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Frequently Asked Questions
These are
the questions I always get asked whilst I'm in the middle of a drawing.
How
long have
you been doing this?
Two minutes?? Oh yes, I see.
I went into business as an entertainer in 1999 but have been doing
caricatures for around twenty years.
What
do you
actually do?!
I quickly draw portraits at social events
to amuse and engage with people and deliver good drawings. It's
called 'mix'n'mingling', 'table-hopping', or
sketching seated from one place, 'stall format'.
How
much do you charge for the drawings?
I don't, I
get a fee for my time from the booker. It's hard enough
drawing people you've never met, without having to get money
out of them too!
How much do
you ask for a job then?
Each job is different, so I have to take
certain variables into account. Things to factor in are distance travelled, length of the
booking, the season of year, the day of the week and so on.
Just phone, pop me an email, or fill in
the form
for a
quote.
How
long does each
drawing take?
Unless I'm directed
otherwise, five minutes is average...that said I can do some in a
couple of minutes flat or even less. The type of face actually
makes a big difference. When someone already looks like the
Joker with a hangover then the drawing draws itself. Of course some subjects will
also have their heads
buried in their soup.
I've
developed a "super-fast" system. It means I draw
faces in under a minute, which is crazy, but after doing so
many over the years, I've found it increasingly easy to
instantly pick out and quickly scribble the more extreme,
salient features. This is an approach that always gets a
laugh. These work well with group
caricatures and in less formal settings; the smaller I do the heads "super-fast" the
better, as they're pretty unflattering and slapdash - the great thing
is everyone recognises each other almost instantly, as if
someone had drawn one of your teachers in the
schoolyard.
Did you study art?
Chelsea College of Art
for two years, they had some good tutors there - see
HERE.
Illustration degree at the University of Portsmouth for three (hello there
Stuart Gard and Jenny Walden!) years, drawn
animation under a chap from Warner Bros for one. Oh and a special mention for a
genius,
Monsieur Iselain, who was the best art teacher I could have
had at the French Lycée here in London.
Does art run in your family?
My grandfather was a traditional Viennese realist society
portrait painter, he was
actually really good. He had to escape Austria just before WW2 -
so he lost all of his customers. My Parisian
mother was a
really creative and hardworking fashion designer. She had a dress
shop
in Chelsea during the sixties and seventies. I'm stuck with
quite a few other family members involved in the arts in one way
or another.
Do you ever get
people who absolutely don't want to be sketched?
It is actually very rare; after all these years I've learned
to read people, and spot the frail of ego.
A lot of events such as military messes can
get very bawdy so the funnier the drawings are the better -
it's exactly what they want, especially after a few shandies!
I also work in "civilised" surroundings where a more
delicate style is called for, without too much exaggeration.
I'm able to choose what style to draw in. If a client prefers
a more flattering approach I can do thumbnail sketches that
aren't meant to be "funny ha-ha", just nice drawings. I don't
see this as any sort of artistic compromise, it just means I
draw more realistically.
Do we get to keep the drawings?!
Yes of course.
Do we have to look
at you while you draw?
Not necessarily, but hopefully that won't be too painful a
task! I table-hop during dinners when people are hungry and
must eat, so I'm used to coming second to the food.
Has anyone drawn you?
Yes - often as soon as I leave my drawing board unattended the
guests get busy. As I'm away for a couple of minutes, they
draw me from memory. I always come out as a hideous
potato-faced baldie with a huge nose and piggy little eyes. When I return to
find their drawing I'm shocked and piqued. I mean the truth is
I'm too handsome to caricature. Still, it's
fair enough really isn't it - you've got to be able to laugh
at yourself!
Do you do
children's parties?
Unfortunately not that many. I've only done about twenty, but they've
all gone great. They themselves love drawing,
and they have a healthy wicked sense of humour, so they "get
it".
It must be nice to work at something you
enjoy...
Yes, but as I can be prone to cynicism, I might call it an
anthropological study of primitive culture. Seriously though,
guests are usually out to have a good time, so the social side
of things can be fun, and if you add to that the fact that
people appreciate the artwork, it's
very rewarding.
What materials do
you use and what size do you work?
Mainly Ink pens on card, but
sometimes I use pencil when a softer image is more suitable. I
work A4 size but sometimes like to go larger or smaller. Group
caricatures and chubby people obviously need larger paper.
Where are you
based?
Shoreditch, an obscure area next to the City
of London. It doesn't even have a tube station yet. It's laughably backward
in terms of fashion and culture ~ I'm trying to set a standard.
Where are you
prepared to travel to jobs?
To the moon and back. It's a travelling job
really.
Are
there some
types of faces that make for a great caricature, that you instantly
pounce on?
A-ha, yes, some faces
shout out that they are naturally amusing. Would
you mind very much being sketched?!
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