Amy Whinehouse
Fellow National Caricaturist Network member and UK caricaturist Craig Rogalski emailed me these pictures from British weekly gossip magazine Heat. Yes, that’s my caricature of Amy Winehouse taken directly from this blog the fan in the article is trying to get her to sign.
Click image for a closer look…
Hmmmm… that looks familiar.
Something tells me from her expression that Amy doesn’t like my depiction of her! I’m so heartbroken over that.
I know the article credits the fan for doing the drawing, but let’s not jump to conclusions. The fan in question isn’t quoted or named so it’s just as likely this picture was sold to the tabloid and some copywriter hacked out that paragraph assuming the fan was the artist as it is that the fan actually claimed to have drawn it.
Ah well… it isn’t unprecidented that a celebrity dislikes my drawing of them. In 1994 the Superbowl was played in Atlanta, GA, and my caricature booth at Underground Atlanta was featured briefly on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. They zoomed onto my sample of Leno during the segment and Leno mistook the subject for “Mr. Potato Head”. Leno famously hates caricatures of himself… you have to question any comedian who cannot laugh at themsleves.
Thanks for the pictures, Craig!
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That is so hilarious – your Amy Winehouse sketch has been one of my favorites on here, it’s great she got to see it first-hand. Compared to how she’s lookin’ these days, you gotta admit she’s rather gorgeous in your drawing. She should be flattered! 🙂
Bahaha! That Winehouse picture is great! Her expression is priceless. Knowing you’ve offended The Great Amy Winehouse (yecch) has got to make you proud. 🙂
Classic!
Tom- If you were attending an event where you knew a famous celebrity (movie/TV star-musician-sports star) were attending,would you bring one of your
drawings of him/her to sign and put it in the studio?
Would think for a caricaturist/illustrator that would be an interesting dilemma.
1-You could get an autograph and raves from the celebrity who might want one for themselves or 2-Your work could get harshly ripped in front of people by the celebrity.
Absolutely NOT.
I have learned from experience that 99% of celebrities could not care less about being approached by an artist with a caricature or portrait that was done of them for any reason. Celebrities in general are so self absorbed they might be shown the most brilliant caricature ever done of them and barely give it the time of day.
I remember as a very young artist I was drawing caricatures at an auto show in St. Paul and one of the “Celebrity Guests” was Cassandra Peterson AKA “Elvira: Mistress of the Dark”. I spend no small amount of time doing a caricature sample of her and went to try and get it signed. One of her handlers went into the green room with it and came back out saying she wasn’t signing anything right now and to come back and wait in line later during her official signing time… where no doubt I had to pay $$ for the signature.
Granted, I was just some 19 year old kid and the drawing was hardly a masterpiece, but don’t you think if somebody spent the time doing something like that you’d take 2 seconds out to sign it for them? I walked away shaking my head… Peterson was about as “B List” a celebrity as you can get, and her signature is worth exactly nothing. I just wanted her to see my drawing and possibly get some feedback. Young artists crave that sort of thing. Too busy for me, though. Maybe she was mentally preparing herself for her big, dramatic appearance in front of a bunch of drooling motorheads at an AUTO SHOW IN MINNESOTA IN FEBRUARY!
That is of course just one example, there have been a few other similar experiences for me and I’ve heard many similar stories form other caricaturists. That particular experience soured me on celebrity feedback. I would not walk across the street to show a celebrity a drawing I had done of them, and I would certainly never take the time to do one in anticipation of getting them to see it or sign it. If they happen to see it and react to it, great.
The funniest thing is that she is making the same facial expresion is how you drew her