Colin Barnett WIP ...

The ACA (Australian Cartoonists Assoc) are having an exhibition at the Ellenbrook Gallery from 20th February until March 22nd. They asked if I could pop some work in, so I'm in the progress of completing this caricature of our Premier and State Leader Colin Barnett. Not sure how I'm going with a solid scene to place him in ... I'll work something out. The theme is fairly loose 'Heroes and Villains' so that can cover a broad spectrum !!

I'm also going to pop in a couple of my favourite 'oldies' Mick Jagger (baby boomer Hero) and the Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan (complete dead set villain) !

Mr & Mrs Fifty !

I had a little lull after Christmas - I thought 'uh-ho' here comes the recession but the old order book has filled up again and I won't need to get the begging bowl out until at least the end of April !!

I hope the class of 1959'ers prove as lucrative as the 58'ers when it comes to their 50th Birthdays. Here's the first two, a couple who share their 50th's in the same week - fishing and basketball fans.  

'Rocky' from New York

Another 'fun job' for a fellow member of the ISCA (International Society of Caricature Artists) - Rocky Sawyer who hails from New York.

Meanwhile in the jungle ....

Just finished a different commission for a client depicting friends from Africa in the Tarzan and Jane mode. The clients loved it.

Mr Obama ...

I'm not a great follower of US politics, it always seems very big on 'razzamattaz' and low on substance. I've never figured out what all the bunting, flags, balloons, money and rhetoric has got to do with electing the right man. The process seems far too 'Hollywood' to seriously produce a person who has such a big impact on the rest of the world.

Democracy at work eh ? 

Having said all that the new President does seem to tick most of the boxes, though I think we can probably reserve judgement until this time in 2011 - he's got a lot to do.

He has two big pluses with me - he's a Macintosh fan and also a left hander, in fact, of the last five presidents only George W Bush is a right hander. 

I've always found left handed Mac users such really nice people !!

Something slightly different ..

An interesting commission for a local speedway driver who wanted a poster size caricature of himself in his car. The car - and the bloody decals - took by far the most time. Interesting task which I've worked out for pricing if I get another one - which seems likely !!

All done in Photoshop CS4, I'm sure Illustrator would be the way to go but it was too much of a learning curve for this job. I downloaded the demo but it was too different from Freehand MX which I'm familiar with. Sadly Freehand is getting harder to handle and more buggy as it hasn't been updated for years since Adobe bought it and then cast it aside.

One day - when I get some time and money - the 30" monitor is priority one !!

Adam Pate - Caricature Guy

One of the great things about being in the NCN (National Caricaturists Network) is the worldwide networking of all members, about 700 caricaturists in total (could be more), there's always someone who will give you a hand if you're struggling with a job.

The other plus is we draw each other as 'warm up's' for other jobs - you can really experiment and do things that most clients don't request for the paying work !

This is Adam Pate one of the most active members, nice guy I met him at the Raleigh convention and did a pencil sketch of him which got a bit tied onto the paper size - computers don't hem you in like that !! Reworked the sketch in Photoshop.

Incidentally the NCN is renaming to ISCA - the International Society of Caricature Artists - doesn't that sound impressive !!

Couple of commissions ...

Couple of jobs to start the new year off with - I've got quite a few going through at the moment - maybe the recession isn't biting yet ?! 

Top one was for an oil exploration company - a young Irish engineers send-off - two day turn around, printed and framed. The lower one was for a Rail Freight company - a staff retirement - final print was A2 and framed - looked good that size. 

Happy 'victim' ...

One of the disappointing things about gift caricatures is the ' Thank you very much ' and out the door goes the framed picture - okay I've been paid - but it's really nice to hear how the final presentation went. Just got this photo back from one of the Christmas commissions - I'm really happy with the likeness and I know from the family this guy loved it !

New Panoramas .....

In October Nola and I enjoyed a fabulous cruise around the Eastern Mediterranean on the 88,000 tonne Costa Atlantica - it was brilliant and we're now big fans of this style of holiday.

 I took the opportunity to take some more panoramas - lots of 'em - here are the first two. 

The top one is Santorini in the Greek Isles taken from the ship, the bottom one shouldn't need a title !

I bought Photoshop CS4 last month, not a great upgrade I said at the time, for painting and my mainstream use - BUT - the automerge function for stitching panoramas has taken a huge leap so much so I've restitched all of my original panoramas. 

It even joined the old 'unstitchables' I could never get to work. Well done Adobe. Now just fix the paintbrush lagging or isn't a MacPro with 7 gig of RAM powerful enough !

A larger image of Santorini is HERE and the Pyramids HERE and if you click the magnifier is should double in size. The originals are over 1.2 metres long and just under 100 Mbyte.  ( I'm sure the small images used to link before - can't seem to do it now !!? )

Australian Gothic ......

My parody of Grant Wood's famous 1930 'American Gothic' painting - the client wanted his parents depicted as 'country people' outside the Casino. Client loved it, I'll await reaction from Mum & Dad !!

This will be the last post for the year - and I really hope each and every one of you has a great 2009. Thanks for your comments both on the blog, email and phone - it's an isolated existence doing studio work ( I chat to myself quite a bit - not a lot of sense there ! ) - I appreciate it !

A Merry Christmas to you all ....

All finished

.... here are four more of the finished Xmas commissions - very happy clients and that's the main thing !!

............. now for some golf.

Christmas commissions ....

Christmas is making up for that beautiful 7 weeks away - I have a target of finishing all the commissions by Friday giving me six days to get ready for Santa.

All the faces are done - about six little bodies left - seventeen in total and it's time to ho,ho,ho !

Pre trip and post trip is the busiest I've been - seriously encroaching on golf time - got 42 'off the stick' last week which was really good for me - ".... for 18 that's nice dear ?!!! " 

Painting on an iPhone

Busy with lots of Christmas commissions but was fascinated by this video of David Tessier using an iPhone to paint with ....... do that on your Nokia !

Thanks to my good friend Vin Altamore for the ' heads up ! '

Bat and Photoshop CS4 ...

Just got the latest Photoshop version CS4 after busily loading all my brushes set about a quick caricature of Bat Hilliard a fellow NCN member who is from North Carolina USA. One of the politest, humble guys you're likely to meet - far too nice - probably has several axe murderers in his family background.

CS4 seems to work OK, several modifications to the GUI and handling of windows - I don't know if it is the quantum leap I was expecting or worth the upgrade. I'm just a hopeless victim when it comes to updating software !!!

Old Moulton mouldies !!

Last Friday night, along with Nola, I had the pleasure of a reunion with old student friends from Northamptonshire Agriculture College, Moulton. We met at a lovely village pub in Cambridgeshire and a great meal and mass nostalgia was enjoyed. I hadn't seen most for 35 years, as the booze flowed the stories of old got better and better.

Returned home on Tuesday and am reluctant to inspect the damage to the Visa card !

Great to be back, visited a lot of places, but there's nothing as good as Australia out there ... I wish our dollar was as good though, an embarrassing little thing compared to the Euro, Pound and US Dollar ..... lift your game Kevvy !!!

More at the Con'

One of the great things about the NCN convention is the great characters you meet this is one,  Kid Cardona, originally from Texas and now a resident of China where he runs a thriving caricature business. Pictured here conducting the final night auction .... the wild west is not dead !!
One of the really nice people at the convention was Liesbeth Beckers  AKA Leesbat. She hails from Belgium, speaks five languages, picked up a studio piece award. Nice lady.

Gee I struggle with one language !!!

Yours truly with Bisch - a walking drawing factory - and Scott Hamilton NCN treasurer and accent and language collector. Great people .......

With the entire trip lasting almost 7 weeks I have over 1000 photos off two cameras more to come when I do some sorting.

My humble offerings ....

In the intimidating, and inspiring,  environment of the convention these were my humble efforts. Caricatures of Rock, Bill, Adam and Rick. Not really happy with them and the product of a last 24 hours rush - the unthinkable happened the old faithful Mac G4 laptop crashed with a 'stack failure' ( whatever that is ?) after not saving for about 4 hours. Sigh !!!

The most caricatured 'head' at the convention - thanks to a previous life as a 'standover man' - Rock Kowulz. He loved it - top bloke !
My other main subject Bill LaRoque pictured here with myself , Nola and Bill's lovely partner Sharon ...... they were both great company for the week.

NCN Convention - Raleigh North Carolina

The wonderful work  of caricaturing superstar and Golden Nosey winner - Jason Seiler
The incomparable Court Jones shows his versatility with this selection
Paul Moyse turned himself into a monk for the week churning out these works and earning a place amongst the gurus .... hate the bloke !
Fred Harpers 'wall' - I've never come across his work before - amazing stuff.

Could do with a haircut though !