Tribesman

Draw these just for fun

Stone Age

Another silly stone age character not sure if he is in favour or against using animal skins..!

Harry Hargreaves

Picked this little gem up in a charity shop recently. Artwork is by Harry Hargreaves who during his long career also produced a successful cartoon strip called 'Hayseeds' which ran for several years in one of the English national papers. This book is all about birds in fact one little character in particular, a number of these little cartoons also appeared in the famous publication called 'Punch'.

Harry's works is brilliant, done with either a dip pen and ink or brush and ink probably a combination of both.

The linework is alive and the draughtsmanship is excellent. Good old traditional materials and the artist hand is evident...you just can't beat it!

See one thing draw another

Saw a fellow on my way home from work today. He looked fairly primitive, all hunched and tired looking..inspired me to draw this character.

Whole pile of creatures

My latest offering is just a pile of animals/creatures done over several days as an exercise to keeping me drawing. Looking at it there is a number of things that could have been done better. I never planned anything. It started out with the great big ugly lump in the middle, and just grew from there. There of plenty of recognisable animals plus a few strange looking beasts and random hands and arms. I look on it as an experiment that maybe I can develop, it took long enough to do, so I figured somebody may as well see it, let me know what you think.

Caricature drawing

Came across this drawing I made of a fellow caricaturist (whose name I think is Barney) back at the end of January when we a had a little gathering of a bunch of Caricaturists from all over the UK.

We met up shared a few drinks and just drew and drew then when we were tired we drew some more. Sadly this turns out to be the only picture I have of the day.

You know you are getting on a bit..

When you start making excuses for things you can no longer do, such as touching your toes!

Why not go by car

Through the snow, sleet and generally freezing weather of recent weeks, work colleagues question my sanity as I choose to either walk or cycle the several miles to work. I took this photo the other evening on my way home across some open farmland...My question to my car bound colleagues is what did you see on your way home from work? ( please exlude brake lights and traffic lights)







Click on image for slightly larger version

I love surveys

click on image for slightly larger version

Why is it that when you are charging frantically around the town during your lunch break. With just 5 minutes in which to pick up your dry cleaning, visit the bank and get your car taxed. Some delightful market reasearcher always wants at least 4 mins 59 seconds of your time.

What! Still no drawings

Yes I am still busy drawing but also taking the occasional photo. I cycle to work and I have been passing this old Oak tree for the last umpteen years. It is in it's death throes now, and currently looks like a natural sign post. It is a regular song post in the mornings for the songbirds and often used as a perch for Little Owl at dusk.

Next post will be a drawing (I hope)

Outdoors

Not a cartoon or caricature just a plain old picture of a frost bitten misty morning last week.

Neglected Blog

I have not had much of chance to update ye olde Blog. I blame it on the credit crunch...may as well as it seems to get the blame for just about everything at the moment. Anyway here is a seasonal offering.

Cari-ca-Chores No.2

Been very busy of late but here is another gem I often hear from the wonderful people I entertain.

Cari-ca-'Chores'

I get ask many interesting questions whilst drawing 'live'. I also get asked to do the impossible sometimes .

Here is a little cartoon of a typical request that I get.

By the way: This is either going to be the first in the series of Cari-ca-'Chores' or the last...watch this space

A Monstrous book by Gerald Scarfe

One of my favourite caricature artists is Gerald Scarfe. His artwork typifies what I like about caricature. I particularly like his weekly cartoon which appears in the Sunday Times obviously always topical and always a great stand alone piece of artwork.
His drawings always have his trademark spontaneous linework and colour washes not forgetting the actual caricature image which at times can be quite savage and brutal, but this is what is often expected in the world of political caricature and cartoons.
He has numerous books out and I have just got a copy of his latest book called Monsters which is a collection of all his political cartoon/caricature work done over the last four decades.

Guess who's back

Well it's good old Peter Mandelson, back as part of the Labour reshuffle/rescue plan, he's far too shifty looking for my liking!

More feedback

Here is another email recently recieved from satisfied customers Matt and Lucy. It was a very busy but fun night, with great people who really know how to enjoy themselves. This is a picture kindly sent to me by the photograher for the wedding. I think Matt and Lucy's expressions are priceless.

See more stunning photography work here at http://barryjamesphoto.com/

Hiya Tony..

Just a few words..

" A massive thank you for the excellent caricatures at our wedding, really added to the evening event. We and all our guests loved you and your work, top bloke. Thanks so much.."
Matt and Lucy.

photo courtesy of http://barryjamesphoto.com/

From the Sketchbook

A fairly typical Mole character. Short sighted with thick glasses and sniffing the air for grub. It's always good fun to draw animals, this is done in using Indian Ink, a dip pen and some coloured inks.

From the Sketchbook

A Gift

When time permits I take on commisions for people who would like to give a Caricature as a gift to celebrate a friends or relatives birthday, retirement, wedding or just for the hell of it. These sorts of gifts have proved to be very popular as they provide something that is unique and personal.

That said they are not always the easiest things to do. They are generally always done from photo's, which range in quality from 'up to the minute' digital shots sent hot off the camera via email to old black and white photos that have been in a shoe box under someones bed since the dawn of time.

This Caricature gift done was using a tiny picture of the person on a golf course. I literally had to use a magnifying glass to get a better look. I then used the other photo for eye colour and a bit more facial information.

At the end of it all the customer was very happy with the result and I was satisfied with achieving what I set out to do...despite having to clear up a mountain of screwed up paper that was a result of many failed attempts!