Monday, April 29, 2013

A few gigs, a new drawing... now the real fun begins!


This year's Tournament of Champions (wrestling tournament, Apr 19-20) was the most productive in many years. Maybe people are getting used to the recession?  I don't know. But I was busy for most of the 8 hours I was there and many people were paying the color upgrade fee.  In the past few years the retail side of my business has well below previous years' amounts, so maybe this is a good sign!

This gives me hope for... the Arts Fest!  After sitting out last year, I was given word that I will be back to draw at the Columbus Arts Fest 2013 on June 7-9th. I also received very positive feedback from the director of the Arts Fest on my samples as well.  This director has had experience with caricature and portrait artists and seemed to be quite interested in having quality street artists at the festival.

I also drew at a bar mitzvah, a senior center and a high school prom over the last week.  But after having today off, I will be drawing every day for two weeks solid starting tomorrow with a two day trade show, several Clippers home games, two parties, a picnic and a prom and and afterprom rounding out the schedule. But I want to encourage anyone in the Columbus area to come out to a special charity gig I'll be doing on May 10th at Olentangy Liberty High School-- Relay for Life. It's a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, and I will be drawing from 6:30 to 9:30 that Friday evening.

Last week I did another digital caricature commission for a lovely family in Midland, Michigan.  The joke in the family is that Grandpa tells the grandkids that the "Whippy Dip is closed", so this joke was incorporated into the drawing.
(click to enlarge)


Thursday, April 18, 2013

April showers bring Mo' money!

Well, opening day for the Clippers was rained out... then the next night it was cold and there was hardly anyone there... then the next day was even colder so I didn't even bother going. But then we had two days of good weather before the game got rained out again!  That's the retail game for ya... but it was good to get the booth set up and ready for what I hope to be a great season.

While the team is out of town for a bit I've been trying to catch up on studio work. I get to be a homebody for awhile, which is nice, however, that will be short lived. This weekend is Wrestling Day (the Ohio Tournament of Champions) where I will work Friday night and almost all day Saturday doing retail for a youth wrestling tournament. Then Saturday night I am drawing at a bar mitzvah. That's 16 hours of work in the space of   28 hours. Ouch. The Clippers come back for a couple of days and then I have another week without nightly games to do studio work before I start a stretch where I'm working almost every day for two weeks straight and 15 out of 17 days!  That stretch culminates in a tripleheader day where I work 10-1 pm, 7:00-10:30 and 11:30-3:00 am! Whew! April 26-May 11th will be a real workout for my poor lil' ol' drawing hand!

Here are some of the drawings I've done in the last couple of weeks. More to come soon as I have orders in for groups of 6, 8 and 6 + a dog! (that's 21 if you're keeping score!)

For a bar mitzvah sign-in board 
(packaged with gig this weekend)

 
Watercolor for the United Way

 Digital drawing for website

 Digital painting for retiree.

Digital painting for retiree. 
(same company as above)



Friday, April 5, 2013

Here Come the Clippers!

The 2013 home opener for the Clippers is this coming Thursday... I can't wait!   I will be posting new samples reflecting the new players currently on the team. Below is one of the new signees- Daisuke Matsuzaka. (aka Dice-K) 

The first month of the season is always a bit rough with the weather cooling off quickly after sunset or sometimes not getting above 50 degrees, but it's always great to be at Huntington Park even if I'm just watching the game from the left field corner with my space heater between my legs!

In it's fifth year of operation, I'll be making some changes at the booth. Because I end up drawing the same baseball bodies repeatedly, I'll be offering some preprinted bodies for the first time. This should hopefully lead to faster turnover and more volume. I also hope to have better signage and lighting to increase visibility.

Since I'm now established at the park, I have to look at ways to make keep the booth fresh and different for those who come regularly.  I'm also always surprised to find people who have been to games and haven't seen my booth!  Just about everyone who enters the stadium has to walk by my location (unless they have cheap seats in the bleachers or high class seats in the executive suites) but yet somehow there are people I've talked to who said they didn't see me. I can't be too conspicuous of course but I can't just fade into the scenery and expect to make money!

If you are in Central Ohio, I hope you'll come by and say "hi" to me at the ballpark! Even if I'm drawing someone, I pay attention to everything around me (including the game) so don't worry about "interrupting" anything.  Just say hi and I will be happy to see you.