Haven’t tried any abstract caricatures on my iPad yet, but thought I’d give it a try. Figured I’d start with a face I know all too well…
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
The Prodigal Son
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Had a client awhile back commission this illustration to use in some seminars he does for pretty big corporations. Wasn’t quite sure how this particular Bible story fit in with what he does, but I’ve always liked this parable, so I figure it would be fun to draw. I like doing B&W sometimes like this.
Dino Boy Sketch!
StandardHad a lot of fun sketching this quick one of Dino Boy! Who’s Dino Boy you ask? Only the greatest character ever created by my good buddy Kenny Durkin’s fourteen year old ( ? ) son, Alex. Keep drawing, Alex! You’ve got tons of talent!
Joker….
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My buddy Tom Richmond has an amazing Batman suit. If he’s Batman, then I guess I am the Clown Prince of Crime. By the way, Photoshop was used only on the colors here….
Here’s the original, untouched photo from this year’s National Cartoonists Society Ruebens Award Weekend.Creepy!
Michele Nichols… Never Forgotten
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It’s been two days since I found out, and I still don’t know what to say.
If you’ve caught the national News the past few days, you may have heard that a small plane went down around midnight Wednesday in Minnesota. Fellow caricaturist and friend, Michele Nichols, was on that plane.
There were no survivors. Michele was an amazing, incredible person. A few months ago, I was just playing around and started to sketch some of the artists who work with our caricature concession company, Caricature Connection. Michele, one of our Lead Artists, was one of the ones I drew. I went on to
ink and color it. The next time I saw Michele, I told her about the drawing, and how I thought she’d like it. I promised to email it to her.
Unfortunately, I never got around to it to her. Here it is now. I know somehow she can see it still. Sorry it took so long, Shelley!I
Our condolences go out to Michele’s entire family, especially her Dad, our friend Randy Nichols.
Randy was the music leader at a church Barbie and I attended for a few years and an all around amazing, gifted musician. I will never forget being at a gig at the Grand Floridian five years ago, when Randy jumped off the stage (he was there with his band, performing) after a set was done, and proceeded to make his way to where we were set up drawing caricatures. It was a large event, and we had many artists there. He spoke to someone, and they referred him to me. Not recognizing me from church, he asked how someone got a job doing this, drawing caricatures. He told me he had a daughter that was a really good artist. I gave him my name and number, but figured I would never hear anything back from it.
Two months or less later, his daughter, Michele, started at CC. Here she is on the left, on her very first day, at a training session I offered to anyone who wanted to work with us. My oldest daughter, Brady Ann, is the little girl in the photo. She was so proud to be there with “the big people”, drawing along side them. She was always a fan of Michele’s art as well.
I will never forget Michele’s smile, her rapport with guests, her spirit. After several years with us, it was obvious that Michele was one of the best and brightest C.C. had ever had the chance to work with. So her promotion to “Lead” status was long overdue. She seemed so proud of becoming a Lead, and we were so happy to have her in that capacity. I only wish it had lasted longer.
Here we are at a big gig awhile back, ready to start drawing the hundreds of guests. Michele was always an integral part of these big events, helping me organize the lines, making sure as many guests as possible were drawn, and producing her always amazing artwork.
Guests and clients alike adored her . In the last year or so, she was one of the artists we booked the most on events.
Tonight, as I was writing this, I remembered a caricature of me that Michele had drawn a couple of years ago. I went and scanned it in to show it here. It’s one of my most highly prized possessions. There won’t be anymore caricatures drawn by Michele. At least not here.
Randy was the music leader at a church Barbie and I attended for a few years and an all around amazing, gifted musician. I will never forget being at a gig at the Grand Floridian five years ago, when Randy jumped off the stage (he was there with his band, performing) after a set was done, and proceeded to make his way to where we were set up drawing caricatures. It was a large event, and we had many artists there. He spoke to someone, and they referred him to me. Not recognizing me from church, he asked how someone got a job doing this, drawing caricatures. He told me he had a daughter that was a really good artist. I gave him my name and number, but figured I would never hear anything back from it.
Two months or less later, his daughter, Michele, started at CC. Here she is on the left, on her very first day, at a training session I offered to anyone who wanted to work with us. My oldest daughter, Brady Ann, is the little girl in the photo. She was so proud to be there with “the big people”, drawing along side them. She was always a fan of Michele’s art as well.
I will never forget Michele’s smile, her rapport with guests, her spirit. After several years with us, it was obvious that Michele was one of the best and brightest C.C. had ever had the chance to work with. So her promotion to “Lead” status was long overdue. She seemed so proud of becoming a Lead, and we were so happy to have her in that capacity. I only wish it had lasted longer.
Here we are at a big gig awhile back, ready to start drawing the hundreds of guests. Michele was always an integral part of these big events, helping me organize the lines, making sure as many guests as possible were drawn, and producing her always amazing artwork.
Guests and clients alike adored her . In the last year or so, she was one of the artists we booked the most on events.
Tonight, as I was writing this, I remembered a caricature of me that Michele had drawn a couple of years ago. I went and scanned it in to show it here. It’s one of my most highly prized possessions. There won’t be anymore caricatures drawn by Michele. At least not here. I am heartbroken tonight, but I am at the same time elated. Why? Because I know that Michele was a fellow Christian and I know she had a Glorious Homecoming. I bet she’s drawing everyone in Heaven right now….
We love you, Michele.
We will see you again one day…..
Lunar Donut LIVES!!!!
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Well, the time is drawing near for my comic strip venture to “go live”. In the time my friend and writing partner, Jeremy James, and I have been working on this, we’ve went through several name and story changes, but kept the cast of characters pretty much the same. Think of it like movie scripts that have “working titles”. But we’ve finally decided on the ACTUAL title and story line now! We’re still working on the “real site” for the strip, but until then, I’ll continue posting development sketches and storyline stuff over on the new blog,www.lunardonut.blogspot.com
iPad Drawing
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I haven’t talked about it on here yet, but I bought an iPad last week…. and
I LOVE it! This thing has made my laptop obsolete overnight, and man, am I glad I didn’t waste my money on a Kindle Reader a few months ago! I downloaded the Kindle app and have been really enjoying reading them on my iPad ( the selection of books on the Amazon Kindle app is far better than iBook that comes with the iPad ).
PLUS, I can draw on the iPad! I purchased a POGO Sketch stylus to draw with, and I’ve been practicing with it when I can. I’m going to be doing live caricature bookings on the iPad( already have a huge booking on it in Vegas this Fall) so I want to get really good with it. I want my lines to look like my ” normal ” lines, ya know? But drawing with the POGO is a little weird. There’s a definite learning curve. With the sponge-y end, I liken it to drawing with a little pillow on the end of a stick. LOL.
Anyway, I am starting to get the hang of it now, I think. Here’s a Ben 10 I drew last night all on the iPad with Sketchbook Pro. Hope ya like!
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:S Kirkman Rd,Orlando,United States
Grafitti
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A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine, Marco Garcia, and I did a Grafitti gig for a client.I got a ton of photos, and am finally downloading them. Here’s a few:
The Tag Master, Marco, about to begin his masterpiece…
THIS was too funny. The guests at the event were encouraged to grab a spray can and “Be A Tagger” for the night, painting whatever they wanted. Part of our job was to be “greeters” to our painting area, help the guests, encourage them, and worse case scenario, cover up any profanity or obscene images they might try to write or draw.
Anyway, among the guests was this guy, a for real rocket scientist who grew up in Brooklyn and was a real “Tagger” in his teens. He painted on underpasses, buildings, subways, all while being chased by police, he told us. So we gave him a stylin’ paint suit and a can of paint. He was the real deal! Wow, in his fifteen minutes with us he really knocked out a lot of the sponsor company’s logo that we were to draw an abstract version of. Free help! Gotta love that!
Here’s one of me painting up high. ( And getting “high” from the fumes, LOL. )
The final logo side. The client loved it!
Here’s one of me painting up high. ( And getting “high” from the fumes, LOL. )
The final logo side. The client loved it!
Shoes! …..?
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Yep, this is going down in history as one of my strangest live gigs ever. Believe it or not…. I was recently hired by an agent to draw SHOES. I’ve drawn faces, all sides of figures, people as Simpsons characters, as Superheroes, as M&Ms, as Cars, as Animals, all sorts of things. But this was my first “from the knee down” gig.
It was for a shoe event at a local high end department store. This afternoon, a few weeks ago, they had me, a DJ, and a caterer ( serving cosmos …. very “Sex in the City”-ish). All I was supposed to do was draw the customers’ feet as they posed them in the store’s very price-y shoes.
Here I remembered to snap a picture of my “models” for you. Let me tell you, feet aren’t the easiest things to draw. Well, cartoony feet like I usually draw, aren’t hard. But pretty, even sexy feet… well, that’s not something a cartoonist who usually specializes in caricaturing faces is accustomed to drawing. I learned one thing for sure-don’t give a woman a “fat foot”!
Now by THIS time, I’d kinda figured out a “style” for the feet. Likeness, I learned, wasn’t important. Just drawing a sexy, elegant foot was. Oh, and the shoes had to be pretty exact! This particular pair was for sale for $1200!
Here I remembered to snap a picture of my “models” for you. Let me tell you, feet aren’t the easiest things to draw. Well, cartoony feet like I usually draw, aren’t hard. But pretty, even sexy feet… well, that’s not something a cartoonist who usually specializes in caricaturing faces is accustomed to drawing. I learned one thing for sure-don’t give a woman a “fat foot”!
Now by THIS time, I’d kinda figured out a “style” for the feet. Likeness, I learned, wasn’t important. Just drawing a sexy, elegant foot was. Oh, and the shoes had to be pretty exact! This particular pair was for sale for $1200! Yeah… my jaw fell open, too.
The lady IN the shoe said she bought them just because I made her foot look so good in it. I sold LOTS of $$$ worth of shoes for the store this day.
Shoes…. who woulda thought?
Comics….
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Never fear…. the rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated. I AM still here. Just very busy working. In between assignments, I am continuing to develop the comic strip I’ve spoken about recently. The entire concept is going through lots o changes…. I’m not ready to share most of them yet, but I did want to show this first ever lineup of the entire family/cast. Hope you like!
Keelan Parham.com 