Yesterday, I drew this guy on the train.

Then today, I was very happy with my drawings.
I got into some real free gesture drawings.

On a rush hour train, just glad to get any seat
even though it was a seat in the middle of 2 large men,

I drew pictures around my packages
which included a big angular shoebox (new sneakers - Sketchers!
With sparkly dots on them
that will look real good in the little bit of snow that's expected tomorrow).

I prefer to have some distance between
me and my subject,
but the large people in between us
holding up large newspapers.....

I had to draw the woman right in front of me.
She looked soooo tired.
"Brutal" she said when I finished.

It's not my fault. That's how she looked. I can only see what I'm shown.

I had a very long, very exciting day today. Gigs, dancing, artists, friends. And, of course, it included drawing on the train on my way to the city.

I recently loosened up tremendously. Hey! I even told you about it in my previous post.
By beginning with a freer interpretation of the initial shape,
I'm already looser,
and can see what's going on with the smaller shapes easily!

Here are some of my impromptu drawings on the train:

And the grand finale of this wonderful day
was hanging around with Kenly Dillard, one of the most special artists in NYC.
I was drawing with him at the Bat Mitzvah we were working at
from 7:30 - 10:30 pm.
Then we went out for pizza.
I looked at him while he drew a funny Comic about
a SuperCaricaturist who heals sick people (this one was in a hospital) by drawing them.

I've never really been satisfied with the pictures I'd drawn of Kenly. I came to my usual wall over it while watching him across the table. Tried to draw him a few times - Aghst!

Later, alone on the train to come home,
Kenly's image came back to me.
Just memory, all we naturally see is Caricature.
And I think I got it!
Not a perfect drawing
yet,
but up there.

Here's my picture of Kenly:

I was pleased with the pictures I drew on the train this morning. Here are two of them:

But in the afternoon, I called back some clients.
One of them is an Entertainment Company who wants to hire me to draw at their own company party. All the guests will be entertainers, themselves. They work at the same types of parties as I do. They're artsy, and they know the difference between real Caricatures or nice little pictures of people.

He said he likes my work because he wants something 'edgy'.

"Sure. Edgy. Sounds like real fun." I said.
Hung up the phone. Okay. I'm on. Edgy. What does that mean?

I know he meant that he was looking for real exaggerations.

The sort of work he sees here in this blog.
But most of the time, the fun exaggerations here come with a little more thought, effort, predraw, INTROSPECTION, than what I do at parties - where I draw one face after another and another and another and.....continue this for hours.
He understood this - told me that I would not be expected to crank them out.

So I'm on. Time to be a real artist FULL TIME. It's one thing to play WHEN I FEEL LIKE PLAYING. It's something else to keep 'm rollin' on cue.

I want to do this. It will be like hanging out with my artist friends. But how to do it - with strangers - when I feel like I have to perform - because it IS a job.

I FIGURED IT OUT! Really loosened up this afternoon. To get edgy. TO HAVE FUN just because that's what this is all about. PLAYING WITH THE FACES. Drawing should be about HAVING FUN!
It shouldn't be a serious job in which I come up with THE PRODUCT. It's ART, for goodness sakes. It's not alphabetizing papers or filling in charts.

Here's how I did it:
I started with a predraw. I went wild with the initial shape, just sticking to the big idea, but not drawing a preconceived shape. Then I filled in the smaller shapes based ONLY ON CARICATURING DECISIONS as they would fit into the initial large shape. Only Caricaturing, I completely gave up Portrait-Type-Decisions. Portraiting just was not an issue.

And here are a few of the pictures that I came up with.
It was so much fun that I even made myself laugh at what I came out with.
It will be no problem handling this upcoming party - which should be a Caricaturist's Dream.
It felt so much better drawing this way.
NOW you have a chance to have a real artist show up at your events. I've studied, and come to the point of having it so well integrated that I could give up the thinking and worrying and trying.

Great time exaggerating on the subway today
That's the surest way to get a likeness.
And a fun picture too!
I was soooooooo in the Zone.

Here's a picture of a girl who had very little face. Most of her was Hair.

Here's another girl I saw:

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

I finished the picture that was mentioned in yesterday's post:

I also drew a picture about 'Submission' because I was trying to describe my picture of that word to a friend. I think that Submission is a sad last-resort. I think that we need to take Responsibility for expressing what we know is right. Responsibility to be 'part of the solution' and not 'part of the problem'.

Today I was fortunate to spend time with two of the best artists, Elgin Bolling and Kenly Dillard. Real artists who draw as fluently as most people talk. So inspiring.

Sitting in a coffee house, we saw a dancer we know. Although my style has been stiff for the past few days, I was pleased with the image of her. Elgin helped me with the background.

Sometimes I 'catch the fever' and draw differently when I'm with Elgin and Kenly. Here's a picture that came out of me that way. It's just a quick start of an underdrawing. Done so freely and confidently and comfortably. Drawing can be so natural and easy. If I ever get around to finishing it, I'll post the finished picture another day: