MAD About ISCA

The International Society of Caricature Artists is a worldwide organization of caricaturists that welcomes all practitioners of the art form, from live street artists to gig/event artists to illustrators to fine artists and everywhere in between. If you do caricature, you are part of their family.

Every year they have a big convention/competition somewhere in the U.S., where hundreds of caricaturists from all over the planet gather and draw each other silly for 5 days, eventually voting on winners in many different categories and crowning a “Caricaturist of the Year” (aka the “Golden Nosey”). They also have a lineup of speakers and presenters.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the ISCA Con, and I am one of several speakers including headliners Anthony Geoffr0y and Kage Nakanishi, Stacy Pierce along with Joe Bluhm, A.J. Jensen, Kage Nakanishi, Stacy Pierce, Marcus Sakoda and Stephen Silver. I’ll be giving a talk about Caricatures and MAD today and doing a mini-workshop tomorrow.

In this day of ubiquitous social media the joining of an actual organization, particularly if it costs you some money in dues, often gets derided as passé and unnecessary. I feel sorry for those who can’t manage to drag their asses out from in front of their keyboards and attend something as spectacular as the ISCA convention. There is nothing like seeing art created before your eyes, getting inspired to create yourself, and be fully immersed in an environment free of your usual daily distractions… not to mention getting to actually meet and interact with other artists that share your passion for an artform without being limited to 140 characters.

More reports from the ISCA con to come…