PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT ... SENSE!

A PASSER-BY IN WASCANA PARK

It’s summertime and I am all agog to go busking! For me, busking has primarily meant slingin’ and strummin’ my twelve string and blowin’ my blues harp on a variety of street corners, hoping the passers-by will toss loads of coin and bills into my open guitar case. This summer, though, shall be different. This summer I’ll be drawing quick caricatures for those passers-by who are willing to stop and pose for five minutes, then pay me ten bucks for doing so.

I have, in the past, occasionally exchanged my guitar and harp for a pencil and sketchpad, then drew pencil portraits rather than strum and blow original songs. But this summer, regarding busking, I plan to park my guitar and pencil, pick up a Sharpie, then offer five-minute monochrome marker caricatures rather than twenty-minute pencil portraits.

For July, I’ve already booked two gigs as a caricaturist. This coming Saturday, June 28^th, I’ll be drawing at the MANITOU BEACH BUSKING FESTIVAL in Watrous, Saskatchewan, and after that, drawing caricatures at the OLD WIVES LAKE FESTIVAL, July 19^th, in Mossbank, Saskatchewan!

And how did I get from being a pencil portrait busker to a quick-draw caricaturist? Both the long and short answer is simply through practice, practice, practice, and more practice! Marching in my CHAUCERIAN PARADE this week are those who graciously volunteered to be my models my practicing five-minute caricatures:

ANOTHER PASSER-BY IN WASCANA PARK

Here are some staff from my favorite guitar shop, B-SHARP in REGINA, SK.

CRAIG (OWNER)

TYSON

JORDAN

MY BEST FRIEND LOOKS 20 YEARS YOUNGER!

MY COLLEAGUE

IN HER NEW HOUSE!

IN HIS NEW HOUSE!

Here is my first pet five-minute caricature.

"GEORGE" AT WORK

Here is my first photo five-minute caricature.

MY CALGARIAN ACADEMIC FRIEND

MY CALGARIAN FRIEND, AGAIN!

My second photo five-minute caricature:

MY DRIVE-THRU FRIEND

TAKEN AT THE DRIVE-THRU

Accustomed to the peripatetic nature of my traveling light and stealth as a guitar busker, I shall carry these same traits into my caricature busking. For my caricature buskspot, I will simply scatter on the ground around me, a few laminated pictures of some of those (above) who marched in my Chaucerian Parade.

For my caricature debut this Saturday at MANITOU BEACH, I am planning on some basic creature comfort and convenience for my buskspot. I will pack along a couple of lightweight canvas lawn chairs, where my consumers and I shall sit knee-to-knee while I sketch their visages. 

In the meanwhile ... I’ll just PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!

 

 

CARICATURES: MY SHARPIE ALWAYS LIES!

 

SELF-PORTRAIT

Full of bluster, I fancy myself to be a planetary busker having the creds of busking with either my guitar or my pencil on streets in Ireland, The Netherlands, Morocco, and of course, Canada. In a line, I am accustomed to the bustle of streets, both foreign and domestic.

Coming into summertime, I’ve now decided to trade my pencil for a Sharpie, and foray into the art of caricature. Yes, I am a tyro, but I can draw faces. No arms, no trunk, no legs, no accessories. Just faces.

FACTOID: This seems apropos because I believe I’ve a good enough eye and the hand skills and to make the switch from portrait to caricature busking. I may be delusional, and I know the switch will not be with facile. However, with just a week of practicing drawing caricatures taking each between three to five minutes, I just recently attached a few of my practice pictures to my application for drawing caricatures at the OLD WIVES LAKE SUMMER FESTIVAL this July. Two days later, my application was accepted!

The OLD WIVES LAKE SUMMER FESTIVAL is scheduled for JULY 19^TH. Up and until the day of the festival, I will PRACTICE PRACTIC PRACTICE, in my effort to draw caricatures in under five minutes. (This I know from experience: The longer I take to draw someone, the more my drawing is expected to look like a photograph.)

Admittedly, I shall be sacrificing quality for speed. But this is a good thing because there is no artistry in perfection. Factoid: Imperfections create style.

The art of caricature relies on an exaggeration of distinct facial features. I have read that to be a successful caricaturist, not every detail on the customer’s face needs to be exaggerated. Rather, a caricaturist needs only to highlight or alter the proportion of the one feature that truly defines that person in the caricaturist’s eye. It could be the nose, it could be the ears, it could be the mouth. But really, no matter whose face I draw, I doubt I’ll have the heart to make fun of the person. Hmmm. But if I ever do, it will only be just the one feature on my customer’s face that I personally deem significant.

Factoid: Over the years of busking with my pencil, I have always bragged that “My pencil never lies.” Now that I will be busking with my Sharpie, I will confess that “My Sharpie always lies.”

I have decided, at least for now, that my caricatures will be non-exaggerated monochromes, drawn with a Sharpie black marker. And my measure for knowing whether the faces that I draw are good or not?

If I am pleased with the picture, most likely my customer, too, will be pleased with the picture.

I know from personal experience, that attempting to eke out a living as a guitar busker can be very tough. I am thinking caricaturists have more opportunities, permanent jobs in theme parks, loads of freelance opportunities for corporate gigs, big weddings, birthday parties, and such.

Marching in my CHAUCERIAN PARADE this week are those who posed for my ambitions of becoming a nobby and planetary caricaturist:

MY COLLEAGUE

MY COLLEAGUE

MY NEIGHBOUR

MY NEIGHBOUR

OWNER OF MY FAVOURITE SCUBA SHOP

MY KEN FOR DRAWING CARICATURES SHALL BE A BAPTISM BY FIRE AT THE OLD WIVES LAKE SUMMER FESTIVAL THIS JULY 19^TH.

MY THREE-MINUTE SELF-PORTRAIT