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March 20, 2012
This Big Egg hunt (www.thebigegghunt.co.uk) is really working wonderful publicity for our caricature artist company, Charlie’s Cartoons! Every dad we have our helpers (basically, my Dad and my girlfriend J) flyering passers by on Trafalgar Square and in Fortnum and Masons, hoping that one or two of them here are looking for gifts for dads or gifts for husbands. Of course, that’ll be 0.0000001% of the people walking by at any given time… But the idea here is more to plant the seed in people’s minds. They may not be looking for a caricature artist when the day eventually comes to buy gifts for dads or gifts for husbands. But if they’ve seen our flyer, and our awesome eggs (there’s me being modest), then the idea might occur.
 Caricature Artist
I mean the thing is, as a caricature artist, how are you going to get the word out there? How are you going to convince the world that out of all the thousands of potential candidates, you’re the caricature artist they should choose. Well obviously the internet is the starting point. Having a good site that people will want to go to, a portfolio that shows interesting examples, etc. But something has to call out to people, especially in the beginning of a business’ life. And sometimes you don’t have the budget to put billboards on the tube: “Gifts for dads, gifts for husbands, get them here!” No. So you have to be clever as a caricature artist, and get big marketing scoops for free. And the big egg hunt was just such an opportunity.
Two years ago I was advised to get my cartoons into a paper, so I campaigned and called and pestered until City AM let me illustrate first a features section, and then their front cover. I was their in-house caricature artist… for a month or so! The trouble was, not many people were ready to make the leap between “funny political cartoon” and gifts for dads. Gifts for husbands aren’t the first thing that spring to mind when you see a cartoon of Alastair Darling being King Kong on top of the Gherkin (see portfolio).
March 13, 2012
  Well, we’re off! The big egg hunt has begun everybody…. Big, big, big whoop!! Over the last month, I’ve been undergoing a big photo to caricatures effort, mainly with photos found on the web, turning a blank canvas (a big white egg) into a piece of caricature art featuring twelve members (6 men and 6 women) of the UK Olympic team!
It’s on Trafalgar Square, the north west corner. Find it, email me, and you’ll get a freebee (mark my words…) let me see… 50% off “photo to caricatures” gifts for dads for the first 5 emails? How about that. If you read this blog, and you’re after gifts for dads (big birthday, father’s day, anything) email me with the exact location of that caricature egg and I’ll give you 50% off! How’s that for a spontaneous offer…
But anyway, gifts for dads weren’t the main thing I had in mind when I set out to produce these “photo to caricatures” eggs. Of course, I need to make money and create exposure for this company, and the Big Egg Hunt should help with that. But it’s also a great cause! The photo to caricatures artwork on the egg is part of a huge effort to raise money for Action for Children, a charity helping disadvantaged youths throughout the UK. So if you want to sponsor the egg, just pay it a visit and text the number on the plinth… and guess what, you can win a big jackpot as well as giving to charity – win win!
But back to the egg: Going to google images for pictures of Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis etc, in order to transform a photo to caricatures on the egg, was a pretty tough task. For a start, very few photos available for free on the webare good quality… But I managed to get the caricature right eventually. Transposing a photo to caricatures is so much easier when you’ve met a person in the flesh!
March 6, 2012
I’ve recently received a wave of orders of people just wanting a family cartoon – customers wanting to commission a caricature artist to produce one big (usually a3 or a2) caricature from photo portraits of their family. So these aren’t for any particular individual – they’re just a gift for the family in general. A caricature from photo, that will hand over the mantelpiece for years and years, and remind everyone of the good times, of the family unit, even when times are tough.
But anyway, enough romantic harping on. What if you DO need to commission a caricature artist to do something for a specific person? The most common commissions tend to be gifts for husbands. Gifts for husbands can be very difficult to procure – a bit like gifts for dads! (And yes, I know, they’re often the same thing…)
The thing is, what sort of effect do you want to have on your husband? Do you want him to feel like you’ve invested every last penny you had? Well, probably not. Especially in these cash-strapped times, aren’t you better off both saving for your kids’ education, the mortgage, and so on? On the other hand, perhaps gifts for husbands should reflect something more personal: How much you know him… and a shared sense of humour. That is what a caricature from photo portraits of the man himself can do. A caricature from photo material can really sum a person up. Frame it, and you’re onto a winner for under 150 quid.
Next step is getting the right caricature artist to do this for you. The truth is, Charlie’s Cartoons is just one of many, and to get just the right caricature from photo, you’re best off browsing the web for just the right person or company… But of course, of all those caricature from photo providers, I think we’ve got the edge J
February 18, 2012
Why are people always spelling it charicatures? Beats me. But I guess I’ll have to roll with it. The tough thing is that, in creating a caricatures from photos business, I’ve opened the door to a world where I’m selling something that most people have trouble pronouncing, let alone spelling! So when someone gets in touch to order charicatures, do I get back to them saying yes, we can do caricatures from photos that you supply, or do I use their spelling to make them feel more comfortable? Hmm… I wouldn’t want to offend them J
Well I guess it’s not actually that important how you say it or how you spell it. At the end of the day, this is a photo to caricatures service that produces brilliant gifts for all sorts of occasions, whether you spell it charicatures or not. A more interesting question might be: How do you get from a photo to caricatures in the first place? Isn’t it difficult to paint a caricatures from photos of a person, without that person actually sitting for you? Now there’s an interesting question!
I guess the answer is that for caricatures from photos to be funny and accurate, you need the photos themselves to be really good. Not only as in high-resolution, clear and free of sunglasses or other obstructive things (you wouldn’t believe how many people ask me to apply their photo to caricatures when the photo shows a person wearing shades – I mean come on J) but true to the person. For caricatures from photos to be true to the subject, those photos need to be true to the subject too. So if they’re always laughing, provide a laughing photo. If they’re always chatting, get one of them mid-sentence. It’s our job to do caricatures from photos that are really spot on. You supply them, we’ll do the rest.
February 14, 2012
 Caricature Present for dad Throughout the course of running this caricatures from photos business, I’ve been trying to answer one key question for customers: What presents for dad can I buy that he hasn’t got already? Dads can be daunting figures, and we often perceive them as having everything they need already – after all when we turned up our dads had already been around for a while, right? Dads have had time to accumulate most of the possessions which correspond to their direct interests. Except, of course, the yachts and sports cars. But we don’t necessarily want to buy those when a 60th birthday comes around, do we? Presents for dad can be tricky to choose. What could I possibly get him that he hasn’t already got, we ask… A caricature, we reply!
What’s great about creating caricatures from photos for a dad is that you’re not buying a thing that dad wants. You’re doing better than that. You’re representing everything that dad wants and loves. While the most valuable presents for dad can be the most expensive, caricatures from photos can be even more valuable, and produce even more happiness and satisfaction, for the fraction of the cost of say – a bag of golf clubs.
Sure, many people see a caricature as something disposable. When they’re rushed and gimmicky, they definitely are. But a caricature can be so much more than a stretchy face. A caricature from photos of moments shared with friends and family can be a gift worth keeping forever.
A caricature drawn and painted to contain the smallest details and funniest anecdotes of a life shared with your loved ones can genuinely become a favourite possession. So next time you’re struggling to buy dad something, don’t settle for something that will just join the pile of “things that dad has”, give him something that will hang on the wall by his bed and that he’ll look at every day: get him a caricature!
February 4, 2012
Well I’ve just come back from doing my yearly “reality check”, which is when I stop doing caricatures from photos, invoicing people and balancing the balance sheet for a few minutes, and actually come up for air to see what’s going on. For this, I use my very own caricature software. I’m not talking about an automatic caricature software that produces caricatures from photos in 20 seconds – I’m talking about Microsoft excel… and survey monkey!
When I’m not waving my brushes about, these are my two main tools. A spread sheet to tot up the “who’s who”: Ie, over the last year, who commissioned professional caricatures for who? And on what occasion? This has revealed some interesting facts. Whereas I thought that I was mainly producing leaving gifts for bosses and caricatures from photos of dads, it turns out that husbands turning 40 or 50 are the main target… and these professional caricatures are bought, of course, by their wives.
Then you’ve got the survey monkey. A brilliant tool, and free to boot, the “monkey” tells me what customers have thought of our professional caricatures service. I just ask a few key questions in a survey form: Why did you pick us over other providers of caricatures from photos? Did you type “caricature” into google, or was it something else? And what did you think of specific things like likeness, or the frame? All of this helps not just to refine our online marketing, but also in making our product better.
Caricatures from photos are not the easiest things to sell online… but then again, if there was no internet, there’d be no Charlie’s Cartoons. Thankfully, the tools are there which make the journey that much easier – so if anyone else out there thinking of selling caricatures from photos, don’t forget your caricature software!
January 31, 2012
How are digital caricatures produced from caricature software different from professional caricatures painted by a human being? Well, in some respect, there’s not that much difference at all! After all when an artist looks at a face, she picks out all the details as a whole, and one by one. A professional caricature is the result of careful analysis and synthesis of details – it depends as much on a quick brushstroke summing up the shape of a head in a an instant, as it does on the fine tuning of minute details.
Similarly, the facial recognition programs that produce custom vector caricatures look at the bigger picture and at the smaller picture. The caricature software will pick out the face’s outline, identify the head type, and assign the appropriate polygons and algorythms which correspond to that type. Then, the caricature software goes in for the detail: defining the outline of the nose, the width of the eyes, the thickness of the lips, the ears, the angle of the mouth… In exactly the same way as a artist does when she paints professional caricatures.
However, as you might expect, there are key differences. One is purely functional: When working on professional caricatures from photos, artists can gather an impression of a multitude of photos in order to distill the perfect caricature “summary” of that person. But hang on, who am I to say that caricature software can’t also do that – after all, it’s not my line of business! But it seems to me me that custom vector caricatures can’t help but be the result of a narrow process. The bigger picture of producing professional caricatures means not just seeing the face outline – it means seeing the full personality, the particular sparkle that a person exudes. That might seem a bit airy-fairy, but it’s true. Custom vector caricatures just can’t quite add that touch of personality – the best they can do is preserve it – whereas professional caricatures should gather all the elements of someone’s personality from a range of photos.
January 27, 2012
So last month, the director of a company with which I used to share an office came up to me and asked if we did custom vector caricatures. What? Us? The hand-made caricature company par excellence? Of course not – we make professional caricatures in the traditional way, I thought. None of this new-fangled stuff. Then I thought again. If sporting art websites create a superhero caricature on demand, then surely I can be just as flexible? “We’ll give it a go!” I said, and so we set about doing our first ever batch of custom vector caricatures.
The aim was to depict a company team as simple vector characters. And the technique: To start with a straight draft, as usual. Then, to simplify the draft and scan it. And finally, we would draw custom vector caricatures on top of the draft scan, on Illustrator. And Bob’s your uncle!
Of course, I’m pretty good on Photoshop but when it comes to Illustrator I know nothing. Thankfully one of our cartoonists, Vincent Bouriot, is King of custom vector caricatures. Vector Vince, as he’s now known in the company. He’s the one guy I know who can produce professional caricatures in a digital format that are ultra simple, but completely uncanny. Like he can distill the likeness of a person into a few vector lines, in the same way that websites create a superhero caricature from nothing but a name, a photo and a chosen colour.
Professional caricatures in a vector format are actually pretty rare. On one hand you have the masters who usually work in a hand-made medium, and on the other you have not people but programs: digital processing systems that turn photos into custom vector caricatures. But these can be a fine art too. Julian Opie, for instance, will distil a look into a couple of black dots, showing that custom vector caricatures are as valid an art form as any other.
January 24, 2012
Most of the time, people want the best possible thing, at the cheapest possible price, and as quick as possible… So when they’re looking for caricatures, custom vector caricatures, according to this principle, would be the best choice. A number of websites create a superhero caricature, or design team caricatures for t-shirts, or deliver whatever cartoon caricature related product you want, digitally, and within very little time. So why bother pushing the boat out and spending more for a hand-made caricature?
Well, ideally I’d get one of our happy customers to give you a call and tell you why. After all, I’m obviously going to tell you that what we do is brilliant, but if you got it from the horse’s mouth… then you’d realise why a hand-made cartoon caricature was so much more valuable than a digital product.
Of course, it really depends what you’re after. Sometimes you don’t have the budget to invest, or the cartoon caricature isn’t for a particularly special occasion, in which case it’s far better to go after custom vector caricatures automatically generated from photo material.
But sometimes that’s not the case. If you want to make an impression with a loved one, or if you want an image that represents your company… You’ll be looking for a higher level of creative investment in your cartoon caricature.
Websites create a superhero caricature for a kid if that’s what he’s looking for – similarly, websites that produce artwork for companies who want to represent their staff in the best light, will produce a hand-made cartoon caricature if that’s the desired style. Because even if all that’s required is a digital product, custom vector caricatures somehow don’t fully convey personality. You have to involve the human touch, go back to basics, and then digitalise the cartoon caricature to make it website-friendly.
January 17, 2012
Wow! The caricature egg has been an experience. Just finished it. A three foot high egg-shaped caricature of five female and five male British athletes competing in the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. The whole thing is taking place in the context of the “Big Egg Hunt”, a massive charity event that will culminate in the largest public art exhibition London has ever seen… And this is the only cartoon caricature they have!
Painting it, with all these characters flying over and under the 3D shape, I was reminded that several websites create a superhero caricature to order, and that they create caricature material quite similar to this: Characters flying and jumping all over the place… But few really take the time to do a cartoon caricature in such detail. And that’s something I’m particularly proud of.
So I thought on: Today, could websites create a superhero caricature that are truly original? Or would they fall back on the old Marvel-like tricks that have become so familiar over the last seventy or so years? In my opinion, if you’re going to create a cartoon caricature, you might as well make it genuinely original. Go back to basics. Just like my Olympic egg caricature character is striving to achieve something great, what is this particular hero trying to achieve? What is their dream? What is their aim? Such questions will inform a truly interesting caricature. They will shape the athlete, or the hero, and give him or her a distinctive voice and personality.
So now, as I dab my last white dashes onto the Olympic caricature, three days before our big gala launch at the Goring hotel, it’s time to stand back and see if this is really original, if it has real artistic value. I can’t really tell… phiewh! Impossible to be objective! But I hope people will like it. We’ll see, I guess.
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