Live Gigs

[ScottG]

Yes Mauri .....
I can't wait until I am good enough to do live gigs...
I will try and draw almost anything....of course it might not look right but I will try .................lol
;D

[heineken]

well......I've stayed hidden long enough...lol
hi.my name is Kelly.and i'm a somewhat caricature artist/airbrush artist........Doing my first live gig was at a theme park here in Texas.....I learned ojt (on the job)
we where taught to do freebies of lil kids until we felt comfortable enough to actually do it!!!
man I was nervous.but after actually start doing it.you catch the hang of it and it becomes natural.....i'm far from being good...but i can do alright....i'll try and post tonight..thanks......and i learn EVERYDAY..practice practice.PRACTICE!!!!!! ;D

[espanto]

I couldn't agree more. Learn ON THE JOB.

Drawing live is what it's all about!

Ok. I did draw most of my yearbook before attempting a live one. However, drawing from a picture is nothing like drawing from the real thing.

The real thing is easier! Trust me. What 's stopping people is confidence. You know how to do it. You are just afraid of "making a mistake". So what? use a pencil, and erase. Eventually you won't have to erase.

Talk! it makes you and your model more comfortable. So what if they don't sit still. That just gives you more angles to get a better impression of the person.

Don't be afraid of the comments. They will always be there. I've worked with great artists with years of experience and even when they nail it, the get the "do I look like that?" It 's part of the biz here in America.

I must say that people in Russia and Slovakia seem to get it more.

You want to draw live. It's a great way to meet people. Even in Siberia, I made instant friendships with fellow caricaturists that gather at the Novosibirsk's main square drawing portraits and caricatures for $7.

And at the bar, I had a line of people bringing me their napkins so I could draw their caricatures with a ball point pen. 30 seconds each.

I didn't pay for one single beer.

The point is, have fun! and don't be afraid.

[toonMom]

I was thinking of going to the next class party my son has at school. The kids are 5 and 6, so I think they will love them even if they look like a monkey ;D
I think it would be great practice with no pressure.

[corky]

i think it's a great idea to go to your son's class. kids are really receptive to cartoons, and they'll love what you do. so it'll give you the confidence you need to draw adults...they're the ones who will say, "Do i look like that?"
here's some tips for drawing kids on the spot; have them look over your left shoulder (or right) so it's a 3/4 view. draw their heads large, and their eyes are a little lower than halfway (so they have large foreheads). draw their eyes about 1/3 of the face (like disney eyes) and give them small chins and noses. draw their hair messy, it looks cartoony. and get them to smile. they always look so adorable when they're smiling.

[toonMom]

What are the common choices for coloring at a live gig?

[toonMom]

Where do you guys get your paper and other supplies from?

Mike - where do you buy the sleeves?

[Draw4You]

Hi toonMom

You made me look everything up!

I would have had to anyway in the future. So now I am writing this all down and filing it.

I ordered it online at their web site. www.papermart.com/

What I ordered, I was very happy with. My paper size I draw for gigs is 11X14, so I orderd 1½ MIL FLAT CLEAR POLY BAGS 12X16 to have some flap over the top. Kyle Edgell told me to do this and it is a good idea. The item# is 1611218 Price for 1000 is 32.38 plus shipping. It comes out to .03 for each bag. It will be some time before I need to order more.

It really helps to give out bags, this make it nice as people will show them off and makes everything more exciting. It's hard for people to care for them other wise. It also keep you from babysitting the pictures till people go home.

Hope this helps.

Lets us know after you are all done with your gig how things went.

I had someone today ask me to do a pretty big wedding for this summer.

Mike


Update:

If your like me you go down to a paper distributors that sells to every printer shop in town. I went to West Coast Paper company. They buy many brans from all over the US.

I took my 229-LF marker and some of my Prismacolor Art Stix down. They have many free samples and I looked for a dull finish, best for the art stix and something that doesn't bleed to my maker. Then I choose a weight i liked.

The price for me was $13.20 for 500 sheets of 8.5 X 11 . I bought the 11X 14 for 26.15 and 5.00 for the cut charge. But I like some other stuff now that is cheeper. It's called White Exact Matte Book GL #99201 I bought it at 80lb. but I plan to go to a heavier weight maybe next time.

Everyone like things a little different. Hope this gets you started?

[toonMom]

Yes this does help, very much so! Thank you so much for taking the time do put this together for me. My first gig isn't until August, but I'm sure it will me here before I know it.

[toonMom]

Do you guys use a drawing board or an easel when doing live gigs?

[corky]

i use a large clipboard. i found a drawing board was a bit too heavy to carry. since i'm often dragging a chair and supplies as well (i often work at a street festival, busking caricatures), this is makes it easier. also, if you can clip the paper down, then it prevents the paper from blowing around, if you're working outdoors. (if it's raining, i just don't bother). buy a simple pencil case to carry pens and pencils and erasers, and you're set!

[toonMom]

How do you prop your board? What size drawing board do you use?

[David REVOY]

Personnaly, I'm employee to make gigs day 6 day by month from a company who make animation in bigest hypermarket of france for children. It's make me use a lot of material cause the company pay me for giving Caricature free to all poeple (children, with my Manga style) during one day . I work on a clipboard 29,7cmx42cm, standard paper (80-90gr) for have a good size. All my papers on a gigs are written at back my adress (site, phone numbers) with simple ink pad cause it's give me more work with photo after gigs. I make on a day gig 10h-12h 'lunch' 14h30-19h00 , and I make 30/40 caricatures a day. To protect my work I use "glue for hair in spray" ( english vocabulary for a french...) very cheap. and I roll the paper and put a "ring in elastic plastic".
I think this few tips can help, but are not the best. It's only 2 years I made that and it's not a big compare to a career.
Thats why I wait for reply of all poeple tips to can perform betters my gigs.
And I engage all poeple who are afraid to make gig, to did it now, the faster they can : cause it's the best way to learn, me I directly learn caricature like this.

[toonMom]

Great info, thank you! Spring will be here soon and I am thinking about taking my supplies and going to a local park where I will draw caricatures for free, just to practice. However, if I stamp my contact info on the back, maybe I could get some other work from it as well! You said that you use hair spray (that's what we call it) to protect your work? What do you use for your live gigs? Graphite or something else? Thank you for your tips, I love the idea of stamping the back of the paper. That is so simple, yet I hadn't thought of doing it. Also, the other word you are looking for is rubber band.

[yesithurtz]

Awesome info on this post , thx all you guys - appreciate
-Jamie-