Calgary Party Caricatures

A caricature I drew last week at an event held in Calgary for a die-hard Flames fan! I must admit, though I don't watch organized sports, I do admire their passion and they don't "cheap out" when it comes to seeing their favorite teams or buying their merchandise. My Daughter Cara worked outside The Saddledome for a Flames game doing Temporary Airbrush Tattoos for the fans. A couple samples from that game are below. If you would like to contact Cara concerning airbrush tattoos.....    caralgannon@gmail.com
She always does a terrific job for her guests!

Stampede's Over

As my cartoon cowboy above portrays......Stampede is officially over!! Yee-haw....See you next year!

Calgary Stampede Caricatures

Well The Calgary Stampede is over for another year. And a busy one it was, trying to get through rush hour traffic to get to the next event on time ( someone had the brainy idea to start ripping up major roads RIGHT before Stampede Week), obscene parking prices...and of course...fast food. I finally got to the gym tonight for the first time in a few weeks and I'm already sore...:) My job drawing caricatures here in Calgary is so sedentary. But throughout Stampede Week I met some wonderful guests though, and had a terrific time drawing them.. Supposedly 1.2 million people went through the gates at The Stampede Grounds...okay...

Calgary Temporary Airbrush Tattoos

Quite often when I draw caricatures at events here in Calgary, I get the wonderful opportunity to work with a temporary airbrush tattoo artist Cara Gannon....my Daughter! She always does a wonderful job and is taking the temp tats to another level. Temporary airbrush tattoos are fast and appeal to both children and adults such as the samples she did above. To contact Cara concerning airbrush tattoos, simply email her at...  caralgannon@gmail.com

Calgary Stampede Caricatures

The Calgary Stampede! This event was held right down at the Stampede grounds whereas all the others were situated around the city ( which I like much more....the grounds are...well...difficult....). Lately because of line-ups I just never get a chance to take pictures anymore, most never turn out anyway!  :) So far including Canada Day celebrations, I've had caricature events starting at about 7:00am to 11:00am. I'm never awake enough to point a camera straight and take a good quality picture...and most of this week will see me wake up at about 5:00am.......by the end of the week I closely resemble the mugshot of Nick Nolte.....:)

Stampede Caricatures

The Calgary Stampede is now in full swing! This was the first of many events I'll cover over the next ten days while drawing caricatures here in Calgary, and what a lovely group of ladies to draw!  Yes...when it comes to drawing caricatures at corporate events, I have to say, ( sorry guys)...but the ladies rule! Thanks again Nadia!
Kelly Gannon caricatures

Just a few caricatures from a small party I drew at a few days ago for Jazzberry Entertainment.  Besides corporate events to draw caricatures at, birthday and retirement parties are relaxed events for me to draw at. Tomorrow will have me drawing caricatures in Strathmore for most of the day for Canada Day celebrations.

Calgary Party Caricatures

I thought I would post some of this weekends' caricatures drawn here in Calgary. I had a lady email me asking if I only draw kids, she wanted to know if I could draw couples....the answer...yes...:) Sometimes either with bad lighting, or just too busy, I don't always get a chance to take pictures when I'm at event. ( I drew at an event today and seen my camera sitting there...then looked at people standing in line waiting patiently and thought...naw...next time...not today....\
Above are a couple fantastic guests I had the pleasure to draw!

Party Caricaturist

Out of four caricature parties held here in Calgary this weekend, two had me drawing couples for five hour shifts. Two were also held at what we would refer to as theme parks, Heritage Park and Calaway Park.Some delightful guests that I enjoyed drawing are pictured above, their bubbly personalities really help me bring out the likenesses.

Kids Party Caricatures

This weekend had me drawing two kids' caricature events here in Calgary, When I started drawing "live/party" caricatures 13 years ago, I decided I was just going to draw at "adults or big kids" events, but as the years went by, I started drawing as many kids parties as any other.... with a little more practice drawing the young face, I started to really enjoy it. Now it's half my caricature business and I'm glad for that! I can honestly say I look forward to large events where I have to get through as many caricatures as I can because of a long line-up...seems I work better that way...

Party Caricatures in Calgary

Last week had me drawing cartoon-style caricatures at a beach house in Calgary as a grand opening event. Caricatures are always a hit at a grand opening, of course after the food! It started raining as I was drawing and the one drawback about the Copic markers are that just one drop will ruin a drawing, seems it's impossible to find the perfect pen to draw caricatures.

Party Caricatures in Calgary

Tradeshow Caricatures

The better part of last week had me down at The Stampede Grounds drawing caricatures in Calgary at The Global Petroleum Show. The name says it all....it's like Disneyland for the oil industry, which is Alberta's lifeblood. I love drawing at these type of events as I can take about five minutes to draw the guest..and...they were a wonderful group of people to chit-chat with also!

Gerry Brown

I was lucky enough a couple weeks ago to attend two drum clinics in a week. A music store brings in famous drummers for a personal, up close drum lesson/chat. One of my favorites whom I had the chance to see before was Gerry Brown. If you're over 40 years old, you'll remember all those 80's/90'S hits that Lionel Ritchie came out with, that was Gerry Brown on the drums. Before that he toured with Stevie Wonder for fifteen years...THAT would get your chops together. He's been touring with Diana Ross for the last fourteen years. The compelling fact is that those three artists alone have probably been heard by over a hundred million people. Gerry combined a great personality, humour and of course, superior drumming skills to wow his transfixed audience.

I love going to drum clinics! A name brand drum/cymbal manufacturer will send out name drummers (or drummers that play with famous bands/singers). This particular clinic is the current drummer for The Oakridge Boys. ( ala the song "Elvira"), David Northup.Good drummer....though sensitive when asked about touring groups using backing tracks....he might want to get over it......

New Printer...yeah!

I figure if I'm going to make a rant...hey...draw a cartoon guy! I've had my new Epson printer for a month now and can't say enough how much I like this better than my HP! In my opinion, the HP is FAR below the Epson in ALL areas....and it's not just coming from my experience, a few salesmen and a commercial printer service tech told me the same thing...soooo....when you're looking for your next printer/scanner, I would go with the Epson!

Kids Caricatures

This is what makes my job drawing caricatures so special......the picture says it all!
Jazzberry Entertainment

Kids Caricatures

Last week fellow entertainer and character actor extraordinaire Greg Travnicek and myself drew at a fantastic organization here in Calgary titled, Between Friends..... http://betweenfriends.ab.ca/
This organization focuses on help for the developmentally challenged kids and adults. I really enjoy drawing for these kids as they were just...well...sweet!

As you can see by the ad design above, the theme was the Mad Hatter Tea Party.....Greg nailed that one!

I just love drawing guests from the Middle East such as the one I did yesterday while drawing in a showhome for five hours yesterday. Their features are perfect for the caricature artist, ( and I say this in a friendly way), with the dark hair and eyebrows it makes the drawing "pop." The nose shapes and very large eyes are two great features for the caricature artist as well. Thanks to this lovely family that dropped by yesterday to get their drawing done!

Calgary Party Caricatures

At this caricature gig last week, I just had to dig around in my case and yes....I found a red Prisma-stick....this lovely gal just wouldn't look right without the red hair....

Sugar Skull Caricatures

I never did get a chance to show some of the caricatures I drew at the Comic Con....Sugar Skull Caricatures. As far as I know, no one has ever applied sugar skull design to caricatures before. I can't say it was a huge success...because it certainly wasn't...:) but I enjoyed creating, then drawing these more than the "regular" caricatures. The white of the paper with the simple designs drawn with a small marker and a watercolor ink all seemed to fit together perfectly. But alas..... I guess the style just wasn't meant to be.......

Petsecure caricatures at the Calgary Pet Expo

I actually stumbled across this youtube video of myself while looking for something else....wow...didn't realize I draw that fast! :)

Bar/Bat Mitzvah Caricatures

Bar and Bat Mitzvah's are another avenue party caricaturists explore. Though I don't do a lot of them, I have done around a dozen or so. As with the case of the one I drew at last week, again, speed and likenesses are the key elements in working at these. Because of the amount of children that attend these, there isn't a lot of time to draw in full body and gag situations.