Wowwhee ~ Well, blow me down. I had chosen some photos at random from this blog to practice just nice quick Caricatures. More uniform ~ everyone's in practically the same pose. I had thought this quicker approach was going to look amateur, but boy was I surprised.

Easy for me to do, yet they were still Fun. The Caricatures aren't as Wild, the style isn't far-out, there's an almost guaranteed 'nice look' to the face, but they still use my Real Art Skills. The Real Art of harmonizing my vision with the expression in front of me. And best of all, they're easy for me to do. Did I say that already? And quick!

Nothing wrong with the Original Caricatures ~ I just chose these photos because I wanted to see 3/4 view of the face. I used only 2 Black Markers ~ a Charpak and a Tombow. Simple.

I thought I would have been ashamed if I only drew like this at a gig. So I approached the exercise with Humility. Perhaps I shouldn't focus on how Wonderfully evolved my Artistic Visions can be. Perhaps I shouldn't be looking for 'applause'.

So I drew nice plain pictures ~ imposing what I see onto 'fill-in-the-blanks'. And I was so surprised to see that I would not be ashamed of such 'nice' pictures at all. By applying the skills that I had developed while drawing those thousands of Wild pictures, I see that my ability is actually enhanced with these nice pictures. By being willing to step back, I actually lept forward in my Artwork. As well as leaping forward in my ability to love others.

I had only been making simple pictures at Events when a guest or client asks me for a plain less-exaggerated picture, when a guest or client doesn't seem like s/he can laugh at his/her self-conscious worries. But now I see that these pictures are just as good as the more exaggerated ones. 'The moving finger writes' at a gig. Another picture. Another picture. Another picture. Sometimes the more exaggerated ones look better than these nice ones. And I'm so surprised that sometimes the ones drawn with this plain approach actually look better than the more exaggerated ones! And all the time, it looks like these nice pictures would be sure to make our Party guests happy.

I have thousands of wildly exaggerated pictures that I haven't posted yet, but I hope to also start making full parties of nice pictures. I can go back into them if I want to make them 'fancier'. I can add Shading or Color or Background. But the base, the actual Caricature ~ this nice stuff looks like it will be great at Parties too.

Ever notice that you have different abilities in different places? for me, I can exercise better at the gym, diet better at home, relax better at the park. And better pictures At the Party. Or, well, let's say better Party Caricatures at the Party.

I can use a different approach to get excellent pictures when I'm not at a Party. Carefully rendered Portraits in the Studio, Alla-Prima Oils outdoors, even that super-focused stuff I've been doing on my IPad. But my successful Party Style Caricatures are best drawn quickly while I'm actually At the Party.

Here's what happened during some relaxed practice-for-parties that I did in my office:

First I drew stuff like this. Oh my. This is crummy:

Maybe this one's a little better. Still a crummy Caricature. But I got a little fancier with my lines:

Tried again. Oh no. What's This?

Might as well draw again. Well, maybe it's getting better:

Oh, I feel like taking a break. I'm not enjoying this.

But I didn't want to get up. Still stuck here to my chair. Ummmm, maybe I'll just practice some face-painting lines. That's easy:

But boring without a face. Oh ~ I remember! I had been designing dinosaurs for arm-painting recently. I'll see if I remember what I was doing with that:

I feel like I can draw again. I gotta try Caricatures again:

Success! I am Back! I love to Really Caricature. To simplify what I See into correctly designed Pictures. I don't know why I felt so dull when I first sat down here to draw in the muggy Heat. Oh it's so hot today. But a little bit of time with Paper and Markers, and I got into it. I'm looking forward to Seeing people at my next event.

It's the way I Feel when I get to a Party. All excited and ready-to-draw. All ready to entertain and be with new people. Not at all the way I was feeling when I came into my office with nothing-time to kill.

I did it. ALL on the IPad. Success!

It wouldn't have been my choice to use this long horizontal format, but it's what my client requested. I didn't mind. As long as I had a chance to make it all happen on the IPad, I was Focused!

She wanted the invitation to fit the horizontal 4" x 8", emphasizing the man's white tuft of hair coming out of his left side, including the 40.5, and in the style of a black/white picture that she sent me. And Very specific instructions as to Color and Design. So the design of this picture isn't mine. I just did the Caricature-Silhouette and, yes this is the best part, I did all the IPad manipulations. This was my perfect for my first official IPad job. Because I could focus on the IPad. I was pleased that I was able to follow all her directions as well as draw the Caricature on the IPad.

Of course, I had to cover over my client's personal information before showing you the Artwork. to protect their privacy:

and I already have another digital Caricature job to handle in the Studio. Much more complicated, though. So I probably won't do it All on the IPad. Still, I feel empowered. I am looking forward to using the IPad whenever it would be appropriate.

Here I am. Going in to the Prom.

I work at a lot of places. I go to a lot of places. I had to take a picture of my foot on the stairs here. I feel like it's time to speak up for people who don't have small feet. It's a pleasure to get in to a place where my average-sized foot can actually fit on the step.