This girl had so much fun at her Party. You can just see it in her Caricature. You can just see it in her dress. You could have just heard it if you heard her talking. At her party, she handled a 'Trivia' time herself. Sitting up straight in front of her friends, calling on people -- "Who knows my favorite movie?" "Yes" "Who knows my favorite song?" "Yes" Who knows my favorite tv show? "No" "No" "Okay, can you do it?" "No" Lol ~ they finally got it. And more important than what she says is her favorite anything, is how she handled her peers. These kids really impress me. They really shine at these parties. Makes me wonder about how I would have handled things back when I was their age.

I imagine I would have been different than this girl. Not quite as confident. Not as much 'in command'. But I would have been adorable just the same. I imagine I would have felt giddy and flushed. I imagine I would have burst out laughing with joy. It's all good. We're all different, but it's all good.

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.

The preprinted papers that were supplied to me by Balvenie Scotch had an interesting line on them ~ a real conversation-starter to connect these pictures with the drink, might even be considered a 'pick-up' line. It was real goooood:

"It might be a matter of taste, but I find illustration to be much more sophisticated than photography. Don't you?"

Fashion Sketches work particularly well at Sweet 16's. and Bat Mitzvot ~ and Engagement Parties ~ Proms ~ and other such Celebrations where the guests are so aware of how they are presenting themselves. We have a great time with it, but I wish I had new Samples to hang up when I set up at these Parties.

Running around. So many Parties. I finally just grabbed any moments that I had to draw new Samples. This is what I came up with - using the limited supplies that I always have with me.

It's a good idea to keep paper and markers with you. I keep the ones that aren't 'juicy' enough for my gigs anymore. They're in my pocketbook, in my car, in every room of my house, at my friend's house..... Everywhere.