I lost track of the days. Luckily I've had midweek gigs - Shocked that I have no gig this weekend.
No gig, so I don't even know what day it is.

Put my time to good use. Working on a Studio Caricature
and studying Animation.

I just figured out how to simplify a walk cycle.
I got rid of the body, arms, even the feet - they just compicate the basic walk cycle.
I figured out that the back leg does the same thing as the front leg,
but in a syncopated rhythm - Like the way kids sing 'Row, row, row your boat' in two groups.

A leg reaches straight forward,
flexes,
straightens,
bends back,

reaches straight back,
curves back,
bends back,
then swings forward.

Meanwhile, the other leg does the same thing.
But it starts the first movement ("A leg reaches straight forward" etc)
along with the 5th movement of the first leg.

Here is a simple chart:

I drew them better to scale,
scanned them into an animation program,
and it works! Fast, slow, forwards, and backwards.
Animation feels a little like doing puzzles.

Just got back from today's Face Painting gig. I wish I had my camera with me - at least for the green monster that I painted for the first time. It came out great. Just a simple black around the eyes, green face leaving out natural lips, and a red slash. But I'm really cutting back on how much I carry. That neck problem from a few days ago- now it's just an arm problem.

So, I'm back. And I'm scrambling as usual. All set up for tomorrow's gig. But it's for the Harry Winston Company. The diamond people. My adult samples aren't up-to-date with my abilities. So far, I just drew two new samples:

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Friday, December 15, 2006

I'll be drawing Caricatures at a Chanukah party tonight. Client wants me to include a Jewish Star or a Menorah or something like that on each picture. So I grabbed a little picture that I had here, and tried my idea for superimposing a Jewish Star on the pictures. I like what I came up with:

To Hire this Artist:
(516)579-4706
visualdust@gmail.com

I have to laugh.
I hurt my back, been going to the chiropractor,
and I really should just finish preparing for TOMORROW'S party, But here I am
drawing new samples. Like I don't have a slew of samples to bring along already.

Why, why do I do this, you might ask. But I already know the answer.
It's because I keep getting better and better. I'm so proud of my new work that I cringe to bring along old samples (even though they were once the very pictures that I had been so proud of. Then.)

So I just gotta do it.
Here are some new samples that I just drew up tonight.

I don't feel like going out the the all-night Kinkos to get them nicely laminated.
I really hope I don't ruin them when I try to use the self-laminating pages that I have here:

An interesting boy:

A cute little girl:




I liked the first one just fine, but for tomorrow's gig, I thought I wanted one that looked younger:

Nice and simple:

This picture is actually a derivative of one I had drawn (in black/white) quite a while ago. I still like it, but I wanted to see it in color. And while I was at it, I changed a few things (like the angle of the hair). I pointed it up more than in the original, as a counterpoint to the chin that points down:

Yup, I like'm much. Now, back to work. Gotta check the travel directions.
Last minute gigs always keep me up late at night - there's more preparation to do than people think.

(An hour?)Later: Success! I didn't ruin the pictures with the self-laminating sheets.

In fact, I started getting pretty good at using them by the time I was done.
The way to use them is to follow the package directions,
and then don't bother being extra careful/slow.
If the sticky laminating paper is flat on the desk, and you just drop the picture right onto it,
the picture also drops flat.
Hence, very litl trbl w/ wrinkles.

What am I doing enjoying the computer here just now.
I have to get out to draw Caricatures at a Company Holiday Party soon.
Exciting times, I've been handling 4-5 gigs per week for the past few weeks.
Tonight is the Company Holiday Party,
tomorrow I'll be studying Animation with some other artists,

Friday is Caricatures at a Chanukah Party,
Saturday is Caricatures at a dentist's Holiday Party,
and Sunday is Face Painting at a one-year-old's party (3-year-old sister and friends).

For fun, I checked out my website. I like to be inspired by my pictures. And isn't it FUNNY? Hahahaha - the little Clownicature picture I recently posted (Wednesday, November 29, 2006) - It looks like the young child has a grown-up hand! Apparently, what had happened was that I quickly snapped a picture of the child who was sitting with (on the lap?) of an adult. The adult, who was holding the Artwork, was hidden by it in the picture. It made me laugh.

The 21st Century. I'm handling it. Here is a gift Caricature that was ordered - he didn't want a hard-copy. Just send it via email. A likeness. In cowboy clothes. Involved with Yoga. In the Arizona desert.

I drew it by hand, scanned it into the computer, and then colored it in Photoshop. He ended up with 3 pictures. The black/white line drawing and 2 colored ones. Here they are:

And here are his reference pictures:

I have been doing more and more of this computer coloring. There are probably a few already posted on this blog. And I keep learning more. This is the first time I used 'the magic wand' to section off some areas before coloring them.

Also old pictures that I did a while back.

I found these with my Face-Painting supplies.