how to fail at caricatures ….

I never had much use for this low brow art form … partially because it is hard to do and puts your work up to the scrutiny of everyone who looks at it. “that doesn’t look like him!” “I look like that?” “my nose isn’t that big” etc…

but I inherited this task from Fedi the previous staff illustrator. Part of being creative is allowing yourself the space to fail. This is vital to the creative process. When ever you are doing something new you can’t predict if you will get it right the first time, so you need a space to fail. So if you do fail you can try again, and again until you do it right.

Sudsy Malones was a bar/laundrymat in clifton a suburb of ohio. Basically they would book anyone. If you showed up on any given night you and your buddys could play there. Every band started there. We would get up there, to play on a tuesday night for a few drunks and people doing laundry and knock over cymbols, fall over the drum set, break strings, while trying to play our songs we just wrote. I remember playing the opening chords to a song I wrote then forgeting the first line and just staring out at the few people with blank in my head …

but eventually you learn from your mistakes and build up your skills, better then you ever could in a practice space. It was a reality check, but not a complete death if you failed. This space is hard to find at times. Mostly you have to create it in your head.

This is where I was when I started the caricature deal. I had never done one before, but can draw so I just needed to apply my skills to this. I take longer then the people who do this everyday at kings island, but I also ad color and have more specific props … anyway

more drawings

if you click on the picture it gets larger…

I think I am obsessed with the internet. I spend all day at work on a computer working, so it is the only distraction from working my life away… I try to make the time spent productive instead of wasted. 

anyway here is a pack of marlboro ultra lights and a 1927 movie person. The former from a picnic table the later from TCM.

Ok just this one….

I drew this with the computer in 1995. by drawing a line like the silhouette of a balloon then flipping it horizontal, then using object blend to draw the lines precisely in between.

drawing with a computer is a excellent way to make precision drawings. in fact I was having a hard time getting work before the computer because my hand work was so loose and characterized (see blog header)  people had a hard time finding a place for it. but with my love of machinery and computers I was able to draw thing more precisely than ever before and create precision art. people can argue over the validity of calling it art… but I don’t really care about those people. I make the rules for my life not them. every thing is made up. everything. all words, all man made objects and if you believe in God, all of nature… so if I want to make up my own definition for art I will….  try and stop me world

oh yea this looks like something from the turn of the century, the style, the color, the object, I didn’t plan that, it just came out that way. so in a way it is magic…