Mailbag
October 5th, 2008 | Posted in Mailbag
A: I have a question (and I don’t think I’ve seen it answered yet!)! Has there ever been a face that no matter how many pictures, video or resources you look at, you just can’t get a grip on it? Myself, I specialize in a variety of anime stylizations, but there’s this one face (Nathan Fillion to be specific) that no matter what I try – anime, traditional caricature, or realism – I can’t quite get it! I’ve been able to create some drawings that people recognize without me having to give clues, but it’s not quite satisfying ME. If you do have one of… READ MORE
September 28th, 2008 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: How do you respond when doing a caricature and you present a preliminary sketch, the client says, “His (Her, My, whatever) nose (ears, chin, whatever) isn’t that big?” In a live party situation, where the drawing presented is a done deal and the host is paying by the hour, I respond with, “Now it is!” But in a studio, commission situation my first impulse is always to ask, “Do you know what a caricature is?” I almost always try in the initial conversation to determine if they know the difference between a portrait and a caricature. Even then I sometime get that irritating question.… READ MORE
September 14th, 2008 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I am doing a drawing of some friends who have a 11 month old, and I have a problem.¬¨‚Ć They’re child is how should I say… not the prettiest kid I’ve ever seen. Imagine a cross between Gollum and Baby faced Finster, with a touch of Deliverance.¬¨‚Ć I Have tried to pretty the kid up, but not sure If it looks anything like their daughter.¬¨‚Ć I think babies are hard to draw anyways, do you have any suggestions?¬¨‚Ć Also do you have a rule of thumb when drawing babies in general? A: Drawing babies has always been one of the banes of the live… READ MORE
September 7th, 2008 | Posted in Mailbag
Q:¬¨‚Ć What do your contracts look like? Do you get paid for all the work you put in on a job, or only for a finished project? Once your pencil hits the paper, do you get paid for each step along the way? A: Let’s tackle the middle question first. It’s a bit of a common misconception that an illustrator gets paid for the artwork they create. Technically that is not true. What an illustrator gets paid for, or more accurately what they sell, are the rights to use the artwork they create. A magazine illustrator sells the rights to reproduce their artwork to a… READ MORE
August 31st, 2008 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I worked doing retail caricatures I know that it is hard to hire someone trustworthy and is a good artist. Especially to be a manager at one of your concessions. Here in L.A. we always had someone (even managers) pilfering from the till. Are the artists permitted to display their own samples? Will you ever acknowledge them (not the criminals but the worthy artists) on your blog? A: I don’t often write about the business side of the retail caricature business here because I don’t think that is a topic that anyone but a very small few might care about or get anything out… READ MORE
August 24th, 2008 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Upon viewing the Phelps drawing it prompts the question, how much of your style is based on comic book drawing?¬¨‚Ć I kind of get the impression that what sets your work apart from others is that you draw caricatures the way a Marvel or DC artist would. A: In my opinion not much of my style of drawing or caricature is based on comic book work, and none of it is intentionally. My main style of caricature was developed from doing live caricature work at theme parks, and my experience with comic book style illustration is rather limited. It’s hard to pin down where… READ MORE
August 17th, 2008 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: How often does a client give you a vague idea of what they’re after (saying “We like you, we trust you – just go with it!”) – and how often are the jobs incredibly specific from the start? Which is your preferred method of working, if you have one? A: It depends on the type of project and the client’s style of art directing. Most of the time it’s somewhere in between those two extremes. In general when a client calls with a project they have some idea as to what they are looking for. Those ideas usually involve an explanation of the message… READ MORE
August 10th, 2008 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Do you have a hard copy of your blog in its entirety? ( a printed out version) If not, why? Do you have it saved elsewhere other than its own server–dvd, flash drive, another hard drive, on a website specifically for backing up blogs? I know you have had some glitches with it in the past, how do you try to avoid or deal with that possibility? Have you ever used it in any form of marketing for your art? Has it followed the vision you had for it when you first started it or has it become more than you envisioned? Can you… READ MORE
