One of my upcoming gigs is a little different than usual. I was hired to Photograph the Guests for 1/2 Hour, and then spend 2 Hours drawing Individual Caricatures based on my Photos ~ while the Guests will be attending a lecture in a different room. I don't expect to get much animation in the pictures ~ not only because I am Not a photographer, but also because it's supposed to be a quick tap on my phone.

My Client also said she would most likely want a Tame style like she saw me do at a recent Party. Oh dear ~ I hope I'll remember how I swung into that request previously. I remember feeling surprised with how comfortably successfully I was drawing at that previous Event. But it was done in person ~ Not from photographs that time.

So okay. This probably won't be too hard, but I'll have to Produce. So I grabbed Reference Photos at random to practice. To warm up before the Event.

I planned on timing myself as I did the Linework on each one ~ keeping it moving ~ and then going back in to each one with Shading. But that didn't happen. As usual, once I start doing something, issues come up which change what I'm interested in.

The first one I drew ~ 2 and a half minutes of linework ~ that one looks like the reference photo. Not too strong of a likeness, but it would get a good laugh because I easily picked up on unique things that his face does.

But uhoh ~ I'm not sure about how it would go over at the Event. Because my Client had said Tame, and the people wouldn't Be there for me to guage their responses and adjust myself as I go along. It is very Tame and simple to me, but I don't know if my Client meant Generic when she said Tame. So I drew it again.

The 2nd one I drew ~ also 2andaHalf minutes ~ trying to tone down the expression ~ perhaps make it a little more angular ~ that one doesn't look anything like him. And it's still not 'Flattering', aka nothing too interesting. This approach definitely will Not do.

So I tried the same reference photo a 3rd time. Staying Generic, and also Changing the strong action of his Eyes. Aaaand ignoring the nose-lines that pull into the forehead . Lol ~ that one looks most like him but who would want it? So boring. What sort of effect would it have on me to draw like that for 2 Very Focused Hours Oh. And I didn't even remember to Time this one. Because I probably spent more than 2-and-a-half minutes just looking at it and trying to figure out what else I could do with it besides what I actually See. And I also used a slight Predraw on this one. Only on this 3rd one.

and the studies go on.....

Continued: Okay. I'm feeling very ready and happily confident for drawing the Caricatures at the upcoming Party where I will be drawing from Photographs. I feel like it's going to b easy-peezy Fun afterall.

I had been feeling a little wobbly because my Client set up the Entertainment much differently than is usually done. So I practiced at home to make sure of my approach.

I had felt confounded with the first one I drew ~ I thought it was because the Client made me feel like I would have to control it too much. I tried the first one 3 times.

But apparently, I wasn't the problem. The difficulty with the first Caricature was just because that One was a difficult one. All the rest went bip-bip-bup. If anything, the reason I stopped my easy pace was because my mind started wanderng. It's like 3am here already. Long day.

I hope I will be allowed to go through all the Photos as linework this way, and then go back into them with shading.

I had company tonight. We played Upwords (That's like Scrabble). I was the scorekeeper. So that means that I have pen-in-hand while waiting for my turn.

I did everything Lefty tonight. Even drew a Caricature of my friend with my Left hand.

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

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?