I'm off to Wichita in the morning. Can't wait! Camelot should be fun and I'm looking forward to digging in, and part of the whole wonderful package is getting to hang out with and work side by side with talented, fun and funny folk.
I'm sure I'll be posting on the blog, but the entries might be coming more infrequently for the next couple weeks. Lots of stuff to learn in a short time. Take care, all! Peace and love.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Me and 60 kindergarteners.
Quick note... I honestly don't know how I survived. I've drawn a lot of young'ns, lots of kids this age. But I've not drawn 60 in a row. Today I did quick-sketches at a kindergarten graduation party. Oh, the honesty and unedited candor from their mouths. I drew a boy just as I drew the other boys, but because he had long hair, the kids in line said my drawing made him look like a girl (like a dozen times). This sent him crying to his mother. I felt really awful. But I can't be fully responsible for the kids' taunting. They can be mean sometimes. Another wee one who would make nothing but silly faces even after I (and a chaperone or two) asked him numerous times for a nice smile got a sketch where I did my best but couldn't get an accurate likeness. Once his parents saw the sketch and told him it didn't look like him, the kid demanded I "fix" it. Oy. And now I've got to launder my tablecloth to remove frosting stains and patches of bubble soap. Thank goodness I got paid well. And this isn't to say I didn't enjoy the majority of the afternoon. Lots of great kids and supportive parents. Even so, I was just exhausted afterwards.
Favorite kid quote of the day: "He isn't as good as Jackson Pollock." I'll give you that one. Ha!
Favorite kid quote of the day: "He isn't as good as Jackson Pollock." I'll give you that one. Ha!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
The Tonys and some cool stuff for Squigs...
Hi all! I realized that in all the hubbub, I forgot to post my Monday sketch yesterday. Here are some of my illustrated impressions of the Tony ceremonies. The lower part shows the immense opening number and host Neil Patrick Harris, and the upper section features some of my favorite speech moments. I doodled during the broadcast, but really started the actual sketch at 11pm on Sunday. By around 4:30am I had posted this sketch. Then I slept until almost noon.
And I'm super excited and grateful and honored to have received some wonderful accolades and "shout-outs" lately. I've posted them all in past entries, but just to recap (hee hee): New friend Ryan O'Connor showed some art and posted my web URL on his Broadway Space video blog (here). Jim Caruso, long time advocate of my work, gave me a great mention in his latest newsletter (here). And an advocate from even further back, Peter Filichia at Theatremania.com, gave me the most amazing mention in his Broadway season recap (here). AND I just hit 500 "fans" on my Squigs Knows His Lines page on Facebook. If that page were a theatre in NYC's Theatre District, it would qualify as a Broadway theatre. Ha! I'm really stoked that the work is getting out there and that the efforts are showing some return. I'm grateful, and I really look forward to the work ahead.
Right now, I'm (happily) a flurry of activity. On the drawing board: finishing up possibilities for the next few weekly sketches, a show caricature commission, my monthly contribution to Footlights Curtain Call, and talks with a couple clients for some fun projects. Onstage: a reading of the fun new Neurosis the Musical (at the Harvard-Westlake School's Rugby Auditorium Thursday through Saturday evenings) and packing to head to Wichita on Sunday. Can't wait to play with my peeps in Camelot!
Well that's it for now. Best wishes to you all! Peace and love.
Monday, June 8, 2009
I'm on the floor.
I just took a peek over at Peter Filichia's column at Theatremania.com, and my mind is sufficiently blown. Peter told me he would be mentioning my work and giving me a link, but I am so honored by what he has said...
"J is for Justin Robertson, the heir to Al Hirschfeld and heir apparent to Sam Norkin as the theater’s best caricaturist. Take a look at www.squigsink.com , and see if you don’t agree." – Peter Filichia, Theatremania.com, June 8, 2009
See his full column here. Thank you, Peter, for your amazing encouragement. I am so grateful!
"J is for Justin Robertson, the heir to Al Hirschfeld and heir apparent to Sam Norkin as the theater’s best caricaturist. Take a look at www.squigsink.com , and see if you don’t agree." – Peter Filichia, Theatremania.com, June 8, 2009
See his full column here. Thank you, Peter, for your amazing encouragement. I am so grateful!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Learning from the moonlighting gig...
I drew caricatures at another prom this evening. Quick-sketch party caricatures have been a sideline gig for me for a number of years now. I always partly dread hauling my booty and my supplies all over creation to jump into potentially stressful situations. Don't they know that I'm a soon-to-be-famous caricature illustrator (he says with tongue firmly in cheek)? But I almost always end up coming of each event with a big smile on my face. Tonight was a good example. Why? Here are some reasons:
1. $$$. This sideline gig pays rather well. If I were to focus on this as my main career, I'm sure I could make a comfortable living. I know some event caricaturists that drive pretty nifty cars and live in pretty spiffy digs.
2. Research and development. There is no better training in capturing likenesses like having an endless line of eager subjects... and the pressure to draw them well and quickly. This will sound like I'm tooting my horn, but when I get into "the zone" I'm incredibly proud of the way I'm able to capture folks; and with a solid line – especially of couples, when I'm only changing out paper every other guest – I'm getting faster and faster when demand necessitates. Tonight, I estimate my average speed at 34 faces per hour (one face every 1.76 minutes). This is incredibly valuable when I'm at my desk at home with a looming deadline and I need to conceptualize an illustration.
3. Organizational skills. It doesn't always work out well, but when I'm on my game, a quick-sketch gig is a huge lesson in the balance of forethought and thinking on my feet. I drew for four hours tonight. While I reserve the right to take a break now and then, I try not to stop drawing for the entire duration so folks don't have to wait longer than they already are. This is especially a goal if I'm the lone artist at a party like tonight. So I've got to be sure I've got everything I need closely at hand, and I've got to try to plan on not needing to visit the facilities if at all possible. Now, while I try not to leave my station, it's unwise and possibly unhealthy to draw nonstop for hours on end, so occasionally I'll take a moment while bagging a caricature, or I'll take a few more seconds than usual to chat with guests before I draw them... while stretching my drawing hand or stretching my legs. When it comes to the end of the party, I do my absolute best to cut off the line accurately so guests aren't waiting in vain. Tonight, with a half hour to go, I cut off the line after eight couples. And as I revealed the final drawing, the final chord played on the last dance song of the night. Perfect. Rather satisfying and fulfilling.
4. Social observations. It's always intriguing to see how some people react when someone is staring right at them for two minutes. Because I'm careful about not making folks feel overly self-conscious, I've developed a sort of quick-read system where I take in rather broad strokes and spend most of the time looking at the paper. But when I look up, there are the folks that stare right back, the folks who get the giggles, the folks that are quick to point out the flaws they don't want pointed out, the folks that really have a hard time staying focused on looking in my direction, the folks who are really nervous, and the folks that get aggressively flirty. Interesting. Also, since prom season necessitates drawing a lot of folks with braces, I've begun asking the kids if they want me to draw the braces or not. Most of them want them included, but some don't. Another interesting situation I witness often is the herd of kids with the definite "alpha dog" leader who seems to steer the cutting up and the jeering and the rowdiness. I always hear them coming when they're in my line, and I always dread them because I've seen some caricaturists just get eaten alive. But I've resolved to treat everyone in my line with respect unless they're really out of line. I do my best to go along with their joking (within reason) and I try very hard to really pay the attention to these kids that they seem to really need. I had two such groups last night. And I'm happy to say everything went smoothly. No matter how negative, vulgar, or obnoxious they had been while waiting in line, as each sat at my table, they returned my respect and behaved. And as each of the two "alpha dogs" sat for me with their dates, it was amazing how quiet the crowd got. I heard a lot of "THAT'S TOTALLY YOU MAN!!" and "THAT'S TIGHT!!" and stuff like that. I think that when it comes down to it, everyone appreciates (and possibly even needs) someone paying attention to them – really trying to "see" them – for a few seconds, especially when they get the results to take home.
So there. I've übergeeked out on you with a glimpse into one aspect of my work life. I can't help but think back to the times I'd hear my Dad talk about how he approached his career, how he constantly tries to find better ways of doing things and finds seems to find joy in streamlining and economizing. We're pretty similar in that way.
Well, I've finally got to get to bed. Tomorrow, I've got church followed by a trip about 40 miles south for a work-related show visit. Then it's back home to sit in front of the TV with my sketch pad as the Tonys air on CBS. It'll be a good day. I wish you all the same. Take care! Peace and love.
1. $$$. This sideline gig pays rather well. If I were to focus on this as my main career, I'm sure I could make a comfortable living. I know some event caricaturists that drive pretty nifty cars and live in pretty spiffy digs.
2. Research and development. There is no better training in capturing likenesses like having an endless line of eager subjects... and the pressure to draw them well and quickly. This will sound like I'm tooting my horn, but when I get into "the zone" I'm incredibly proud of the way I'm able to capture folks; and with a solid line – especially of couples, when I'm only changing out paper every other guest – I'm getting faster and faster when demand necessitates. Tonight, I estimate my average speed at 34 faces per hour (one face every 1.76 minutes). This is incredibly valuable when I'm at my desk at home with a looming deadline and I need to conceptualize an illustration.
3. Organizational skills. It doesn't always work out well, but when I'm on my game, a quick-sketch gig is a huge lesson in the balance of forethought and thinking on my feet. I drew for four hours tonight. While I reserve the right to take a break now and then, I try not to stop drawing for the entire duration so folks don't have to wait longer than they already are. This is especially a goal if I'm the lone artist at a party like tonight. So I've got to be sure I've got everything I need closely at hand, and I've got to try to plan on not needing to visit the facilities if at all possible. Now, while I try not to leave my station, it's unwise and possibly unhealthy to draw nonstop for hours on end, so occasionally I'll take a moment while bagging a caricature, or I'll take a few more seconds than usual to chat with guests before I draw them... while stretching my drawing hand or stretching my legs. When it comes to the end of the party, I do my absolute best to cut off the line accurately so guests aren't waiting in vain. Tonight, with a half hour to go, I cut off the line after eight couples. And as I revealed the final drawing, the final chord played on the last dance song of the night. Perfect. Rather satisfying and fulfilling.
4. Social observations. It's always intriguing to see how some people react when someone is staring right at them for two minutes. Because I'm careful about not making folks feel overly self-conscious, I've developed a sort of quick-read system where I take in rather broad strokes and spend most of the time looking at the paper. But when I look up, there are the folks that stare right back, the folks who get the giggles, the folks that are quick to point out the flaws they don't want pointed out, the folks that really have a hard time staying focused on looking in my direction, the folks who are really nervous, and the folks that get aggressively flirty. Interesting. Also, since prom season necessitates drawing a lot of folks with braces, I've begun asking the kids if they want me to draw the braces or not. Most of them want them included, but some don't. Another interesting situation I witness often is the herd of kids with the definite "alpha dog" leader who seems to steer the cutting up and the jeering and the rowdiness. I always hear them coming when they're in my line, and I always dread them because I've seen some caricaturists just get eaten alive. But I've resolved to treat everyone in my line with respect unless they're really out of line. I do my best to go along with their joking (within reason) and I try very hard to really pay the attention to these kids that they seem to really need. I had two such groups last night. And I'm happy to say everything went smoothly. No matter how negative, vulgar, or obnoxious they had been while waiting in line, as each sat at my table, they returned my respect and behaved. And as each of the two "alpha dogs" sat for me with their dates, it was amazing how quiet the crowd got. I heard a lot of "THAT'S TOTALLY YOU MAN!!" and "THAT'S TIGHT!!" and stuff like that. I think that when it comes down to it, everyone appreciates (and possibly even needs) someone paying attention to them – really trying to "see" them – for a few seconds, especially when they get the results to take home.
So there. I've übergeeked out on you with a glimpse into one aspect of my work life. I can't help but think back to the times I'd hear my Dad talk about how he approached his career, how he constantly tries to find better ways of doing things and finds seems to find joy in streamlining and economizing. We're pretty similar in that way.
Well, I've finally got to get to bed. Tomorrow, I've got church followed by a trip about 40 miles south for a work-related show visit. Then it's back home to sit in front of the TV with my sketch pad as the Tonys air on CBS. It'll be a good day. I wish you all the same. Take care! Peace and love.
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