I discovered that I could still exaggerate a little ~ even with this simpler style.

This approach felt very relaxing. I did not need Any predraw. Here are the first few drawings that I drew at This Event. Simpler style, yet I still like them

btw, the Paper was White. The photographs look like they were drawn on tinted paper, but that was not the case. It looks that way because the Light in the room was Dark.

This is what i did tonight. I chose a different medium for drawing Caricatures so I could use a different approach.

For reference, I used a photo of a Man who had a regular quick fun Caricatue drawn of him at a recent #Party. But instead of using Marker this time, I approached it as though it was going to be a Pencil Portrait.

I wanted to do it because I could get some 'Just Leave me Alone Time' by getting involved in it. Not talking about Other people bothering me, but to get Myself to Leave me Alone. To anchor my brain to this project. We really get involved once we get that pencil moving.

Didn't finish it. Not going to finish it. I don't have to finish it. I like it just fine. But maybe I should have just done it as a Portrait? with No squashing?

Time off tonight. I figured I would like to just draw some simple shapes.But I didn't just draw shapes. As soon as I picked up the Color stick, I thought my shapes into face parts.

My background is Realistic Painting, not in Linework. I always started with a Toned Canvas. So I decided to get a slice of brown craft paper to start again.

Not as bad as before, but not as fascile as it should have been. t's hard to imagine how the light falls on such a complicated structure as a face when you have one there to look at with controlled lighting .

It's my experience with Party Caricatures that the toned paper is only used for darker skin-toned people. Even light skinned people also have a skin tone when you're Painting them. They're not White, like White Paper. Maybe it's because we exaggerate when we draw Caricatures, like Light is almost White, so we leave it white? I don't know how it came about. But sometimes it's just easier to do what' expected.

So I started to make up a face. Again on white paper. But I decided to use a midtone color stick for the background. (also not a good idea ~ back to the paper conundrum some day). Anyway, I drew a light/midtone blue around 'the face area' before starting. I guess it's 3-dimensional. I don't really like it, but it will probably have a good effect on subsequent Caricatures that I will be drawing at Events. After I suffer the questions, I make better pictures.

I was hired to draw at 2 Events for this upcoming Saturday. My Client for the 2nd Event, a Man's Surprise 40th Birthday Party, my Client mentioned 'You might want to know that we have a Super Hero theme. We're all going to be wearing Super Hero tshirts. Well.... wearing Super Hero tshirts ~ that's no problem for me. I chose my Super Girl tshirt! But the Caricatures..... um.... I was only hired to draw Caricatures. And that usually means 'Face Only' unless something else was previously agreed to on the Agreement. But I would like to do something special for my Client. If I can. I like to support my Clients' parties.

But I get Paid to work at Events. And we have a gray area here about Copyright law. I guess. I don't know much about it, and I don't want to have to find out. I feel like it makes sense that I wouldn't be allowed to sell pictures in which I Copied someone else's Artwork. So I wouldn't usually be willing to draw Superman, The Hulk, Spiderman, etc on My Caricatures. But in this case,if they are Wearing those designs on their tshirts, and it's my job to draw what I see..... Perhaps it could be allowed. But I don't want to have to find out. So hmmmm..... perhaps I can dream up my own Super Hero designs.

My background was mostly traditional Oil Painting, Alla Prima Landscapes, and Portraits. So I tried to channel Comic Books for this upcoming Party. We all know basically what they're like. With those high-contrast action poses. Tonight I wanted to troubleshoot what would come out of me. So I'll be ready for the Event.

The first thing I did was a Lot of predraw. A lot of thinking out how a pose would be. Then I imagined a 40-year old man might be wearing a suit/vest, so I colored in as though it was a Super Hero in a vest. I guess I forgot that my Client did say that they would all be wearing Super Hero T-shirts. Anyway, I do feel like I learned something from this first attempt. I learned to move the Neck toward to front of the face so there would be room to punch the arm Upward after drawing the face. And I also learned that I wouldn't want to just color in big areas of 'home-color'.

Tried again. Much better shading the 2nd time. Drastic Black and Whites. Looking statuey. But I didn't fit the whole body on the page as I originally imagined.

So then my 3rd attempt. Great pose. This one is looking good. Now I want to try using it with a Face. So I'd be ready for the Party, I used some random Photos of 40 year old men that I found online.

Welllll..... Ummmmm..... 4th Caricature ~ looking stiff. Mistakenly mangled the hand. And I spent way too much time on the Predraw. That would not work at Parties. Got to simplify the pose and not try to reinvent the wheel with every picture that I draw at the Party.

So I did Caricature #5. That one's good. Good, and I feel like my Audience would like it, but it's not good enough for Me. I wouldn't feel proud of myself for drawing like That at a Party.

The 6th Caricature. Finally. I did a Simple Face Exaggeration with a Simple Power Body. I would feel happy with this at an Event.

Tried it agan, the 7th picture here, and yikes egads not good enough. He looked just like that, but I don't feel like the exaggeration is good enough. And the quick pose ~ which was trying too hard for me ~ doesn't work it's icky. And since I ink the face Before the body at an Event, no time to rethink the wheel when Clients expect a lot of people to be drawn in the allotted time, I ended up with no room for his Hand.

Aaah. Now I have my approach all ironed out. For the 8th picture here, I easily Exaggerated the face with just a little predraw indicators, and then I used a very simple post that I could have fun with. This could be ready enough for this 2nd Party that I'll be handling on Saturday. But oh no! Now what about the special circumstances for the 1st Event!

Never a dull moment.............