Two sisters, two wedding gifts!

Over the summer, both my sister Katie and sister Sara were married. (congrats girls!) I'm very happy for both of them and gave them each a practical gift ("The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands" by Dr. Laura Schlessinger) as well as an impractical gift-- an artistic interpretation of their engagement photo. Here are the results:

(click for larger version)

Ethan and Katie
watercolor

Tony and Sara

b/w watercolor

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Catching Up...

Long time, no blog...

It was a busy summer working at the ballpark and doing my fill of gigs and studio work. I have plenty of work to show off, but I'll do that a bit at a time to keep you all in suspense. haha

Here are a couple of pieces from the Summer of '09:

(click for a larger view)

A gift for an accountant. (Digital b/w)

A birthday gift for his wife. (Digital color)

A 50th Anniversary gift portrait. (Acrylic on canvas)

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The Stand at Huntington Park

Here are some photos of the caricature stand at Huntington Park. Business is much better in this location than the original location, so things are looking up! It's been a lot of hard work, but I've had a lot of fun and am starting to see some profit.

Last night was my best night yet at the park! I drew 39 people and was busy for almost the entire game, including a bit before the game when usually no one gets drawn because they are so focused on finding their seats.

(click on photos to see a larger version)

A couple of happy customers! Usually the drawings have a baseball theme, but the heads filled the page, so I just made it fun with a little "rabbit ears" action. Because I was so busy, I didn't take time to take client photos, but this should give you an idea at what I'm doing...



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Caricatures at Clippers Games!

After three months of trying, I now have a caricature booth at Columbus Clipper home games at Huntington Park! The booth started business on Saturday the 13th, and I am hoping to continue working at home games through the end of the season.

Thus far sales have not been great, but we may need to work out location and pricing to find the best combination. If you are in the Columbus area, come by the park and say "hi"!

I'll try to post pictures soon. Stay tuned!

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Gig Photos from May

I had several gigs in May (which is why I didn't have much time to blog), and here are a few of my favorites from those gigs:

(click on any picture for a larger view)

Strongsville HS Afterprom, 5/1/09


Dublin Senior Center, 5/19/09



Ohio State, 5/30/09


... and then, right after this gig, I must have dropped my camera because the LED screen is now cracked and now I have to get a new screen or a new camera. I hate these stupid fragile digital cameras! That's the third time that this has happened. They are really weak and rendered completely useless by the most minor of dings. I'm thinking of switching to either a rubber camera or a cheapie without the luxury of a screen on the back. Ugh...



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Caricatures on two wheels!

Sometimes, by pure coincidence, I get different clients who will order similar things at the same time. Last week I had orders for a man on a motorcycle at the same time as an order for another man on his bicycle. One is for Father's Day, the other is a graduation gift. That they are going the same direction is coincidental because the direction is based on the angle of their faces in the photos they sent me.

(click to see larger version)

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Live Caricature Comparison

Sometimes I take photos of people holding their caricatures at gigs to have a record of the drawings I do, however, often the people hold the picture with a different look on their face than what I saw when I drew them. At a recent gig I drew Dave, and he posted his drawing on myspace and sent me a link. From his photos, you can see the expression that I tried to capture.

You can see that I exaggerated his long face shape and mouth. I think I also captured his far-away eyes! Considering that it was done in about three minutes, I think I did a decent job with this one.

Let me know what YOU think!


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Latest gig photos!

Yesterday I worked an all-day, nine hour gig for Verizon Wireless. I worked from 10 am to 7 pm with only a five minute break to grab a snack. Yep, no bathroom breaks! No lunch break! Someone call the union! haha But I had a great time and really enjoyed some fun people and good drawing.

I've posted photos from that gig and other recent gigs on my facebook page here: My Facebook Fan Page Please check them out and if you haven't done so, become a "fan" to get updates and exclusive offers.

Here a couple of photos to get you started...



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Wrestling Day

Last Saturday I worked at the annual Tournament of Champions wrestling tournament. It was an all-day affair where I was there selling caricatures for $10 a person from 9:30 am to 7:00 pm. I had three pre-made wrestling bodies to choose from (and one cheerleader body) and put the heads on the bodies. For five bucks more you could get a custom body (I did five of those), and for three dollars more, I'd add color (I did several with color).

I've done this tournament for over a dozen years now, and this was probably one of my weakest years ever, the worst in a decade and maybe even the worst ever. Part of it was the change in the format of the event, and the venue was quite different. I was set-up in a different location, and that may have contributed to the slow day as well. I really don't know. I'm wondering how much of it was the economy, how much of it was my location and what, if any of it, was the clientele.

It didn't seem that there were many people that complained about the price. There was one mother with two daughters who said "is it 20 for two?" and walked away when I said it was. At the point she asked that, I was willing to give her a discount just to get someone to draw, but she left so quickly that I didn't get the chance. But other than her, there didn't seem to be people balking at the price as much as there were just kids that wanted to watch and not get drawn and people who just weren't interested at all (not even looking as they went past). I did have several people upgrade to color, so the ones that did get drawn didn't seem to mind spending a little extra.

It's very disappointing because I put a lot of effort into new signage and turned down another job and put aside some personal things to do this event. Combined with last year's Arts Fest numbers being down, this has been a very rough year for me as far as retail is concerned. These are really the only two retail events I do, but they are usually big money-makers. Unfortunately at a time when I need it most, the money is just not there. :(

The good news is that I have recently booked a few all-day gigs that will pay me a "day rate" which is a maximum I charge for a day's work. The first of these comes tomorrow when I will work for nine hours for Verizon. This should make up for some of the "lost" income from the weekend.

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Parents Day Sale! 4/20-6/12

Parents Day Portrait Sale!

The latest sale from FunFaces.com is in time for Mother's Day and Father's Day. It's the Parents Day Portrait Sale! Mention "Parent's Day Sale" in your order and receive 15% off of any portrait ordered between 4/20/2009 and 6/12/2009.

Happy Mother's and Father's Day from FunFaces.com!

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