Last gig of March 2009

Here's a few caricatures from last night. This woman was being abusive to my fellow artist Ted. She asked him what he was using to erase his pencil lines and he said simply "an eraser". She was a bit cranky in response to his obvious answer and hit him in the arm.

I wish I had a photo of his glorious bowl haircut. I had one just like it when I was five.

I drew clothes on her at the last minute.

Sketch Infectus.

Yesterday I received my copy of Sketch Infectus by Joe Bluhm. Joe is an amazing and talented artist. I first got to know him through the National Caricaturist Network, where in his first year attending, he deservedly won the award for Caricature Artist of the Year. Joe has a fearless style and incredible eye. His first book, Rejects chronicles his live caricature work. Now with Sketch Infectus, his second book, Joe shows us my favorite part of being an artist, the creative process.

Sketchbooks are a vital key to the growth of an artist. They give the artist the opportunity to draw without bounds, make mistakes and brainstorm. Most importantly, these sketches aren't done for money or fame, rather they are done simply for the joy of drawing.

While looking at my own sketchbooks, I can chart my progress as an artist. I can see the seeds of ideas and reflect on new places to explore. It gets me motivated and excited about being an artist.

The same is true for when I view other artist's sketchbooks. There is so much inspiration to be found in those lines. Joe's book is no exception. He draws everything from people, to cars, to animals and other creatures. Some of his sketches are realistically rendered, others are simple, fun doodles. All are a fascinating insight into the creative mind of a remarkable artist.

As a gift for pre-ordering the book, I got a free sketch ripped directly from one of Joe's sketchbooks. I know they were picked and inserted randomly, but I was pleased when I found this sketch packaged with my book.

Three words: Julia Louis Dreyfus. My all-time favorite Hollywood crush. Thanks Joe!

Tropical gig: March 2008

Here's a few from my most recent gig, which had a tropical theme.


Ashton was very proud of his "tattoos".

While uploading these pics, I found some other caricatures from past gigs. I'll post those soon.

Abstract gig

These pics are from an abstract caricature gig I did recently. Abstract caricatures are interesting to do, because I think they're even more ambiguous and subjective than "regular" caricatures. I was in "Muppet" mode for a while. That was fun!

I think this is one of my favorites from the bunch.

This one's not "abstract" necessarily, I just thought he was funny. He kept looking at the ladies butts as they walked by, and wasn't the least bit subtle about it.

TOGA TOGA TOGA!!!

Recently I did a gig with my buddies Ted Tucker, Keelan Parham and Brian Wright. It was a company party with a Greek/Roman theme. It was elaborate, and I would imagine, very expensive. All the guests were dressed in togas or other related costumes. Also they were drunk.I know goofy looking guys are fun to draw, and that's usually the caricatures I post, so I thought I'd get some female representation.

This woman had five kids. Five. Nevertheless, she still looked great, yet understandably very tired.

Alice was very quiet, but revealed her wild side to me when she told me something in broken English. I decided to quote her directly in the caricature.

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2009!

Durkin's Dragons wishes you a Happy St. Patrick's Day. Try to behave yourselves.

Megacon 2009 wrapup: Part 2.

As promised, I have a few more sketches I did at the con. This kind of stuff is right up my alley; funny little improvisational pictures like these. All of these sketches were requests from the customers. These were so much fun to do.

There are more photos of sketches floating around out there, and when I get them, I'll post them here.

Megacon wrapup 2009

The thrill and geekery of Megacon is over, and I had a great time. I got to hang out with some dear old friends, met some new ones, sold some books, drew some pictures and spent a lot of money on parking.

Here's a composite of three shots of the Ka-Blam and Friends tables. We almost took up the whole row.

Alex spent the last two days with me. We goofed around a lot.
Here's me and one of my great friends Cary Bivens. He's a rat bastard too.This is me working on a sketch. I did a lot of sketches for people the last day, I took pics of some of them, I'll post them soon.

... but here's one of them.

All and all it was a successful show. Thanks for everyone who dropped by to say "hi". The next one I will attend may be the FXShow April in Orlando. Stay tuned!