The Replacement Tree

Joy Ride

Some concept art I made a while ago for a proposal for a for a job that we didn't end up getting.

I based the character design on my friend Rex Hackelberg.  

He's totally thinking of taking that little blue car on a joy ride through Vermont.

The International Society of Caricature Artists (ISCA) Convention 2012

Every year in November a few hundred caricature artists from around the world gather to participate and compete at the ISCA (International Society of Caricature Artists) Convention. The main event of the convention is a 4 day competition in a large ballroom where the artists draw, paint and sculpt caricatures of the other convention attendees. Every artist has their own section of wall to display their creations and at the end of the 4 days all the participants vote on the artwork.

Now, most people think they have a pretty good idea of what a caricature is: “they make you into a funny cartoon”, “They find your most important feature and make it really big”. It would be useful however to have a more concrete definition to really appreciate the convention.

Caricature is the abstraction of likeness.

Those are fancy words for: caricature finds the aspects of likeness, the qualities by which things differ and our brains use to identify the subject, and brings it forward, creating a piece of art that ideally looks more like the subject then the subject itself.

Imagine a few hundred artists doing that in a room for 4 days. The real gems are the caricatures that capture more then appearance; they capture personality, attitude, the way they act, the things they do, the sounds they make, the way they move, and more. To really make a good caricature the artist needs to be exceptionally observant.

After several days of essentially stalking each other to make the best caricatures they can; everyone attending the convention gets to know each other pretty well. Everyone working in the same room, learning form each other, inspiring each other, pushing each other breeds a sort of family. Some pretty famous caricature artists attend, and even if you aren't as famous as them they will be pretty friendly, accept your facebook friend request, and even recognize and talk to you like you are their buddy if you visit their table at comic con.

I'd like to share with you my small section of wall from the 2012 ISCA Convention. I did my best to capture observations I made of the people I decided to draw and paint.

Johanna Veerenhuis

Eric Goodwin

Beau Hufford

Anne Bush

Chunco Yamashita

Kirby Rudolph 

 Sam Arenson

 Ryan Holman

I won some awards which is really cool, thanks everyone! :)

Wild Bears

This comic was featured on veryunderground.

Me and Brent

I did this painting of myself and Brent from when he visited Canada with me. I'm submitting it as my studio piece at this years caricature convention. 

11.5" x 16"

Acrylic on Canvas

Here's the tiny sketch I based it off of. It's roughly 1" wide. I like the way the smallest quick little sketches really help find the simplest representation and therefore stronger designs.

Buffalo Dog

This comic was featured on very underground 

Dinner time for baby foxes.

Halloween and Raccoons

This comic was featured on very underground.

Wedding Gift

My sister got married at the end of August. 

I painted this for their wedding gift.

Fox nap

more foxes.

Chew Toys

This is what unsupervised dogs get up to.

(featured on very underground)

Fall foxes

I painted some foxes for fall because they are orange.

Costume ideas for Droids

I made this comic for star wars week on very underground. 

Do you recognize all the costumes?

Squirrel

I'm not sure why this squirrel thought hiding his birdseed on a plant was a good idea.. I uncovered the plant a few times but the squirrel was persistent. 

This comic was featured on very underground!

Pig

Cow

Ducks

True story.