I did it! I got Certified in FirstAid/CPR/AED today. It was really intense.

Small Classroom. Teacher commanding our attention. I only had a simple ball-point pen with me.

I finally figured out how to approach my Caricature Drawings. My Simple Approach is Always the one that works best for me.

But I have several different Simple Approaches.

The Easiest Approach In the Moment is the one that results in the Best Caricature.

Playing my edge tonight. Lifelong continual development of my Drawing ability.

Getting out of my comfort zone. Doing things a little differently than I usually do.

I drew this Caricature based on a random photo of a very cute Baby. I spent a lot of time on it. This is the 3rd time I drew it. The first 2 had a lot of Predraw.

I like it. Keeps my skills sharp for when I get to a job.

Tomorrow I'll be drawing Caricatures for the Staff of a local Bar. So for tonight's drawing, I decided to dream up some idea I Might use tomorrow. Even though I don't usually do Sideview caricatures, I decided to do limited exaggeration to see how that might work with the optical illusion of the Chalise between two Sideview faces. This was my first pass at it. Tired now, but I feel confident that it will be more facile the next time I try it. And again. And again. That's the purpose of practicing in my time off. So I'll end up real smooth by the time I feel ready to use an idea at an Event. Maybe tomorrow's event ~ Maybe some other event down the path ~ The Artist's Path

Caricature. Isn't the name of the game Exaggeration? Isn't that what Caricature means??

Well, not really. The name of the game ~ when I have a Job ~ is to give the Buyer what he wants. Or rather ~ what he thinks he wants to have ~ and therefore what he orders.

My next Client told me to 'draw a little less exaggerated this time'. So that's what I will do. Even though I know that my Exaggerated Caricatures are super appreciated. Even though I know that the Party gets more lively when I'm drawing Exaggerated pictures. Super exaggerated. The more exaggerated, the better. And the Artwork is so much better when an Artist can really exaggerate. Shows so much more than eyes, nose, mouth. Shows more emotion, more feeling.

To prepare, I tried it out on a picture that I chose at random from elsewhere on this blog.

Oh, this is too good. I decided to draw an Exaggerated picture first. This is great! Then, I reined myself in. Filled in the 'face' blanks, and drew a 'less exaggerated' picture like I will try to do at my next gig. I guess it looks okay. And my client, not knowing what I can Really do, would probably think that this tamer picture Is exaggerated.

Ick. I've worked so long to be able to make the More Exaggerated picture. That's much more evolved. Much more Advanced. I hope that 3 Hours of the simpler pictures won't ruin me. I hope I won't feel too sad while I'm drawing them. I hope I will be able to bounce back after the party.

I will try to have a good attitude about this. Like it's just one more experiment. To see how people really respond, and how it really feels, to work like this.