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...

I'm a Married Man

My favorite from our wedding.
Photo by Carina Romano.

Trader Joe's Shopper #1

Drawing from memory of a Trader Joe's shopper. Might do more of these.

Souper Bowl

A couple of funny looking kids from a recent birthday/superbowl party. I was using a pre-sketched football body so I could do the drawings faster. Whenever there is a themed event such as a superbowl party I always ask clients if it they would like me to have a pre-sketch. It makes it a lot better when I don't have to draw a football player body thirty times. I also had a cheerleader one for the girls.

I have been very busy lately with my new full time job as a sign artist for the Trader Joe's in Media! I was really hoping that I would get this job and everything worked out! I may post some of my signs on the blog in due time.

Jeremy Jams

My best friend Jeremy stopped by Harris Manor to drink coffee and play some board games.

Birthday Party 1-26-08

Some of my favs from the party last night. The client wanted me to do them all in color and told me to take my time, which resulted in some pretty cool drawings. Although I do have to work on taking better photographs. I always love doing gigs where I am not pressed for time and can take about 10 minutes or more on one drawing. Also, they had a good sense of humor and encouraged exageration. That makes me smile.

From the Sketchbook

Just having fun drawing people from the NCN. Nate Kapnicky...



I've got a gig tonight. I will post some of them on the blog tomorrow I have any good ones.

From the Sketchbook

I am entering my first contest with the National Caricature Network. The assignment is to do a caricature of Boris Yeltsin. Whoever comes up the best drawing will win an original Jan Op de Beek drawing of Yeltsin. This is only my first attempt. I plan on taking it a lot further once some of the issues are worked out. I decided to get into this contest because I have a serious lack of famous faces in my portfolio... also I really want an Op de Beek drawing.

From the Sketchbook

...from my sketchbook, a few months ago...he was reading a book...

Mrs. Marty's Deli

About a month ago I was contacted by the owner of a local deli to do a commisioned piece. He wanted all of his employees caricatures drawn on one poster which he could then hang in his restaurant. He had one done a few years back by another artist and it has since become outdated. He had actually seen me drawing at a local street fair and took my card.

I started by setting up at their holiday party and sketching everyone onto one piece of illustration board, laying out the composition and general shapes of the faces. I also took photographs of each individual while they were seated for the drawing for later reference. While I was there I also got some really good food. One of the perks of being a caricature artist at parties.

When I brought the drawing home I began to ink over the existing sketches in pencil. You can see the faint images of the pencil drawing done at the party.



After inking I started to color with Prismacolor markers and color sticks. I liked Ron so I started with him...



Here's the final color drawing of all 36 individuals...



A detail of two of my favorites...



I dropped by there today to snap a photo of it on the wall. Nothing like seeing your art hanging crooked in a public place. I added the logo of the Mrs Marty's Deli in the middle of the piece to finish it.



This was a fun project. I was pleased with the results. It gets a lot of exposure in the deli which is very busy. Hopefully some more business will come out of it as well.