Oh ~ I've been having so many words. I prefer to see Pictures as soon as I open this website. So here are a few pictures from a recent 1-year-old's Party:

I forgot to mention one more Complication. It's when people ask me to predraw scenes. Most people are happy with slim or cute or muscular Bodies, so I only have to draw one per gender and age. But still, the predrawn scene should take into account the age of the guest ~ 5-year-old girls don't have bodies like 15-year-old girls. And 15-year-old girls don't dress like 50-year-old women. And there are just as many variations for boys. A cute little 5-year-old boy doesn't look right with the body of a 15-year-old boy.

But if my client gives me a chance to point this out, it's still complicated. Because I might get hired to print up ten papers each for several different scenes. This means I will be spending time interrupting the drawing-Entertainment to look through for the right paper......

Oh.

What works best for most Parties is Direct Caricatures. Face-Only. Black and White Or Color ~ Artist's Choice in the Moment based on what she sees, what she draws, and what would best Entertain the guests who are there. It's great on individual papers, and it's Super if those Beautiful Mats are included.

People don't realize what they're asking me to do. I'm always willing to draw body/hobby if my client requests it, but that means that each person takes a longer turn while others are waiting at the party, less people get seen per hour, and the face is limited because I have to keep the party moving. Of course it's going to take longer to draw Face, Body And Hobby than to just draw Face.

I'm always willing to preprint a logo onto each paper ~ so the guests will remember where/why they got the picture, so the guests will remember the event. But if I show up with creatively prepared logos, the writing and the symbols get mixed up into the pictures that I am to subsequently draw. UPDATE JUNE 8, 2012: MORE EXPERIENCES, AND I'VE ACTUALLY GOTTEN BETTER AT MY JOB. AFTER MORE THAN 15 YEARS OF DOING THIS! BY BLOGGING ABOUT MY DISAPPOINTMENTS WITH THE LOGOS, I REMEMBERED ABOUT IT WHILE PREPARING FOR NEXT WEEK'S (LOGO REQUESTED) PARTY! I WILL DESIGN THE LOGO INTO THE FRAME-LINE OF THE PAGE. KEEPING IT NEAT. YES!

I'm always willing to predraw a scene if my client requests it, but that means that I can't be as creative with the composition ~ particularly affecting the picture when the guest requests more than one person to be included in the same picture. See the Samples below.

That also brings to mind that I'm always willing to draw more than one person in a picture, but that means that each person would have to be with me for a longer time. Because I have to compare back and forth between each person, and I have to coordinate them all together at the end of the drawing. And of course (and this is something that always amazes me ~ Some people actually think it would be faster if I draw more than one person on a page), it takes more than twice as long to draw two people on the same page (and more than three times as long to draw three people on the same page, etc). Because I still have to draw each face, the same as if I was drawing it on separate papers, And I also have to design the page to accommodate the way those particular faces fit together. This is Real Art.

I understand why people want these things, but especially with body/hobby, I think they're imagining large compositions in which I interview the whole life of a person and design it All into the picture, good likeness, funny twist, and more all in five minutes before I go on to the next. This is not realistic for a Party where I'm usually asked to draw as many people as possible.

I've drawn at Thousands of Parties. Countless Communions. Yearly Graduations. Endless Bar Mitzvahs...... I have a pretty good handle on what works best. On how to draw at a Party.

But I understand why people choose otherwise. The following pictures, for example, were ordered for the express purpose of furthering Marc Jacobs clothing. For bringing people into the store. For encouraging them to buy one of his latest dress designs. So I was hired to come with a ready-made body. Okay. But then, the store customers, seeing that they could get free Caricatures, wanted pictures of themselves with their friends and families. To remember the fun outing when they shopped together. For example, one of these pictures is of a bride's-maid-to-be who was taking her bride out shopping before the wedding. Of course they'd want to be in the picture together.

But they had no way to know that my client (who was paying for these pictures), had hired me to use that ready-made scene for each Caricature. It was a scene of One woman walking down the runway. Smack in the center of the picture. So how am I to design two or more people onto that page?

Here are some Samples that I drew at the recent Marc Jacobs event. Decide for yourself. Which 'specials' do you think were a good idea here. Which 'specials' were not a good idea.

I work for the client. I work for the guests. I wish they would trust me to do what I think feels best.

Note: When full Party is ordered All on One Giant Page, each guest comes individually, just like when I'm drawing one-person on a page. And I don't need them All together until the End of the Picture when I coordinate it all together. The Artwork is approached differently than when I'm asked to draw a small group on the regular-sized papers.

It feel so good to finish difficult projects successfully. To get the thumbs up from my client. Good. Done.

Do you remember that Power Point client that I had last year? Did some really neat illustrations for him.

UPDATE 2017: Egads ~ When I remember how crude it felt to use those old styluses on the IPads, I feel thrilled about our New Technology. These days I've switched to the White Pencil and the ProCreate App, and I would never consider working with the Supplies that I had when I made these CARICATURES.

He called again this year. To prepare for the Presentation he gives the employees. So much intensity. Talking with him ~ all the business stuff he knows ~ so intense brainstorming with him ~ of figuring out what he wants me to draw.

He has really intense ideas. And thinks that everyone knows what he knows. Like, like, do you know what a Bee Swarm is? In business? I'm just a freelance Artist here ~ I sure didn't know. As he's throwing words like Pricing Controls, Valuation Troubles, Pricing Discrepencies to me fast. Fast fast fast. And he wants all sorts of this stuff Written onto his pictures. Writing? I thought we were Drawing here. But okay. I'll include whatever he wants.

So first, he's describing all sorts of stuff to me. Including things like turning 6 people into dogs in a backyard. Digging for bones. Tossing them around. A pile of bones with those words on it. One of them chasing a bone all the way to China where a person says something specific....

Then, after I send him my quote, he whoa, didn't realize what it involves. Has a budget - What can we do? So I, after ruminating on the 6-person picture, had to redesign. stop. So he could switch to 2 dogs and 1 person. I drew the picture.

Then, Revisions. Take the ears off the dogs !?! 'Naturalize' the purple face. Bone that's going to China needs A Lot of Words on it.... Practically overnight production. I don't think he realizes what this all involves. We don't just erase things and find the 'lawn' behind it.

Here I am - middle of the night. Again. And here's the 2 pictures. The first one I designed with everything he said. And the 2nd one with the Revisions stuck on. Fun for me to do, but I don't think revisions are good for the integrity of the picture.

And the 2nd picture. He wanted TWENTY-EIGHT NAMES WRITTEN on puzzle pieces that come together in the form of a bee. Another complicated picture with a beehive with more types of business expressions, etc..... When he wanted to bring down the price, he cooled his coals. Beehive no longer needed (but I did manage to surprise him with a hint of a beehive in that first doggie picture - just for fun.)

Anyway, it was real hard to tone myself down to just write the names legibly. I also have grandiose ideas of my own. Wanting to do more than I have to (like it wasn't complicated enough?). Wanting to be more clever than I am. Then, I finally had to just GET IT DONE. and READABLE. Just USEFUL FOR MY CLIENT. Instead of trying to make Myself better than real. A little humility sure makes the job easier. would make Life easier.

Then, client received finished picture. And requested Revisions. Again. ??? Wanted me to write something on the bones. Not too much to change here. But on my own, I had to go back into it and fix the wings. Having sent him the pictures On Time, having met my client's really tight deadlines, I had to stop drawing when they were good enough, But since I got a little extra time that magically appeared when my client wanted revisions..... Well...... Wings!

And his 3rd picture. I was supposed to come up with a tug-of-war. With a small woman winning against their Competitor who was to be represented as a gorilla I can draw a gorilla?

I created the picture. Figuring out poses for winning and losing tug-of-war. Figuring out how to describe what the client wants...(Note: there's actually their logo written in the eureka-star. and their competitor's logo written along the bottom of the sweater. I chose to change it here to protect their privacy. I have nothing against either company.

Sent it to client and

Revisions! Again! Make the competitor's logo larger - on the back of his sweater. Make the girl heftier (How was I to know? He only sent me a little head-shot. Didn't even show the length of the girl's hair which I had to guess). And turn the sky-star into a blue-ribbon. Oh. I was thinking ~ How is that going to affect the Colors I had chosen..... AND - the gorilla had to be wearing pants. That's what my client said:

Oh. It's so satisfying to finally send it off the the client. And to receive his note of appreciation:

Quote: Well done and Thank You!! UnQuote.

It was great when I printed out the first versions at the Office-Supply store so I could make Revisions. I can't afford a Cintique. Or even a Wacum Tablet at these budget prices So I printed out the pictures and got to see a really good finished product. I like my style of Coloring in PhotoShop.

Good Night. I'm tired. The good kind of satisfied tired.

Did I say Good Night?