Happier.

Warming up for the weekend's events. Because I started feeling awkward with the Tame Caricatures that I had been getting into a couple of months ago.

First I drew this Caricature...... Well..... I Started drawing this Caricature based on a photo from a previous event. But I just jumped ship. Boring:

So I drew it again. This time, none of that predraw stuff. None of that analyzing stuff. I just decided where to place the faces, and I jumped right in. Yes! This works so much better. It's the way to make art:

Just to check it out, to make sure of my easy exaggerated approach, I figured I should try it on another photo from a But since the easy exaggerated approach already worked so well tonight, I took it a step further. I used my wild exaggerated approach instead. For tonight the wilder approach was ugh. Did Not work. Stupid.

Once again, I have to say that great Artwork cannot be controlled. Cannot be forced to happen. Sometimes one approach is working great. Sometimes another. That's good to know, so I can trust myself.

But when Clients request one style or another, and I try to accommodate them, it might not really be in their best interests. Real Artwork is not a Craft. It is an Art.

So for tonight, I happily went back to my easy exaggerated approach. It's most enjoyable to do what's working in that particular moment:

Came back to these studies 2 days later. To apply the technique I felt happy with 2 days ago. Based on photos of people I previously drew at Parties.

First I drew these 2 ladies. Good. Simple. Direct. It worked:

Then I started drawing these 3 gentlemen. Aghk. Oook. I had predrawn approximate spaces for the 3 face shapes, and I oh ~ What could I have been thinking??

So I drew them again. Now that I'm posting the experience here, I sure am wishing I could remember what I did. Did I predraw the 3 face shapes and just do better at the face interpretations this time? Or did I place and draw only the center face and then fit the placements for the other faces around that? I Think that's what I did. Just drew the first face first, but I don't know. I don't remember. Oh

Then I drew the following face. Hair shape. Worked like a charm:

Tried to apply it to this next face ~ but oh something I should work on ~ the photo was taken from a wonky angle. Made it difficult. Made Artist-me feel uncomfortable.

So I felt Very Happy with the couple that I drew in the next picture. I handled this one (just 2 people) by predrawing the basic shape for Both of them before starting to ink the answers:

Feeling confident with this approach, I then tried to apply it to the following Caricature. I took an unusual photo which included hands on the face. Aghk. I'll have to revisit my Hand studies. I've done that many times ~ it's simple when you know what you're doing. When you remember what you're doing:

But not tonight. I want to do something else besides drawing.

Feels like it never ends.