Calgary Caricaturist

I love drawing caricatures for theme events, obviously this is for a fifties party held in Downtown Calgary. I've had the pleasure of drawing at many theme events in the past....the oddest one....having to dress up as Dr. Spock of Star Trek and having to wear an afro wig for a seventies theme night.....but in hindsight, still a great way to make a living!

It's always an odd feeling when I get to an event early and the doors havn't opened to the party goers yet....it gives me a few minutes to relax for a few minutes....then.... the party begins!

Kelly Gannon, characters in Calgary, Calgary characturist

Calgary Caricatures

An oil company had me drawing caricatures in Calgary on the weekend, again, such a fun crowd to draw for, the couple are here from New Zealand.....just wait until winter really hits Calgary....



Here's a simple caricature design I did for a client today.....just the one color with linework on the caricature itself....friend of ours did the photoshop work with the lettering.

These next two weeks are busy ones....yes! This is a "drummer geek" post here. I'll be recording 10 more cover songs for a CD for the band "Yesterday." This will be quite a bit different than what I'm used to as it contains a number of Motown tunes...which I love the grooves and tasty fills they used. I love recording with these mesh head Rolands, though I've owned these before and used them live and prefer the acoustc kits, but for studio...they're fantastic! The engineer can go into the module and pick an appropriate kit for the genre of music and without the fuss of tuning, no isolation booth, no worries on microphone placement, and voila.... a perfect sound to work with! Looking forward to Monday when we start, though there is a "toughie" in there, they're doing "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Paul McCartney, lots of drum work in that one.

Caricatures in Calgary

Another fantastic group of professionals I drew caricatures for in Calgary Friday evening. I really love my job when meeting interesting, fun people such

as this group....thank you! I the room above us in the hotel where this event was held was the star of the teenage movie...."Jackass"....."Steve-o, trying his hand at stand-up comedy...not sure if there was an ambulance waiting in the wings.......

Kelly Gannon, Calgary caricatures, calgary sketch artist, charicatures calgary

Renovating is a skill I love to do (EXCEPT drywalling...................) Because I had ten days off in the New Year, with the help of my Son-In -Law, we laid a hard wood floor in their home, he was a very quick learner....thanks Ryan!! Great job you did!
I also like doing this kind of work with someone else as it slows me down and as far as I can tell...the floor turned out pretty well......if I do say so myself! :)  I had thought I was in excellent shape....uh uh.....the next day my knees were mega sore....but that went away fast.

Caricature agency

It's the new year and time to do business evaluations. I have a caricature agent out of Ottawa that I've been leary of working for the last number of years for and have decided to take a stand on this particular agent and refuse all events from him this year out of respect for myself. Tired of late payments, no contract....reminders to be paid and a list of other complaints...... so.... to this particular agent....my services are now gone for you in this new year ahead. There....I feel better all ready!

The view on my way to Kananaskis Country to draw caricatures at the Delta Resort for five days....two events were on Christmas Day alone...(sure missed my own kids and Grandson that day!) Luckily the weather was safe for driving as it's situated in The Rocky Mountains....what a view!                                      

I worked the last four years at the resort as well as many events in Calgary with the most amazing balloon artist I've seen. I tried balloon art once....NOT as easy as it looks....this guy is THE best! You can reach "Stretch" at...     

http://kelstudios.com/contact/

The view from my room.....I have no samples of caricatures as it was all kids I drew and line-ups were quite long so the pressure was on to get as many completed as possible....no time for pics.

Because it's New Year's Eve....don't land up like this guy above! Happy New Year's Eve to all!!
Kelly Gannon

Calgary Caricatures

Last evening's caricature event was one of the best in my books.....thanks to all my guests! I decided to draw in a few simple bodies I learned while working in Disneyland, I hadn't drawn any body for a few years so it was a bit foriegn to me trying to remember them. Six more caricature events (including New Years Day), then I can relax for a couple weeks as everything grinds to a halt then....but I look forward to that............ Merry Christmas!

Kelly Gannon, Calgary Caricaturist, Calgary Caricatures,

Add lots of snow and for the third year in a row I'll be drawing caricatures for a week at The Delta Kananaskis Resort. It'll be a nice change to relax in a great room, sit in a hot tub, work out and eat expensive meals three times a day.....THE trade-off...I have two caricature events to draw at on Christmas Day, so I won't be able to see my family on that special day.

Christmas at The Gannon house...

A few Christmas decorations at The Gannon house this year...each year we cut back (perhaps I should say my Wife cuts back), sometimes less is more! She does a terrific job decorating the house...now...what to do with the other 600 boxes of ornaments around the house..............

Our sixties tribute band spent some time in the recording studio to record a demo and were quite pleased....we did most every take live with just one take...all that practice paid off!

Caricaturist in Calgary

Saturday evening was a casual style event held at a golf course....inside..of course. It was a unique idea that two small companies both hired the entertainment, catering, and venue. I love these style of events to draw caricatures at as they're personable and the guests are usually pretty relaxed....no political correctness in these fun events..........

Caricatures in Calgary

Sometime last week ( lost track of time???) it was an early morning event in an upscale business tower...then a quick lunch and then off to a trendy restaurant to draw for another business crowd.....these guests were a 10 out of 10 in the FUN catagory..........

Kelly Gannon, caricaturist in calgary, Calgary caricaturist

Worked drawing caricatures at a beautiful mansion last week, complete with butlers..... Decided not to show the guests, instead only a couple of the drawings, fun crowd!

Calgary Caricatures

I'm so far behind right now with all things Christmas! Between Stampede Week and Christmas, these two times of the year have caricature artists in Calgary hoppin. This was a business event I caricatured here....most of the office tower were male..all in all...they were quite receptive when the idea of giving the caricature to their kids was presented....works every time!

Kelly Gannon, calgary characters

It"s been at least a dozen events since I've made my last post, and six more this week...then it really ramps up until New Years Eve. I have to say I'm really blessed to be fortunate enough to live in Calgary to be able to draw caricatures at so many beautiful corporate events....experiencing meeting interesting professionals and working in the most lavish venues around.....above are just two of many very cool people I get to meet and draw!

Kelly Gannon, caricatures in calgary 

I had to include this caricature of Philidelphia caricature artist, John Sprague...definitely one of the top funny caricature artists out there. I just wanted to see how few lines I would need to get a likeness....I think I accomplished my mission................
Kelly gannon, caricatures

I was brought in to draw couples with their jewelry purchases with world renown jewelry designer, Simon G......to say he was such a terric individule to talk to and be around is an understatement! You can check out Simon's elegant work on his website at     www.simongjewelry.com   I did have caricature samples, but where I drew the guests/clients, there was a certain kind of lighting which made the pictures turn out...well....not great.....

When I finished drawing at a corporate event, I seen this beautiful statue display in the lobby of the venue....this kind of artwork has to HUMBLE any other artist...I know I sure am after looking closely at this work of art.

The Asian community in Calgary is very receptive to having cartoon-caricatures drawn of them, and I really love drawing Asians because of their receptivness in the art form...thanks! This was a great experience to have this celebration going on around me as I drew.

I drew caricatures at an exclusive golf course about 12 gigs ago.......wow....that's exclusive!!

Sometimes when drawing a guest that isn't what we would deem as attractive, I like to think in cartoon mode and rather than ridicule the guest, try to make them more cartoony, because it's not about us...it's about our guests in my chair. It's too easy to mock certain subjects, but tougher to make them look nice, and when accomplished...I actually feel all the better for it.
Kelly Gannon, caricatures

When drawing at an event at The Stampede Grounds, I seen this Christmas display...loved it! I'm not sure if the designers just used a "wrap" on the antique vehicle, or actually used tiny mirror squares (am guessing it was a wrap)....but with the lights reflecting in the mirrors, the display was an eye-catcher...even the rims and front grill were tiny mirrors. I would have loved to work on this kind of project myself.