Drawing Live at Corporate Holiday Parties

I love drawing live at events. The digital caricatures are so much fun and people are so amazed with how I use the technology. I still like to draw traditional (pen on paper) caricatures but digital is so much fun.

One of the best parts is the interaction between myself and the person(s) being drawn. Sometimes it is difficult due to noise. I ask to be set up away from loud music and speakers but sometimes this is not doable for the client due to limited space so I make due as best I can. Most of the time people let me decide what do draw them doing and I will ask some questions to get an idea of what they may be interested in. If that doesn't work, I go for random. Usually works.

I print the drawings out on letter size high gloss photo paper. This really makes the colours jump out at you. When I show people the finished product on my cintiq tablet (google cintiqHD22) it looks awesome and they get excited but when the finished drawing is printed out and they can hold it in their hands, they seem to get more excited. I also protect the drawings in clear envelopes with a cardboard backing to allow people to show off the drawing and not having to worry about spilling something on them.

My setup is the following. I draw on a 22 inch Cintiq art tablet, powered by a small PC running windows 7. I display the drawings, as they are being done, on a 32 inch flat screen for the crowd to see. Both the screen and the tablet are set up on portrait mode (sideways) so I can use more of the "real estate" on the tablet for drawing. This setup also takes up less space. I use a higher end HP inkjet printer.

The software I run is called Sketchbookpro and it is a Autodesk program. I would recommend this software as it is easy to learn and works... well awesome is about all I can say without getting too technical.

People are sometimes surprised that I don't use an apple computer to run the tablet. Most people associate apple computers with artists and design. I do use an apple computer (mac-mini) as my back up, along with a smaller version of my cintiq tablet (cintiq 12ux). I take this back up system along with me to all events just in case something goes wrong with my main equipment (knock on wood).

Now that the holiday season is over different types of gigs come up. I have a bunch of weddings and dry grads already booked in 2015. Also have some corporate gigs such as conferences and trade shows.

If you are interested in hiring me, please visit my CARICATOONS WEBSITE. While you are there, click on live events, check out my digital or traditional caricatures for more examples. Most of the questions I get can be answered on my FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS PAGE.

Thanks for checking this out. If you are into social media you can find me on twitter and instagram as @daryltheartist or check out my CARICATOONS FACEBOOK PAGE. You can also e-mail me at theartist@caricatoons.ca

I'll end this blog post with a few more of the live drawings I have done this past holiday season.