I stayed up until 5am last night ~ working on that Pencil Caricature that I posted here. Not going to happen again. It's after 2am, and I am going to leave the studio tonight.

Even though I was Soooo into the Pencil Caricature that I started tonight. This time I was able to jump into it quicker than last night, because I had refreshed my memory about how to use the pencils.

But I don't have to finish it now. Time to close up for the night.

I do hope I get back to it tomorrow. I hope I'm still so in the zone tomorrow.

Next day: working on it again. Just threw in some Darks, and now I have to get some sleep. Again. Because I'll be drawing at an Early Event in Manhattan tomorrow. (That's today already).

I'm feeling like it's looking a little harsh now with these darks, but I trust that it will all fall into place as I continue. It's all part of the process.

Update September 15, 2019: Oh no! I dripped Water Droplets onto the Pencil Caricature that I've been working on. Bottom Left. Thin Paper because i wanted to have a smoother blending surface.

I tried to blot it with a tissue. We'll find out later if it's ruined

BTW ~ drawn on White Paper. Looks blue because my Skylight is covered with a blue fabric ~ something on my list of things i want to change ~ someday.

Update September 16, 2019: Still working on this Pencil Caricature tonight. I'm up to the good part ~ I especially like forming the Long Hair. I livened up the darks a bit, and I added a very dark background. So it's not looking too harsh anymore. Sometimes I feel like I like to do Pencil work the best.

But I probably would have put it aside already if I hadn't promised it to my Client. Because the reference photos clutter my PhotoShop screen ~ where I have to do a lot of other work too. I end up doing my other work on top of the reference photos all day long.

Happy to have all these things to accomplish. Happy that my Clients give me reasons to do them:

Update: September 21, 2019: Interesting experience. Since I have to wake up in less than 5 hours from now for a Facepainting Event, I only allowed myself 10 minutes to work on this Pencil Caricature. And when I took it out, I couldn't find the Reference Photos quickly. Because they disappeared through the subsequent jobs that I was handling with my Photoshop. Instead of spending my 10 minutes looking for the Reference Photos, I just worked on the Caricature without reference photos. There's enough here, AND I actually saw and drew these people at their Party, so I felt confident to just enjoy the Drawing experience. Great idea!

But only 10 minutes ~ I feel curious to see it posted here to see if we can even see any new development. It felt (well, not quite) as difficult to put down this picture tonight as it would be for an addict to put down his drugs.

Update 9/24/19: I recognize that I'm working too hard ~ that's usually not a good thing for Artwork. But issues keep coming up.

At first I felt too lazy to look for the Reference Photos (again), so I just started working on this Pencil Caricature that I've been doing for over a week already. I planned on alloweing only 15 minutes to work on it tonight.

My first idea was to smudge up the man's whole face (except his white teeth) ~ planning on making him background. Wondering if I dare make him even darker to become Wallpaper behind her.

I had some controlling idea about making the Lights as a diagonal dash flowing from top right to bottom left in the picture (even though I'm still imposing the Light that is affecting the form to be from top left). Did I describe that correctly to you? What I'm saying is that the Light that is used to desribe the forms is coming from top left. But that has nothing to do with where the light-colored Objects are. I decided to make the light-colored Objects to form a line from top right to bottom left. (Lol ` I feel like I'm describing my teeth to the dentist.) Anyway, I felt like it would be Art if I lighted her hair at the top where the 'normal halo' usually is.

That didn't work. Because the woman Has dark colored hair on top, and light blonde hair at the bottom. I was losing her unique hair-color by imposing my design feature about the light. So I smudged it up, and I guess I'll get around to forming it correctly some other time.

Then, the nostril that's in the center of the picture. I had had it tilted up ~ probably because the man's eye that is directly above it is also tilted up more than the other eye. Tonight I erased the extra uptilt of the nose because it was just looking wrong to me. Barely started fussing with it ~ wondering if I should emphasize the uptilt of the right nostril even more ~ to make a Caricature statement. But what is he supposed to look like? And what about her teeth? Should I stick them Out of the mouth? I better find those Reference photos if I want this picture to end up looking like my Clients.

That was a long meandering process ~ finding the Reference Photos. The photos were no longer in PhotoShop and the folder of the photos was somehow not on my Desktop. I couldn't remember my Clients' name for the moment oh eeks.

But I remembered that I handled the Party on the same day that I did a Engagement Caricature in Central Park. I perused my Calendar to find the date that I did the Engagement Caricature. It was there that I found the second Event for that date ~ with a hyphenated Client's name because she had used two different last names in our negotiations. I went into my email, looked for the first last name, and nothing useable came up. Tried the 2nd last name, again, nothing useable came up. But I did have the Date.

So I looked in the folder of Party Caricatures that I'm hoping to post as soon as I get a chance, and I found All the reference photos that I would want. Downloaded them, pulled them into PhotoShop again, noticed that my timer read 0:00 ~ Apparently I didn't hear my 15-minute alarm beep. I set myself 5 more minutes to work on the picture.

The man's nose looks straight across. Apparently the upturn of the eye is connected with the slightly extra upturn of that side of his Lip. But there isn't much of that side of his lip showing in my Caricature ~ It is covered by her hair. So the question came up whether to impose all dramatic upturns on that side of the face ~ because This is Caricature. It is Not portrait. Or whether I should just make the nose straight across because that looks right to people who see my pictures. Sometimes people say things to me as though I didn't know How to draw it 'correctly', aka portrait as though I was tracing a photo.

My 5-minutes beeped, and then I started making this post. It's now 3:30am. I hope I'll sleep with that question and wake up with the answer.

Update 9/25/19: I reeeally didn't want to put away this project now, but it's after 2am, and I have to focus on other parts of my life besides Artwork ~ like Sleep. I should get some sleep.

But I was reeeeally into it tonight. I was finally pleased with what I was doing. It felt particularly strong because I was feeling sick of it when I started working on it tonight. Would have just thrown it out, but I had promised this Pencil Caricature to my Client, and I could not face starting it all over again.

So I got drastic ~ just go into it with the darks and the eraser. Make the changes boldly ~ Nothing tentative tonight.

I feel like I completed the woman, and I like the changes in the man's nose and the highlights I was giving him and I wanted to do more but it's time to leave the studio for the day it's after 2am good night.

Update 9/26/19: I really thought I was going to finish this Gift Caricature tonight ~ even though I only gave myself 20-minutes to work on it. But no. I hope I'll put it aside for a few days so I can work on my other projects too.

But I'm really into it. Tonight I was feeling like I know this guy's teeth better than his dental hygenist.

I can't decide whether to keep his teeth Inside the mouth (like 'real') or to have them overlap outside the lower lip for the Caricature.

Update 10/1/19: That Does It, sayeth I. I have to clear all these reference photos off my PhotoShop screen. So that means I just Have To finish this Gift Caricature. Even though there were so many other projects that I wanted to work on tonight.

As soon as I started, I got into it. Finished I hope the eye that's in the center of the page idsn't looking too crazy? Oh I have to go back into it. I'll b back soon

..............

a few minutes later: I had to take out the Pencils, Erasers, Stumps,etc again (I had just put them away). To put in like One Line in the center of this picture.

But I did it, and now I feel pleased. This Pencil Caricature is now Done. I can clear the Reference Photos off my PhotoShop screen.

But now how to prepare it for presentation? It's 11 x 17. I don't feel like going out to buy matboard and cutting my own. Hmmmm

2 a.m. - I'm emailing pictures to my Power-Point client. 9 a.m. - Ring, ring - me: Good Morning

client: "fantastic job. listen, because of snowdates, I have another day before the presentation. Can you do another picture?"

me, thinking that I have a 1:30 appointment at the spa, and a 3:30 appointment with my trainer, and I'm on to cook dinner for company tonight....: "Sure. What do you have in mind?"

client: "one face leaning forward on muscular arms......" My client is UP. Talking faaaast. Snap snap, so many ideas...... "Good Morning......"

We hang up, I go to wake up, morning routine..... Luckily I didn't start the picture yet, when,

Ring, ring - "Hi! What's up?"

client: "Could we make that a 2-person Caricature? The first guy leaning over a brick wall. He's in the U.S. - talking to our associate in the U.K - You'd have the Atlantic Ocean in there, and a phone in his hand ..................... ......................... ........................."

then later, middle of the night - I draw the picture first in pencil, then in marker. While erasing the pencil for this upbeat picture, I flip on a movie - Ahhhh "Escape From Alcatraz". Point, Counterpoint.

Crazy day, Wild night, and I'm just sitting here alone. It's a good life:

Update: Aaaahhh, it's all worth it. Here's the email that I woke up to today: "Alison, I want to thank you for an extraordinary job. My presentation went brilliantly and your slides were gut busters. That you so much for your professionalism and talent." Me: Smiling

Yeow - A woman called me about a Coloring Book this week - just a regular party-prop based on the Party-Girl. I wanted to send her to see a Coloring Book that I created as a business 'advertisement' recently - but I couldn't find the post. Is it possible that I hadn't posted it?

Well, here's a sample of it now - some of the pages. It's a lot of work to make a Coloring Book, but it's so worth it. Since my childhood was Coloroing Book, it was so much a part of me, I'm excited to think of the kids who would be carelessly taking for-granted the ones that I create for them. So much a part of their lives, and they probably won't even realize it.