Fleetwood Mac fan ..............

This a recently completed commission the client wanted the caricature, for a 40th birthday, of a country rock singer who is a big fan of Fleetwood Mac. Above is the final of her and below integrated into a modified photo of the band. The earlier quote for caricaturing all of them frightened the client off !

Friggin' Facebook !!

'Here we go again' - 12 months after leaving AND requesting deletions of accounts, and assuming it was done. Whoompf !!!

They just don't get it do they ?

I'm given to understand there is an amalgamation of some of the social networking sites  - they've come up with very appropriate branding .....

Happy New Zealand couple ...........

An 'export job' to Christchurch in New Zealand - I'm told they were well chuffed with the
caricature.

Farewell Mr Jobs

Sad day - a great visionary and world changer rests in peace.















..... thanks for all the toys - love them !

Yeoman Warder Bill Callaghan

This time last year Nola and I were on holiday in the UK and had the opportunity to visit the Tower of London for the first time since I was a kid - a long time ago. Decided to go on a guided tour led by a Beefeater - turned out to be this one - who has since become a bit of a 'YouTube' legend.
Hilarious and totally politically incorrect - the guy could work as a stand up comedian.
Well it appealed to my sense of humor anyway.
Enjoy !

Couple of happy customers ....

Get these now and again - nice to see they're happily received !

Wedding live show

In a determined drive to keep the old Blog active here's a few shots from a gig at a wedding last night. Performed the caricature duties with ISCA & ACA compatriot Jeremy Goodchild complete in his standard orange tea cosy.

Beautiful Caversham house by the river in the Swan Valley.

Note to myself - Photograph them BEFORE they put the caricature in the plastic enclosure.

A few more Commissions ...

Here's a few more commissions that are heading out the door - the Kombi and the TukTuk ( in West Coast Eagles colours too !) were a challenge !

Face Machine .... what ?!!

I've been getting a few inquiries for bulk orders for  Christmas Caricatures, you know the sort of thing 'all the staff want one each' - web page doesn't really accommodate that so I made up a collage of faces as a PS template so I can to attach, as a .jpg, to the quote email.
The old a pictures worth a thousand words eh ?

Normal service has resumed !!

It takes about 4 weeks to 'pick up the slack' after a period away - so full production is back to normal. Sadly I didn't get an entry into this years Stanley awards - disappointed with that - had two 'pearlers' roughed out, knowing my luck they'll be forgotten personalities by this time next year !

Live show work is going well - 7 gigs in the last month and a good list of bookings up to Christmas.

Bills to pay etc etc ...........................

Southern Rock Lobster !

Better put something in !!
Doing a few commissions - had call for including illustrations of couple of Crayfish / Southern Rock Lobster - totally different beastie from the Northern Hemisphere Lobster  - no big claws and tastes better too !!

Glad to be home !!

Finally home, after what seemed a lot longer than six weeks away in the UK, attending to all the business of Dad's  death. Despite not getting any caricature work done whilst away and a huge backlog of jobs sitting here - great to be home ! Thanks for all the kind messages, phone calls and emails - you're a magic mob.

Some observations -

The levels of unhelpful bureaucracy in the UK makes Australia almost utopia like by comparison.

Lawyers are robbing bastards on all continents.

The A380 is one hell of an aircraft - makes the London - Singapore haul nearly bearable.

I was there for the English summer - July 13th this year !

English pork sausages are bloody wonderful.

I'm no fashion icon BUT the English must be the world's worst dressers for warm (?) weather - socks with sandals is one of the better looking features. Do they have full length mirrors ?

English pubs are the best in the world.

I unintentionally lost weight over there so I think I've stumbled on a world beating diet for the male community - the Pork Pie and Kronenbourg beer diet.

Hopefully I'll get back to posting some artwork soon ..... stay tuned.

Sad times ........

My apologies for the hiatus in the Blog, I'm currently in the UK as my father passed away a couple of weeks ago. He had been ill for some time so it was sort of expected but nonetheless his sudden decline came as a shock. I'll be over here for some time arranging for my mother's care.
I've an armful of commissions to fill up any quiet moments.

River cruise ....

Did a five hour river cruise on the good ship Crystal Swan last week. A corporate function in which I managed to draw all the passengers bar one - took his photo and promised to send it through.

A good speed painting exercise in PS - 35 minutes.

I must get quicker on the live stuff - though I did join them all for a really nice sit down lunch - that's my excuse anyway !

Happy Birthday Nola !!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

I never know what to get her ............... !!!

You've gotta sell 'em !!!

When I first started this business back in early 2007 I had a really minimalist web site with few samples. The inquiries I got were simply emailed the price and a few other details. Business didn't exactly boom !

I gleaned a few bits of business and marketing advice from fellow caricaturists - membership of ISCA proved invaluable for this - and gradually kept updating and upgrading my website. It's not anywhere as good as I'd like it to be, but the plans are in place for a really 'serious' one to be in place early next year.

That is once I've fathomed out RapidWeaver, to date I've used iWeb but it has limitations and Apple haven't updated it for some time.

Once I've received an inquiry, whether by email or the 'fill in a form' on the website, I endeavour to get back to the inquirer within 24 hours. I email them a comprehensive personal letter outlining my services and pricing and what I require them to supply - I have a mass of templates stored in TextEdit for this covering every type of request or scenario I've ever received. If I see the need I'll phone them as well.

I also attach a 'recent samples' sheet for them to check out. I can't, and don't, keep updating the artwork on my website that, at best, is an annual process. I do however keep a large .psd file with all my recent favourites, this is in constant update, and is sent as a .jpg along with, if necessary a larger image of a theme they're interested in. 

I spend a lot of time quoting but it is worthwhile. I keep statistics when I started I was receiving commissions on less than 10% of the quotes - it's now over 50%. Usually more work than I can handle and in fact I've always got a month to 6 weeks full capacity work scheduled in and, as of now,  jobs booked up to April 2012.  People like the personal touch. 

'They will come' doesn't work.

  

Weddings are a very important part of my business and as such I treat them as a separate caricature type.

Here is the current sample sheet for quoting on these.

It's like a bonus !

It's always nice to get messages like this ............ from the family of the gorgeous 50 year old in the collage below.
It's always good to hear - I often look at the the copies and think 'I wonder how that was received ?'

Three more ..

Here's three more recent commissions minus all the paraphernalia people love to have strewn around the victims - I always reckon they look better on their own. There again - they're paying !!

A golfers 60th Birthday, a retiring ophthalmologist (eye doctor - I'm just showing off !) and a glamorous 50th Birthday caricature.

Happy victim ....

This is a recent caricature I did of West Australia Vice President of the ACA (Australian Cartoonist Assoc) Mick Horne - he loved it.
I tried really hard to caricature him but, bugger me, it's a portrait  !

Some new jobs ...........

The Blog's not abandoned !
Been busy of late - here's a few samples including a couple of graphics for print and websites. Digital delivery in .png format.
The guy top right is a commissioned caricature of Stephen Hill of the Fremantle Dockers an up and coming young star of Australian Rules Football.
Currently I have a bundle of commissions that'll take me through to early July.
Luvely chubbly !!!