Huskir

Monday, September 8, 2008

Sir Elton

Every month on the National Caricaturist's Network forums they run a contest where a subject is chosen and everyone is invited to upload a caricature of that person. Though a prize is awarded to the winner, I think the real fun is just in the drawing and jumping into the fray. August's subject was Elton John. There were some really neat entries this time around and I decided to sketch Elton from a combo of his short interview on "The Lion King" DVD, plus from watching him in concert in various YouTube clips. As I've mentioned on here before, I always prefer to work from video footage as opposed to still photos, as I get a far better feel for the physical design and personality of my subject that way. Incidentally, when did Elton go from being that skinny balding kid he started out as, to the middle-aged pudgy with the wig?

As it happened, the winner of this month's contest was...me!! Much thanks to the judges who liked what I came up with. Though I sketched from several sources to arrive at this finished colour caricature, the main reference I used was this duet Elton sings with gorgeous Shania Twain. Watching and listening to it many times over while I sketched actually gave me a new appreciation for Elton's "Something About The Way You Look Tonight". It really is a lovely song with a powerful melody. I can't claim to have been much of an Elton John fan through the many years he's been on the scene, but I find that his songs do hold up well, and they're probably much finer compositions than I'd previously given him credit for. My younger sister always liked him, but I'm still decidedly more a fan of Sinatra and his contemporaries than I am of anything my peers were into back in the 70's. I reckon I was just born old...

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Flight of the Conchords - Ladies of the World

Friday, September 5, 2008

MY 1979 MONTE/ MOTEL HELL

HERE ARE A COUPLE OF FLICKS OF MY MONTE BEING WORKED ON FOR THE EXHIBITION BEING HELD AT THE MESA ARTS CENTER. THIS CAR WAS ORIGINALY OWNED BY DOC OF LIFESTYLE C.C. IN 1979 WHO ROLLED IT DOWN WHITTIER BLVD. A YEAR LATER IT WAS CANDY PAINTED BY BIG ED AND IN 1983 BOB AND SONS PUT THE TUCK AND ROLL THAT STILL BLESSES THE CAR TODAY. THE ONLY THING THAT I DID TO THE INTERIOR IS ADD A BILLET STEERING WHEEL AND A CLARION DVD HEAD UNIT. WHEN I WAS A KID AND I DREAMT OF MY PAINTINGS I NEVER THOUGHT MY CAR WOULD BE THE CANVAS.. ITS NOT ALL ABOUT ME THOUGHT THERE ARE ARTIST THAT WILL BE FEATURED THAT ARE MY FRIENDS AND INFLUENCES. MIKE PICKEL IS AN O.G. CAR BUILDER AND ARTIST AS A MEMBER OF THE BEATNIKS C.C. HE WILL BE THERE TO EXHIBIT LOWRIDER ART. HE IS BEST KNOWN FOR DESIGNING THE LOW RIDER MAGAZINE LOGO AND DRAWING PORTRAITS OF BOMBAS LOWRIDERS SLAMMED TO THE TEETH. JACK RUDY ALSO A MEMBER OF BEATNIKS C.C. IS FAMOUS FOR BEING THE GODFATHER OF BLACK AND GREY. JACK IS A REAL LOWRIDER AND THE ON THE HOMIE THAT I KNOW THAT HAS DROVEN A LIFTED CAR WITH WHITE WALLS TO NEW YORK AND BACK. ESTEVAN IS KNOW FOR HIS ABILITY TO CAPTURE THE RAW STREETS LOS ANGELES AND STREET CULTURE FROM AROUND THE WORLD HE IS ALSO MEMBER OF LIFESTYLE C.C. THERE WILL ALSO BE WORLD FAMOUS PINSTRIPERS DANNY D AND HOME TOWN HERO BUGS GONZALES.....

Look - It's Me!

Back in the spring I joined the National Caricaturist's Network, or NCN for short. Since becoming a member I have been able to meet many very talented caricaturists online from all over the world. In their discussion forums there is one area they call "The Firing Squad". It is there that members are encouraged to upload photos of themselves so that everybody else can draw them. I drew a bunch of the artists who already had pictures up, but then they told me I should really post some photos too so they could get back at me. So I took a bunch of digital photos of my funny looking mug and put them up for the rascals.

There were quite a few good caricatures that were drawn of me from various angles, but I thought I'd post my favourite one here on my blog, as it really has captured not only my physical likeness, but my personality as well. This art was done by a young fellow in the Netherlands, named Thijs Wessels. Here is his great caricature that definitely bears a close resemblance to the guy who stares back at me from my bathroom mirror each morning. I'm thinking I might cut out a print of it and wear it as a mask on Hallowe'en to scare the kiddies: