Here are some Samples of the black/white line-work that I will be doing at more conservative events. If I need to save time, I can just give out the black line work. But it's usually better to add the shading. I was playing around with different types of shading, sometimes a black Color Stick, sometimes a light gray marker, sometimes a dark gray marker.

I felt like the black Color Stick was good for Coloring in the large area of the hair, but it looked a little dirty on the face. I prefer the gray marker for shading on the face. Probably not a good idea to go too dark with the gray shading.

I'm more likely to take photos at gigs where I'm drawing my Fun Exaggerations. They excite me more. The tamer ones, also lovely,but I just do them. I know how, and it doesn't feel like I have to reinvent the wheel every time I approach a new picture.

I keep forgetting to take photos at the events where people request tamer Caricatures. So I quickly drew this one after yesterday's event when I realized that, Oh, once again, I forgot to take photos.

I do like the lovely line quality that I make with the Tombow marker:

Here are some of the Caricatures that I drew at Steinway Piano as per my post of December 29, 2013. Can you tell which drawings felt like I was drawing in a strait-jacket and which were my freer renditions?

Luckily I had arrived early ~ I needed the time to accommodate my liason's instructions. She surprised me with a last-minute request to include a reference of the building in each picture. Oh. I wanted to create, I wanted to fly, I wanted to keep the event moving, but now each picture was going to include lag-time while I adapted the unique faces into the building reference. That not only affects the time it takes to draw each person, it also affects the way the people feel when they're standing there, hence affecting the flow of the Party Entertainment. Drawing extras on the spot ~ Not the best idea for Party Entertainment, but I did understand why my client would want memories of the building. Still, wouldn't they remember the building just by seeing the pictures that were drawn here with their coworkers?

And what to draw for the building reference? Everywhere I turned, it was a different scene, and I would have to know what I was going to be doing before I started the Party. When you want to draw approximately 10 likenesses per hour, there really isn't time to Caricature a different background for each one also. So before the event actually started, I drew one scene for my reference. I felt okay about keeping the scene simple because their hallway was filled with original Art from the New Yorker Magazine. Still, it limited my freedom to 'dance' with each picture. I felt so happy half way through the party when the boss changed the instructions and let me draw just the faces, as I usually do. That's why some of these Caricatures are stiffer than the ones that are great. Pictures have a life of their own, and when we try to Control them, we're falling into a non-Artist's trap.

BTW, sometimes references naturally flow into my pictures anyway ~ even when I'm not forcing it to happen. For example, the 'piano keys' in the beard on the 'Best Men' picture. That happened After I was relieved of the extra instruction. and the reason they were labeled 'Best Men' is because they told me that one of them was the Best Man at the other's wedding References happen naturally. And they find their way into a picture naturally. It's part of the Real Experience.

Quote "Alison, Thank You so much for such an amazing job. We could not be happier! ___(Girl's Name)___ is still shocked and all of our family and friends love the caricature and the proposal! It could not have gone any better. Thanks for sending over the pictures. We will keep you in mind for our future caricature needs!" Unquote