MY GOOD FRIEND and brilliant caricaturist Paul Baker honours my birthday, most years, with a new caricature with subtle variations. They are all framed and line the hallway to my house.

This latest one draws on the work of a lesser-known artist for its inspiration! Incidentally, it is not TOTALLY anatomically accurate!

I shall soon be taking scalpel to the backs of the other framed works of art to scan them in and show them off here as well.

RECENT WEEKS HAVE seen me gainfully employed, thankfully, with a variety of caricature work. Samsung are energetically promoting their new phone/tablet the Galaxy Note by employing a small army of caricaturists to draw caricatures of people at various venues including John Lewis and, latterly, Westfield Shopping Centre, Shepherds Bush in London.

This has proved to be a terrific crowd draw (sorry) with people prepared to queue for up to two hours to have their caricature drawn.

Conversely, I have also been employed as a caricature artist in London for people at corporate events, using the old-fashioned technique of pen and paper.

It has been interesting to compare the two experiences.

The tiny screen of the Samsung Galaxy Note is highly restrictive and not at all as responsive as paper. The stylus has no pressure sensitivity so you can't get any variation in line thickness. With pen and paper, a caricaturist is used to being able to make smooth sweeping movements in order to capture a cheekbone or the shape of the fringe of hair. On such a small electronic tablet, you simply can't be quite so artistic. And the addition of small details such as eyelashes is extremely cumbersome.

The result is that even the best caricaturists are producing below-par work on the digital tablet and even though the public won't know this, this encounter with caricatures may be their only one from which to take away a less-than-amazed impression.

I'm quite happy to work in both mediums, but I see the Samsung Galaxy Note caricatures as simply a novel way of demonstrating a new device to the public whereas the ordinary pen and paper caricatures at parties, private and corporate, are a true artistic entertainment which can rank alongside the best forms of cartooning.

If you would like to book me to draw caricatures at your party EMAIL ME NOW!

THESE ARE RECENT caricature from photos commissions. The clients sent me a number of photos and a written brief for the finished caricatures. The usual process consists of sending back one rough version of the caricature and amending the finished artwork as instruceted by the client.

Caricatures from photos are very popular with both corporate and private clients. They are presented as gifts as leaving presents, to commemorate a business deal, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries or simply just for fun.

If you'd like to make an enquiry about caricatures from photos simply EMAIL ME NOW!

YESTERDAY WAS THE fourteenth anniversary of networking organisation Ecademy. We all had a nice lunch in the private members club in Adam Street and I made sure as many as people as possible went home with a caricature, each drawn within five minutes on-the-spot.

Ecademy is a good place to make new connections with people actively looking to do business and even if one individual is not the right person for your needs at a particular time, they probably know someone who is. Referrals are commonplace and generously given and if you get yourself talked about for the right things you will normally get back something back, some time.

Well, at least they seemed happy with the caricatures yesterday!

CARICATURE OF ME in pastels by Guy Carter in 2001!

ONE OF THE regular jobs for many modern cartoonists is to produce cartoons which companies can use in presentations.

These can be sales and marketing presentations or presentations to review the end of the year or staff training presentations.

The last couple of years I have had the same client coming to me with a VERY rushed job for one of those reviews of the year presentations.

To me, the cartoons LOOK rushed, but, fortunately, to the client, they look fine. I have to be thankful that not everyone can draw!

They supply me with a batch of photos of the people involved and a detailed brief of what each cartoon should contain.

Inevitably, this sort of cartoon involves a lot of talking heads sitting around boardroom tables and attending presentations. But it is my job to make it as amusing and entertaining as possible. Which is made more difficult by tthe short lead time for some jobs such as this one!