Mo' junk frum da sketchbook

Blackafroamericannegroafricanamericanpeopleofcolor are just plain fun to draw. You get such a diversity of very EXTREME features already with noses lips and headshapes. I've met a lot osf white caricature artists who can really draw who somehow get a little shy when having to draw a black person for fear of "offending them" While its TROO that you will sometimes get gripes about "you made my nose too big," "my lips aint that big!" etc. Just think, these are the gripes that EVERYONE gives us regardless of race. I say if theres an outstanding feature , GO FOR IT! I always do....

Junk from the sketchbook!

a few gems I found! It's all coming back.... I drew that long nosed frenchmen on a brooklyn bound L Train . He had to be about 6 ft 4 inches and towered over everyone else in the crowdd train during rush hour. All you could see was that nose the chin and that hat. The curly red hair added a nice touch to him. Lucky I had a seat....

While meeting with my art director for the Snidetv project, I saw this yuppie milling around in the NYU Campus Hallway carrying a latte and trying to look Cool.There are few things in life quite as amusing as a 50 something hipster trying desperately to look cool.... I did this quick gesture drawing while his back was turned.

While Riding the A train Im always amazed at how much homeboyz always dress like they're either going to or returning from a music video. This guys face, body language and dress practically screamed DRAW ME NOW!!! so I did.

Sweet exaggeration!

I revisted , as promised!, the picture I did originally on Jan 17th. I did it in blue and used a more modeled approach. I love the result and kicked up the exaggeration on it a bit.

Since I was already drawing, decided to do this one too! MANNNNNN he sure IS UGLY!!!!

3 teens

dont ya just love the distorted faces of teens? ah... youth!

Funny humans and animals...

No commentary. just felt drawing a cartoon...
Now THIS other guy is a different story! he just had one of THOSE faces...

Random Sketches

Sometimes when Im sketching on the subway, some people just remind me of animals. Maybe its something about the way they gesture or move, mabye its just a crazy vibe they have. The top guy kind of reminded me of a subway Ratt. His looked intense and suspicious, cunning... dangerous and a little scuzzy at the same time.


I really HATE starbucks coffee! the coffee is TOOOOO strong, it burns your insides and i cant seem to stop drinking it!! lol! I did the caricature of one of the guys wo always serves me in the location across the street from Brooklyn College. I often would meet clients there drinking gallons of this nasty coffee...

Its actually pretty rare to see "older" businessmen types during rush hour, like the guy I captured here. It seems that all you see in suits these day are twenty or thirty something CEO's , and this guy seemed to be a throwback to the "old skol" businessmen I remember from "back in the day." He even had the "black power suit" on...

Some people dont like being drawn....

Some faces and expressions are so irresistable that you are COMPELLED to draw them. This man had such great angles on his face, I was almost giddy not knowing WHERE to start drawing.Fellow Caricature artist, and teacher, Chris Collins ( you can find his blog here on my favorites list http://www.chriscartoon.com/) told me once that you want to be able to see those angles and exploit them! Caricature Master Court Jones also said that you want to see the face as a landscape. Its not always easy for me to get that focus, but when i do, its wonderful!
I did another study of this face using a more modeled approach, in blue colored pencil. I'll post that at a later date.

sometimes less is more

This guy wouldve made a great bodybuard. He was about 6ft 6 inches and wide as barn door. No fat solid muscle. To top it off he had these thick dark eyebrows and that combed back 1950's "greaser" hair. I didnt want him to catch me drawing him so I VERY quickly did this gesture of him (outlining in blue first) and was more satisfied with this stylized rendering than I would've been with a detailed drawing. Sometimes less is more. It's all in the line and attitude. Hirshfeld would have loved this sketch, and after all he is my caricature inspiration.

sadd faces

The overall mood of everyone in this post is sad, pensive, introspective. The first one is of this dude on a Queens Bound A train To Mott Ave. He seemed to alternate between melancholy and anger even behind those shades. What caught my attention was the hair. The angles were bold , daring, outrageous, and ... odd. Ho in the world did he get his hair to behave like that? truly ANYTHING goes in the world of fashion these days. The woman on the bottom seems so lost in thought and das like she was dealing with some bad news, trying to hold emotion in check until she got home. I felt like I was almost intruding when I drew her, but wanted to capture such a tender human moment. The guy in the middle just needs a toothbrush....

"you made me look STOOPID"

I was actually scanning this wrong but liked the result of having it off center better to create a mood.
The was what I considered a great caricature of a young lady who posed for me while drawing on the street. She thought the exaggeration made her look "stoopid" and promptly left without paying. Funny thing is, I really wasnt going for "killer exaggeration" on this one. I still thinkIt makes her look kinda cute. This is the frustrating thing about drawing young women. SO many of them as SO caught up in theri appearance that they literally seem to define themselves by how they look from moment to moment, never stopping to laugh at themselves even for a caricature, which by its bery nature is ... humorous.
No wonder Plastic surgeons are making millions....

Mom... the strange man is drawing me....

This kids face said it all, and I was really lucky his mom didnt take offense! LOL! The kid would look up periodically from his book and catch me staring at him. Usually when i do my subway sketching I try my best to do it on the sneak so that people are natural and dont "pose" or look away. Most people are off in their own world or oblivious. Children, I find seem to have this 6th sense when they're being watched, and this guy's 6th sense was working overtime. I had invested too much time to stop though.

Frat boyz!!

I did a massive 25 person caricature last year of a group of Frat Boyz from a local Brooklyn College Fraternity. -duh... if I could only remember the name! ARRRGH!!! -anyways, out of all the faces these three here kind of spoke to me.

morning sketches

work dat body

A lot of these subwaysketches become full out character designs once I add bodies to em. I loved drawing the lady with the big lungs. She sat across from me on the #22 Far Rockaway bus, and her chest was so tremedous I sweat it was down to her knees. I just left a yoga class where the teacher was farting up a storm everytime she bent over. I imagined this lady doing the same...
The old dude in the checkered cap reminded me of one of those old skool wiseguys from Canarse.. HEY! Fergettaboutit!.... I swear the A train was leaning along with this guy who was holding the pole that day . He had to weigh at least 300 pounds.
The guy with the baseball was in a sporting goods store boring the cashier to death with stories about little leaque baseball.

Diversity!

I've said it before, but one of the BEST things about riding the rails and buses in NYC is the vast diversity of ethnic groups that you can see and draw on a daily basis. Here are a few past sketches from 2006-2007 sketchbooks that illustrate that perfectly.

er... I cant think of a title so... enjoy em..

Another Gem

Found this gem hiding literally under a sheet of socks and papers under my bed. Idid this last year and was very satified with the overall design of it. I did it in one shot and remember feeling incredibly focused with the way I captured her expression. The drawing had a nice "graphic feel " to it also. and ... er...yeah I really DO need to clean under my bed....

You really CAN change

Like all artists, I sometimes get in "one of those moods" where "nothing" is going right and i feel as if Im just standing sitll, not progressing, not getting any better. It's easy to feel that way if you DONT keep a visual record to chart your progress, lucky for me, I do.
I ran across a 2005 sketchbook the other day and turned the page to a drawing I had done of Gary, a very talented Painter/caricature artist from Puerto Rico that I drew at a past NCN COnvention. My First one, to be exact. I was actually amazing and a little horrified to re-discover that I actually drew ...er... that BAD and go paid for it!! LOL! I redrew the picture over again , just to see if I could do it better. The results were startling to say in the least. I was able to actually SEE how much I'd learned in just a few years. You truely CAN change if you're motivated enough, and work hard enough on your weaknesses. Maybe two years from now I'll pick up this recent drawing and say to myself, "THAT'S HORRIBLE!! HOW IN THE WORLD DID I HAVE THE NERVE TO POST THAT!!!???"

Rush Hour Montages

From time to time i like to ride the train drawing montages as fast as I can going from face to face as they sit or stand within my field of vision. This is great practice for live caricature drawing as you MUST draw quickly before the person spots you and moves, or gets off the train. These series of drawings were found in an old sketch pad from 2006. I love the way that I used to draw back then, so FREEEEE! I like what Im doing now, of course, but it seemed like I had a level of spontaneousness in my drawing that I lack now... maybe Im just being too critical, who knows.

old stuff that looks NEW! Five

I love to make fun of myself. As a caricature artist you have to have a sense of humour and how can i "slam" others on paper and NOT slam myself. I try to do a self caricature everyday. Heres a few.