I touched on venues that caricature artists in Calgary work in on the previous post below...just a few caricature samples from this weekend, obviously the kid's parties have no samples as I don't bother taking my camera to those anymore....but there were PLENTY of kids drawn this weekend.

For the next few days has me doing a few studio caricatures, then back to a heavy schedule of live caricature events for the upcoming week
Kelly Gannon, Caricature Artist in Calgary, Calgary Caricatures

Venues

Being a caricature artist in Calgary affords me the luxury of working in different venues which makes my occupation a pleasure. Above are  just a few of the rooms I drew caricatures in this weekend. From hotels, oil company office buildings, department stores to upscale restaurants...variety is the spice of life.....I love my job!
Kelly Gannon, Kelly Gannon caricatures, charicature artist in Calgary

"Pooch Caricatures"

Caricaturing dogs is something I've been asked about in the last few months, I just completed the pup for a client late last night after a caricature event. The top "Pooch Caricature," Piper, was completed for a lovely lady in the States (Thanks Laura for starting this!) I just need a GOOD picture of your dog to complete these.... you can contact me at   kelstudios@telus.net Again...thanks to my friend Laura for heading me in this direction....my business is going to the dogs.....in a nice way........
"Pooch Caricatures," Kelly Gannon

Caricature artist in Calgary

This weekend took me from corporate adult events, to kid's events, drawing in a department store cosmetics area, to drawing caricatures for a church grand opening in an upscale area of Calgary. I drew caricatures alongside the young lady painting the body art, she lives not far from me, as well, we were both featured in the same magazine....great job Amanda! The model being painted sat in the same position for about three hours without moving.
Kelly Gannon, Calgary Caricature Artist

Calgary Caricaturist

I could see on my face after five events that were quite close to each other this weekend, and adjusting to the time change and jet lag after my trip to San Antonio, Texas, that it looks like I was a bit tired. This was a terrific event I drew caricatures at, held at a major department store in an upscale mall in Calgary. The store had a huge promotion in the cosmetic department and gave away free caricature drawings to customers, they also had tarot card readers, food, etc.....the promotion seemed a success, as I know I was drawing steady for four hours . What I thought was clever of the store's promotion department, is that there was a beautiful Santa Claus display in the center of the mall....VERY nicely done and attracted large crowds, and the store I worked in was opposite the Santa display, thus opening it's doors and having major cosmetics companies advertise and set up promotions. I love it when a store, or any business thinks intelligent like that...good on them!
Kelly Gannon, Caricatures in Calgary

Calgary Caricature Artist

Just a few samples of cartoon style caricatures from some of the events I drew at this weekend...from adult corporate parties, to children's Christmas parties, I love the diversity when drawing all weekend. I'm not sure what the young fella was thinking of me while I was smiling when drawing him...but he loved his caricature. Thanks to all my guests while letting me draw them...they really do make my "job" fun! More from some other events I drew at this weekend coming up in a day or so, some of the venues were different from what I'm used to, which makes for an interesting job.
Caricature Artist in Calgary, Kelly Gannon

Caricatures in Calgary

The pre-Christmas party season is upon us in Calgary. Five events this weekend and six next week...busy, busy! Tonight's event was for grain farmers....lovely folks! I can't say enough about how warm and appreciative these people were to have their caricature drawn....thanks for making it a great gig for me! Funny thing is that where their chairs were situated on the stage at a Best Western Hotel was where I played my last two gigs in a tribute band playing drums. I say last two gigs because the oddest thing happened each time I played drums at this event...a booking agency out of Florida had contacted me, because I had drawn numerous times on their cruise ships, about drawing on a cruise to Australia.....I had to turn that one down as I was playing drums in the same venue I was drawing in tonight.

Then a month later the agency from Florida called again...would I like to draw on a cruise in the Bahamas? Again it was on that exact time I was booked to play again in this venue I was drawing at tonight....in both cases the band leader took a dim view of a band member cancelling a gig, needless to say, shortly after that, I gave my notice to the band. So drawing tonight at this venue brought back a flood of memories of playing drums.....but in the end...I enjoyed drawing these people much more than the crowd I had to play to......
Calgary Caricatures, Kelly Gannon, Caricature Artists In Calgary

Digital Caricature Commission

The courier just picked up a digital caricature commission I completed for an oil company's CEO. Great thing about digital caricatures is that I can send the file directly to you no matter where you live in the world. In this case, the client asked that I matt and frame the cartoon. Love the "saying" at the bottom of the caricature!
Kelly Gannon, Digital Caricatures, Digital Gift Caricatures

Caricatures In Calgary...

Today's caricature event in Calgary was at Sait Polytechnic, a secondary institution that specializes in technology and trades.....I have to brag a bit here...my Son, Chris was one of the electricians that helped wire the building above.....that's my boy!

As a caricature artist here in Calgary, I always see the events before the guests arrive (in this case the media was there as well), just as when I worked in Disneyland and had to open up the caricature booth before the gates opened, everything seemed so empty which always shows that people make the event...and I always love it when I'm honoured to have someone sit in the chair to have their caricature drawn by me!

The Alamo

One of the greatest things about being a caricaturist is that you can see historical sites around the world. During the caricaturist convention in San Antonio, I didn't miss the chance to see The Alamo, I wasn't disappointed.
Having fallen in 1836 by Santa Anna's Mexican troops during the Texas Revolution it stands as a monument to Texas bravery having had such "colorful" characters such as Jim Bowie (slave trader, smuggler, and the name that is connected to The Bowie Kinife, after he killed a sheriff), and of course the other famous name of Davy Crockett. Odd feeling to visit the fort, then walk back to a modern hotel and draw funny pictures.......
Kelly Gannon, Calgary Caricature Artist

Coloring pages.

Just completed an event with a magician who had seen some of the coloring pages I drew "cartoon style" for another magician...so...not to be outdone, he put in an order for me to draw him some cartoon coloring pages. (magicians regularly have these drawn up to give to kids at parties to color in. The magician adds his logo and contact information to the coloring pages...great promo idea!)
Kelly Gannon, Calgary Cartoonist

Convention

It was a good flight back to Calgary from San Antonio, Texas arriving home  last night to a pile of emails and jobs on the drawing board to complete. Though I'm more of a cartoonist- caricaturist, much of the artwork was inspiring, as well as having the opportunity to meet many new friends. The top picture was a view from my room, though the weather was quite cloudy all week...UNTIL the convention was wrapped up and most caricaturists were returning home, only then did the sun come out in full force. My "wall" of caricatures was in cartoon/caricature style that I mainly do on a regular basis, though next convention, since the public is not involved, I'll use more exaggeration.
The seminars were a learning experience and the committee that put on the event deserves credit for a job well done! Next year!
Calgary Caricaturist, Kelly Gannon Caricaturist

Keith Richards Caricature

At the San Antonio convention, we have a studio piece that all caricaturists bring with them, I'm not big on studio caricatures of celebrities, so all I really have is our friend here...Keith Richards. I had the opportunity to see Keith Richards with The Rolling Stones in Edmonton years ago, and all I could think of while watching him was "He is a walking cartoon."...Back to the picture...To make the picture a little more fun, I bought some pinstriping used for automobile trim (not really in style anymore though) and because Mr. Richards is from the U.K. I took a white matting and "pinstriped" the Union Jack flag onto it. The frame was all silver so I took shiny black exhaust pipe tape, also bought at a car accessory store and covered most of the frame except silver accents....it does look better than my photography skills show here.

Kelly Gannon, Keith Richards

Sam Elliott

This weekend is when I'll be leaving for a caricature convention in San Antonio, Texas. I decided to make up a few cartoon style caricatures for my portfolio, above is my wife's all time favorite actor, Sam Elliott who usually can be seen in westerns (HAS to have something to do with that mustache....).
Sam Elliott, Calgary Caricatures, Kelly Gannon

Calgary Cartoonist

"Anthropomorphism".....The attribution of human motivation, characteristics, or behavior to nonhuman organisms or inanimate objects.

That was my assignment to draw for Faith Wood's book....simply to make a "shoestring" come alive. Above are a couple samples from the inside of the book.....another of my favorite drawing assignments! To view Faith Wood's websites, click on    www.faithwood.com     www.imind.ca       Faith is a great friend of mind...thanks for the opportunity Faith!
Calgary Cartoonist, Kelly Gannon

Calgary Event Caricatures

This fella really does smile, he was a terrific subject to cartoon and a very nice guy to talk with...he's a Human Resource's Manager. This event was attended by many members of the media as well as a guest speaker from the show Dragon's Den...Brett Wilson. The venue was a great one as it was a two story art gallery in downtown Calgary. All wonderful guests...they made my evening! Thanks Ramon!
Caricatures in Calgary, Kelly Gannon

Calgary Cartoonist

When a cartoonist gets a chance to illustrate a book, it's a high point in your career. I had a chance to do a couple books in one year and this is the second one. It already had pre-printing sales, some sales were to different museums in Alberta as it hi-lights a successful Alberta family that came from Europe and started with a few acres of land, only to build into an extremely wealthy family with many businesses and enough land to start a small country. The book is titled "Growing Up Groeneveld." There's about thirty or so cartoons...mainly farm animals put in humorous situations.
Kelly Gannon, Calgary Cartoonist

Calgary Caricature Artist

A great subject for a cartoon style caricature, this caricature was drawn at a Thanksgiving party. If you're planning an event or even a birthday party and want caricatures drawn, simply contact Kelly at   kelstudios@telus.net
Kelly Gannon, Calgary Caricatures, Caricatures in Calgary

Calgary Cartoonist

If I had to choose ANY art project to do...it would be cartooning for magazines. I love illustrating, in cartoon style what the heading of the magazine article is trying to say. For example, the heading of the cartoon above is "Rules Of The Road," so my job is to do a humorous cartoon reflecting the headline. Each step is checked first with the editor. But there is less and less need now for cartoon illustrations in magazines.
Kelly Gannon, Calgary Cartoonist

Airdrie Yoga Studios

I was asked by friend and owner of Airdrie Yoga Studios to draw about 30 cartoon style caricatures of her instructors. Here are just a couple from the series. It's very cool to see them all displayed in the main reception area when you first walk in. Though I have to admit, after about ten poses, it did get more difficult to come up with yoga poses that would still give the caricature some dignity......
Kelly Gannon, Calgary Caricaturist, Yoga Cartoons