Anatomy of a Caricature Assignment #3

Some time ago I discussed…and illustrated…the process that went into a commissioned caricature drawing – in that case a request by the mother of a bride to draw the girl and her fiancé, for their wedding reception Sign-In Board. This time, it’s also for a couple. But it was at the request of the husband. As a surprise combination anniversary and birthday gift for his bride.

Welcome to the July edition of Not Your Usual Caricature Artist from Caricatures by Joel.

Sergio wanted to show himself and wife Patricia in hiking gear, in a picturesque setting as is their recreational custom to do so. Oh…and somehow show France and Italy on a map, because those are two places that are dear to the two of them (Sergio was born in Italy).

I worked up a pencil sketch, with the two of them in the foreground, with some kind of forested area behind them, and a mountain range in the backdrop.  

Then I thought, how do I indicate France and Italy? So I took the liberty of drawing a globe – the Eastern hemisphere, with Europe prominently indicated – that would hang in the sky, moon-like.

But I was also asked to indicate those countries through icons familiar to the two of them. So I left a space for the Eiffel Tower in France…and a glimpse of an historic castle found in Sergio’s hometown.

Once I settled on that concept, I black-inked the outlines of all the elements (to, frankly, give it the typically bold look of a cartoon -- as opposed to a softer rendering for more "serious" portraiture)…this time doing some nuanced amending of such things as Patricia’s jawline, and what Sergio was to do with his “free” hand. Stick it in his pocket…or give the more visually active “thumbs-up” sign? I chose the latter.

Then, finally, came the color. I had elected to use color pencils for a more “rough-hewn” look given the nature of the subject. And, to further give the art a “mixed-media” look, I inserted Sergio’s photos that he had sent to me as reference for the icons corresponding to their respective locations.

Upon further (continuing?) review, I thought that the background art was battling too much for attention with the two main sujects in the foreground. So I softened the intensity of the color somewhat by using a simple pencil erasor. 

I also noted that the silver in Patricia’s hair was more prominent than not, so I lightened her hair in a similar manner.

And the final art ended up looking like this.

As you can see, caricature art is not limited to drawing guests live at an event. (Though we’re more than happy to do that!)

If you’ve got someone, or someones, in mind – whether it’s a colleague retiring, a child celebrating a bar mitzvah, a couple getting married, a family member having a birthday – a custom-created, one-of-a kind caricature is a meaningful and lasting way to show your appreciation for those individuals with a truly unique gift they'll always treasure.

See you again the first Tuesday of next month for another rendering of Not Your Usual Caricature Artist.

A Feast for the Eyes...and Mouth

A little over two years ago, I ran a column in this space on the Palm restaurant -- as famous for its caricatures festooning the walls of its restaurants throughout the country as it is for its renowned gourmet meats and lobster. 

Here's a personal update since this feature first appeared.
 

Welcome to the June edition of Not Your Usual Caricature Artist from Caricatures by Joel.

According to Wikipedia, here's the background on that festive yet curious marriage of cartoon and culinary arts:

"When Pio Bozzi and John Ganzi opened The Palm Restaurant in 1926, they had no money to decorate. Luckily, their location on Manhattan’s Second Avenue was in close proximity to the headquarters of King Features Syndicate and attracted a large clientele of cartoonists. In exchange for their meals, artists would often draw their own creations on the walls of The Palm.

"Over the years, the tradition of decorating (the) locations with caricatures has continued as (they’ve) expanded across the country and internationally. Before a new restaurant opens, 200 to 300 local notables' likenesses are placed on the walls, and new caricatures of regulars and celebrities are added regularly. Not surprisingly, the most in-demand wall space is at the original Second Avenue location, where only five caricatures are added each year due to space constraints."

Recently, I had the good fortune and privilege to be named by our local Charlotte Palm as their newest artist-in-residence to contribute “portrai-catures,” as I call them, to their famed walls. So far, I’ve got five up (business people; no celebrities yet…), and anticipate more to come.

Here's how they look, individually, and all together on one wall column (mine, with the exception of the second one from the bottom of the group picture).

Whereas virtually all other art adorning the walls has been first produced on some kind of drawing surface and then transferred and affixed to the walls, my directive was to draw directly on the wall. A challenge to be sure, with virtually no margin for error.

Oh well, Michaelangelo didn't have White-Out at his disposal, either.

In any event, this is certainly an apex of my career, and I am most appreciative for the opportunity.

Do you dine often at The Palm?  Who knows, you may be in my sights next…

See you the first Tuesday of next month, when you will again have virtually in the Palm of your hand, the next Not Your Usual Caricature Artist.

Group Effort

Who’s up for a group hug?

Sure, I’m usually asked to draw individuals – men, women, kids…sometimes animals with men, women and kids.

But every now and then I get a request, usually from some corporate entity, to draw a group of individuals.

Maybe it’s intended as a gift memento to one of the group members, as a send-off to retirement.

Maybe it’s something to hang in the office as a testimony to teamwork throughout the year, and the morale-inspiring boost it gives to that team.

Or maybe it’s used as a light-hearted visual for a greeting card to send to clients, prospects and industry colleagues for the holidays – to remain top of mind with that audience/market.

Welcome to the May issue of Not Your Usual Caricature Artist from Caricatures by Joel.

Let these samples be a unique inspiration for you to consider similar approaches to doing business with your constituents.

This piece was commissioned by Duke Energy to gift their outgoing chairman and CEO, Jim Rogers.

This piece was created for The Wellness Plan, former Charlotte-area HMO, to showcase their staff as they welcomed key brokers to a gala dinner.

The following is a holiday card with Mcyntire Food Services staff doing the festive greetings.

This was a business magazine illustration, of representatives from different companies "in the profit-sharing swim."

Finally, did I say sometimes I've even drawn animals? 

This example is for a sales manager consultant who, for his newsletters, occasionally punctuates them with a cartoon positioning lions (sales force) vs. the lion tamer  (sales manager).

Catch our act again next month, with a brand new edition of Not Your Usual Caricature Artist.

Diamonds are This Artist's Best Friend

By popular demand, I am reprising Vol. I, No. 4's (2013) edition of this post (with some minor updating).

By who's demand?  Mine, of course.

It's our annual salute to Baseball, and it simply accommodates my schedule this time around to run this post once more.

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Ah, April.

That may mean one thing to tax accountants. But to yours truly, it means the start of -- depending on where you begin its history -- the 110th combined (National and American Leagues) season for our National Pastime.

Welcome to the horsehide-and-stitches edition of Not Your Usual Caricature Artist from Caricatures by Joel.

When I was a kid growing up in New York City, many considered that time to be a Golden Era of Baseball. After all, the Yankees had names like Mantle and Maris, Ford and Berra. The Dodgers and Giants eventually moved to the West Coast and the Mets came along to fill the National League gap with their own names (often of both repute...and ill repute): Throneberry and Hunt, later Seaver and Swoboda.

During that time, there were two newspaper cartoonists chronicling the exploits of these teams: New York World Telegram artist Willard Mullin and Daily News cartoonist Bill Gallo. For a kid like me -- the son of two artists and spellbound by Baseball -- it was a delight to check the paper each day and see what subject each of them might tackle.

Interestingly, each one came up with his own original character that has gone down in Baseball illustrated lore: Gallo's "Basement Bertha," generally representing the lowly Mets...and, more famously, Mullin's "Brooklyn Bum," depicting the Dodgers.

Now, ironically, I have no "pure" Baseball caricatures of my own to show; what I've done in the past have been given away as gifts.

But here are caricatures I did of two young men for their Bar Mitzvah Sign-In Board...and because for these sports multi-taskers there's a bat and a New York Yankees logo in them, they will have to suffice.

Here, too, are a drawing I did of one of the amateur sports coaches for the Powerade State Games tournament...and of Jordan Danks, a former Charlotte Knight, as commissioned by the team and presented to him -- at home plate -- as the all-time team hits leader.

What sport do you or a client, colleague, friend or family member enjoy...either reminiscing about or actually playing?

I'd love to help you put him or her in their own, personal Hall of Fame.

In the meantime, "Play Ball!" And see you again the first Tuesday of next month for another pitch right down the middle, from Not Your Usual Caricature Artist.

Joel Kweskin

Lights, Camera, Action!

In the wake of the recently televised Academy Awards, I got to thinking about movies made about…artists. And you know what – there’s a surprisingly ample number of them. 

There are biopics about the famous, the infamous and the obscure. About realistic artists, abstract artists, historical artists, contemporary artists, even a cartoonist or two…

Welcome to the March edition of Not Your Usual Caricature Artist from Caricatures by Joel.

If you want to be impressed by the sheer number of films devoted to this subject, and perhaps note those you’ve either seen or want to see, check out:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Biographical_films_about_artists

In no particular order, then, here are some fine representatives of the genre:

·       “The Agony and the Ecstasy” – 1965 – Charlton Heston as a burly Michaelangelo.

·       “Lust for Life” – 1956 – Kirk Douglas as the tortured Vincent Van Gogh and Oscar winner Anthony Quinn as Paul Gauguin.

·       “Frida” – 2002 – Salma Hayek as Mexican artist and eyebrow-challenged Frida Kahlo.

·       “Crumb” – 1994 – documentary about R. Crumb, avant-garde/bohemian cartoonist.

·       “My Left Foot” – 1989 – Daniel Day-Lewis as Irish artist/writer, and Cerebral Palsy victim, Christy Brown.

·       “Moulin Rouge” – 1952 – Jose Ferrer as Toulouse Lautrec.

·       “Pollock” – 2000 – Ed Harris as American abstract artist Jackson Pollock.

·       “Rembrandt” – 1936 – Charles Laughton as the famed Dutch painter.

·       “Girl with a Pearl Earring” – 2003 – Scarlett Johannsen as the eponymous “girl” in a famous painting by master of lighting Johannes Vermeer.

And last…and probably least (for this arbitrary, short list)…

·        “How to Murder Your Wife” – 1965 -- Jack Lemmon as fictional comic strip artist Stanley Ford who wakes up the next morning after a drunken bacchanal to realize he’s suddenly married to Virna Lisi.

(Well, you know it’s a comedy if any guy in his right mind wants to do away with Virna Lisi.)

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As for yours truly, no Oscar winners here, but some recent work at a wedding where I at least "immortalized” the guests as if they were stars:

Look for us again the first Tuesday of next month for another Todd-A-O, Technicolor and VistaVision adaptation of Not Your Usual Caricature Artist.

Can Caricature Drawing be Taught?

Can caricature drawing be taught?

Well, there are books on the subject, YouTube videos abound and there are some schools throughout the country whose curriculum embraces it in all seriousness, as they say.

One of the more renowned is the Kubert School, formerly the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art or Joe Kubert School, located in Dover, New Jersey, a three-year technical school that teaches the principles of sequential art and the particular craft of the comics industry as well as commercial illustration. The Kubert School was and still is the only accredited school devoted entirely to cartooning, caricaturing being among the subjects covered.

Welcome to the February edition of Not Your Usual Caricature Artist.

Despite the institutions and programs previously noted, I'm not entirely convinced that one can be taught to draw the human face and distort it in such a way as to get at both the individual's resemblance and their personality. And to do it all in a way that ultimately engenders a smile or chuckle -- or even a hearty guffaw -- from the subject him/herself.  It's kind of like learning to be a comedian; it's been said by professional comics that one has to be almost born with the skills -- to craft a phrase in just the right way, with pacing and timing that must be critically paired with it.

Does that make me and my fellow caricature artists geniuses of some sort?

No, it just means that we can draw to begin with...have a faculty for portraiture in replicating the human face...and are somehow hard-wired to evince, from our own humor-skewed sensibilities, a comical view of that individual through exaggeration and "enhancement" of their features.

Enough philosophical and anecdotal mumbo-jumbo.

Here are some recent caricatures done at a corporate event in Greensboro, NC.

 

 

Catch up with us again on the first Tuesday of next month with another scholarly treatise from Not Your Usual Caricature Artist.