Google Review from Alana M

5 Stars out of 5 Stars

42 mins ago

I hired Alison for my husband's birthday party and it was a huge success! She arrived early to set everything up and then dived right into the drawings. Alison even joined in on the birthday party theme and wore an outfit that went along with it. Most of my friends had never been part of a caricature drawing before, but they enjoyed the whole experience! Everyone was entertained by being a spectator and by being the subject of the drawing. Each picture was so unique to the person being drawn. There was a lot of laughter that night! I highly recommend Alison for any party!

I found this soft fluffy stuffed animal at the KMart that is downstairs at Penn Station's LIRR on the way to today's Caricature Event today.

Sheesh. I can't post tonight's Caricature because it's a Predraw for tomorrow's Proposal Caricature. Of course, I can't let other people see it before my Client does.

After a month of countless emails and texts and photos and changed locationS, I finally felt ready to do the Predraw. This is a unique Proposal Caricature because my Client doesn't want me to draw the Caricature alone in my Studio and then pretend to draw it on-site like I usually do. He wants to catch what they look like and how they dress This day. And he also doesn't want me to take too long drawing on-site because he doesn't want his Lady to wonder......

So I did a Predraw of a basic composition and what the faces will probably look like ~ based on my Client's photos. Came out great. But I still have to ink it and add Color and actually draw the Faces and Clothes when I get there. I feel confident with this wonderful Predraw.

But Oh. I have to use Public Transportation to get to this location. I packed up the 22x28 predraw and my markers and easel etc. But when I tried to include the Larger heavy Drawing Board, it did Not fit in the folio that I use for 22x28 papers. I don't know how I am going to Carry several 22x28 Cardstocks And a bigger Heavy Drawing Board and my Markers, Travel Directions etc, and my 2-Part Easel ~ in the car and on the train and on the subway and on the Long walk from there to get to the destination.

I have done 22 x 28 Proposal Caricatures near this location before. But they were always drawn ahead of time in my Studio. So I only had to bring my regular drawing board for pretending that I was doing regular drawing until I had taken out the 22 x 28. I didn't need to bring the Giant Heavy Drawing Board Oh.

It's now 130am. I have to leave the house at 7am to get there in time. So there's no time to shop to try different ideas. I have to come up with something. Hmmmm..... Never a dull moment

Well.... not really..... although I do try to exercise that..... sometimes. Like I'll try to put away stuff without turning on the lights in a dark room, or I'll try to read without flooding the page with easy-light. I don't do it often, because I don't like to. But I feel like it's a good idea to exercise vision the same way we exercise other muscles. By adding a little difficulty to it.

What I'm writing about here is handling all types of Party situations. Usually the light is okay, but sometimes Party Lighting is.... less than optimal for the Caricature Artist. Like this Party. Where I was drawing in a room with Changing Colored Lights.

Didn't stress me out this time. I finally came with enough lights ~ that I set up most advantageously ~ to be able to draw comfortably. To be able to see the people and to be able to see my drawing board and kinda able to see my color sticks.

I felt amazingly comfortable ~ I finally brought along enough Lights. But the photos, of course, came out fully affected by the colored lights.

A good time was had by All ~ Including the Artist!