5.22.2008

(live) Celebrity Warmups

When drawing in theme parks I would often warm up or practice by drawing from photos from magazines. A great way to attract customers is to draw a current celebrity. This also demonstrates an artist's ability to passers-by in a way that is not as aggressive as barking at a crowd or pointing to samples.



Below is one warm up sketch I did back in 2006 at Sea World and above are two Elvis drawings finished for my good friend Kevin, to be displayed at a Graceland caricature stand.

This type of sketch is not always the "best" an artist can do, but it is a special challenge to attempt a complete piece in 10-20 minutes. It also challenges you to make big, bold, fun decisions in a very short amount of time, helping the drawings for paying customers reach a new level of exaggeration, likeness and unique fun. You could loosely equate this to a good stretch before a 3 mile run.


9 comments:

Marco Bucci said...

wicked stuff Joe. And one of the guys here at work bought your book, and brought it in. It attracted a bunch of attention from people around his desk. You're known by some here now as 'the wacky guy'.

Craig Zablo said...

So good it hurts.

Aaronphilby said...

awesome awesome. That trump is frickin, the coolest!

Seo Kim said...

the trump mouth is amazing

Anonymous said...

great work as always!
i have some private question to ask
so i would be happy to know your mail for that!

Marion said...

Hi Joe,
For me it IS the best an artist can do. I love them. They are so alive, simply because, as you stated yourself, you have to make bold decisions in short amount of time.

Everybody's gotta be in a Gang said...

That's a great one of Trump. I also really appreciate seeing your live caricatures in the previous posts; they're really great. It's a good reminder for me to step it up a notch when I'm drawing live. Thanks!

Joshua Wysocki said...

haha i love that don trump characture!
golden!!!!!

Anonymous said...

awesome likeness