I’m speaking today at 1:00 pm at the International Society of Caricature Artists‘ annual convntion and competition, held this year in beautiful downtown Sandusky, Ohio. I’ll be followed by former airbrush legend and current digital painting master Mark Frederickson. Tomorrow’s speakers are MAD art director and long-time MAD artist Sam Viviano and wünderkind Hermann Mejia. Tomorrow evening there will be a panel of all of us answering questions as well.

I’m greatly looking forward to this, in part because I have never had occasion to meet either Mark or Hermann. Funny we’ve been mainstays in MAD for over a decade each and yet never had occasion to meet. Funny world.

Look for a full report on Thursday.

This is just a reminder that the International Society of Caricature Artists annual convention is coming up fast, exactly one month away on Nov. 2nd. I understand from current president Robert Bauer that attendance is already at record levels, and that’s before the last minute people show up at the door.

Unfortunatley for those who did not register before Sept. 30th, early discount registration is over and it’s now full price to register:

• Members- $250
• Member guests- $100 each
• Non- Member “Seminar Only”- $125

It might be a bit more if you show up at the event looking to register on the spot, so register early for a little savings. Click Here to get more info and to register.

The schedule of events has been released, so here are the main guest speaker times and events:

Tuesday, November 3
1:00 – 3:00pm GUEST SPEAKERS: Tom Richmond & Mark Fredrickson

Wednesday, November 4
1:00pm – 3:00 pm SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKERS: Hermann Mejia and Sam Viviano
3:30pm – 4:30pm GUEST SPEAKER PANEL: Fredrickson, Mejia, Richmond & Viviano
7:30pm – 9:30pm VIP Reception with Guest Speakers (gold members/special invite only)

Of course there are a great many other workshops and seminars going on, as well as the competitions and the creation of literally thousands of pieces of great caricature art int he main room throughout the week.

This will be a great event. It’s rare that this many MAD contributors get together to speak at the same time, and very rare to see so many of the “newer” members of the Usual Gang of Idiots featured. It’s also unheard of to have a non-member admission option for those just wanting to see the main speakers.

If you have an interest in caricature art, this is the place to be.

The deadline for early discounted registration for the International Society of Caricature Artists annual convention is coming up fast on Sept. 15th. There is a substantial discount for both ISCA members and the special non-member “MAD Seminar Only” option.

On or Before September 15th:

• Members- $165
• Member guests- $100 each
• Non- Member “Seminar Only”- $99

After September 15th:

• Members- $250
• Member guests- $100 each
• Non- Member “Seminar Only”- $125

This will be a great event. It’s rare that this many MAD contributors get together to speak at the same time, and very rare to see so many of the “newer” members of the Usual Gang of Idiots featured.

Click Here to get more info and to register.

The International Society of Caricature Artists (ISCA, formerly known as the NCN) 2009 Annual Caricature Convention and Competition is fast approaching on November 2nd-7th in Sandusky, Ohio. If you are a caricaturist either doing the live thing or for publication and have never attended one of these events, you are missing something special.

There are some unique things about this year’s convention that makes it a perfect time for non-ISCA members to attend to see what it’s all about.

First off, there is not one, not two, not three but FOUR guest speakers, all from MAD Magazine:

• Sam Viviano- Longtime MAD artist and current art director
• Mark Fredrickson- Frequent MAD cover artist, former airbrush demigod and current digital painting master
• Hermann Mejia- The brilliant “artist’s artist” for MAD, caricaturist, painter, sculptor, genius
• Tom Richmond- My humble self

That’s quite a lineup, and as far as I know very unique. As Sam pointed out to me, it will be possibly the first time that something like this has been organized that features predominately new generation MAD artists. Sam’s actually been with the magazine for over 30 years, but compared to guys like Mort Drucker, Jack Davis, Sergio Aragones and Al Jaffee, that’s like just starting last week. The legends get plenty of well deserved accolades, but these guys (at least three of them, anyway) deserve some attention for their work… which often gets overlooked in the shadows of the MAD giants.

This should be fun. Each speaker will have a presentation, there will be a MAD panel discussion and possibly some workshops done by the guests. I’m planning one on some form of cartooning, possibly another inking workshop but more likely storytelling as it applies to MAD.

You’ll also get a chance to meet and hang out with such caricature legends as Jan Op de Beeck, Joe Bluhm, Steve Silver, Court Jones and many others who attend every year and also sometimes conduct workshops. The final schedule is not complete and as there are so many main speakers the workshops might be limited this year, but at least you’ll see ones by Jan and Silver.

Ordinarily these conventions are only open to members of the organization. For the first time this year there will be a special fee of $99 for anyone who is not a member but wants to attend just the MAD speaker presentations. I warn you, though, if you are a caricaturist or cartoonist and attend just for the speakers you will be so blown away by the creative power of the event you will likely apply for membership on the spot and end up drawing away like the other 150 plus attending artists.

The deadline for the discounted early registration is fast approaching on Sept. 15th. There are $99 a night room rates available at the resort as well. I hope to see some readers of The MAD Blog there!

The International Society of Caricature Artists (ISCA, formerly known as the NCN) just announced their guest speaker(s) for the 2009 Annual Caricature Convention and Competition on November 2nd-7th in Sandusky, Ohio:

It’s an all MAD lineup featuring:

• Sam Viviano- Longtime MAD artist and current art director
• Mark Fredrickson- Frequent MAD cover artist, former airbrush demigod and current digital painting master
• Hermann Mejia- The brilliant “artist’s artist” for MAD, caricaturist, painter, sculptor, genius
• Tom Richmond- An unworthy schlub along for the ride

That’s quite a lineup, and as far as I know very unique. As Sam pointed out to me, it will be possibly the first time that something like this has been organized that features predominately new generation MAD artists. Sam’s actually been with the magazine for over 30 years, but compared to guys like Mort Drucker, Jack Davis, Sergio Aragones and Al Jaffee, that’s like just starting last week. The legends get plenty of well deserved accolades, but these guys (at least three of them, anyway) deserve some attention for their work… which often gets overlooked in the shadows of the MAD giants.

This should be fun. Each speaker will have a presentation, there will be a MAD panel discussion and possibly some workshops done by the guests. I’m planning one on some form of cartooning, possibly another inking workshop but more likely storytelling as it applies to MAD.

Ordinary these conventions are only open to members of the organization. As I understand it, there will be a special fee available for anyone who is not a member but wants to attend just the MAD speaker presentations.

More details here as they become available.

There are two turning points in my professional life that I credit with pointing me (and kicking me) down the right path towards my eventual career, such as it is. The first was getting a job drawing caricatures at a theme park near Chicago in 1985 while a freshman in college at the University of Minnesota. Prior to that job, being from a very small town in Minnesota, I had not been exposed to the kind of talents and abilities I would need to be on par with if I ever wanted to make a living as a commercial artist. Thus I had never really been challenged or pushed to work harder nor inspired to reach farther than what was comfortable and easy. After a summer working with artists that would eventually become prominent animators, comic book artists, children’s book illustrators and freelance illustrators I got that push and inspiration… as well as a love of caricature that shaped my path. It is no exaggeration to say getting that summer job changed my life.

The second turning point was joining the National Caricaturist Network (NCN). Before I tell that story, let me tell you what the NCN is all about.

The National Caricaturist Network is a trade association of professional caricature artists from all over the world. Currently over 500 strong, it boasts members from as far away as Japan, Australia, Belgium, Singapore, Israel and many other countries as well as nearby Canada and of course the United States, where it is based. The purpose of the NCN is “to promote the art of caricature, educate the public and the media about the art of caricature and to provide its members with helpful information about caricature as an as art form as well as a profession.” It’s members pay yearly dues (currently $55 USD) and for this they get listed in the searchable NCN directory, access to the members only online forum where they exchange ideas, artwork, critiques, advice and knowledge as well as “network” and they receive the terrific quarterly, members only magazine Exaggerated Features.

Members are also able to attend a yearly “convention” of caricaturists that takes place currently in early November in various locations. I just returned from attending part of the 5 day event that was held this year in Raleigh, North Carolina. The convention is also a competition, where between 150 and 200 artists draw caricatures of each other in almost every imaginable medium in a single, giant convention room and literally cover the walls with their caricature art. At the end of the event, which also includes big name guest speakers, workshops and classes in caricature techniques, mediums and business issues, there is a big banquet where awards voted on by the competing members are bestowed upon the best artists in many categories. These awards culminate in the announcement of the top ten “Caricaturists of the Year”, the top three of which win a bronze, silver and gold “Nosey”… a weird trophy shaped like a nose. First place, or “Caricaturist of the Year”, gets the coveted “Golden Nosey”.

The 2008 awards banquet

Sounds interesting but pretty bizarre, doesn’t it? This year 180 plus artists sat about for 5 days drawing each other silly in between attending seminars and workshops on caricature theory, digital illustration, drawing techniques, exaggeration and even the legal issues that concern caricaturists like “right of publicity” and “The Orphan Works Act”. I did a seminar on caricature and freelance illustration.

Me boring everybody at my seminar on “Caricatures in Freelance Illustration”

Me and 2008 guest of honor Ismael Roldan

Bizarre it may be to the uninitiated, but within there is something almost magical about these conventions. The attending artists bond though the sheer joy and love of the art of caricature. Artists come away from the convention with a renewed sense of creative energy and inspiration. You cannot help but be humbled by the mind-blowing talent in that competition room, and yet rather than getting depressed and down on your work you become invigorated and determined to expand your skills. The exposure to styles and thought processes that are completely alien to your own way of doing things forces your brain and your eyes to open up a wider than before… and that leaves you open to a whole new world of possibilities.

I joined the NCN in 1997 in a round-about kind of way. I had read some internet comments by a local Minnesota party/event caricaturist that denigrated theme park caricatures as being of low skill and talent, specifically talking about my artists at Valleyfair. I took offense to that, and promptly wrote him a letter putting him in his place. A little chagrined, the artist invited me to join a listserv emailing list (an early ancestor of the modern forum or message board) called “The Loop”, which was for and about the art of caricature. There I learned about the NCN, which at the time was about 200 or so members. The organization interested me so I applied for membership and paid my dues.

One of the principal things that interested me was the convention, that year to be held in March (1998) in Las Vegas. The scheduled guest of honor was to be the legendary Mort Drucker. I wanted very much to meet Mort, and didn’t really care a great deal about the competition. To be honest, I had been drawing caricatures professionally for 11 years at that time, had owned and run my own operations for 7 years and had trained some hundred or more artists how to draw. I was doing comic books and magazine illustration, however small time it was. I was a big fish in a little pond, and frankly thought I was pretty damn good. I thought I was a shoe-in for this “Golden Nosey” thing. I got my tickets to Vegas and paid my convention fees. Shortly before the event, it was announced that Mort was not going to be able to come due to a family emergency. Sergio Aragonés was going to fill in for him. I loved Sergio’s work, but he wasn’t a caricaturist and so I nearly canceled my trip. Knowing literally no one at this convention, I went anyway.

To say I was blown away would be to put it mildly. By the end of the first day I thought my chances of winning ANY award, let alone the “Golden Nosey” was slim to none, and Slim had left town. Yet something strange was happening. Yes, my overinflated ego was being crushed… but that did not get me down. In fact, it did quite the opposite. I was more enthusiastic about drawing caricatures than I had been in some years. I saw the stagnation I had been mired in and looked at my work in a way I had not in some time. I was reinvigorated in my work and my goals. That was a second life changing event. It is again no exaggeration to say that without the NCN I would not be working as a freelance illustrator today, and certainly not for MAD. Never since have I felt comfortable with the level of my work. Confident, yes, but not complacent. That lesson alone shaped me more as an artist than 4 years of art school ever had.

The funny thing is, despite all the ego shattering I experienced at that convention, I actually did win “Caricaturist of the Year” that year, and again the next year in 1999. After that I became president of the NCN and served for two years to give back to the organization that had given me so much, putting on conventions in San Diego in 2000 and Atlanta in 2001. I have contributed mostly behind the scenes since then in small ways to help when I can.

8 of the 18 past winners of the NCN “Golden Nosey” as Caricaturist of the Year.
R to L: Me, Stephen Silver, Paul Gaunt, Joe Bluhm, Roger Hurtado, Court Jones
Chris Rommell and Kage Nakanishi

Me and 2008 “Golden Nosey” winner Jason Seiler

The NCN has grown a lot since those days, and the level of talent has grown as well. I realized as I spent just a few days there last week that I really need to attend these events every year, because I still leave there humbled and with a bruised ego in the wake of some of the enormous talent that fills that room… but it has always been amid the process of being humbled that I have been the most enthusiastic and motivated to break out of the box and grow as an artist. Challenge is good. It’s NECESSARY. If you are a caricaturist and not a member of the NCN, you are missing out.

Here’s a video by member Brian Vasilik that will give you a small peek into the crazy creative environment that is an NCN convention:

Today is travel day back to Minnesota from Germany. In fact as this is posted I should be somewhere over the Atlantic on the way back home. On Monday and Tuesday I will post a complete report of the trip. It was amazing.

In the meantime I will be spending this weekend, jet lag and all, set up at the Minnesota FallCon comic book convention taking place at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds both on Saturday and Sunday.

I’m not much for appearing at comic book conventions. They are always fun, but MAD is one of those “sort of” parts of the industry. It’s “sort of” a comic book and I am “sort of” a comic book artist, but very few people who attend have ever seen my work. I get a lot of “oh, I used to read MAD as a kid… haven’t picked one up in years.” Most people that attend these are either fans of mainstream comics, fans of alternative comics, comic book creators or aspiring comic book creators. Not a lot of readers of MAD, at least the current version. I also have no character to draw, unless you count Alfred E, Neuman, so I usually offer to draw caricatures. Inevitably I am asked to draw sexy Batgirl drawings instead.

Still this one takes place in my hometown (close enough, anyway), and the organizers are nice enough to invite me every year and really want me to attend as I am a local creator. I also get a chance to see some old friends like DC artists Doug Mahnke and Tom Nyguen. Doug is one of the most sought after comic artists in the business, and he and I started out together as artists for the same theme park concession company in 1985, he doing airbrush T-shirts and I caricatures at Six Flags Great America near Chicago. Tom is another well known comic artist and inker, who worked for me as a young kid drawing caricatures at my operation here in Minnesota. It’s always fun to see them, and there are other folks from the area I seldom get to chat with that I hope I’ll get to see this weekend.

This is the 20th anniversary of the FallCon, and they are moving into the Grandstand building at the Fairgrounds to accomidate a larger show. There are panels galore and lots of things to see, like one of the 60′s TV show Batmobiles.

I don’t know where I will be set up yet. but I will be drawing caricatures and sketches (even a sexy Batgirl if that’s what you really want) for some beer money, and will also be selling some original MAD artwork for pretty cheap. Stop by and say hello.

I’ve mentioned the National Caricaturist Network‘s annual convention here a few times… it really is a one of a kind event. In 2006 a documentary crew did some filming at the con in Orlando and is in the process of putting together a video program of it. Here is the “trailer” for the film:

Sketch Monkeys Trailer

I have a few problems with the direction of the documentary, not the least of which is the title. “Sketch Monkeys??”. ..sounds like we are a circus act.

They also seem to be focusing a bit much on the negative side of things… and the crude and tasteless kinds of drawings that a small percentage of NCN artists seem to enjoy doing… that is typical of TV but is not typical of what you see at these conventions. Yes, the artists go crazy and do what they can’t get away with when drawing the general public, but most don’t need to resort to blue material to get attention. The art really is the focus at this yearly gathering.

I hope the final result paints the convention is the light in which it deserves, that being a gathering of very talented people to celebrate a unique art form.

I rarely go to comic book conventions, being that MAD doesn’t really fit in to the comic book world. Yes, it’s full of cartooning, but it’s a little like the red-headed stepchild in that environment.

There are certain factions of exhibitors and attendees at these conventions. You have the cape and tights crowd, that go primarily for the mainstream superhero genre comics, and the majority of them don’t have any time for the ‘funny books’ or a lot of the underground type stuff. Then you have the kind of La Bohemme crowd, most of whom are creators of various underground or avant garde comics with slice of life kind of storylines often infused with some kind of odd premise or twist. Most of them are self published, manning their own booth to show their latest work. A lot of these latter do it as a labor of love, scratching a creative itch while being part of a medium they love. Then you have the manga people… anyway, most of these folks don’t really see MAD as part of the comic book world.

As a result, I don’t do much at these conventions. I rarely ever sell a piece of original art, as my price of $200 per page or more seems outrageous to attendees. I guess I can’t blame them, as most comic book artists price their pages at $50 to $80 for recent work, and there are literally hundreds of thousands of such pages available to buy at those prices. Personally even at $200 a page I’d rather keep the work than sell it, so I am not all that put out by not selling originals. I did a few sketches for people, and got a lot of work done on two freelance jobs so not all was wasted. Plus I did get to meet a few genuine fans of MAD, signed a bunch of copies of the latest issue and hopefully convinced a few people to pick up a copy the next time they see it at the bookstore.

Here’s some pictures I took at the con this weekend:

From the far end, Clint Hilinski, Pat Gleason, my good friend Doug Mahnke and Shawn Moll.

They don’t exactly get the archetypes to fill these costumes, but their little friend here is still all grins.

Kurt Busiek and Gordon Purcell

Old buddy Tom Nguyen (left) imparts comic book wisdom

Legendary inker and artist Joe Rubenstein

This weekend is the annual Minnesota “FallCon” comic book convention at the State Fairgrounds. The last few years I’ve managed to get there once or twice. This year I’ll be at a table with a stack of MAD’s to sign, a bunch of original art for sale and I’ll be doing caricatures as well. Last year we combined the con with our chapter meeting for the North Central Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society, and had a North Central table plus did a panel discussion on cartooning with myself, Micheal Jantze (THE NORM comic strip), Cedric Honstadt (OPPOSITE FORCES, and 3-2-1 PENGUINS ) and Jerry Van Amerongen (BALLARD STREET comic panel strip).

Cedric, myself, Micheal and Jerry at last year’s FallCon panel

This is a small show compared to many of the cons that happen around the country, but it’s also one of the old fashioned kind of conventions… where the comic book dealers, creators and fans are the focus and not Hollywood or licensed tie ins. There is also a very good presence of independent press and self published creators, which is great. It’s always fun to see what other people are creating and help support their efforts by picking up some “ashcan” comics or other small press books that catch your eye. I try to buy at least three or so every year.There is a pretty big contingency of comic book creators here in the Twin Cities, so there is a big group of artists and creators alway there at the show. My good friends Doug Manhke and Tom Nguyen, both big names for DC Comics, will be there to hang out with. I also see well known, veteren inker Joe Rubenstein will be appearing there. It will be good to see him. The guest list is long.

So, if you are in the Twin Cities this weekend, come on by the FallCon and say hello. It’s a good show and definitely worth the stop.