Coffee Mugs

There are times when I'm done drawing caricatures for the day, the sketchbook is put away, the pens are slid into their resting place, and I've got my book out ready to get lost in its angles and curves when someone like this walks in...
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Where was he a few minutes ago?...
And what about this guy below?


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Or dear lord! This guy!... Are they all waiting outside the cafe watching for my sketchbook to be put away? ...--when it's safe for faces like these to get their coffee?
I'm too dedicated for such shenanigans!... Out comes the sketchbook and back to work I go, and they ALL get drawn!

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And then this guy sits down in front of me...

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I've got to learn to just leave earlier.

DAMN YANKEES (...throes of) part 16

Lee is coming into focus now. Somewhat challenging as he's somewhere between the mid and foreground, so his contrast has to be a bit of a delicate balance between Dimaggio's forward movement, and Ruth's sinking in. These depth cues sound more like personality traits as I've described them, but if they don't like their assigned character, they should have positioned themselves better at the get-go.

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I will likely need to use some value tricks to pop his features more down the road.

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Thank you and enjoy.

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Really. There's always more than one way to skin a cat; there's always more than one way to skin a caricature. The direction the head goes in has more to do with attitude than with form. . . You can't put them far too much at cross-purposes or else you lose the structure, but you should always favor essence over form. Internal over foundation.

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Expression has its input on direction as well.
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And form will make its demands...
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But most times the inner child must come through.

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Thank you and enjoy.

DAMN YANKEES (...throes of) part 15

Although I will still need to tweak the value and details, Ruth's head is fairly well done... uh... as opposed to rare, or medium rare. (I'm sure if you stuck a fork in his nose you would see some blood)...okay, sorry. I may hint better at the eye on the left.

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The following three show Dimaggio growing into reality; again at the end of the game I'll likely need to revisit the overall value contrasts.

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© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

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And here is Lee in the opening game. (Had to make sure that nostril was nailed first!)

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It's always been astounding to me how infinite the variety of facial combinations are. With the structure essentially equal all around, there's hardly any two alike. There are tribes for certain: 'horsey people', 'bird people', 'piggy people', 'potato people', and yes, even the unfortunate 'naked mole rat people'... BUT, even within the tribes there are no two alike. (really). Snowflakes get all the glory, but it's time we step up and demand our day in the sun.

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© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Thank you and enjoy.

DAMN YANKEES (...throes of) part 14

After about a 7 month hiatus, I am finally landed enough to start the inking process for this quadrocoil... (for those of you new to this blog, you'll need to go back to September 2009 and earlier in order to see all the preliminary toils for this illustration).
Below are a few scans of the final as it develops, I blocked in most of the background for Ruth first, developing the value to a mid range in which I began to add a lighter body. The head will contrast more than his costume. My intention is to have the body speak more softly than the head which caries the main thrust of the expression; the body language is contributing, but the head is Gladys Knight, while the body is the Pips... what a pip is exactly, I've never been able to determine. Sorry.
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
The Jackson below was the first part inked. He's in the background, and will need to be in low contrast. I decided it might be wise to use a quill pen instead of my ubiquitous brush, and so far I'm pleased with the results. It's actually a mix of quill and brush; and by the time it was done I was ready to return primarily to brushwork. Quill for me is a bit slower than brush, and I felt I was driving with the parking break on...

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Coffee Mugs

When no one you know knows the folks you are drawing, there is a bit of freedom in interpretation, and the caricaturist can explore variations on what a head can be. Here the goal is not conveying a truth about the individual so much (it would be in most cases an applied assumption anyway), but rather a conversation between the marks made and the reaction the artist retaliates with. The end result often has some freedom to it; it is important, however, to maintain a voice in terms of some human attitude when arguing.

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I had a friend who took this concept to an extreme, the drawings were fascinating and beautiful, but were far from looking like the sitter in any recognizable way. He didn't care --it was a lot of fun, and the sitter was just a springboard from which he showed off his triple half-gainers and sideways crow hops. (always liked to break the rules).

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Coffee Mugs

Some from coffee houses, some from meetings. Can you tell which? (The two coffee folk look more satisfied...there's your hint). The drawings actually have a different line quality which is based on the varied tension each location engendered. This is likely subtle, and perhaps only noticeable to me, but now you know. Everything affects your final drawing.

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A real interest for me in immediate drawing with ink, is the inevitable corrections and changes of mind which never disappear. These become statements in themselves, as you can see my thinking that something needed to be larger than originally done, or there needed to be more of a movement to the left here or there...
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Below: "Garbage in garbage out."
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© Richard Ewing all rights reserved

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Thank you and enjoy.

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Some people are just easy. Chitty, chitty, chitty, chitter-chatter, chitter-chatter, choo.

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Some folks are noisy.

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Some folks aren't.
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With some you just can't tell..

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And with some it's just as well.

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Thank you and enjoy.

Coffee Mugs

A change in venue for most of these. Still a Peet's, but this one is in Seal Beach. VERY different group of targets clientele. The Orange curtain descended, and the attitude rose... Although it was somewhat uncomfortable there, I got a passel of heads I was pleased with, and here they are for you.
There was no let up from this lady. I tried to capture it.
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It's important to vary the line quality to match the attitude you're communicating. Here, below, you might notice the shift in energy and solidity.

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Different day, different Peet's:

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© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
OMG!
Thank you and enjoy.

Coffee Mugs

At times, people have conflicting directions on their faces. This is far from a problem for the caricaturist...
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Some folk struggle to have a single cohesive direction... this forces a celebration of facial specifics in order to avoid a static line. The search is always on for a visual spark.
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It can be about body language,

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or attitude and mood as well.

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thank you and enjoy.

Coffee Mugs

Children are even more challenging than women to draw...for many of the same reasons. If you overdraw you quickly accumulate years on the person until it's questionable whether it's a child or perhaps an effeminate man. It's an exercise in editing, you should only give your viewer features and facial elements on a "need to see" basis.
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In case you were concerned about the drawing below, it IS a drawing of a middle-age+ adult, and NOT an overdrawn child image.

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Or maybe I'm lying. And this entire post is all overdrawn children...
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It's likely, I'm sure, some of these men act childish sometimes... so who's to argue? A good exercise would be to draw an adult as you might assume they looked as children.

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Which begs the question: Is the drawing below an assumption, or alla prima?
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Sometimes the most interesting angles tell you more about the person than full frontal face-ity. Here most folks were in their own space. Good for the hunter...

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Gears are turning below.

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© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
I would never even think of disagreeing with this lady below...

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© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
Makes me want my own mug of coffee and paper.