supersketch

Drawings from the Ingenuity Festival last night~!

2011-09-17T07:30:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iadampate/ These were all done on the iPad for Ingenuity Fest. This was my first night doing them. The people watching the first ones actually applauded!! = )

Wireless digital caricatures!

2011-07-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

As of today I can confirm that I am able to do digital iPad caricatures about as fast as I normally draw (45-60 seconds) while walking around a room and stream a live video of what I am drawing on a wall with a projector! I'm pretty excited about this and have a ton of ideas!!

Been a while again

2011-07-14T11:53:00.000-07:00

Been busy this summer doing festivals and fairs. Had some fun, had some disappointments and some fist pumping both. Best of all it is nice to be home for the summer and see Stacie and Dewie nearly every day. That is priceless. = ) Got some good photos I will be sharing soon. I just updated the Sonicbids calendar at http://www.sonicbids.com/adampate One particularly awesome event coming up is the Ingenuity Festival, which is a fest that has been going on for about 4-5 years now. It melds art/creativity with technology. Well, THIS GUY is going to be doing strolling digital caricatures there and sending a live signal to a projector and printing wirelessly also! I'm off to get a new iPad I guess! As far as events I have coming up, I will be at the Taste of Tremont event this Sunday, July 17th from 12-8. It's one of the most popular events in Cleveland and they are expecting 40K people. If you've never been down there, maybe you should check it out!!

Well, it has been a little while!

2011-05-17T12:15:00.000-07:00

Since Montana last month I've been to PA, WI, NC, NY, NJ TX and I'm on my way to NH today for one last gig of the spring before I start getting ready for summer festivals. I am all set up for them now and I am rather excited to try out the new SquareUp device I have that allows me to take credit card transactions from my phone. I'm starting out at the Port Clinton Walleye festival, doing a car show, Duct Tape Festival, Strawberry festival, a fire truck thing and a couple of weddings too. I should have some time off during the week to work on the house and garden as well so that's really floating my boat! Plus I won't have to be doing so much of THIS:

If you're interested in where I'll be check out http://www.sonicbids.com/adampate

This summer

2011-04-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

Looks like doing the digital caricature thing is going to be a way bigger headache than I had imagined. I may be doing things by hand instead. While making a list of supplies needed I realized that the last time I did this was in 1992 and the list of supplies was way shorter.

Montana, Day 2 (part 2) on the scenic route to Washington State

2011-04-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

10 miles down the road from where I left the dog...

Sorry, some of these did not get edited correctly. I dunno why...

Most of my drive through the Rockys looked like this... I took so many photos of this river I decided that the photos I took did not do it justice as they all kinda look alike from photos. However when you are there, each bend in the river looks prettier than the last!

By this time, I was THINKING about trying to find a place to camp for the night. This is where I wish I would have camped. I had a nice time where I was but this would have been ideal... That is a fire pit by the treeline next to the river. Mmmmmmm.... Would have been reallll nicccce.

That's all for a little while. I'll post more later maybe. Hope you liked checking them out.

The beginning of day 3, Montana to Washington

2011-04-11T22:52:00.000-07:00

I stayed in a place called Lolo, which was south west of Missoula, (which I liked quite a bit) I had decided to take a leisurely drive across Idaho on Rt. 12 which I assumed would be pretty scenic. (UNDERSTATEMENT...) So anyways, I started out driving out of Lolo around 11:30. 12 is the Louis and Clark Trail, which I thought was pretty cool so I stopped here and there to read the historical markers and such. I went to the site of a L & C campground called 'Traveler's Rest', a Nez Perce indian battleground and had just gotten to a National Park where there was something or other to see, I don't remember why I decided to go there...

I had just gotten there when I saw a flash of white and black fur cross over the drive to the parking lot and go up the hill into the woods... I called for him and tried to feed him and he wouldn't come out. I started up the car and pulled around an embankment and saw him come towards the food in my mirror so I got out and eventually coaxed him into eating more, playing a little and cuddling in the car with me after about 2 hours.

I don't know how he got there but where he was was pretty remote. There wouldn't have been anybody around there for a long, long time. It was very cold too and it looked like he had been abandoned several weeks ago. I took him to the nearest populated area, around Lolo Springs Resort where there were a handful of people hanging around the 'pool' and had to leave him there. It broke my heart but he was much easier around these people than he was with me at first so I hope somebody took him home and took care of him. Obviously I flew to Montana, had a rental car and about 3 days of travel, work and hotel rooms ahead of me. He would need shots, a bath and a huge carrier at the very least for me to have taken him home. I am really upset about it but at least I got him to relative safety. The nearest town after Lolo Springs was about 200 miles away in the direction I was headed and I was planning on traveling about 300 that day at least.

I find stray dogs along the road all the time and I have actually saved a few by calling animal control and having them taken away. I know what they probably do with the dogs and I told myself last time that the next dog I found I would rescue for real. Keep it in the car, take it home and either keep it or find it a home. It really breaks my heart that I couldn't bring this lil guy home as a friend for Dewie to play with. Last I saw him he was tagging along with some guys who were probably going to smoke some pot on a hiking trail and playing with another dog that they had with them. He looked very happy. I hope he still is. If I could go back and get him right now I would!

Montana, Day 2 on the scenic route to Washington State

2011-04-11T13:38:00.000-07:00

I love all of the subtle colors of winter that mostly people just take for granted as being 'grey'. If you look back over all of these photos you'll see a variety of brilliant color accenting the shades of grey. This is a big inspiration of mine when I paint landscapes and one of my favorite things to notice when I am driving cross country in the winter. I couldn't get a good photo of them but there where these beautiful leafless trees that had bright, bright yellow branches. They were really spectacular in front of the purple/blue mountains but they were usually near houses or telephone poles and I didn't think it would make that fine of a photo. More tomorrow or maybe even tonight!

More Montana!

2011-04-07T09:31:00.000-07:00

First of all, the reason I am in Montana is for work, so here are some of the caricatures I drew on Tuesday. All within around 60 seconds each.

These are the bluffs around Billings. It's pretty cool. The ridge overlooks the city and there are trails all over the place up there. Very cool view of the city too.

It was a very pretty trip to Butte, where I stayed. Wasn't impressed by Butte, but the scenery was pretty at least.

I'll have wayyyyy more pretty pictures on Friday (or as soon as I can upload them!)

Montana photos from Today

2011-04-04T13:11:00.000-07:00

All right, the first ones are from yesterday when I went hiking down by the Yellow Stone River in Billings... Here they are:

There were kids riding dirt bikes up this mountain, I swear!

A Bald Eagle

Here are some of the drawings I did today. I was having a good time drawing and was 'consistently busy' but not so busy that I ever had more than 5 people in line at a time so I took the time to take photos of more of my drawings than I usually get to. Not all of the photos turned out looking like the sitter but the drawings did!:

Jessica and Roxie

2011-02-17T09:25:00.000-08:00

This is a drawing I did of our neighbor, Jessica and her little Boston Terrier, Roxie. We babysit for Roxie and she is our dog, Dewie's BFF/GF.

FESTIVAL PRICING SPECIAL FOR SPRING!!

2011-02-15T14:23:00.000-08:00

ATTENTION: I am officially offering festival prices for my digital caricatures this spring. I am going to have a live digital caricature setup at car shows and festivals this summer and it will be very fast paced. I want to get into the swing of things early and practice before I go do it live... Prices start at $15 per person, pet or prop. Vehicles start at $50!!

New artwork this year

2011-02-05T08:46:00.000-08:00

Things have slowed down a bit after the holidays. That's not to say I haven't been busy. I've attended a few wedding shows and met lots of new people. I will be exhibiting at a few around valentines day. I am excited to see how that turns out. I also have a pretty big idea for what I can get done this summer. I'm thinking of a mobile digital caricature/car-toon booth that I will take to car shows and arts festivals, possibly some fairs and other kinds of festivals also. We'll see how it goes. I'm pretty excited about it though for sure!

Here are a few illustrations from this year so far. The first is from a wedding I drew caricatures at on New Year's Eve 2010. I did this drawing for the back of the paper and it was a gift to the bride and groom.

Here's one I just finished that is similar. They liked the design above:

Here is one of a friend from high school with her dogs.

This is another concept design for the guy who wants to make greener hot rods. He's thinking about buying the sheet metal from an old ford tractor hood, the cab and bed of a 41 studebaker truck and a 20's ford truck and putting them together. He wanted to see what it might look like and how he could paint it when finished. It will run on a giant diesel (powered by vegetable oil) and spew black smoke. He imagined it looking pretty intimidating.

Above: With references. Below: finished drawing

some live drawings from the last month

2010-12-27T12:17:00.000-08:00

These were from Nebraska.

On my way home from Nebraska, I stopped in a town in Western Illinois. I had a gig there the next evening. It was so busy... I didn't have a chance to snap any photos. When I am busiest I do my best work. It's too bad I didn't get any photos but maybe somebody will post them somewhere and I will get a hold of some. The next ones were from a gig I did at 12:30pm in Akron, OH after driving all through the night from the 10pm-1am Western Illinois gig! Luckily the snow did not slow me down much and I had plenty of energy and wit to put these together for the next 3 hours till I went home and SLEPT! It was a hectic weekend to say the least!

Even did a few rare color gigs!

Some more holiday drawings!

2010-12-27T11:36:00.000-08:00

This is my sister and her family. I did it as a gift for her and made prints for the rest of my family and his.

The drums were probably the most difficult of the season. I had very limited references. Dark scattered photos from different angles, distances and views with stage lighting shining on the chrome parts and different setups with monitor wires all over them too. Given all that... I think it turned out OK. = )

This picture of the dogs was probably my favorite though. A few rough and blurry photos but I am very pleased with the outcome- and so was the client!

new drawings for holiday cards and gifts

2010-12-12T21:23:00.000-08:00

Some new drawings for this month. Got some nice photos of some of my live sketches from Nebraska, Illinois and Akron that I will upload later on this week.

videos

2010-12-02T05:34:00.000-08:00

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150104455426352&ref=mf

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150104439811352&ref=mf

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150104420936352&ref=mf

3 New videos posted to my facebook fan page! This week I am in Nebraska. The IT guy at the college, Bryce Jensen, took these videos for me

Pinche' Y' Squeale

2010-11-23T09:38:00.000-08:00

This is a logo/drawing for some friends of mine who have a burlesque/vaudeville style show. I've not seen it yet but I can imagine how it goes. The two of them are such great characters that this was an absolute treat to put together.

Kirk and Amira Hartman

2010-11-22T16:13:00.000-08:00

Almost forgot- I never posted this one!

Nildo & James

2010-11-22T16:11:00.000-08:00

Did this drawing today for a couple of friends of mine that live in Orlando, FL.

Murray, another pet portrait!

2010-11-19T14:24:00.000-08:00

Early bird illustration

2010-11-17T11:14:00.000-08:00

I thought this was pretty cool. One of the people I've drawn cars for wrote an article for a magazine about Ford Thunderbird enthusiasts and they used the picture I drew of his car for the article. Pretty neat!

Here's the article-

Continued...

2010-09-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

These last two people are twins. It is not such a good photo but... I always try to draw twins with different facial expressions that correspond to their personalities (at least what I can pick up on while talking to them for a minute or two while drawing them) the one on the left was the serious, shy one and the one on the right seemed very bubbly and outgoing.

I wish I had time to take photos of some other ones I did at gigs this month. Particularly the other night in Morrisville, NY when I was drawing predominantly black folks which was a lot of fun. I had a group around me that was howling at everybody I drew and I felt free to exagerate a little more than usual and do some "crunk"itures... but I was so busy that I didn't have a second to snap a photo or two... Some of the photos in these blog entries may not be representative of the facial expressions the sitter was making when I drew them. I'm not going to sit there and make them pose for 3 photos until I get a photo that looks like the drawing... I hope you can see a likeness in the photos. In the end, it is not whether the photo looks like the sitter but if the drawing looks like the sitter to me and to their friends who are also watching. If the sitter likes it that is a bonus! (People sometimes have a different idea of what they look like than the rest of the world, lol!)

End of summer photos...

2010-09-12T09:28:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a very long post because it has been along month! This will have to be a cliffhanger...

I came back from OCMD a few weeks before I was scheduled to return to do a gig for Ridgid Tools here in Cleveland at Progressive Field. Lots of kids. Here are some photos from that.

In early August I started traveling to my college gigs. I put over 15,000 miles on my car in under a month and I now own one of (I am guessing) 3 Dodge Intrepeds in the world with over 200,000 miles on them! I went to TN, IL, SC, AL, WV, ME, NY, RI and NC so far. Still ahead are PA, ND, MI and CT. Here are some photos of my work from those gigs:

Many more to come in the next post...!

Been a long summer

2010-08-15T13:55:00.000-07:00

Had a few weeks now of relaxation. Tuesday I start traveling again. Starting out in TN, then off to IL, SC, AL, WV and then New England. Lots to do before I head out. Fun while it lasted! If you're interested in my schedule, visit www.sonicbids.com/adampate . If you're interested in my newsletter please drop me a line.

Ocean City, Maryland for the summer

2010-07-20T07:40:00.000-07:00

Been in Ocean City, Maryland most of the summer after winding up my spring tour and doing a couple of festivals with a friend. Haven't really had much internet access or time to update the blog so I am taking the opportunity now that I am home for a few days. I'm home for about a week. (and have a long "honey doo" list to take care of! LOL!) I have been working at De Lazy Lizard (1st street, bay side) The Caribbean Pool Bar/Plim Plaza (2nd street, near the Boardwalk), Shenanigan's Irish Pub (4th Street, Boardwalk), Pickle's Pub (7th street on Philladelphia), Hammerheads (10th, Boardwalk), Brass Balls Salloon (11th, Boardwalk), Fishtales (22nd Street, Bay side), Macky's (53rd street, Bay side) If you get a chance please stop down. Check out the FT website. It's a pretty cool place- http://www.ocfishtales.com/

Here are some photos I've taken with my phone. (dang camera broke!) I did some really good drawings and tried to take some photos of them but the phone camera is not so good in the dark... = ( (Note to self: Get new camera...)

This is the boardwalk. It's 3 miles long. Supposedly 125,000 people visit this stretch of boards every week in the summer. I think the numbers are a bit inflated (at least from what I've seen this year relative to 2005 when I was last there...) but it is a cool place to visit for sure.

I don't do much drawing on the boardwalk. In fact I try to stay away from it as much as possible. I prefer the safety and relative reliability of the bars and restaurants I go to. I would not get nearly what I'd like for a drawing while hanging out on the boardwalk either. I do intend to try it but in 2005 I often had a hard time GIVING AWAY caricatures on the BW. People are weird. Not to mention I can pick and choose who I'd like to draw (or avoid). If somebody is rude or obviously drunk or weird looking I can avoid them - or walk away. Can't do that on the boardwalk and there's no security either of course.

This is a view of the bay from Fishtales, one of the places I draw at.

FT is also Bahia Marina, where charter fishing boats come in and they butcher the fish right there on the dock while people eat the fish nearby in the restaurant. YUM! These are Dolphin (Mahi Mahi). One of the really cool things about being in a fishing town is getting fresh fish from somebody who caught it that day. My friend Patrick scored about 40lbs of fresh off the boat tuna one day and we made steaks and had sushi with it. Here are the photos of the sushi I made. (One of my more distracting hobbies is my love of cooking!)

This is a photo of the bike I ride around from place to place on. Parking and traffic are ridiculous so it's essential to have a bike to make my rounds. I ride about 6-12 miles a day on it sometimes. Beach cruisers are pretty popular in the beach town. Mine has a beefy 52/13 crank ratio so I blow them all away! It doesn't look like much but in beach cruiser terms it's a hot rod, lol! (Also, it's fun to honk the horn at drunks staggering around the back streets when I blow through silently behind them.)

Even though I am at the beach it is work. I don't take a lot of time off. I've been working about 12 hours a day when weather (and morale) permits. There have been some rainy days and some 110 degree days that I just can't work... Stacie came to visit for a few days and we took a real vacation with the friend I am staying with and his wife. They have a special permit that allows them to drive onto a remote part of Assateague Island beach to fish. It was killer. I took the kayak out and surfed the waves until I wiped out pretty hard. Didn't catch a thing but had a ton of fun.

Here's some photos from another time I took the kayak out.

I've never seen so many CRABS! Go ahead and TRY to count the crabs in the photo below. You can't do it. There has to be 100 in just this photo! These are little green marsh crabs. In OC they are known as "bait".

big month!

2010-05-25T22:51:00.000-07:00

It's been a pretty big month so far. Been traveling around and just got done with most of the long trips. Stacie went with me up to New York and New England again. 3 times in Vermont this year!!! We stayed at a really cozy place called the Common Man Inn in Claremont, NH. Highly recommended! One of the most hospitable hotels ever, let alone one that was provided us by the client. Very cool. This spring I was in SC, NC, NY, NH, VT, DC, MD, IL, PA, MO and of course, OH.

Some big changes are coming my way this month for sure! One of the biggest is my decision to sign exclusively with The College Agency. Doug Wood of Modern Arts and Music has been my agent and friend for almost 4 years now. Doug is going to focus more with his musical acts and manage his friend Tracy Silverman's band Eclectica. With all that, he would not have had much time to promote me as I am not a musical act. He was very kind to allow me to use a song from his album "Dream Catcher" on my promotional video and also helped guide me onto the next step in my career. I wish Doug all the best and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank him for all the time and effort he put into booking shows for me, all the introductions he's made into the market and especially for all the invaluable advice he's given me over the past few years. He really knows his stuff and I couldn't have asked for a better mentor. It was great working with Doug and I hope we will stay in touch. Doug is a very accomplished acoustic guitarist. If you are not familiar with his work, please visit his website... www.dougwoodmusic.com, or www.modernartsandmusic.com. Tracy's site is www.eclecticatheband.com.

That's a big thing but the other thing is I will be moving to Ocean City, Maryland again for the summer this year instead of visiting Put In Bay, OH on the weekends. I can work every day in OC as opposed to just the weekends up at PIB. I'll only be down there for about 2 months but if you happen to go there for vacation and stop in to one of the bars or restaurants on the boardwalk and you are likely to find me at some point in the day from about 5pm till 3am. It will be a long day but it's worth it! When I'm not working on illustrations, I can relax during the day, swim, kayak, fish, bike, get a tan, etc .... It's gonna be rough but I think I can make it.

I'm just gonna miss the wife and dog.

The last bit of news is that I will be doing retail for a few weekends coming up. I will be at the Greek Festival in Tremont doing a rare stint as a RETAIL artist THIS MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND. I'll be working off an easel with big paper, markers, artstix, khakis, using a cash register and upselling my ass off. ... The whole 9 yards! After this weekend I will be heading to Arkansas for the Walmart Shareholders Meeting where I will be doing caricatures for a promotion for Smuckers Jelly, then on to another festival to do retail work in VA before I head to the beach. Dang, if I'm lucky though I might have a day off before I go so I can pack and take the dog to the park one last time before taking off.

Here's a new drawing I did for somebody of a coworker of theirs.

traveling again

2010-05-02T15:09:00.000-07:00

Been traveling again. Here's some photos... This is how simple my set up is outdoors... (or indoors generally too):

Here's some drawlins- The latter is one that the girls said, "draw us a really, really funny one please!":

They were setting this "bounce" thing up and ironically, (because it is a space ship) it was so windy that it started to blow away while the guy setting it up was holding it down. Well, he didn't do such a good job... We watched as the rope he was holding it down with suddenly jerked him about 20 feet up in the air, LOL!! A bunch of us ran over to help him and quickly got him down but it was pretty funny. Shame I didn't get it on tape! It was very, very windy that day!

Some pretty trees:

This week I am off to NC, NH and parts of NY for about a week.

WEBSITE IS FINISHED!!!

2010-04-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

www.adampate.com !!! Please let me know if you find a link that does not work.

Whew. Where to begin. It's been a little while!

2010-04-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

Last week I started traveling again. Had a gig in New York, one in PA and then on to DC which was really cool since I'd only been there once when I was 5 or 6 years old. The DC gig was for 2 days at a trade show. I really want to do more of these. I think it really went well!

DC IS BEAUTIFUL.

I got a lot of work done so far this week. It is make or break time for me and I am trying like hell to get this website up again. It's been off line for a couple of months now... = (

Here are some illustrations I've been working on: The groomsmen guys are finally done.

Here's some paint mods to another couple of cars for the scorpion car guy-

I am working on that website and have had to take a couple of photos for it. This is my studio set up where I work. This is my computer, a second LARGER monitor and a Wacom tablet that lets me draw on the screen. I am using Illustrator in this shot.

retirement and some boats...

2010-04-05T21:56:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm in Cortland, NY again for a gig. I figgered I'd update the blog. Here's what I've been up to.

Really big Mad Magazine style layout commission here. Lots of stuff going on, lots of different references. it's more than about half way done but is missing most of the people.

And yes, that is my father and law and I in the kayaks! LOL!

retiring golfer guy

2010-03-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

Got a rush commission Friday. Needs to be done by Wednesday.

A couple of things this week

2010-03-24T07:05:00.000-07:00

Finished some big projects!! The T-Bird is done! Here is it in all it's glory-

I've gotten a few MORE commissions, got started on another big one, I got the groomsmen done and the scorpion car is done also. I can only post the final of the scorpion car-

There's 3 new jobs from this client now too! I found out he wants to put eco friendly motors into the hot rods. The huge diesel motor will run on alternative fuel! HOW COOL IS THAT?!

In other news, I worked for tips in some bars for about 12+ hours on St. Patrick's day. It was a zoo but it was fun and even though I have nightmares about it, it is what I consider the START of the season for me, so GAME ON 2010!

T Birdy

2010-03-10T12:58:00.000-08:00

Done-

(Copyright Adam Pate 2010- All rights reserved)

Good times!

2010-03-06T21:31:00.000-08:00

Tonight I had the honor of being part of a proposal! A guy called me last week and asked if I could draw a picture of he and his girlfriend and present her with a studio caricature of him proposing to her so he could ask her to marry him. Here is the picture I drew for him (I've had to keep it a secret till now):

We made a plan that he would meet me at one of the bars I draw caricatures in on the weekends and he brought all his best friends along (only a few of them knew what was going to happen). I called ahead and asked the bar to have some champagne ready for after the proposal. The plan was that I would draw them, hand them the picture I drew live and while they were looking at it, pull this one out of the back of my pad and hand it to her.

My wife Stacie went along with me to take photos. We took some photos of a few people before I drew these people so that I would be seen drawing and so that Stacie would be seen taking photos so it wouldn't look suspicious. Stacie almost started crying while I was drawing them and about lost it! - thank god she kept it together! LOL! It was sweet...

I drew the picture and the whole thing went off without a hitch. The few people that knew what was going on however jumped in front of Stacie with their cameras so we don't have many photos of the proposal but-

SHE SAID YES! = )

She was totally surprised when I handed her the studio caricature. She said she just saw her face and all the hearts and started crying because she knew! She had known he was going to propose, had an idea that it was going to be today but when they showed up to the bar with all their friends she figgered it was not in the plan for today. She saw me come over, watched Stacie taking photos of some other people and thought nothing of it even while she was getting drawn! - AWESOME! (and YEAH!! They asked me to draw at their wedding on New Year's Eve this year!)

Look at the guy in the photo below. So cool. I thought he'd be nervous but he played it totally smooth!

Here are a few photos of the night. Stacie took some photos of me working too. It was hectic and few of them came out very good but here they are none the less. Enjoy!-

Oh yeah... GOOD TIMES!

busy week for me!

2010-03-05T18:21:00.000-08:00

Here is what I did today- Finally smoothed out the body. The reflections always seem to be the hardest part, which makes me tend to avoid working on it if I lose my momentum... Once I nail the body reflections though I'm usually pretty pumped to finish it. I'm a little bummed that I can't work on it more today but I need to get out and work for a living. Next is the chrome, tires and the finishing touches!

Here is the T-bucket with the diesel engine in it- It went from the former to the latter

And the variation of it - (the engine is nicknamed the "scorpion" so this is for a theme car-)

In other news, here are some commissioned caricatures I got done this week-

YES! All this week!! That last one there is a rough for the client (the first one- top left). The finished sketch will come next week if I get a chance to work on it. I've a few more commissions to work on (thankfully!) so I should be pretty busy for the next week or so at least!

Been a while...

2010-02-24T20:30:00.000-08:00

It's been a while. That's because I've been traveling again. Had an event to go to in Boston, a gig in Northern MA, then one in Saranac Lake, NY, spent a couple of days in Vermont (which I love) and then a few in CT along the Long Island Sound. It was about a week and a half of work and some play. It's nice to be home. I guess we timed it just right with the weather. We brought along the 4x4, anticipating another freaky blizzard but that didn't happen till we were safe and sound back at home... Meh. Kinda disappointing to be honest...

Here are some photos from the trip:

Set up for 2 artists

My buddy Ron, working with me at a college. Sponge Bill Triangle Pants is in the background getting ready to eat somebody...

A caricature I drew at the event.

Another

Me working...

Stacie at the pastry counter in Boston. Soaked to the gills. Below, Another caricature I did

Ice Castle at Saranac Lake

Super creepy graveyard in Boston. Doesn't look like much but the big one in the middle is John Hancock's grave stone. Also buried here are Samuel Adams, Paul Revere and Mother Goose. Ben Franklin's parents are also buried here. It's called the Granery Graveyard and it's pretty much right in the center of town.

Works in progress:

Above is what the builder will have to work from. I am designing 2 cars for a guy based on his rough drawings a couple of example photos and this. It's going to be a fun project and I am really looking forward to it!

Below is the rough faces for a group picture of a wedding party. I've got lots more stuff to catch up on this week so I should be making a few more updates here really soon. I still have to finish the dang T bird too!

T-Bird Progress

2010-02-04T09:36:00.000-08:00

After most of the drawing is finished I start to add some reflections by copying the shapes and cutting out the reflections that I want to use and then placing them where they belong.

After I get most of the reflections where I want them I start filling some of the shapes and moving them forward/backward when needed. It gets a little confusing so I usually use some obnoxious colors to differentiate layers/tones. This gives me an idea of the lights and darks and shows me basically what it's going to look like in the next step.

At this point I've got most of the reflections and the solid body shapes filled and on the plane where they should be. Some of the body reflections are still pretty rough and the chrome has not even been started yet. Reflections and shading gets tricky so I save that part for last when I can. When the colored shapes are filled in and I can tell what is what I will start shading shapes a tone darker or lighter than the ones around it so I can take away the outlines and make it look less cartoony.

gigs and progression

2010-01-31T11:24:00.000-08:00

Had a few gigs in the past week. Mostly Michigan and PA. It was weird swinging back and forth like that but nice to be so close to home. I went out to work last night and even though it was a UFC fight night, people were cool. I was a little worried, especially with a full moon! But I met a caricature artist that worked at the Cleveland Zoo a few years ago, made a new friend with a guy who lives down the street and the Boys From County Hell (A Pogues cover band) were playing at P.J's. Fun night to be out.

Stacie is working on the new website as we speak. She's learning Dreamweaver, and as much as I want that website up THREE WEEKS AGO, she is learning it and I think it's something that'll be right up her alley (as soon as it's not so frustrating for her). I am in desperate need to move on with the growth plan and start getting more traffic to the site, but I am willing to wait longer if it means she gets something substantial out of the experience. We can always tweak it later and make it better. It's a great design, I can't wait to show it off!

I've got some things coming in again. I've got another Custom Drawn order. A guy wants me to do some prototype mock up sketches for him- yea! I get to be CREATIVE!! Chip Foose was all booked up I guess... = P I am currently finishing up the last of the car renderings from last year. Ima working on the T-Bird this time. I've decided that since it went over so well last time I would start taking snapshots of my progress as I go along. Here is the T-bird as of 2pm on Sunday the 31st. I've got almost 3 hours in it at this point. I think it's coming along easily so far but I always do at this point. It's when I start filling in the solid shapes and coloring it that it gets difficult. Also, I saw some renderings in Google Sketchup that have blown my mind... Might have to re-visit it in the near future. AMAZING.

When I color this in I plan on showing examples for different price points to put on the new CDS website. That will make it easier for people to get an idea of what I can offer and make it easier to order.
That's all for this week. I'll post more progress on Wednesday.

New video, referrals and a real cute picture from a young artist

2010-01-19T23:43:00.000-08:00

New awesome video!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI3QhuCaFGw

Also, here is something cute that I am adding to my new website (which Stacie
is learning to build as she builds it so it is coming along slower than expected...)
Anyways I thought this was priceless! This little boy totally made my day!

“I just wanted to once again let you know how much we all appreciated you and your beautiful artwork on our campus once again. As always, it was a pleasure to work with you. You are truly a fascinating and talented individual and I know that you will leave an indelible mark on so many lives. In fact, my 8-year-old son, was totally fascinated with you and insisted that I include his caricature of his little sister. Since I promised him that I would include his artwork for you, I am including that in this communication. Who knows? You might have inspired a future artist! I know that though this may mean absolutely nothing to you, it means a whole lot to one little boy in Lubbock, Texas, and I wanted to keep my promise to him to send it to you. Again, I thank you for everything. You are one of our favorite performers and we certainly hope to have you visit Texas Tech University once again. And I especially thank you for taking the time to make the caricature of my two children. I have framed it and placed it in my office and received countless compliments. Take care and we hope to see you again soon!”
(I remember this little boy watching over my shoulder while I was drawing. He and his sister were very talkative and kept us all in stiches for about half an hour. His drawing totally made my day! It was adorable and pretty good for an 8 year old and I told her so in a reply.

“As a parent, I thank you so much for your kind words about my little ones. That means the world to me. Good luck to you with all of your future presentations”

- (Excerpts from letters between myself and) Sonia Moore,

TTU Daytime Committee Advisor, Tech Activities Board, October 5, 2009

found a vid of me!

2010-01-10T23:34:00.000-08:00

Just found this video of myself from this fall's gig at Texas Tech!

life drawing 1-10

2010-01-07T08:53:00.000-08:00

Went to life drawing in Murray Hill last night. We had an old black dude for a change (we normally have nude females)
I wanted to practice my different styles so I did one in my spot illustration style and one in a more finished illustration
style. Unfortunately the lighting was bad on my side of the room (there was a heavy light glare on his left and so I had
to work with a heavy shadow on his right side. This posed a challenging problem so I went with it. This is obviously
just a study but I feel I learned something from it for sure.

Spot caricature style:

Illustrative style:

I signed my name and dated the first caricature of 2010 last night. They say whatever you're doing on New Years is what
you'll be doing for the next year.... That's pretty much true in my case. I've thought about that every year when I sign my
name to the first caricature of the year. The past few years it has been at a college event, which is exactly what I wanted.
Well, I plan on doing more illustrations in this year, so I hope that is true! My goal is to have a few published drawings
next year and be on my way towards transitioning into doing more illustration work than gigs. (but I will be doing gigs till
the day I die I'm sure!) One thing I DON'T have planned for the next year is working in a bar, even though i will probably
do that on occasion till I die too. Hopefully I won't ever have to RELY on it again though...

2010-01-05T17:55:00.000-08:00

Got a new construction splash page up on the www.adampate.com site. Stacie is learning Illustrator and Dreamweaver and says she wants to be doing more design work. Getting back in the swing of things after the long weekend. Going to be a busy couple of weeks drawing and designing (in between shoveling the snow out of the driveway...) I hope your 2010 is going well so far too!

Working on the new website

2009-12-31T15:47:00.000-08:00

I really wanted to have this done before the new year started but I've got a pretty good start on it I think. I might be able to get it done this coming week. I'm just happy have gotten the new Custom Drawn site up. If you haven't seen it it's here: www.customdrawnstudio.com If you can't see it or it looks like there is a problem with it, please let me know what it is and what browser you are using. (thanks in advance)

Here is an image from the new website. This is my self caricature holding a sign that will have the text on it.

Funny thing is, I never realized how much I look like my dad! I am getting reading glasses that I probably will need to wear while drawing.
I thought it would be funny to put a mustache on me and suddenly my selfie had become my DAD CIRCA 1974! LOL!

Here is the first completed page of the website. C & C welcome. Not sure what I think of the background just yet but I have about 6 more of these
I need to work through so I'm sure I'll figger it out soon. It's gonna be awesome!

newsies

2009-12-22T16:58:00.000-08:00

This is a Christmas gift for my grandparents.

This was the photo I drew from.

Updated the Custom Drawn Website finally. Check it out!

http://www.customdrawnstudio.com

Model T progress

2009-12-20T18:05:00.000-08:00

The guy I made this Model T for and I were talking the other day and he told me that the reason he got interested in building cars is because he liked to see how things go together. I decided to take some screen shots of my progress while drawing his car. I sent him the progressions as I was building it and he thought it was pretty neat. I also kept very close watch on how long this took me to draw. 21.5 hours... *sigh* Hope you enjoy it!

And here's the finished piece (minus the builder- I still have to put him in it)

Stacie has started me a store on Etsy. Here is the banner:

Here's a couple of dogs I did last week. I plan on starting to do more of these too. People love their pets!!

Mustang, dog, trip from hell, illustration

2009-12-13T09:51:00.000-08:00

I still have a lot of drawings to do before the end of the year. I REALLY need to work on some stuff for the new website. Have to get on that right away after this dog drawing is done. It's difficult to balance paid work and promo work

sometimes...

Been reading the Artists Market book I bought back in 06'. Great stuff in there! I'm kinda getting excited about being an artist again! I might get the new book

in 2010. (No telling what businesses have stopped working with freelancers or gone under in the past 4 years...) I'm thinking about joining one of the local illustrator's

groups if there are any. GAG is one I'm definitely into. I guess they have local chapters or something? Also, Society of Illustrators and there is a guild for

cartoonists as well.

Had the trip from hell this week on my trip to Manhattan, KS. For some reason I had to travel through Philly to get to KS. Any time I go through Philly there is a

problem. US Air makes you check your bags to go to Philly. Not gate check them but actually CHECK them at the gate. There were a bunch of people bringing their

suitcases as carry ons on the plane and so there was not enough room (even under the seat) for my small carry on. They took it, computer and all. All my

goodies in one bag. Needless to say, when I got to KS my bag was NOT! I had to drive through a terrible snow storm, which was made worse because there was

a freezing rain storm before the snow storm so it was VERY slow going and I saw a lot of wrecks. Luckily I made it to Manhattan OK. (After taking 4 hours to do a

2.5 hour drive) I got there at 4am. (luckily I got some shut eye on the plane) I had to get up at the ass crack of dawn and go to Staples to get supplies to draw with

at my gig. Everything went fine except for I had to get used to drawing with Sharpie Chisel Points all over again! When I got back to the airport they had my bag.

-Ripped and wet- It was sitting in the snow overnight with all my goodies inside!!!

WTF US AIR?! YOU SUCK!!

Went and worked in the bars again this weekend. I'm realizing that there just aren't any CENTRAL places in CLE that I can think of where the clientele changes much.

Too much of the scene is local and every time I go out I see the same ole hood rats. Almost makes me miss PIB! Definitely not as much fun or work as Ocean City or

Key West! Doug's got some work for me in January. I'm looking forward to THAT! Hopefully there will be a blizzard next time, lol! Actually... the chances of that are

pretty good. I'll be heading to Boston, MA, Saranac Lake, NY, and Vermont. I think I'll drive and this time, ima take the JEEP!!

Anyhoo, I got the mustang I was working on done finally. Customer loved it!

I'm also working on a couple of dogs. Wanted to show the progress on that since I think it's looking really good.

Latest doings...

2009-12-07T12:52:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I did dog caricatures at a fundraiser to benefit Lakewood Dog Park. There are a few neighbors of the park that want it shut down because of alleged noise and smell problems. That would be too bad if that were the case but these neighbors are just being mean. The facts are that they live over 1/2 mile away from the park, the park closes around 9pm, the Lakewood Animal Shelter is right next door to the park and the park is built right next to the CITY WASTE WATER TREATMENT PLANT.... Need I say more? 100's of dogs love to go to this park every day to run and play with other dogs. It is a shame that a couple of bad apples have to spoil the pie. I raised $126 for the park by doing dog-icatures! That money will go to defend the park. Santa was there taking photos with the dogs and I was there drawing them. Here are a few of them that I drew:

My dog Dewie and Santa!

So, that was the week before last. This past weekend, I did a group caricature for a Christmas card for a company party in Mansfield, Ohio.
I only had 1.5 hours to draw everybody in the group and the people at the party. Given that, I think it turned out OK!

Before that gig however, my friend Bobby Petit, Owner of Dor Lo's Pizza, in Ashland, OH had me come into his business and draw his customers. I did caricatures of a few people at a bar in Mansfield, called the Den for another friend that evening.

Saturday I drew at the annual Akron Children's Hospital's Akron Burn Unit Christmas Gala where they gave all the burn unit kids presents and had a big dinner for them. It was a nice thing to do too with my new friends Gumball and Marlowe who are clowns.

Here are a couple more drawings from a few weeks ago in Keene, NH:

And another live group caricature for an elementary school class. This was fun cuz they were all looking over my shoulder when I did it and it was cute.

It's been a while...

2009-11-28T08:59:00.000-08:00

Wow! It has been a while since I've posted anything here! *understatement!* In fact it's been years!

A couple of years ago I started concentrating almost all of my efforts outside of the Cleveland area and got so busy I just went nuts and had to stop updating this. Traveling so often, there just isn't time to update blogs and stuff like this. For much of the last 3 years I have been away from home for 3 weeks at a time for several months at a time. It's been loads of fun but it would be nice to be home more often, which is why I'm making some changes.

Here's the plan: There are at least 5 major cities within 3 hours of my home. If I focus my efforts within that area from now on, I can still travel, (which I still plan to do a lot of) but won't need to spend so much time in hotel rooms and I can work in the studio a LOT more.

My wife Stacie is helping me with some things around the office so I can actually DO ARTWORK! (imagine that, an artist that has time to do artwork...)

I'm very excited that my studio work has increased lately. I've been focused in Adobe Illustrator lately and I really like the look and feel of the program and what is possible with it. I think I've got a pretty good handle on it now and I would really like to do more illustration and get published in a few magazines. The only thing I worry about is that it takes a long time to do a drawing like this:

This Car took me over 24 hours to draw and paint on the computer. All
said, it takes about a week of steady work to complete one. (Hard to
find time for that when you're on the road for 3 weeks at a time!) I'll be
doing a LOT more of these in the future.

I have separated the studio from the bookings on the new websites
(coming very soon) so I can showcase my artwork of cars, boats, houses,
people and pets in this style and hopefully get more of these fine art
commissions.

I have a couple of new stage shows I'm excited about too! One is just
fun and the other is an educational team building exercise.

The show is a lot of fun. It's been a hit too! The show is a way to reach
out to as many people as possible. There's not that many artists that
can do something like this either which is great since there seems to
be a demand for it.

There is too much mediocrity in this business. I love the challenge of
staying ahead of the curve! I hope you'll stop back and see what's new
in the next few weeks and months. It's all coming together right now.
It's gonna be a GREAT NEW YEAR!

pictures and whatnot

2007-03-28T21:52:00.001-07:00

Here are some new photos of stuff too. Some caricatures and some scenery I saw last week. Hope you enjoy.

And for the scenery:

New videos

2007-03-28T17:46:00.001-07:00

I have put up some new caricature videos on youtube. Have a look if you want to:

There are some other ones. I don't know what all I mentioned here but these ones turned out pretty good considering the lighting was nice and bright. Stacie has been coming with me to gigs and I am coaching her in how to take photos and videos, so expect more in the coming weeks.

Of course, when I travel through the mountains I have to stop and shoot at least one more moment of zen as well = )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO3EAC5dl8o You have to find it. I couldn't find the embed code because it wasn't uploaded entirely yet or something. Hope ya dig.

2007-03-20T08:21:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of my work recently from a little girl's 9th birthday party. I must have forgotten to upload them to this blog even though I'm sure I uploaded them to the NCN site. Anyways, here are the photos. These were all completed within about 3-5 minutes.

(Note: Permission was granted by the child who was having the birthday's mother to put these photos online. If for any reason you would like me to remove them, please do not hesitate to let me know and they will be removed immediately. I don't wish to violate anyones privacy wishes.)

2007-03-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple of photos: One from yesterday when I worked in Flannery's Pub, downtown Cleveland on St. Patty's day. This is the only photo that came out...

Here is one from a few weeks ago at a convention:

The drunks were pretty brutal yesterday. For the first time in YEARS I was home in the evening of March 17th.

nothing much new, just busy

2007-03-16T11:59:00.000-07:00

Been a while, huh? Here's some of what I've been up to, what I'll be doing and some press on me:

http://www.sonicbids.com/AdamPate

Something to think about in the new year

2006-12-26T11:18:00.000-08:00

"How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people -- first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving...

"I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves -- this critical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed empty to me. The trite objects of human efforts -- possessions, outward success, luxury -- have always seemed to me contemptible.

"My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I am truly a 'lone traveler' and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude..."

"My political ideal is democracy. Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized. It is an irony of fate that I myself have been the recipient of excessive admiration and reverence from my fellow-beings, through no fault, and no merit, of my own. The cause of this may well be the desire, unattainable for many, to understand the few ideas to which I have with my feeble powers attained through ceaseless struggle. I am quite aware that for any organization to reach its goals, one man must do the thinking and directing and generally bear the responsibility. But the led must not be coerced, they must be able to choose their leader. In my opinion, an autocratic system of coercion soon degenerates; force attracts men of low morality... The really valuable thing in the pageant of human life seems to me not the political state, but the creative, sentient individual, the personality; it alone creates the noble and the sublime, while the herd as such remains dull in thought and dull in feeling.
"This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of herd life, the military system, which I abhor... This plague-spot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the experience of mystery -- even if mixed with fear -- that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds: it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity. In this sense, and only this sense, I am a deeply religious man... I am satisfied with the mystery of life's eternity and with a knowledge, a sense, of the marvelous structure of existence -- as well as the humble attempt to understand even a tiny portion of the Reason that manifests itself in nature."

Albert Einstien

I'm SUPABAD!

2006-12-23T18:01:00.000-08:00

NCN Midwest Minicon

2006-12-23T17:38:00.000-08:00

There is a printable PDF of the flyer on my website if anyone would like to download it and help us to distribute it throughout the world.

http://www.adampate.com/links.html

This is an image of the flyer:

cose drawing is done finally

2006-12-10T14:57:00.000-08:00

This Tuesday is the end of the year COSE party. All of the caricatures were drawn live (except a couple that weren't there) in pencil wash as shown in one of my first posts on this blog. I took those drawings and traced them, laid them out with some idea of what the background was going to be, photographed the artwork and then colored it digitally. Another way I could do this is to trace each caricature in illustrator and put them all together digitally but it would have taken forever. The way it was done is how MAD magazine artist Tom Richmond has suggested he does most of his work for the magazine.

to hell and back

2006-11-27T15:30:00.000-08:00

So Last week I went on a cruise to Jamaica and the Grand Cayman Islands.

Stacie went to Hell.

It was fun. Thanks for asking.

Surprisingly, Jamaica is a lot like Hell.

new pumpkin carving photos

2006-11-09T04:14:00.000-08:00

New pumpkin photos. Enjoy. I'm off to Peoria Illinois for a couple of days to draw at a convention.

NEW VIDEOS!!!

2006-11-06T13:01:00.000-08:00

These are from a trade show and a customer appreciation party that were last week. Both were in the same building but a day apart. I'd really like to get more of these. I would like to have more videos and photos to show but too often i am by myself and have nobody to take the vids or photos. Stacie went along to the tradeshow and my friend Rick Smith Jr. took the ones at the party. Enjoy!

Musician

2006-10-28T19:16:00.001-07:00

Here's a caricature of a guy who is a musician. His name is Doug Wood. He will be representing me in the college market very shortly.

went a walkin

2006-10-26T18:50:00.000-07:00

Took some photos, made some movies...

2006-10-24T10:34:00.000-07:00

I just received this comment from the contact from Western Michigan University where I drew at thier "pep-fest" the weekend before last.

Adam-

I hope you enjoyed the event. The feedback that I was continually
getting was that we should have you at every event! The radio
station even asked about you and how you could be reached. I felt
that your skill and style was perfect for the event. Everyone that
wanted a picture got one and without having to miss out on any of
the other activities.

We even had the president of the alumni association board of
directors make a comment about how much he and his family enjoyed
getting the pictures!

In my opinion, hiring you for the event was the best thing that I
did. I could (not) have hoped for anything better, especially when you
were willing to walk around and find people to draw. We will
definitely keep you in mind for future events!

Thanks so much!
Heidi

Sorry it's been awhile...

2006-10-20T12:54:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty busy! Went to Orlando to the NCN Convention. Didn't place or win anything but I feel I have grown so much and learned so much from being there and meeting all of those inspirational people that I couldn't care less about not winning the speed comp.

When I got back I went to the COSE Show for 2 days and once again it was well worth every penny and minute spent there. I learned and gained so much from being there that I can hardly wrap my head around it!

Went to Michigan, in two weeks I will be in Peoria, illinois and then on the 18th I leave for Florida again to enjoy myself in a pseudo vacation with Stacie aboard a tiny ship in the Caribbean! In the meantime I have to catch up on stuff and do enough work to keep up with stuff on the homefront! WOW! Busy!!!

finished with the bobbleheads

2006-09-29T18:54:00.000-07:00

This was a fun project. I'm glad I did it. I am very happy with these. If I had to say what the weakest part of them is I would say that the profiles could be stronger. Anyways, here's the final result:

progress on the wedding cake topper

2006-09-28T19:12:00.000-07:00

Got some feedback from the client and she was unhappy about the size of the noses on the bobbleheads. I trimmed them down and slimmed down the bride. I think they look 100% better and am pretty excited about the outcome. I am painting them tomorrow.

Printed out the painting and it looks pretty good too. I'm ready to go with this.

wedding couple sculpture

2006-09-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of the progress. The clay is called Kneed-O and is paper based so it's (I assume) somewhat natural i.e. safer for use on a wedding cake in my assumption than the plastic cake. Although I could simply put a piece of cardboard underneath the plastic clay for future projects of this kind. This is a test run for something I have been wanting to offer officially on the website for a long time now. I did a few of these back in the day for friends of mine but have no photos that are good enough for the website.

In the first step, after drawing them up and studying their faces, I started on the heads. I did not go overboard with the detail because this clay will be painted and the little details will look much better painted than they will if I were to use this clay to make them. This clay is not the best for details. It's kinda, um... chewy for lack of a better word. It isn't as reliably pliable as I would have thought it would be (unlike sculpey). It dries out kinda fast and I have not worked with it before so even though the packaging says that it "dries like porcelain" I need to see it first... The hair was added a whole 12 hours or more after the head was created. I was hoping it would have dried out already. It didn't but was dry enough so that my messing with all the curls didn't wreck what I had already sculpted. You might also notice that I changed some of the features of the girls face so that it was a little softer. Here are the heads:

Once again, here is a picture of the bride to be and groom:

For the bodies, I definitely wanted to go for that big head little body thing which posed obvious balancing and structural problems. I lucked out and the first idea I had worked fine. I put a metal brace inside the body to connect it to the head which stabilized the whole thing. Here are the bodies:

My intention was not to make the bride look as thick as the sculpture seems to indicate at this point in production. It is difficult with this though because the bottom half of the sculpture has to support the heavy upper half. The groom looks to me to be pretty skinny or muscularly built and the body of his sculpture is somewhat heavier looking too. I hope that this translates as appearing "cute" rather than "fat". I plan on trying to slim her body down a bit when the clay dries enough that I will not crush everything I have done already when I try to carve into it. The dress was another problem...

The way this dress is made could be a potential disaster to do in clay! I ended up smoothing it out so that it appeared to be all wavy and ruffled at the bottom without being distracting. Hope it is appreciated.

There were several obstacles to this project. The hair, the dress, the flowers and also the tiara. I will post the painted sculptures when they are finished.

When they are done, I'll let you know. : )

been a while

2006-09-25T19:18:00.000-07:00

I have a couple of new things to post and some news... Here is the latest thing I have done. It is for a couple who is getting married this Saturday. It's for a sign in board. I am also going to do a sculpture of them for a cake topper which will be pretty cool. I've done these before but do not have photos of them so this is going to be for the website. The photos were not perfect and I had to guess on the bride's hair. I hope it looks right! I did it kinda dark so I didn't have to put much detail into the hair, but the sculpture is going to be a bit trickier... I'd like to offer a wedding package in the future with both of these and some other extras that you cannot find anywhere else. I really like to draw at weddings. They are so fun. It's like you are being invited to some family's greatest party ever and everybody there wants to meet you! : ) I love being a caricature artist.

Here's a photo of the couple getting married

This wedding of course comes the day before the NCN Convention where I plan on being for all of next week and hopefully returning with the title of "world's fastest caricaturist". It's going to be a pretty big deal this year I think. Not that I have anything to compare it to but from what I have heard, this one is going to be really competitive. There will be over 200 other artists from around the world competing this year and I'm pretty sure that 14 seconds is not unheard of in this competition. I know I can do that but I am a little worried about what others are bringing to the table! *whew!*

Last week and a couple of weeks ago I had the oppertunity to do retail caricatures a couple of times for a guy named Jason. It was fun hanging out with him, Walt and my good friend Ron Kantrowitz too. I spent last weekend at the York County Fair and it rained almost all week long... It sucked. I had fun though and made out OK considering.

Anyways, here is another illustration from a couple of weeks back that I thought I'd post. This client was one of the nicest clients I have ever had. Just nice as pie. Loved the caricature right off the bat. Paid upfront and gave me swell photos to use. Couldn't ask for a better client. This guy here was retiring.

lil kid

2006-08-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

I think that sometimes you need to post things like this too. I thought it turned out pretty well for a minor commission.

caricature of 12 guys for a tshirt design

2006-08-21T10:08:00.001-07:00

A lot of work went into this. After about 25 emails and tons of photos of these guys, here it is. It's a little small, I know... It's for a tshirt so I couldn't put too much detail in it but enough detail is in it that I am really happy with it. 12 people on this shirt was a challenge!

new illustrations

2006-07-30T23:05:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of illustrations I have been meaning to post. These are from the last month. I am currently working on 4 more that I was asked to do this week. I will post them when finished.

This one was for a hospital. These were the resident doctors for the year and they were leaving. There were a LOT of little things for this one! It all worked out though. These were done in Adobe Illustrator. I have really gotten to like this program. Everything looks so "cleaned up" and professional. It is easy to make corrections and in my experience, this is the most client friendly look for this type of gift caricature. For instance, a b/w bust I might draw freehand with pencil or maybe do a squiggle drawing with photoshop that appears more organic and free. Illustrations like this with a lot of details and such, people who see it and commission it like to see things nice and neat and orderly. The "sanitized" look is exactly what they wanted from me in this case.

I didn't have the greatest reference photos to work from, but it turned out OK. I have been giving the clients first a draft approval, then a likeness approval, and finally a final approval. At each step they get one minor revision for free. The next one is the groundskeeper for a high profile company in Lyndhurst.

Cose board Illustration

2006-07-30T22:34:00.000-07:00

Friday morning I drew caricatures at the monthly COSE board meeting. I drew pencil sketches of 31 members that I plan on reworking into a group illustration. I did this job for free as it was a dress rehearsal for this service so that I can have a smooth operation when I offer it up to the public. I think things went really well though I can see some areas where I need some improvement.

#1 I would like to try and get people when they are talking or acting a bit more casual. (I thought it was going to be a tad more casual than it was) Almost everybody I drew ended up looking much too serious. It was a serious meeting and this is normal but the caricatures should have a bit more of a humorous feel to them. It would have been ideal to be able to chit chat with everybody or at least observe them chit chatting with others just a bit so I could get a feel for their personalities. Some people I knew but the majority I didn't know at all and if they didn't say much at the meeting I didn't get much of an impression from them.

#2 Perspectives and angles (facing right, left or forward, etc...) could use improvement though we will see how much more when the group drawing is finished. I may be able to incorporate everybody into it with the way they are looking. Some people I am going to have to draw as if they are further away and some I will have to simplify and others still make them look a little more friendly. There were some characters in that room and I have met many of them before and they are jolly, happy people though they look almost angry in the sketches. I shall have to try and correct that in the final drawing.

I plan on releasing the drawing to the guy who was nice enough to allow me to come, Steve Millard. Hopefully it will be suitable for framing and all of the members will want one. Here are groups of the drawings:

I also plan on making a test run of the CORPS project within the COSE organization as well. At least a wing of it for starters. I am having a lot of trouble coming up with free time anymore with all of the gift caricatures I have been asked to do lately and all of the home improvements that need to be done this summer. Hopefully I can get to it by the end of August.

I plan on having some specials and adding a newsletter and email group to the site. I have also (maybe) figured out why sometimes the site doesn't come up for everybody. It may be a code error in the beginning of the document. I have to get to that in the next couple of days too. Can't have some people thinking that the site is down or not working properly.

The new bar promotion went well at McCarthys in Avon Lake. I think they may have me back. It was very well received and worked out well for me as well. I plan on having a school promotion in September and some other promotions in October for halloween parties and of course some Holiday stuff in November and December. This new website was really a good idea.

first post

2006-06-21T13:06:00.000-07:00

Here is the first post in the new blog. I will attempt to post drawings I do at parties and other events so that I can show you my most recent work as it happens. This blog will also be used as a news source for those of you that are interested in finding out where I'll be and any new developments in my business. Thanks for checking it out and feel free to check back often! I'll try to update at least once a week.