Dry Erase

I drew this on our dry erase board at work. Well at least I thought it was funny.



Speaking of work, I finally made my Trader Joe's sign art blog. It's called "On the Helm." (some TJ's lingo) You can find it in the links section. Here is the address as well, www.onthehelm.blogspot.com.

He's Real

I found this on Tom Richmond's blog.



Some of us caricature artist's end up in strange places.

Workin' 9-5

Well actually 7-3. I was very fortunate to get my job as a sign artist at Trader Joe's here in my hometown of Media, PA. I never thought a full time job existed that would pay me to paint and draw all day long. I am currently working on a new blog specifically for my TJ's signs. The name is still pending. I will be updating that whenever I get some new signs hanging in the store and I am proud enough to share them.

Anyway, this sign fell into the realm of caricature as well. So I am posting it here.

Remain calm everyone, Sir. Strawberry is in charge.



and with the product...


I made this with acrylic and latex paints on masonite board. I then did the line work with a thick Sharpie paint marker. I love how those markers feel. You get a really solid black line with minimal effort. The background could have used some more work, but I do have deadlines to meet. I spent about 6-7 hours on this guy.

This is by far the most fun job I have ever had. For example, I spent the majority of my day today painting two signs of bunnies for easter. Maybe one day they can even make it to the new blog.

Birthday Party 3-16-08

Had a gig at Dave and Busters in Philly yesterday drawin' 13 year olds.



I kept the drawings all in black and white due to the amount of kids that were there. I was there two and a half hours and drew about 40 kids. This photo was my favorite of them.

30th Birthday Party 3-7-08

My cousin got me this gig at his friend's birthday party. It was perfect timing right after coming back from the convention. At least my drawing hand was all warmed up. It was a great crowd who didn't mind getting made of fun of with a marker and paper.

Even More Minicon Photos!

Emily just sent me some more photos. Reposted some of my drawings so you can see the subject.


Tom Richmond


Beast


The Harris' by Emily Anthony


The Harris' part deux by Patrick Harrington

St. Louis Mini Con- Final Wall

St. Louis Mini Con- Days Two and Three

Making Marks with Markers


Tom Richmonds Inking Workshop


Roger doing some airbrushing.


Larry Long Arm


Martha, Emily, Court, Debbie, Marlo, and Kristen hiding. Walking to food.


Tom working on a MAD job.


Okie Artist getting interviewed by a local TV station.


Martha and I by Pat Harrington


my favorite, by Jert.


by Miguel. Now I know what R. Crumb would have drawn me like.

St. Louis Mini Con- Arrival and City Museum

I just got back last night from my first convention hosted by the National Caricaturist Network. I have been wanting to go to a convention ever since I joined the NCN. After missing last years one in Reno, NV, I swore that I would go to where ever the next one was. It took place at a hotel in St. Louis. This was actually a mini convention. Although, it wasn't that mini at all. Amazing caricature artists from all around the world. Mostly from the US, although there were two guys from Japan who tore it up, and one guy from Isreal. There were about 80 people crammed into one banquet room drawing furiosly. We each had a small portion of the walls taped off where we could present out drawings/ paintings/ etc, of what we had created for the three day duration. At the end we all judged eachothers work. There were awards given out for several categories. I didn't get any, but that wasn't the point.

Guest speaker Tom Richmond, an illustrator for MAD Magazine, and long time caricature artist, was the main reason I wanted to go. Along with him there were great seminars by Court Jones, Joe Bluhm, and Ed Steckley. Needless to say, it was a good crowd.

Martha came with me. I gotta tell you it's great having a wife who encourages my caricature art. It is also nice that she lets me drag her along to gigs and conventions in midwestern cities. Hopefully the caricature bug got to her. She was a sitting duck for caricature artists. We got a lot of drawings of us together.

I tried to get some good photos during the convention in the midst of rushing to try and make some good drawings for my wallspace. I'm gonna start with the first batch of photos from my first day of arrival.

One of the first things we did was take a trip led by Court Jones to the City Museum in St. Louis. It felt like a giant Chuck E. Cheese for adults. There was a bus on the roof. You could climb through all through that metal. There was also a healthy amount of metal slides. Amazing!




there was a whale.


martha got stuck in a cage. this is actual about three stories off the ground.


that is deffinetly not me.


I made some friends.


another friend.


spiral staircases


ran across a tall lanky crazy man who dwelled in the welded bars.


Court Jones!


Back to the mini-con!!!

Actual convention photos next posting...