Make sure they REMEMBER your party!

“Amazing party! Hey! I think that man’s looking at you, Emma.” “Yeah? What’s he doing?” “He’s got a clip board and a pen…” “Is he writing?” “Well, he keeps looking at you… Ha! Ha! I think he’s drawing you!” “Oh my God! No! It’s one of them character-churists! Oh my God! Pass the wine, Cath. I’ll need it!”

Party caricaturists are a minority group of entertainers whose popularity is increasing at those twice-yearly manifestations of goodwill to employees known as the company party. Their services can be obtained by contacting one of the more than 4,500 corporate entertainment agencies in the UK which are involved in more than 200,000 events a year. There are more than enough bands, singers, comedians and magicians to cope with this workflow but the popularity of caricaturists is increasing to such an extent that many are having to turn away offers every week.

Professional cartoonists

On-the-spot or party caricaturing has released many cartoonists from their traditionally solitary lifestyles. Their artform has always been an entertainment but they have never before been able to witness the reactions of an audience to their work. Now they can have the satisfaction of turning out a quick, amusing likeness and basking in the delighted hilarity that ensues. Quite distinct from their streetwise, pavement counterparts, who are mostly portraitists struggling to draw in a ‘cartoony’ way, corporate caricaturists are often widely-published professional cartoonists who have discovered this extra, lucrative outlet for their talents.

There is a hard core of about thirty party caricaturists in this country who are all well-known to each other. While a little friendly rivalry is enjoyed by all, so is a constant exchange of advice, ideas and, indeed, overflow work; passed on with no demand for a commission, but on the understanding that the favour will be repaid.

The range of venues playing host to our caricaturing talents is remarkable. Parties are held onboard jet airliners, the EuroStar trains, the QE2 and other ships, barges, Madame Tussaud’s Waxworks, The Natural History Museum, The London Dungeon, The Tate Gallery, Elstree Film Studios, Tower Bridge, The Greenwich Observatory, The Belfry and Wentworth golf courses … the list goes on. Anywhere, as Terry Christien, the Secretary of The Cartoonists’ Club of Great Britain, put it: “From cramped village halls to Palace Gardens, zoos and groovy clubs!” As well as this, there is an exhausting variety of parties on offer. I am just as likely to be asked to draw eight people at a dinner table in a private house in Hendon as to be flown to a huge hotel in Cannes hosting an international management consultancy event of some two to three hundred guests.

Corporate Entertainment

These parties are thrown by the entire spectrum of organisations. Corporate Entertainment is par for the course with financial and media-related companies, of course, but less obvious clients such as plumbing organisations, kitchenware and bathroom manufacturers and a variety of medical organisations are also now jumping on the bandwagon. Indeed, it is a shock to the system when you turn up at a big swish event at The Dorchester to find it is attended by urologists and gynaecologists from around the world who have been at a conference on ‘The Overactive Bladder and its Treatment’ (which was helpfully emblazoned on the guests’ lapel badges). I mean, who better to take the piss out of? Drawing doctors giving prostate examinations or enemas is a common request at such functions. Is there no hope left for sophistication and wit amongst the more educated members of our society?

“Just ignore me, Madam! All my friends do!” “Tee! Hee!” “Even the imaginary ones!”

“Ha! Ha! Very funny! Do you do this for a living or is it just a hobby?”

“Ha! Ha! Now YOU’RE being funny! I just like being paid to go around the country insulting people.”

“Oh! Please be kind!”

“Whoops! Too late! I’ve already drawn the nose!”

“Oh my God!”

So, how do we translate the art of the drawing board to the handheld clipboard amidst a sea of tables, waiters and mystified guests? Some caricaturists remain aloof, relying on the impact of the finished drawing to elicit the required response. Some become virtual comedians by developing the standard patter which is common at all functions. “Don’t make the nose too big,” is a common request which can be rejoindered with, “Thanks for pointing it out – I’ll have to turn the paper sideways to fit it in!”

“Don’t do too many wrinkles,” is often met by “Of course not, madam. I can’t be here all evening.”

Breasts

However, there is one physical feature which a cartoonist can freely exaggerate with the full approval of onlookers AND victim. Astonishingly, women fall rapturously in love with the caricaturist who simply adds two huge circles as a graphic representation of breasts. Women from a wide cross-section of parties, from The Dorchester to small suburban church halls, all react in the same way: hilariously delighted. There’s definitely a psychologist’s paper in this somewhere.

Somehow, in most situations, the caricaturist can get away with being terribly rude. The tall, blonde-ringleted, red-bereted Simon Barber often hands over the finished masterpiece with a large envelope, saying “Here you are – a bag to put over your head!” The humour employed has to be this basic in order to hit home with maximum impact in noisy surroundings. Anything more adventurous is doomed. One of my extemporaneous jokes that went down like a lead balloon was addressed to a young lady who demanded “Make me beautiful. Make me like The Mona Lisa!” The reply, to stunned silence was, “Ah, but even the Mona Lisa was no oil-painting, madam!”

The comic possibilities can be further enhanced by adding little bodies instead of just drawing heads and shoulders. This allows quick approximations of hobbies and the opportunity to encapsulate the subject’s character with a few deft symbols and an apt caption. All this information can be gleaned from a little chit-chat with the victim, but more productively, with their colleagues who will be more than willing to dish the dirt in the spirit of the occasion. Thus, the hapless youth whose so-called friends reported that he fancied himself as a stud was touchingly delighted with the resultant picture of himself hard at work with an inflatable woman. The poor man’s self-image was further deconstructed by the caption, ‘Love life’s looking up.’

An elegant gentleman rather surprisingly requested to be drawn as Jesus Christ. There was only one way of dealing with this. He went away with grudging admiration for the depiction of himself strait-jacketed in a padded cell.

Caricaturing Women

While I, personally, enjoy caricaturing women more than men (perhaps, because they are easier on the eye or because they are more diplomatic on seeing the results of my endeavours), some of my colleagues express the opposite view. Ian Parratt makes the point that women have spent a lot of time getting made up and immaculately dressed for these flamboyant events only to have some pasty-faced caricaturist interrupt their meal by showing up their worse features.

“Sometimes, the husbands take umbrage, too,” he says. “Another reason I don’t like drawing women is that their hairstyles use up too much ink, particularly if their hair is black.” So, bald albinos must be high on Ian’s wish list, then.

It is impossible to be a regular on the entertainment circuit without upsetting someone. The discarded, folded or torn caricature on the floor at the end of a evening is the occasional experience of most caricaturists. Tales abound of caricaturists suffering at the hands of the misunderstanding public. There is always a minority contingent who refuse to understand that a caricature is not a flattering portrait. A perversely enviable claim to fame for one prolific party caricaturist was when the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ripped up his graphic offering and had him barred from attending the rest of the conference for which he had been hired by the Conservative Party.

But what does all this ‘caricaturing as entertainment’ mean to the regularly-published professional? Tony Healey, whose work is regularly seen in The Sunday Telegraph, The Financial Times and Golf Monthly, is one such who has tried it and has no wish to repeat the experience. “If you’re really worried about the quality of the end-result, you won’t be happy working under such conditions. My work is painstaking and detailed, so it was very difficult to compromise my skills to produce ten-minute sketches. It is a skill that I admire, though most of the results I have seen seem to be more ‘cartoony’ than anything that could really be called ‘a caricature’.”

Gary Smith (Daily Mail, Radio Times, Sunday Times) echoes these sentiments but adds that only a lucky few are employed in the national press. “There are probably a lot of highly-talented caricaturists out there sacrificing their art because they have to earn a living somehow.” This is very true. For the struggling artist, there is no choice between £195 for a caricature that takes three hours to complete or £400 to spend a similar time drawing guests at a party.

However, I would argue that the combination of talents, is a unique artform in itself. In addition, many party caricaturists have found that they are occasionally expected to do a bit more than just draw funny pictures.

Elephant-like caricaturist

One of a growing number of women in the business, Luisa Calvo had the questionable good fortune of having to apply greasepaint and motley to perform in a complicated stage show before the more usual task of drawing members of the audience after the show. “The elegant guests watched me prance elephant-like across the stage bearing a length of cloth high in the air and unfortunately failing miserably to place it into the hands of an awaiting professional dancer.”

Personally, I found myself examining a contract just two hours before the event to find that I was expected to perform a cabaret act after dinner. Fortunately, I was able to dredge up some previously written material to save the evening.

There is one obvious way a party caricaturist scores points over the more ubiquitous magicians, musicians and clowns. Not only are they entertaining, but they are producing an original work of art which will be kept as a unique memento of the event. Astute companies will pre-print the sheets with their logo and appropriate message thus enhancing the caricature as an original marketing tool.

Apart from the pecuniary benefits, the most rewarding experience for the caricaturist is to be swept through the doors on a tidal wave of raucous laughter and appreciative applause. Then you know you have delivered the goods.

“Oh my God! Look! That’s fantastic! Eek! Look at my nose!”

Your nose? Look at those enormous boobs! Ha! Ha! Ha!”

“Hee! Hee! Hee! I WISH! They’re fantastic! Oh my God! Wait until Stephen sees this! What a great idea!"

WHEN DRAWING CARICATURES at parties, I always prefer to include a whole package of caricature, cartoon, caption (where appropriate) and colour.

It's all very well drawing a roomful people as disembodied heads but it's much better if they can go away with a complete picture of themselves in action with their favourite hobbies or sports.

And, in true cartoon style, the addition of simple splashes of colour is so easy to do and takes up very little extra time to bring the whole picture to exuberant, vibrant life.

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!