Digitally painted Jeep

A cropping of a fun gift caricature I'm working on.  I started coloring it digitally with my Wacom Intuos and decided to do the entire drawing digitally (not including the initial sketch which was drawn with pencil then scanned and opened in Photoshop).

The wonderful thing about Tiggers

A colored pencil drawing I did back in the mid nineties.  This pic is of a copy of the drawing and was snapped with my cell phone and shows some reflection towards the top.

Tablet sketch

This is a very quick sketch done at Best Buy of one of their salespeople.  I was checking out the "Samsung Ativ Smart PC Pro" which is an 11.6" Windows 8 based tablet and is one of the more powerful tablets on the market now.  The tab comes with the Wacom digitizer and I was sketching in the "S-note" app.  Looking back I didn't notice any pressure sensitivity but I'm sure it was either that particular app or the pen wasn't set up correctly yet.
UPDATE:  I believe I was wrong in stating that the tablet was the "smart pc pro" version of the tablet when after research it was just the "smart pc" version.  Still a very cool machine but not the same specs.

Me by other artists

This is a caricature of me by Dino Casterline at Six Flags in Aurora, Ohio from the summer of 2008.  I had a gig with Scott Hall for a company picnic and after the gig (since I already had park access) I walked around looking at other artists.  I was happy to see that Dino was working and quickly sat down in his chair!

More ISCA Con pics. Kirby Rudolph by various artists

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Robert Bauer as a Pan

I believe this is Robert Bauer done by Kira Layli at the con.  One of my favorites.  Kira's art is always full of life, colorful and there's usually no lack of humorous body situations.

More Con pics

More great wall art from the con.  So much eye candy, so little time....

Near portrait

Another of the same young lady from my last post (Princess Braces) with an entirely different take on caricature.  Beautifully rendered, this one is ever-so-slightly exaggerated and super-accurate as opposed to the extreme Candy land Princess Braces.  I love 'em both!

Princess Braces

This is probably my favorite piece of art from the ISCA Con this year.  I wish I had a picture of the young lady who was the subject.  The art is just sooo funny and very accurate in a caricature kind of way!

Convention pics

Some wall space pics from the con.  The artists are Tomomi Monma (one of my favorite B&W artists) and the color art is from Shiori Sato.

ISCA Convention wall space

Here are the wall spaces of Brent Knoll, Anthony Smith and Aina Sone.  Awesome!

John Kascht

The artist John Kascht, Steve Hearn and me.  While at the ISCA Convention I arrived a little early for one of John's presentations and much to the dismay of Steve, the doors to the presentation room were locked.  We chatted for a while and I took the opportunity to take a few photos.  I was very impressed by John.  He was very friendly and down to earth, even stopping at the table where I was working on a drawing and sat down to talk for a while.  If you haven't seen it check out his Conan O' Brien video on youtube.

Another Convention wall pic.

Another pencil drawing done at the con.

2012 ISCA Convention photo

Here is a drawing of Ray Shipman that I did for my wall at the ISCA Convention in San Antonio this year.

ISCA 2012 Convention

I just got home yesterday from the annual ISCA Convention that was held this year in San Antonio, Texas.  I had a blast meeting new people and seeing old friends!  All the art was great and the seminars were entertaining and informative.  Of all times to fail, my camera for some reason is not letting me download my pictures.. Grrrrrr!  I'll find a solution soon and post some juicy eye candy caricature con art.

Nate & Ben

A friend of mine (the one on the left) posted a photo on facebook of him and his brother.  Of course I got inspired and did a very quick sketch.

Steve Hearn sketch

A sketch of Steve Hearn, the current president of the ISCA (International Society of Caricature Artists).  Steve has stated he will be stepping down after the annual convention in November.  Thanks for your service  the past two years Steve!

Family Cruise

This is a cropped image of a drawing I finished recently.  It's a combination of photoshop, colored pencil and a smidge of paint.  I really enjoyed working on it!

Youth, the future of America

Another live caricature.

Live stuff

I don't post enough of my live stuff so I thought I'd add a couple to the ol' blog.

David O'keefe gallery

I recently spent a week in Florida and was able to visit the Gallery of David O'keefe in St. Armands Circle.  What a treat it was to see so many of his works on display. It was a gallery devoted entirely to David's caricatures and the best shop I had visited in a long time.  David was one of the speakers at the 2011 ISCA convention in St. Petersburg. He is so talented not only at capturing likenesses in different styles but also taking it to new levels by fully rendering his compositions.  I respect the "no photos" policy inside the gallery but wish I could have taken a few to share here.  If you're ever in the Sarasota area I recommend visiting his gallery.  Also, just down the street is the Wyland gallery which has very high end art and is well worth a look.
 

High school art panoramas

During our local fair I like to check out the high school art displays.  It's interesting and inspiring to see all the art that the young men and women create and all the ideas they have.

Mort's work

I saw this book at a sale this past Saturday.  The cover is by Mort Drucker and it's one I've never seen.  He is very near the top of my "favorite artists" list and was one of my artistic influences growing up (not that I ever really grew up - lets not get crazy here!).  Speaking of Mr. Drucker, I see that the book "MAD's greatest artists: Mort Drucker" is available for pre-order on Amazon.com and will be released in October.  Also, Jan Op De Beeck will have a new book out soon and Nate Kapnicky's "Beasted" book is out!  If you're not familiar with these artists you owe it to yourself to check em out.  I could go on and on about art books that inspire me but I'll leave that for another post.

John's Powerwashing truck

Here's the powerwashing dude applied to the truck.  A true life sized caricature!  I should have requested to draw the spraying water too.

Live stuff

Another from today's gig.

Live work

A live caricature from today's gig at a company picnic (the guy took his cap off for the drawing).  This guys daughter took one look at the drawing and instantly exclaimed "THAT'S DAD!!".

Stella!!!!!

Stella McCartney caricature sketch for this week's ISCA members digiworkshop.

Sharpie brush tip marker

I tried one of the new Sharpie brush tip markers at some gigs this weekend. It works very well but starts getting dry way too quick - of course you can see how much shorter it is than most other markers. It feels dryer on the page (more of a chalky feel) than the Utrecht, which is what I currently use.  I didn't notice the slightly chalky feel of the Sharpie till it got dry and I switched to the Utrecht which glided on the paper more smoothly.  It's cheaper than the Utrecht - I found it for $1.49 each at Staples.  The Utrechts are $1.99 each but I also pay shipping cost.  The Sharpie is a good substitute if you run out or forget your markers when going to a gig. Also, IMHO it's more difficult to get really thin lines like when doing eye lashes especially when you've been using it for a while. 

James Cromwell sketch

The ISCA site started a "digiworkshop" where each week a different subject is chosen to caricaturize.  Members discuss how they see the subject's facial structure and therefore how they will exaggerate their image,  then they post images of their artwork.  Last week's subject was James Cromwell so here is my contribution.

Wedding signing board

I drew caricatures at a wedding last night.  I had completed this drawing for the bride to be a couple of weeks ago and it was used as a singing board at the wedding.  I like all the notes and well wishes around the border.

Random doodle

It scares me what I think of sometimes.  I actually doodled this on my desk calendar at work then did one with color at home.

Sunny day at Akron Arts Expo

Akron Arts Expo

The Akron Arts Expo was this weekend.  I haven't been to it in a few years and it has really grown - well worth seeing!  It's held every year at Hardesty Park in Akron, Oh. and is a great show.

Under (color) pressure

The final of "Pressure Washer Dude".  It's for a client and the end of the nozzle had to be in a specific spot to  line up with the other part of the graphic.

Under pressure (washer)

This is the ink for a rush job that will be in color.  Usually I don't like my work when I rush but I like how this one turned out.

Wedding sign-in pic

Here is a drawing I did of a couple that will be getting married soon.  This drawing will be displayed at the wedding and used as a sign-in board for their guests.  Actually I will cut a piece of mat board to frame the drawing that the guests will sign.  The client didn't want their wedding attire hence the black suit and purple dress.  She also wanted several local landmarks added in such as the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  I'm not 100% happy with this one as there are a few "structural issues" - the client contacted me and tightened up the deadline so I kind of rushed it.

Boston Mills Artfest 2012

A couple images of the Boston Mills Artfest in Peninsula, Oh. This is my favorite art show each year with tons of mega talented folks and high quality art - great for a little mid summer artistic inspiration!  It's held each year at Boston Mills ski resort in the beautiful Cuyahoga Valley on the last weekend in June and the first weekend in July.

Lil' charmer

Now she decides to smile!  While drawing the girl on the left her mom and me were trying to get her to smile but she was getting impatient and refused... until she saw the finished drawing.

A sister and brother done at a recent graduation party.

A recent live caricature drawn at a Relay for Life charity event.

Barbarius

I"ll call him Barbarius.  This is a memory sketch that I just pulled out of me noggin.

Android sketch

A little super-quick android sketch.