It was recently announced by the International Society of Caricature Artists (ISCA) convention organizers that, for the first time ever, non-ISCA members are able to attend the main speaker presentations and panels for only $99.00 (cheap!). So come to beautiful… uh…. downtown Sandusky Ohio this November to listen to a bunch of MAD artists make fools of themselves.

Speaking of MAD artists making fools of themselves… back when we was just a young and impressionable lad of 15, long before he became a world famous caricaturist, illustrator and MAD artist/art director, a beardless (!) Sam Viviano paid a visit to the DC Comics offices to show what he described once to me as “bad drawings of Batman” to the DC editors. He chronicled his experience in comic form and sent it to DC, who promptly printed it in several of their titles! Behold the young Sam’s DC odyssey:

Click for a closer look…

Click for a closer look…

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:

A few pictures from Tuesday at the NCN MiniCon:

Teresa “Okie Artist” Farrington‘s marketing seminar

The “Party Style” competition in action

Ed Steckley‘s “Psychology of Caricature” seminar

Ed’s enraptured crowd…

Sorry about the lack of art pictures and info, but I was swamped finishing up a MAD job, prepping and then conducting my cartoon inking workshop. Tomorrow I will have a full report with plenty of pictures of artwork, and maybe even a few sketches of my own of some attendees.

Monday at the NCN St. Louis MiniCon is in the books. The seminars went well with Joe Bluhm, Marlene Goodman and Dave “Bippy” Boyer all imparting some great information.

Joe did a demonstration of a digital painting technique that was terrific. He’s a talented artist and his ability to paint is top notch. I learned a lot from his seminar.

Marlene did a talk about using markers with caricature and Dave did his legendary seminar on health and caricatures. Unfortunately I spent almost all of the day working on the last bit of my latest MAD job, so I missed those as well as the likeness competition. On the plus side, a lot of people were able to watch me work on the coloring of an upcoming MAD TV parody, and I enjoyed answering questions and demonstrating my techniques.

Today is the big inking workshop. Here are some random pics of attendees doing their thing at the MiniCon:

The St. Louis NCN MiniCon kicked off nicely last night with an icebreaker reception at the convention hotel. There is a very good turnout for this event, including two artists from Japan, one from Korea and one from Israel! Today’s festivities kick off at 9:30 with an opening meeting and speakers throughout the day including Joe Bluhm.

Artists are already sketching away at the icebreaker

“The Nose”caricature agency’s Tad Barney, Minnesota illustrator
James Hungaski and former NCN president and
Golden Nosey winner Roger Hurtado

Caricaturists Mel Lothrop, Angie Jordan and Dan Laib

All the way from Israel- Or Weitzman

St. Louis caricaturists Jim Batts, Ryan Roe and his wife Wendy

Tomorrow I will blog a full report of Monday’s activities, with plenty of pictures and artwork and the lowlights from my presentation.

Several times I’ve mentioned the National Caricaturist Network here on the blog. The NCN is an organization of professional caricaturists from all over the world (even though it’s still called the “National” Caricaturist Network, membership from outside the US has swelled to a sizable proportion). They represent not just live caricaturists from the theme park and party circuit, but illustrators, painters, sculptors, graphic artists… as long as an artist’s work revolves around caricature it’s a welcome fit. There are some seriously talented artists within the NCN, and it’s quite an inspiration to see their work. Here’s an old blog post about how I got involved with the NCN. I was president in 1999-2000 and 2000-2001.

The NCN had it’s 16th annual convention and competition Sept. 30th through Oct. 5th in Reno, NV. The convention is a central part of membership. Even though it’s a trek and major time commitment, actually attending one of these conventions can be a truly career changing event. Basically a large group of artists, sometimes as many as 200 or more, gather for the better part of a week, take over a huge ballroom space in some hotel and draw the crap out of each other all hours of the day and night. There is also a guest speaker, usually a well known caricature illustrator who does a keynote address an sometimes a work demo. This year was illustrator Daniel Adel, who’s work is consistently in the major entertainment magazines here in the US. Past years have seen such luminaries as Bruce Blitz, Jack Davis, Sebastian Krüger, John Kascht, C.F. Payne, Roberto Parada, Jan Op De Beeck, Steve Brodner, David Cowles and David O’Keefe. There are also seminars conducted by members on techniques, business and marketing. Mostly, though, it’s all about the caricatures.

Each attending member is a competitor, and is given a sectioned off space of wall in which to post the caricatures they produce that they wish to hang up. The artists work in almost every conceivable medium… from the street artist’s marker and chalk and glove, to airbrush to acrylics and oils to digital to sculpty. Some of the pieces that get hung up are like live caricatures and some are more like full blown illustrations. By the end of the week that ballroom is a cartoon and technicolor explosion of wild caricature art. It is awesome and humbling at the same time. Awesome in it’s inspiration and infusion of creative energy, and humbling being dwarfed by the skills of some outrageous talents. To be sure, there is nothing else like it in the world.

At the end of the convention comes the unfortunate necessity of judging these artists an awarding titles like “Caricaturist of the Year”, and “Best Caricature”, etc. It’s unfortunate only in that these awards can only go to a few, where there are so many that demand some recognition. The top three finishers for “Caricaturist of the Year”, the NCN’s highest honor, are bestowed the “Nosey”, a metal nose statue that comes in gold, silver and bronze. Congratulations to Kage Nakanishi (Golden Nosey), Glenn Ferguson (Silver Nosey) and Marian van de Wiel (Bronze Nosey) for taking home the hardware. This year’s complete list of winners can be found here on the NCN website.

I had to miss the con this year as it was switched in 2006 to early October from it’s traditional winter time, which is a bad time for me for multiple personal and professional reasons. I hope to make it next year. I’d encourage any caricaturists out there who are not members to go to the website and join up. The quarterly magazine alone is worth the modest $55.00 a year membership fee.

The NCN also has the occasional sanctioned “mini-con”, when a chapter puts on a smaller con of their own with a regional flavor. These cons are much smaller and limited to only a certain number of NCN members, but are also open to non-members who want to get a taste of what the NCN is all about and also see some speakers and seminars on the art. Just such a mini-con will be held in St. Louis on March 2nd-5th, 2008. Your’s truly will be the keynote speaker, and I will also be doing a hands on workshop on inking with pen/brush and ink. I will write a post with further information about what you can expect, but if anyone is interested in attending space is limited so don’t put it off.