If you live in Richmond and watch the news you might recognize your local news crew! That’s because I was hired to work a two day event with NBC NEWS 12! One part of it was working at their booth alongside of the crew doing caricatures of the people as they came by. It was PACKED both days. Once it got going it did not quit both days! Which is nothing but good news from my perspective.
The other part was before the event I was also given the task to initially draw three of the news talent! However three ended up turning to eight plus one after the initial ones were very well received!! I will say though that this part of the project was a challenge, and not for the reason some might think.
It’s one thing when you’re drawing people live where it’s one shot and let the chips fall where they do. It’s another when you’re doing commission work with references and some more time to make things work. It’s a whole other thing drawing people that are on TV. And not because the client was hard to work with either, because she was probably hands down one of the absolute best I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. It’s that when doing this and looking at references of each one I ran into a rather unique problem. You’re going after likenesses of the subjects, but unlike in most situations the question you end up asking yourself is who are you trying to draw? The TV personality, the person themself, or both to some fashion. IMO it’s both, but to a certain degree. It’s about what the project is being used for. In this instance I needed to see both downtime and on camera references of each person, including video footage of them. But at the end of the day at least 5 of these were going to be presented on TV and with that in mind ultimately they needed to be recognizable to the viewers when they watch the spot live.
That said, there were a couple that I had to rework a couple in the process, one mainly because I feel like I saw him wrong and needed to rectify that situation immediately. Another was due to some personal preferences of the subject themselves. Which is totally understandable given that presentation is a big part of being on the air. But in the end it all worked out and alongside the festival work, this turned out to be one of the best jobs I’ve ever got to work!
Here’s some sketches I’ve done at the event itself...
I love the warmth of everyone's faces, in their smiles and eyes. You draw them with heart. And what an interesting challenge, having to decide how much to draw the broadcasters' "work face" and how much the "real face". Do you ever do marketing work for organizations?
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Hello!! I am reaching out to you to see if by any chance you would be willing to offer your services for free or a reduced price for the Night To Shine on March 14th at the Altria. The NTS is a prom night experience for folks with special needs that we have been hosting in Richmond for 6 years. There are NTS dances all over the world and they are AMAZING. One of our VERY MOST favorite parts of the night for all of our friends is having their faces sketched by a caricature artists. We will have close to 500 guests that night so we need a LOT of artists. The event is completely non-profit – we raise all of the money that we spend – so we try to save as much money as we can wherever we can. Might you be wiling to give us a good deal or do it pro-bono? My name is Jen Dowda and my number is 804-852-5366 and my email is jennifer.dowda@gmail.com. You can learn more about the event at www.nighttoshinerva.com. Thank you so very much for your consideration!! And we would be happy to publicize your business in any way we can to help compensate for your time!!
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