternoon.Unlike your "traditional" live drawing class, there were no bright lights, clean marble walls, or mis shaped nude models, instead The models are porvocative , irreverant burlesque performers who wear extravagant costumes and are in excellent condition. In this particular session they paired a tall beautiful dancer dressed in letter with goth makeup on, and a male midget wearing similar garb.
As outlandishly as they were dressed, i found one of the hosts, a lantern jawed youngman with heavy five o clock shadow, a shock of black hair that kept getting into one of his eyes, and a black business suit. Between each break, he would get up on stage and banter about with the other host. I had the most fun drawing him, thinking that he would make a perfect character in my ever growing cast, so I spent the majority of time drawing him. this is one of many pictures i made.

Im becoming a celebrity!

Funny thing happened on the way from the art store...
I just finished shopping at my favorite art store, Utretch Art Supply and was heading into the 14th street station, when I almost collided with a man going in the opposite direction. I stopped, apologized and waved him on to continue walking, and he gave me a quizzled look. As I was beginning to walk down the stairs, he said WAIT! I KNOW YOU!! I turned back around, and he exclaimed, " I saw you drawing on the subway yesterday! You're that guy!" I explained to him that he saw me after returning from a gig at Sardi's Restaurant. I told him that since he took out the time to recognize me that I would give him a beautiful rendered pencil caricature once he sent me his email address and pictures. He was Trilled, and so was i that im actually becoming a sort of Urban Celebrity. The guy's name is Akeelah, I think, and i will be posting his memory sketch picture soon.

Star Wars The Adventures of Jedi Nikk Intergalatic Dog sitter of Bark and Play

JEDI NIKK;".....get in the van.... get in the van..... PLLLLLEASE get in the van!!!..."

JABBA DA MUTT; "BAH!, your Jedi Mind Tricks wont work on ME boy!"



This is an almost completed gift caricature that im doing for Nikk, my favorite dog sitter from Bark and Play> Bark and Play picks my dog up from my house, takes him to the headquarters in brooklyn, where he gets to play with other dogs, and then delivers him back to my door! the service is great, my dog is happy, and i wanted to do something special for Nikk.
I recently found out that he was a BIG star wars fan like me, so I have made up a series of strips, (in the pre production stage) featuring him as the main character, "Jedi NIkk" Intergalatic Dog Sitter At Bark and Play. I am toying with the idea of making this a series so Nikk has actually provided me with inspiration for a webcomic. How cool is that?

My dog, Butchie, loves Nikk and his pals at Bark and Play, but usually gives Nikk trouble with getting into the van. I based this joke on what Butchie does. I guess you can say that my dog, Butchie, is Jabba Da Mutt here.

Abstract subway caricatures.

Playing around with different shapes here. This style works best on those days when i really dont feel like doning time consuming modeled type of pencil sketches, and slso is a great "party style".

Unfinished...but ...Finished.

Ive had this picture lying around for a couple of months, always promising myself that i would complete it, but somehow I never get around to it. I looked at it again today and decided that it looks kinda "finished" in its unfinished state. I dunno what it is exactly, but seeing it like this sort of appeals to me more. It will remain "unfinished".

2 myopic subway riding women

They both couldnt see very well! LOL! I wanted to expereiment with extreme light and dark on this pic.

Gee, Thanks Obama!

Now that Obama is President, Editiorial and Caricature artists the world over are rejoicing. NEVER has such a public elected official been so EASY to draw! Steve Brodner remarked that There must be a god of caricature since Obama is so easy to draw, and i must whole heartedly agree. These are two recent toons that ive submitted to my local paper, The Wave, to launch my career as a editorial cartoonist. The paper has been receptive to recieving these toons and Ive been encouraged to do more.
Submitting editorial work to your local paper is sound advice I always give to cartoonists eager to have their work published, increase their confidence, and build up a body of work. Political cartooning also keeps you informed, as you must keep up with recentDomestic, and world events in order to have a point of view to caricature/comment on.

Making her point...

Drew this picture of my wife while she was talking animatedly making one of her many points..... hey, just because she's my spouse dont me she gets any mercy on the caricature!

Loved the Hat...

This guy got on at the Howard Beach Station, and i couldnt put my reading material down fast enough to draw him, his Uni Brow and that ridiculous blue hat with the doggie ears. I gave him the predraw I did of him in full color before I did THIS one. I remember him scratching his head not quite knowing whether he should be excited, insulted, pay me, or punch me. I just smiled and drew my SECOND drawing which was more exaggerated. I recall him asking the lady next to him "does THIS look like ME?"

The Black Elton John

he had this really small baseball cap with the bill of the hat facing the sky, a massive concrete smashing forehead... make that a FIVE head it was so big, and HUGE white Elton John like glasses, and he was actually staring and me, staring at him with this look on his face that said, "WHY ARE YOU STARING AT ME???" Some peoples faces and attitudes beg to be drawn and he was definitely one of em. I didnt even CARE that he was watching. I originally wanted to erase the pink pencil lines and do it up all nice and professional in photoshop, but thought it looked good enough on its own unfinished. Here are both versions.

MORE Andy Urzua inspired caricatures!

my partner in crime, Alison Gelbman(see her link on the right side of my blog) came by the studio the other day all excited about Andy Urzua. Unlike me, Alison had the opportunity to see Andy and pick his artistic brain at the recent NCN Convention held in Raleigh, NC this year. As is our habit when we get together, we tried to crack the code of our favorite artist, (this week its Andy) and drew a ton of pictures trying to imitate his style. I came up with my version of an Andy-esque caricature of me and Alison that I really love.

One of the greatest things about the NCN is coming in contact with a diverse group of artists from around the world whose approaches to caricature are totally unlike your own. It's fun to experiment with different styles and add them to your own as well. Andy won an award for best party style and i can see why because drawing like this is just plain FUN to do!

Aussie was glad to be in New Yawk!

He got on with his wife and kid at Howard Beach Station on November 21st. the day that I wuz subwaysurfing with my pals from the NCN. We had just said goodbye to Paul Moyse as we dropped him off at The JFK Airtrain at Howard Beach, when I saw this guy get on. At first i wanted to draw his wife, but she immediately diverted my attention to him, and I was glad she did because he was sooooo interesting to draw! He was an Aussie who by his own admition was glad to be in New Yawk. I gave him the first two caricatures I did of him and kept the best one for myself. You can see the pre draw of this in a previous post on the 21 of November.

He had a reaaaaaallly rough face with a LOTTTTAAAA Razor stubble! his face was so rough you could easily strike a match on it!

Gym teacher needs a whistle

He looked like a Junior High School gym teacher without a whistle. Any minute I was expecting him to yell out, "DROP AND GIVE ME TWENTY!!" He was ticked off about sumthin. maybe someone put ben gay in his jockstrap...

ANDY URZUA

Andy is a dynamite San Diego caricature abstract expressionist, who recently won best party style and cartoon caricature style at the recent NCN convention. This is my take on him.
Besides I OWED him for jacking MY Face up!!

Wimmin and they hair.....

It's amazin the way women fix their hair sometimes....