Taking a BREAK from Caricature !

Hi Friends,

For past few weeks, I have been evaluating some options to enhance my career. 

One option is to become a full-time caricaturist,.............hehehehehe,........

But I assessed and concluded that my current drawing skill is far from the standards required to make a living out of it. I still need lots of practice, practice, practice to achieve the professional standards I want. This would takes time & efforts.

For the interim, I have to add some value to my current job. 

So I had decided to take up a 6-months part-time academic diploma course at the polytechnic. The government sponsors 70% of the course fee. Mind you, it' not on caricature drawing,........it's something else, which I hope to supplement my current knowledge in my current job. This course takes up 3 evenings per week of my time (12 hours/week), with lots of written assignments for submission for assessments. Workloads are heavy in this course, which lasts till end of Sep 2011. 

Hence, it would be tough to squeeze out any time left to practise my drawing skill. But I will try........cos, it's still a hobby to me. I'll have less time to blog,...... 

But if you need me to do any drawings / projects for you, you can still contact me. I'll try my best to respond to you as soon as I can, & try to fill your needs.  But this would take some time.  

Take care,.......all my friends.

Drawing People Whom (..............)

Drawing People Whom are Family
Drawing family members can be fun, if they like it & to laugh at it.
Otherwise, it can also be a source of family conflicts. So be careful what you draw.

I started to draw my brother's family in year 2000.
It was more a portrait drawing than caricature as I drew it based on a photograph. 
I wanted to frame it up and give him as a gift. But I never did - too lazy to complete ths project.

This year, I drew his family again, but with caricature in mind.
His family has since expanded, and the drawing theme came from the fact that my brother likes to drive car fast, even, with his MPV. I hope he would never get into trouble with the traffic authority. 
This drawing theme is based on fast car.
I wanted to make this into a framed picture for his family. Today, this project is not yet completed,.......no time lah, I'm very busy mah !

Drawing my sister is quite challenging.
I find lots of difficulty in drawing her face and I had to try many times to get a final likeness of her in this drawing. She has thick bushy hairs and this took me very long to complete this drawing.
I find that drawing people with lots of hairs could be very challenging. It could take up lots of time. Easiest is to draw bald people. But caricaturist / artists can't pick customers with hair or not, correct ?  Life still goes on,......especially if you depend on it to make a living !

Drawing my wife is the most adventurous and risky thing to do. I advise you - don't try it ! 
I used many of her photos as drawing practices when I have the time, especially weekends. 
The stake is very high as she would then comment on my finished drawings,........ why like this,....... why like that one huh ?,.......... why so ugly one  !!!!!!   I said "this is caricature drawing wat,.....it is suppose to look funny mah". 

For drawings that are not to her liking, I was "punished" to sleep on the cold kitchen floor for that night,........(sob,....sob,...sob,...). Life is tough !
So, to please her again & to avoid troubles at home, I had to draw her more in portrait form, rather than in caricature form. See the drawings below, and you would understand what I mean.

Drawing children is fun too. I drew my niece and nephew in 2003. Then I stopped.

So far, I did not draw children much.

My opinion is : children's faces change rapidly, unlike adults whose faces change less rapidly, and they look more or less the same, only with age. 

And for children drawings, I don't think they would keep them for long. They just laugh at it at that moment & then throw them away. Unlike adults who know how to value & keep them, especially those drawings with sentimental themes or fond memories.

But don't get me wrong, my friends, and followers,.....

I don't mind doing children caricatures, if requested & the money is good !

In this world, money talks a lot & loudly too !

Drawing People Whom are Powerful
I rarely draw people who are politicians or powerful. I try to avoid troubles,.....
It would be very risky and dangerous to draw them funny. I wouldn't want the police to appear at my doorsteps and then,........troubles start. You know what I mean, don't you ? 

So far, I have had only drawn a few.
I cannot put names on the drawings. You have to figure out who they look like.
Even then, I had to censored some portions before I release my drawings on this blog.

Drawing People Whom (...........)

Drawing People Whom are friends
I did not draw much of my friends. I do not have much time and never have much photos of them, and I never ask them for it. Perhaps, now I should start asking and drawing them. 
The risk I fear most is : after showing them funny pictures of them, they would not want to be my friends anymore,..........hehehehehe,.......unless I just draw & keep them, but this is not my style !

This is a new friend. He works in the airline industry, and flies a lot.

He has many airline jokes to tell, and I always like to hear them. He is retiring soon in few years time, and I hope he would have more time to tell me all his jokes. 

As he flies a lot, I also gave him the superpower of flying, just like Superman.

Mind you, my superhero is not superman, as I always thought he was gay ! 

This friend has a facebook account, so I release his photo here just to show you

his face compared with my drawing.  

I am very wary of people who doesn't like their photos to be published.

So, my blog avoids showing actual photos used for my drawings.

  

This guy was also my classmate in my last diploma course. There was only 4 students in this class,......very strange,.....and we never had any graduation ceremony or graduation photo taken. So, I drew this picture & give it to everyone as a graduation & farewell gift. Strangely, I received only 1 respond on this drawing. Perhaps, they have no time to laugh or comment.  

This drawing was done with marker and color-pencil.
I wanted to give it a funny effect, after getting the inspiration from the movie "the eye".


These are my childhood friends.
This drawing is more like a portrait, than caricature.
I made this drawing into a christmas greeting cards for each of them. They all liked it a lot.

Drawing People Whom (............)

Drawing people whom are Co-Workers
More than 20 years ago, I started work as a young engineer assistant in a government-linked manufacturing company. It was a high-pace and challenging environment with tensions and pressure. But I was young, with full of energy, & worked long hours, with a group of senior supervisors who were senior citizens. I never understand why they seeemed to work slowly at their own pace, without any pressure or tensions, and still find the time to tell me many men's jokes in their spare time. Now having reach their age, I now realise why. It's their way to stay happy & to keep work stress at bay !  Perhaps, this is also their way to tell young people to slow down their working pace..............

This was also roughly the time I started to draw caricatures of co-workers.   
I have now lost contact with them totally. I believe they have retired and are enjoying lives now. I hope one day they would see my caricatures, & they could contact me for coffee breaks to catch up on old times.  

In my working career, I worked with many interesting and strange people....... 

No two person has the same character or style. That's why I think we are called the human species.

In one company, I observed that this manager is always busy, always got bullied by his 2 female subordinates. He worked very hard while his workers have lots of spare time playing or just talking about otther non-work related topics in the office. I deduced that the manager is either a very nice guy who accepts most works from his boss, and delegate little, or just not affirm enough.  But he was happy doing this,........ So I learned early that "soft" managers would be bullied.

Working with women, can be more challenging than working with men because women have "special needs". The needs for affection, understanding, sensitivity, monthly mood-swing, attention,........................

I have to think what to tell them before I tell them. For men, I just tell them directly what I think.

I realized that dealing with women need special skills & techniques too. Always praise them on their looks, their excellent dressing tastes, etc. in order to get work done for you. Never say they are ugly no matter what. Just tell them they look pretty or good, and your work day would be peaceful and easy.   

One secretary I worked with, was a very good cook.
She spent lots of money and time to learn cooking skills from others.  
I asked her why she did not use these skills to make money in food business, but she told me it's not time yet as she wanted to be free, and enjoy life first. Food business is a tough trade, although it could make lots of money. If I had her skills, I would be a good cook or chef in the F&B industry. I would have a different story to tell. I told her if she ever goes into food business, I would invest in her business. today, after a few years, I'm still waiting, ...............she is still enjoying life full of activities & zero worry.  
When she left the company, I drew this picture of her in her farewell card.
I wonder if she still keeps it.

My co-worker soon discover my drawing skill as I used them alot in my communication and presentation sessions in organisations. Sometimes, I received requests to draw them for special occassions like in this picture of a colleague with her husband. She was getting married and has planned to go to Australia for their honeymoon. So, I designed this picture theme of a special transportation vehicle for them to sight-see the country.  I made it into a 3D card which they displayed at their wedding dinner reception. On that night, many guests were indulged in the free-drinks than looking at my picture,.........so sad,........



In my opinion, it is tough to be a manager in a big organisation.
Not only you have to manage upwards (your boss & corporate people), you have to manage downwards (your staff). You have to constantly engage and motivate them in different ways as each has a unique character and interest. I listen more than talk, & lead by example.  

This picture above is kind of boring as I drew these staff like dolls in static postures. In fact, they are very active people. This drawing could be more interesting if I had drawn them in motion or in some activities. After some self-reflection, I learn this mistake & remind myself on other drawings.  

As a manager, I often get nominated or "arrowed" to do "extra duties".  
Once, I was nominated to be the recreation manager for planning and executing recreation activities for employees in the company. I knew I could not do it alone, and recruited some staff to help me. To  announce my recreation team, I drew this picture for the announcement of the year's recreation committee. It was a great year of challenges and learning for me. I believe I could be an event manager for orgnising company's functions and activities. If you want to try my organising skills,  just contact me in advance. No last minute surprises as my heart is weak !

I once worked very closely with a french quality manager.

He is friendly, humble and understanding of my limitation in my job.

After a few years in the job, he decided to quit the quality team & profession, and transferred himself to another job scope in the same organisation. I felt happy for him for his opportunity to jump to a new and challenging job.  I drew this picture and made it into a book-marker as his farewell gift. 

I remember his face was quite tough to draw, and I don't have much pictures of him. I had to draw it a few times to get the likeness of him.  

I am pro-environment.

My view is - we should re-use, re-cycle more. 

For this drawing, I re-used cardboards and created this drawing and made it into a 3D door signage just to add some humour into my new job. One day, when nobody was looking, I put it up onto the main door. Everybody was shocked, and spent many hours trying to figure out who put this up. The subject didn't like it, so he took it down on same day after some laughs,.......but he did pose for pictures for me, just for the fun of it. 

  

Drawing People Whom were my bosses

In my career, I worked for many bosses. Not many had I drew them. 

Some bosses do not like to be drawn. I guess they are afraid of appearing on something funny, and people would laugh at them. They want "face" like in asian culture. So it's unusual for a worker to draw his / her boss in a funny stage, and fear reprimand. I never had this fear. Not sure why. I draw what I want, when i want it.

There was a time of tension in my previous job. A big customer was scheduled to audit our plant. Everyone was tensed and worked day & night to prepare for this customer audit.  So I drew this picture of my ang-moh boss and his boss on how to treat the auditor to distract him during audit. We knew this tough auditor coming for the audit was called Joseph. But in order not to offend him, I drew his back instead, featuring his unusual short hair. I never met him again,.......even in small singapore island.

The 2 bosses have a good contractor friend, Mr LEE. He is fat & has the big-boss look.
I observed that he had a tough time as he needed to listen and please both bosses.
But I admire his patience and calmness in dealing with both. 
I drew this picture of Mr LEE with the 2 bosses just to add some humour in my company presentation held close to christmas period.

When I was a manager, I often got "arrowed" or nominated for special tasks, like being a recreation chairman.
I tried to hint to my boss that I was already fully loaded with many tasks, but to no avail.
Then, I tried to show him the above picture, he just laughed but said nothing. I still had to carry on with the tasks,.......ya, ya, ya,......eventually, I learned alot from these experiences. 

Eventually, he left his post as GM of the company, and I made the above drawing into a farewell card. I gave him an elephant send-off. That's the power of caricaturist - you give others "special treatment", by just lifting a pen / marker.  

Drawing People Whom are CEOs
When I was in the lower rungs in corporates, I don't bother about who is the CEO or president of the company. I bothered more when the pay is paid out late !

Anyway, I believe they don't have to time to know all the employees in the company. Even if they have the time, I don't believe they can remember you unless you did something great (extreme good or bad deeds) in the company. Then, for sure, they would remember you. Either you would get promoted or "disappear" from the company.

When I moved up the career rung, I would find out about the CEO of the company, read about their speeches, their tag-lines, etc. 
I observed one CEO as a humble man. Man with few words,.........but his slogan was printed in bold & hanged on the company's lobby.
Every CEO likes to give vision, mission statements,.....and Company likes to make employees, especially new hires, aware of these statements. So, I made this drawing with his famous slogan, and was intended to be used for new employee's orientation briefing, I believe using visual is more effective than using lots of texts in presentation. But I never did use it. It was not my job to run new-hire orientation programmes.  

After a few years, this CEO retired. A new guy took charge.
He was younger, not so friendly, man with many words,.......with a very strong character.

He changed the slogan.
He flies a lot to visit all his factories in over 30 countries.  
So, I gave him the superpower of superman, so that he could fly to anywhere he likes, when he feels like it, and to save on air fares for the company. That's the power of caricaturist.
My colleague used this drawing on a kite for the company's kite design competition. I warned her not to mention the artist's name to avoid troubles for me. They tried to fly it one sunday morning. But it was raining heavily with thunderstorm, and the kite never took off to the sky. Today, he still flies around using the normal & expensive way.     

For your information, I had removed the company's logo on his attire to avoid troubles, even if I do not work there anymore.

Drawing People whom (..........................)

Drawing People whom I dislike, or,.......for known or unknown reasons, is the most difficult thing for me to do. For this, I mean people I know, but I just dislike them. They are not strangers to me.

I believe this is quite normal and natural because some people "click" with others, while some just cannot "click" no matter what they do. Others call this "chemistry" among people.
To draw people's faces, I need to first study the subject face in details, staring at it to see how the 5 elements (eyes, nose, mouth, ears, head) form the unique face. Then, I create a mental picture on how the final caricature would look like. And then I start slowly to draw it.
For people that I dislike, I find this first-step is my stopping point because I am not motivated to draw faces that I dislike. I never want to remember such faces. Let alone, study them in details,.....and draw them.  

Drawing People whom are public figure,
is what most caricaturists would start with, to get recognised and be popular or known if you are really good. Politicians, celebrities, movie stars, sportsmen,.....One can easily obtain their photos, pictures from newspaper, magazines, internet, and so on for practices. I do not draw them much.  

This was one of my earliest work > 20 years ago which I copied it from a newspaper. I saw it as an work with a different drawing style, using the hatching-lines technique to create texture and shadow of the face. I did not remember who the artist was, but felt that it's good to keep for reference.   

At that time, digital camera, & scanner were not invented yet, and getting it photocopied is a hassle, so I usually copied drawings by drawing them, or just keep the original version.

This is my recent work of a quick sketch of the current black president, done in 10 minutes in pencil. I realized that I drew his face too wide and too white. In real person, he is quite slim and black. My shading was inadequate to give a darker look.

This indian chief has passed on many years ago, but many people still remembers him for his political works, hardships, white robe, and walking stick. This was one of the quick sketch done in 10 minutes in pencil. 

 Stephanie Sun is a well-know singer in singapore and taiwan, china.
But I never buy her music CDs, and I do not know why,.....her music is of a different cup of tea to me. This drawing was done in ink with color-pencil.

Nicole Kidman is quite a versatile actress, and despite acting in many movies, I  just cannot remember any blockbusters she acted. Or is my memory fading away ?.....I don't know.  The most challenging part of this drawing is her hair which took up lots of my time.

Cindy Crawford did not act much in movies.
My opinion : drawing women is the most challenging job, as they expect you to draw them in perfect shape and style without any flaws. I just smile to their comments, but in my heart, I know : how can this be in the real world ?

  

 

 

 

He remains as one of the legendary kung-fu master still known today in the movie industry, despite the fact that he has passed on at a young age in 1970s. He was one of the rich and famous people who often die young, but many artists still like to draw him. 

His famous movies I could remember were : Face-Off, Saturday Night Fever, Grease, The General's Daughter,...........but he never acted as superman. So, I put him in the suit. In my opinion : Caricature is about putting different things together to create some humor, something that one can never imagine.  

I drew Andy Lau back in 1995. It was not really a caricature, but a portrait based on a photo. At that time, i did not pick up caricature. I drew him again in 2010, and you can notice how he has changed since. How time flies.

Action-movie star with a big nose, and always have beautiful women in all his movies. A portrait, rather than a caricature.

During the 1980s, there were :4 Havenly-Kings" of pops songs and actors from hong Kong. I wanted to draw them at the start of a race, but I never finish the drawing. This is a lack of discipline,..........ya, what the heck,.......

Lesson to learn : Never start something that you cannot complete it. Same applies to anything in life.  

He became famous for his portray of a cyborb in the terminator movies in 1980s, 1990s, then became the governor of california, USA.  

Drawing People Whom are Strangers
is the most fun, because I do not know them in person.
I look at them as shapes, forms, sizes, colors, and care less about their personality, character, behaviour, and so on,........
Only short-coming is I cannot draw with speed, yet. I would need to practise a lot to get to speed, & in real drawing sessions. 
Here are just some of my works which are not very good. I still need lots of practice.

Chinese proverb : 1 minute on stage (for show business), needs 10 years of practice behind the stage.

 

I drew this lady CEO of a MNC, as a practice in pencil.  

Drawing strangers can be fun because I can draw what I want the subject to do funny things. But it can be a challenge for group drawing as I need to think of a common theme for them, like in the picture below, done in ink & water-color, as a practice. After seeing their picture, the subject ladies commented why they all have different shapes, sizes, and wear different attire,...?  

I relayed my reply to them : this is called caricature, that's why !

Women Basket Ball Team 2011

Later months, I also print the picture & made it into a Christmas Card, just to try out my craft skill. The recipient likes it.