Keenan

More Gift Caricatures

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Wow, I guess everyone forgot about Christmas this year. I’ve been very busy with gift caricatures, both private and corporate for a few months now. But last week I got SLAMMED with orders. And they all were willing to pay Rush and Double Rush fees to get them this week.  Profitable, but more than a wee bit exhausting. It’s a good problem to have though…. that’s for sure. And I get paid to draw! Life is good. Anyway, here’s one of the ones from this week that I liked. The setting they requested was the Ralph Lauren Restaurant in Chicago:Screen shot 2013-12-18 at 8.25.51 PM

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Super Hero Caricatures!

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Super Holidays!

I haven’t had but a few requests for large Super Hero themed group caricatures over the years. Which brings up the obvious question…. WHY NOT?!? Seriously, this was a ton of fun to do. And since the client requested that no “real” superhero costumes be depicted, because of copyrights and trademarks, I had to come up with costumes that were “homages” to existing characters. Which actually made it more fun! See if you can pick out all of the references!

Holiday Cards and Group Caricatures

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It’s that time of year again! The time of year when I get busy with Corporate and Family Holiday  Greeting Cards. I’ve got two groups in my To Do folder on my computer right now. One with ten people, and one with 25. Group caricatures are fun, but challenging, just because you have to leave room for everyone. Composition, composition, composition!  PLUS, you have all of the different faces and personalities. Most groups are great, with no problems. But every once in awhile…. you get the one or two people in a group who say stuff like “This is the only picture I like myself in, so draw from it” ( And the photo is fifteen years old), or “My hair, which is blonde, is normally curly like this photo but I want it straight. And red”. Both comments based on actual events, btw.

Here’s a drawing I did of a great, easy to work with group last year ( they got it done early then too, so they didn’t want any Holiday decorations on it ):Group

Event Drawings, part 1

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One of the cool things I get hired to do at events is to go out and actually draw the event. I do a large 18×24 black and white line drawing of the party, or whatever the event is, as it is proceeding. After drawing caricatures for 20+ years, I’m pretty quick at capturing likenesses, so I include any VIPs who need to be in the picture, and anyone else who stands out to me. ( I also usually hide myself in the drawings somewhere, when feasible). These samples are from a wedding I drew at:

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This client paid for gray toned paper and shading on their drawing, which is an option I offer. I can also do these digitally, on the iPad, when preferred. 

 

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Hey, that guy’s hair on the left looks awfully familiar….

 

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The Best Man’s toast! I love drawing groups of people, so this is a perfect fit for my talents. I’ll share a few more of these on my blog here in the upcoming days, as I locate the photos of them on my computer….

iPad caricatures: Sherlock

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A quick iPad caricature of Benedict Cumberbatch of the latest Star Trek movie and Sherlock Holmes fame on BBC. Just playing around with some different brushes in Art Studio….

iPad Caricatures: James Thomas

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I’m not sure if it’s the upgrade to iOS7 or not, but for some reason this past week, ArtStudio on my iPad has been acting weird. Even basic tools like the Paint bucket have been working erratically. So, what do you do when the “normal” way you work doesn’t work anymore? Change the way you work! That’s what I had to do midway through a live digital caricaturing event I was performing at last week. I’ll see if I can find some of those pix and share them here. I went for a “rougher”, more natural tools looking style, instead of really smooth, slick brushes. I also colored on a lower layer, with a big brush rather than the aforementioned paint bucket, leaving some rim lighting within the lines. This is a drawing I did after the gig, of fellow caricaturist James Thomas, as I continued to play around in this new style. It kind of has a more illustrative quality, so I may keep doing stuff his way.