Summer is hit and miss with frelance work for me. Sometimes I am busy and sometimes… not so much. Her’e what i have on the baord right now:

• MAD Project- Finally wrapping up a small job for MAD that got put on hold by the special “Issue 500″ spot and the Bo Confidential book. It might appear in 501 but likely it’ll be bumped to 502.
• Penthouse Illustration- a 1/2 page gag illustration.
• Graphic Novel?- I’m currently working with a well known cartoonist/writer on developing a graphic novel adaptation of a book he wrote years ago. We are doing some art for the “pitch” right now and if a publisher picks it up it’ll keep me busy for quite a while.

I just finished this workplace poster job Monday morning for The Marlin Company. It was a rare instance with them when the initial concept got changed and I had to do a fair amount of redrawing to suit the new direction.

The original image called for “a high school classroom scene. It’s the first day of school. Two students are comforting a student teacher – a husky, strapping guy – who clearly has a major fear of public speaking. On the blackboard, in very shaky lettering, he’s written, ‘Welcome! Mr. Williams. Student Teacher.’ He is facing the class, sweating, looking humorously terrorized, while two or three sympathetic-looking students gently pat him on the arm or shoulder in a show of support.”

The initial pencil rough:

Upon review the client decided that the students comforting the teacher conveyed the wrong message, which is supposed to be about supporting your coworkers when things get difficult. The students are the difficulty, not the source of support. Therefore they asked that I change the image to show more of the class, looking a little menacing but in a non-threatening way, and then have two faculty members offering the support.

The second pencil:

The only changed they asked for here was to add a sling shot to the back pocket of the foremost student.

The final art:

Click for a closer look…

I am returning today from a trip visiting my caricatures operations in the St. Louis, MO area at Union Station and Six Flags.

Q: I’m really interested in CG and was wondering what your views on 3D (or CG) caricature are, and do you know of any talented artists you could mention for me to check out?  I’ll always like pen and ink, but I could imagine there are some interesting possibilities with CG.

A: I’ve never worked in “CG” before but like any medium it has great possibilities in the right hands. There have been some terrific 3D caricature animations done via stop-motion film and using puppets. For the former I have linked before to this video which is one of the best I’ve seen:

Ooops. Can’t watch that video anymore.

and of course the great BBC show Spitting Image is the best example of the latter.

I don’t know of any major commercial endeavors combining CG and caricature, although one could argue many of the characters in the Pixar films are caricatures of those who voice them, and there have been some caricatured characters snuck in as cameos in some of those movies. I know two of the legendary “Nine Old Men” of animation, Ollie Johnson and Frank Thomas, had a cameo in CG caricature in “The Incredibles”:

Beyond that I don’t know of any high profile ones.

My friend Joe Bluhm worked on some CG shorts for an NYC animation company a few years ago. These were either based on his sketches or he worked on them directly:

I believe that same animation company, SO! Animation, went on to produce some CG caricature commercials for Virgin. I am sure there are lots of examples of shorts and personal projects showcasing CG caricature out there for the finding. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of it in the future.

Thanks to John “Coffeebot” Vaughters for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!

…from an old sketchbook. I thought it might be timely. Say what you want about Michael Jackson, but he was definitley two things: One of the most popular and influential recording artists in the history of American pop music, and the poster child for what money and fame can do to a person without a solid childhood upbringing as a foundation.

And they said it wouldn’t last! The MAD Blog turns three years old today. 1,176 posts, 3,474 comments and almost 3,000 average daily page views!

The last two days in Colombia were the most fun for me, mainly because after two days of solid CaliComix events I got a chance to see some of the city.

On Thursday morning Michael, my host from the Centro Colombo Americano, took me on a trip to a big plaza on the south side of Cali. “Plaza” in Colombia can mean several things, but in this case it was a giant marketplace like a street market but under a huge roof structure, surrounded by shops and restaurants.

We took a break and at a “juice bar” in the plaza where you can order fresh fruit juices and various finger foods while sitting at the bar. You pick your fruits and order them mixed with either water or milk. Some of the foods like the empanadas looked good while some, like the pig intestines and fried hunks of pig skin were… uh… less so.

That afternoon I did my demonstration at the Centro Colombo Americano. This consisted of my setting up and doing a small illustration from start to finish. I picked a caricature of Prince Charles, one I had done in my sketchbook some months ago. I inked a version of it and scanned that ahead of time so we did not need to scan the one I inked in front of the audience in order to color it. I worked on the piece with a camera over my shoulder and the board displayed on a video screen and explained the process (with an interpretor) as I worked.

Drawing the caricature

Inking

Getting ready to color…

Of course nothing ever goes as planned, and after setting up the Cintiq I could not find the Wacom pen. Paco ran back to the hotel and looked for it in my room, not finding it and ultimately bringing his Intuos pen, which worked fine. In the meantime I set up and drew some live caricatures:

Patricio Ruales, an illustrator from Colombia, put together this video of me drawing him at the demo and placed it on YouTube (Thanks, Patricio!). He must have added the color to the drawing that is shown at the end of the video:

Eventually I finished up the illustration and wrapped up the demo:

The (mostly) finished piece

That evening was the opening of my art show at the Colombo Americano. I have already blogged about the show, so you can read about it here. It was a lot of fun getting to meet more people and seeing them enjoy looking at my work. Michael tells me the Colombo Americano is trying to arrange it that the show will travel after it closes in Cali to other cities in Colombia. Here are a few more pictures from the exhibit opening event:

Me and Mexico’s Arturo Kemchs

The crowd at the show

Me and Michael Cedena

Friday was a mostly free day, and a group of us went out into the city to see some sites. Here are a few pictures from our afternoon adventure:

Apparently Jesus is alive and well and serving a strange
whipped dessert confection on the streets of Cali

Lunch at a local diner

Friday evening we ended up at a University where we had more presentations and a cookout. I left very early the next morning.

What a fantastic experience. Cali is a beautiful city rich in cultural heritage, and I hope I will be able to visit there again someday.

Better late than never today…

As promised, this sketch is a special one related to the trip to Colombia I have been describing this week.

I was honored to get to meet one of the best caricature illustrators working today while I was in Cali. His name is Jorge Restrepo, and his work belongs in the same league as illustrators like Ismeal Roldan, Jan Op de Beeck, Hermann Mejia and even Sebastian Krüger. Truly incredible caricature art. He was very gracious and gave me a fantastic signed copy of his book, which I have been studying intently. Restrepo (he goes by that name, rather than Jorge) walks the line between extreme exaggeration and extreme likeness, and while many other caricaturists fall off that line he balances on it beautifully. His caricature incorporate great exaggerations but his likenesses are very strong and accurate. He is one of the most recognizable commercial artists in South America… in fact on one of the days we went walking about the city Claudia spied his work on the cover of a magazine on a street news stand!

The young lady in the drawing with Restrepo is his charming girlfriend Margareth, who was also a delight to meet and who helped me out immensely with communicating while in Colombia. She spoke very good English, which she says she learned mostly from watching American movies with Spanish subtitles! She was a lot of fun to talk with and get to know. Unfortunately they were only at the CaliComix event the first evening and the end of the week events. I would have liked to have spent more time with them.

I drew basically all the cartoonists during the several times I was drawing live down there, but I refused to draw Restrepo and Margareth… much to their disappointment. While the live drawings turn out okay, I consider them throw away sketches and not something I would want to give to a master caricaturist like Restrepo. Besides, he did this great caricature of me:

Awesome!!

I had to return the favor. So I took some reference pictures of them (see below) and did the sketch at the top of this post. I will be mailing the original to him in Colombia. Muchas Gracias, Restrepo y Margareth!

CaliComix 2009

The Salón Internacional de Historietas y Caricaturas Calicomix is an annual event held in Cali that celebrates humorous illustration, caricatures, cartoons and comic books in South America and the world. This year’s exhibition is the 15th annual, and the driving force and founder of the event is local Colombian cartoonist José Campo. José is a very acccomplished cartoonist who is also very passionate about the art form, and it shows in the scope of CaliComix. José organizes and finds sponsorship for the entire event, which includes multiple guests speakers from various countries, several art shows and exhibits, many demonstrations and live drawing sessions and social events. This year’s conference included artists and speakers from several areas of Colombia, Ecuador, Chile and the United States. The week is a true tour de force of cartooning. Putting on this show is quite an accomplishment and he should be congratulated for his amazing efforts. Thanks, José!!

Tuesday, June 9th

After my morning huevos pericos and buñuelo (oh, and coffee… can’t forget the coffee!) I accompanied a group of cartoonists from the Casona la Merced Hotel over to the Centro Cultural de Cali where the first round of presentations were to take place. That included my presentation, which was first.

The historic La Merced Church, on our way to the Centro Cultural de Cali

There were street vendors on every corner

The Teatro Municipal

The crowd was not overwhelming, which was a real shame. José’s efforts should have sparked more interest from the public, but whether the small crowds were a result of a lack of publicity or a lack of interest, I could not tell. Certainly the people that did attend were very enthusiastic and had a great time.

Boris looks on during my talk, ready to translate!

My presentation went well. I had some neighbors from Argentina help me translate the captions on my PowerPoint show, which included my “Diary of a MAD Job” which I have posted here before. Thanks to Boris, my terrific interpreter, everyone was able to understand my talk and ask me questions.

The next presenter was Arturo Kemchs, a caricaturist and political cartoonist from Mexico. Arturo is also President of the Association of Cartoonists of Mexico. His work was fantastic, ranging from clever and hard hitting political/editorial cartoons to whimsical and hilarious illustrations. One thing I learned is that the sense of humor in South America and particularly Mexico is a lot less prudish than American humor. Sex is a prominent subject for humor there, and Arturo has some very funny cartoons and books that reflected these tastes. Arturo also publishes a humorous magazine called Humoris Causa. Very impressive work.

Arturo talks cartooning in Mexico while Perucho contemplates moderating him

The dynamic Claudia Contreras did a presentation next about the rich history of South American comics. Claudia is a collector and an expert on the comics and cartooning of South America. She has a collection of over 3,000 comics and has put together a DVD database of biographies and work from hundreds of South American cartoonists. She is from Chile, and is the director of her own annual cartooning/comics event in Valparaiso, Chile called Del Festival de Comic de Valparaiso. She spoke about as much English as I did Spanish, so our attempts to communicate kept the other cartoonists laughing hysterically. She declared herself my official translator of “chilinglish”, which the other artists found hilarious. Actually I could understand her much of the time.

mi traductor del chilinglish, Claudia

Unfortunately I lost my translator at noon, so the rest of the day I was in “total immersion” mode. Paco helped a lot, and Claudia’s “chilinglish” of course.

That night we ended up at the Plazoleta Centro Cultural Comfenalco, which is an open air plaza next to a gallery where a great art show was opening that evening. Many of us set up and drew for the public for a few hours before the show’s opening party. I didn’t know what else to do so I brought my live caricature stuff and started drawing people. I don’t think many of the people there had ever seen a live caricaturist work, because I was swamped for the entire time I was there and people were amazed. It was funny because many of the other artists started telling me how tired I must be getting and someone tried to feed me a Coca Cola and snack in the middle of a drawing… of course they did not understand that I can draw caricatures for about 10 to 12 hours before I start to burn out…. 25 years of live caricature work builds some endurance. I did a TV interview (with translator) as well.

Drawing at the Plazoleta

The art show was really unique. It was full of static displays of various cartoon/fine art, but also had “live” spaces where artists were busy doing creating their work right on the spot. Paco did a cool Batman themed piece and other artists were busy working away. Great creativity.

The art show at Centro Cultural Comfenalco

Two young artists working on a cool piece

Paco’s contribution in progress…

Even Claudia got into the act!

The evening were mostly spent back at the Casona la Merced Hotel in the downstairs room eating, drinking wine and drawing. On Tuesday night we had some real homecooked treats. Big trays of Colombian foods were brought out for us to pick and choose from. They included aborrajados, which are ripe banana stuffed with cheese and fried (they were quite good); marranitas, which were crunchy fried spheres a little like fritters filled with bananas and bits of chewy pork (not my favorite but still pretty good) and empanadas, which were corn pastries stuffed with potatoes and meat (they were delicious). With them were various bowls of condiment-like sauces with a tiny spoon. We spooned one of our choice on whatever we were eating and took a bite, then spooned more on for the next bite. I tried the Guacamole sauce, some kind of ranch-like white sauce and then a green sauce made of chilis, cilantro and finely diced scallions… that was it for me, I ate that green one the whole night. Fantastic!

The cartoonists unwind after a long day…

Wednesday, June 1oth

This day was less structured, as we went back to the Centro Cultural de Cali in the morning and had a kind of round table discussion on the state of cartooning in Colombia and around Latin America. A young cartoonist from a different area of Colombia named Julio Naranjo had come seeking advice on his work, and he showed us his portfolio. He got the lesson of his life as Paco, myself and several other artists went over his art giving our opinions. His work was really good, but of course everyone has room for improvement. We’ll be seeing his work somewhere soon.

Cartoonist’s round table discussion

I should mention these presentations and panel discussion were moderated by Perucho Mejía, a Colombian professor and PHD in the arts at a local university. Perucho is also an author and gave me a book he wrote called Semiotica del Comic, about the symbols of comics and their significance. I’m going to read that as soon as I learn Spanish! No, really.

That night we went to the Biblioteca Departamental (the public library) where yet another humorous art show was going to have it’s grand opening that evening. We once again drew for several hours, this time both Paco and Colombian cartoonist, fantastic illustrator and all around funny man Luis Eduardo Leon joined in the live caricature fun. Leon is both a hilarious cartoonist and an incredible illustrator. You need to see his unbelievable photo-realistic digital paintings (click the link on his name) to understand what I am talking about. Superb.

Here we go again!

The art show that evening was more traditional comic type art, with some unusual touches. One of my favorites was (of course) the Batman sculpture, but the place was full of terrific comic art. It was also very well attended.

De Arte Fantástico exhibition

Batman’s sculptor and me

Claudia get’s fresh with Batman

That evening we went to the charming restaurant of another local cartoonist and had a delicious dinner with his family. Candles and rose petals greeted us in the entry. Colombians as a rule are very friendly when greeting friends and guest… lots of hugging, kissing and back slapping. I experienced a bit of language barrier at dinner when I tired a joke out on Claudia, who had told me she worked as a counselor for people with alcohol and addiction problems in Chile. I asked Paco to translate for me:

“I also have a drinking problem”, I said… ” I spill a lot”

She didn’t get it.

The Wednesday night restaurant

What a welcome!

More drawing and wine that evening, although I must say I was surprised that there was not a great deal of alcohol consumed at any of these events. There was always wine, but only a glass or two and then that was it. I guess I expected the same kind of free-flowing drinking that cartoonists in the United States are known for, but that was not the case in Colombia. All the better for my liver.

Tomorrow there will be a special “Sketch o’the Week” of two people who I was very privleged to get to meet while in Colombia, and then I will wrap up my travelogue on Thursday.

¿Habla español?

I received a phone call this winter from my friend and outstanding caricature illustrator Ismael Roldan asking me if I would be interested in traveling to Colombia in early June to be a special guest speaker at a conference celebrating comics, caricature and illustration in South America called the 15 Salón Internacional de Historietas y Caricaturas Calicomix 2009 (15th Annual International Exhibition of Cartoons and Caricatures Calicomix 2009). I’d be doing a presentation of my artwork, a separate demonstration of my illustration techniques and there would be an exhibit of my artwork in a gallery at the Colombo Americano. In between I’d be attending presentations and workshops by the several other guests speakers/artists and participating in some artist “jams” where we sit about and draw for the public.

“Are you kidding?” I said. “When do I leave?”

Ismael is originally from Colombia, having relocated and lived in the United States for over 20 years. Last year he was a guest speaker at the same conference. He had nothing but wonderful things to say about the event, the people involved and the organization that would be sponsoring my participation, the Centro Cultural Colombo Americano. The Colombo would be taking care of my room and board, and providing translators for my presentations and official events. Good thing since my junior high Spanish classes are well behind me. I would not be provided a translator 24/7… most of the time I’d be on my own in that respect, but I would always be looked after by the organizers of the CaliComix event itself. What an incredible opportunity. How could I refuse? I just needed to sell it to the boss.

The Lovely Anna reacted to this invitation in two ways. First, she was proud and thrilled her husband would be asked to be a guest at such an international event. Second, she said “COLOMBIA?!?” followed by a bout of hyperventilating. Let’s face it, deserving or not, Colombia has a rough reputation involving drug cartels and violence.

There was some discussion about these issues, but Colombia is not the ultra-violent place it’s made out to be in the movies. Yes, there are areas of the country and the city of Cali it would be a bad idea to wander into, but that is true of any big city anywhere in the world. It’s largely populated by peaceful and friendly people going about their lives just like everywhere else in the world. The bad elements are just a tiny part of what is a rich, bustling culture and heritage. That said, it is a different world there and certain precautions need to be taken and followed for personal safety. By and large, though, as long as you are educated about these issues and observe the necessary precautions Colombia is safe enough to visit, and safer than many other places.

A Side Street in Cali

It’s not a place for the casual weekend tourist, however… at least not in Cali where I stayed. At the very least you should be able to speak the language and be very familiar with the area you are visiting, or have a local guide to take care of you like I did. Perhaps visiting the more cosmopolitan (and larger) city of Bogotá one might find more languages spoken and more of a catering for tourists. That was not so in Cali, where I saw no other obvious foreign tourists or visitors. In fact I felt a bit like the Jolly Green Giant wandering around the streets of Cali… I was a head taller than most people and my blue eyes and pale complexion caused a lot of turned heads and stares. The local people I met were very nice and helped me as much as they could… they seemed genuinely pleased to see a foreign visitor and wanted me to feel welcome.

The two best parts of my trip were meeting and seeing the work of some fantastic cartoonists and illustrators from South America, and being able to see and experience first-hand a part of the world that is not easy to see and experience for someone from the U.S.

Arriving in Colombia

I arrived in Cali after a long day of travel with stops in Houston and Panama City. However the time zone Cali is the same as U.S. Eastern Standard Time, and due to our current observation of Daylight Savings Time there was no time change between home and Cali… 10 p.m. in Cali was also 10 p.m. in Minnesota. That made for an easy transition. Customs was quick and my meager Spanish was all I needed to get through security. I was picked up by a gentleman named Michael Cedena, who is a director at the Centro Cultural Colombo Americano and was the person who organized my trip and time in Colombia. It was quite late when I landed but he met me personally and briefed me on the trip into the city about some of the things I should be aware of while visiting Colombia. It’s much the same advice you might get visiting New York City… don’t carry a lot of cash, don’t go wandering down any dark alleys, etc. Common sense stuff. Mostly we went over my itinerary.

Some of the opening night group

After a stop at the Centro Colombo I was dropped off and introduced to a big group of attending CaliComix cartoonists… then Michael had to leave and I was standing there amid about 50 South American cartoonists without a translator. Talk about immersion! Fortunately a few there spoke some English, and one or two did so quite well, so they helped me communicate. Everyone was tremendously friendly and I was made to feel very welcome.

CaliComix organizer Jose Campo and myself

In retrospect that might not have been the best choice for a shirt
for me to wear when walking about in Colombia…

I would get to know several of these people much better over the next 4 days, but right then it was a little overwhelming. I got a taste of what it must be like to be a celebrity… I must have gotten my photo taken with various people several dozen times and signed tons of things. Don’t worry, it didn’t go to my head! It was a fun night but it got late and with an early morning coming the next day I eventually made it to my room.

The outside of my hotel

Casona la Merced lobby

The hotel I stayed at, which was also where the other visiting artists were staying, was the charming Hotel Casona la Merced, across the street from the historic church of the same name. It is a family owned place, and what it lacks in five star luxury it more than makes up for in hospitality. I was treated like a family member, including home cooked meals. I think the best way to experience the real culture and lifestyle of a place is through your stomach, and I had that opportunity in abundance. Every morning there was a knock on my door at 7:45 a.m. telling be breakfast had arrived. I got the following (with some variation) each morning:

MMMMMMMM… Breakfast!!

This is very much a typical Colombian breakfast. The scrambled eggs with tomatoes and onions is called huevos pericos. The white, round biscuit looking things are called arepas, which are a sort of bread/buiscuit made from corn. The round, golden ball is a Buñuelo, which is a kind of fritter. In Colombia, it is made with a white cheese mixed with dough and then fried. The red drink is a fruit juice, (likely grape) but I had several different Colombian fruit juices including the local Lulo and Tomate de Arbol fruits. The white rice or arroz is an ever present side dish in almost any Colombian meal.

Tomorrow I’ll describe the Salón Internacional de Historietas y Caricaturas Calicomix itself, plus more about my experiences with the culture of Colombia.

Q: How much of the ability to see caricatures is natural talent, and how much can be learned from a course or a book? If someone has drawing ability, does that mean they can be taught caricaturing?

A: I’m a believer in the old adage that art is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. That simply means that “talent” is only a small part of a person’s art… it’s the hard work that makes the largest difference. An artist with a ton of natural talent but little drive or desire to excel will not go as far as the less talented artist with an insatiable hunger to improve and grow.

That said, I do think the ability to draw caricatures is partly hard wired into an artist, especially spontaneous, live caricatures. I know a lot of incredibly talented artists who can draw and paint like crazy but caricature eludes them. I don’t think it has much to do with “talent”, but more about how a person’s personality and sense of humor manifests itself. Just like some writers are better at doing humorous stories than they are at tragic dramas, some artists are better at “funny” than they are at “serious”. Those artists with a natural, satirical view of the world seem to take more naturally to caricature than say an artist who has more of a serious outlook on life. It’s more of a function of their viewpoint than their skill set.

Finally, no, I do not think just anyone with the ability to draw can be taught how to draw caricatures. Not really. Someone with strong drawing skills also has correspondingly strong observational skills, and they can certainly be taught the mechanics of drawing the face and achieve a certain level of competency with respect to getting likenesses and doing a good looking drawing. Caricature, however, is something that follows no real rules or formulas. It is a very personal interpretation of life and it requires the ability to recognize what makes a subject unique. That cannot be taught.

I believe the ability to draw caricatures can be developed over time, as an artist’s “eye” for exaggeration and observation improves and they find their voice. That development can be helped along through learning from various resources and by observing how other artists interpret people in caricature, but there is no system for teaching it completely.

Thanks to Robert and Margaret Carspecken for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!