Coffee Mugs

People in coffee shops (for the most part) will leave you to your own space, so doing these drawings is quite do-able. So respectful of personal space are they, that one of these fellows was merely a foot away from me on the same bench. Oblivious. I think. Can you tell which one? If he was not oblivious then he was tolerating me like the Nile Crocodile tolerates the Egyptian Plover: I got my drawing done, and he got his teeth cleaned he got his 15 minutes of fame.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
An unintended theme in this set was the forward placing of the sitter's hand. I had nothing to do with this.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Some coffee shop people will invade your personal space and insist on seeing the peculiar thing you are doing in your book. Some are polite, and I hem and haw. Some are pushy and crotchety and they deserve to see what they really look like.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
If I don't post for a while, check the hospital, just to make sure.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

Coffee Mugs

Live caricature in this vein is miles away from carnival & event caricature... For one thing, I rarely show the drawings to the victims subjects; for another, these are not meant to be cutesy stylizations to make one happy. Because carnival caricature has the intended audience as the sitter, the conflict of interest becomes a severe limitation, and the visual truth is compromised. If I actually know the subject fairly well, then the distortions can communicate the inner truth (as I see it) about the person as well as their visual irregularities. Doesn't work if I'm being paid by them... no one wants to pay to be flayed and exposed... and I want my freedom.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved


© Richard Ewing all rights reserved


© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
I don't know these particular people. Do you?

Coffee Mugs

More Improv Caricature. Coffee culture does wonders for value contrast! This drawing was almost headed for the trash as his hand was reading backwards, and thereby implying I couldn't draw it correctly. I resolved this by disguising the hand altogether... Love his face.
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
How happy one can be with a little caffeine in the system...
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Below: if you don't tell, neither will I.
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

Coffee Mugs

Coffee Mugs is a showcase for Improv Caricature. I find myself, oftentimes, at various coffee houses (almost always Peet's), and/or at chronic meetings --so do a lot of other people. Here then is the point to all those meetings and coffee house gatherings: fodder for my blog! These sketchbook drawings are done directly with pen, no pencils or prelims, and they are their own final images... Sometimes they're spot on, sometimes they're spot off. It all depends on how ugly you are...no no no no no, --I didn't mean that, I MEANT how INTERESTING you are. Thank you and enjoy. The names have been withheld to minimize further suffering; or because I didn't know the names at all (and maybe never will).
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved


© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved