Caricatures and Non-Traditional Portraiture

Does anyone remember a couple of summers back, when the Simpsons Movie was doing a promotion where you could create a Simpsons style character of yourself? Or really, anytime there are celebrities featured on cartoon programs? Or even seeing different styles of animation mashed together?

I love the idea of drawing people I know, not just making up characters. I am used to traditional portraiture, drawing and photographing from observation, but I'm about to try creating caricatures and cartoonizing portraits. My new plan is to draw people I know in a caricatured fashion. Not so much about exaggerated physical features, but with personality traits, interests, (and how I see them).

Leaving you with a fantastic illustrator, Ed Wexler, who has done several drawings for The Hollywood Reporter, and has a pretty exciting portfolio of portraiture.

Songs:

Best Imitation of Myself - Ben Folds

Who Are You? - The Who

Express Yourself - Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band (Mocean Worker Remix)

P.S. Illustration Month Starts January 1st!

P.P.S. Thanks to Stereogum/Pitchfork/MTVNews for the image, and Matt Groening for the awesome.)

Gjon Mili, Stroboscopy, and Light Painting

Gene Kelly's Grand Jeté, Picasso Drawing With Light, by Gjon Mili.

Gjon Mili's one of my photography heroes. He photographed for LIFE magazine, and did a lot of work with stroboscopy, showing whole series of movements on a single frame instead of one movement on a freeze frame. This breathed new energy into formerly still portrait photography. It also utilized long-term-exposures, one of my favorite techniques in photography. His work was the inspiration for several of my light paintings (I like the neon-esque effects).



Video: Gene Kelly Dancing with Stewie and Jerry

Bonus Video: Lightpaint Piano Player - Ryan Cashman (Thanks to the folks at Drawn! for this.)

Have You Heard? Earplug Earrings!

I love kitschy things and found-object earrings. Whether decorating your ears with zippers, Legos, Rubix Cubes, or bacon, there's no end to what can adorn your earlobes.

Recently, I've gone to several concerts where the sound systems were rather deafening. How convenient would it be to have your earplugs handy at a time like that?

Videos:

No Diggity - Blackstreet

I Can Hear Music - The Beach Boys

I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye

Heard Them Stirring - Fleet Foxes

The Reading List of Phenomenal Art Books

I love artbooks. And now, I'd like to present my favorites in...

A Reading List of Phenomenal Art Books:

An Illustrated Life: Drawing Inspiration from the Private Sketchbooks of Artists, Illustrators and Designers - Danny Gregory

Over and Over: A Catalog of Hand-Drawn Patterns - Michael Perry

Hand Job: A Catalog of Type - Michael Perry

National Geographic Image Collection - National Geographic, Michelle Anne Delaney, and Maura Mulvihill

Through the Lens: National Geographic Greatest Photographs - National Geographic and Leah Bendavid-Val

Design for Obama - Posters for Change: A Grassroots Anthology - Steven Heller, Aaron Perry-Zucker, and Spike Lee

The Art Book - Phaidon Press

The Photo Book - Phaidon Press

The Arrival - Shaun Tan

1000 Record Covers - Michael Ochs

And anything published by Taschen or Phaidon.

Video:

Wrapped Up In Books - Belle and Sebastian

SOFA so Good!

Chicago recently held the SOFA (Sculpture Objects and Functional Art) conference. Held at Navy Pier, it featured works from ceramic and glass artists from around the globe. It was really fascinating to see what everyone was making out of essentially the same few basic materials. Glass, clay, and wood are extremely versatile. And the Corning Museum of Glass was doing demonstrations with their own portable hot shop!

Artists' work pictured here: Lauren Kalman, Kurt Weiser, Anne Lemanski, and Anna Williams.

A Playlist for SOFA: Songs/Videos:

Sofa Song - The Kooks

A Spoonful Weighs a Ton - The Flaming Lips
Lip Gloss - Lil Mama

Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me) - Paul McCartney and Wings
You Ain't No Picasso - Bishop Allen

Jaws Theme - John Williams
Fins - Jimmy Buffett

Talking Bird - Death Cab for Cutie
Lullaby of Birdland - Ella Fitzgerald