Mailbag
June 10th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Has any celebrity you’ve drawn ever gotten angry over their caricature? A: I haven’t directly heard from anyone who was upset with the way I drew them, but indirectly I’ve been told twice about such a reaction. The first had nothing to do with MAD. Back in 1994 the Superbowl was held in Atlanta, GA., and the media was crawling all over the city. The Tonight Show did several live remotes with an on-the-spot reporter during the week of the game. One day they did their remote from Underground Atlanta, where I have a retail caricature operation. They set up right next to our… READ MORE
June 3rd, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: A friend of mine who does the party caricatures for a living told me “zones out” a lot while drawing a big crowd. He said that he gets in a rythm of drawing where he’s so comfortable and routine he goes on automatic pilot to the point where he’s actually floated above himself watching himself draw and entertain for a couple subjects. My friend says it happens almost every gig. Sometimes its out of boredom too. Its very surreal. He said watching himself draw and talk was freaky. He doesn’t do drugs and has a couple beers to unwind only after the gig. Have… READ MORE
May 27th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Do you believe a person can learn to be a great artist? Meaning a person that shows a little talent, do you believe that person can be developed into a great artist? I have viewed studies of “historically” great artists such as Picaso and such and viewed the transformation of the level of his drawing (not very good at first) and then 5 years later after intense study the splendidness of his drawing. I am just starting to pursue my dream of being a great artist (enter the college of art here in the fall) and I think I am above average compared to… READ MORE
May 20th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: How about an article or two about how to caricature? I’m a cartoonist, but I’ve never been able to caricature well… I’d love to hear some of your tricks and tips. Thanks for the great blog! A: Your welcome and thanks for the compliment. I’ve been in the process of doing a book on drawing caricatures for a long time now, but I keep changing my mind whether I want it to be a ‘how to’ on drawing live caricatures, an overall thesis on caricaturing in general, or a combination of both. I’m afraid the combo would be confusing, as learning the art of… READ MORE
May 13th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I noticed you do a lot of cropping in your work. Now do you do that more dramatic effect or is it for expediency? Will you do many thumbnails to arrive at your final piece? A: I’m not sure what you mean by “cropping”. “Cropping” is where one takes an image and removes some of it around the edges, like matting a photo and hiding some of the photo behind the matte. I don’t usually crop my images, as that is a waste of time. I would not want to spend time drawing and rendering an area of an illustration that would be cropped… READ MORE
May 6th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: The splash pages for your MAD parodies are full of Caricature illustrations/bodies, all set around a relevant scene and I wonder how you go about working out these scenes and where you start with the first pencil lines that will go to make up these scenes? Which by the way are awesome! A: First off, thanks for the kind words! Splash pages are particularly complex. They are like puzzles that need to be figured out and solved. The layouts I receive from MAD include the headers and all the text boxes in place. I also get a script with some descriptions or explanations of… READ MORE
April 29th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I have unsuccessfully searched the web and several art books on the simple topic of Inkwashing. I would like to know the technique for preparing the wash. Do you mix the ink and water ad hock as you are using it, or do you measure out 1 or 2 drops per ounce of water into several containers and create your own solutions for use later on? I have arbitrarily made some batches but it seems to me there must be some standard procedures?? A: I don’t do a lot of ink and wash illustrations anymore as it’s so much easier to just add the… READ MORE
April 22nd, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: What do you consider a good caricature? I’ve seen plenty of published caricatures that look nothing like their supposed persons, is there a point where you can go too far with a caricature or not exaggerate enough? A: I consider a good caricature to have an unmistakable likeness and yet have both humor and exaggeration with the features. Some artists push the exaggeration too much and lose the likeness, which makes it an unsuccessful caricature. Some caricatures are little more than portraits with bigger heads and cartoonish bodies, and while the likenesses might be unmistakable with them they don’t have that humor that makes… READ MORE
