iPad caricature

A caricature drawn on my iPad with ArtStudio App and the Pogo pen, the subject was my carpet fitter who came in earlier this past week to fit my new kitchen flooring!

Let me have your thoughts and feedback and any questions you may have!

Trip Advisor slideshow!

New slideshow of my trip to Sri Lanka, please click on the link below:

Sri Lanka Slideshow


 "TripAdvisor™ TripWow ★ Sri Lanka Elephants Slideshow ★ to Brentwood and Pinnawala by Steve Hearn. Stunning free travel slideshows on TripAdvisor"

Monster?

Using my iPad is great fun and drawing with it using the ArtStudio app is fantastic!

Here is a little green monster I created a few days ago, just for fun and to get into the spirit of Halloween!

Maybe he or it looks too cute? Monster are supposed to be scary right?

Let me have your thoughts and feedback via the comments link below this post!

Have fun!

iPad drawing

I have been experimenting with the iPad and here are a couple of drawings I came up with...

Above is a caricature of my good friend Jan Neggers, from Belgium he is a wonderful artist and a great guy! You may remember him from a recent 'Inside the Shed' show, where he was playing his barrel organ in Mechelen, outside our friends new shop. He made the barrel organ himself as well!

Above is one of my cartoon characters that I enjoy creating! Just for fun and it was interesting to do this on the iPad using the ArtStudio app I have reviewed before.

Please do let me have your thoughts and feedback and if you have any questions, just ask away and I would be very happy to answer them for you. Just post via the comment link blow this post!

Sad news

On Monday afternoon, my Aunt passed away. She suffered a major bleed in her brain just 4 days earlier and was rushed into hospital where we all had hoped she may get through to some kind of recovery but in her 70's, it did not look that positive.

Over the weekend she made no progress and then on Monday, she slipped away from us.

The wife of my Dad's brother, we had all been close and this year would have seen her 59th anniversary with my Uncle.

He is very upset of course.

I did not post yesterday as I did not feel in the mood to sit at the computer. It was a day of reflection and grief adjustment.

I am sure you will understand.

I am feeling more positive now and life will have to go on, being strong for my Dad and Mom and the rest of our family is important.

There is a season for all things but death is never welcomed.

Inside the Shed!

Todays show is all about cars...

Sri Lanka trailer movie

Check out my mobile me gallery to watch the new iMovie 11 trailer I made..

Click on the Movie folder when you..

Click Here

Have fun and enjoy, it may take a few moments to download so please be patient, but once you have it, well it should make you smile..

We interrupt this blog....

Today I have been out with my son for a boy's day out together!

We visited Mercedes World and then the Bluewater Mall where I stopped by the Apple store and got my copy of iLife'11.....

So this weekend I am not working but instead, having some quality time with my family and loading iLife'11 onto my iMac.

The new iMovie looks very cool and I shall be posting more about that real soon!

Until then, have fun and thanks for stopping by!

Me by Nishi

Here I am by the artist Nishanth Thachambalath, from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, we connected on FaceBook and he drew me....

His blog is here Click

I really like what he done!

So I also drew him as a return...

and here is the reference photo I used from his FaceBook page:

Great fun when this happens!

Radio interview

This morning I was interviewed on our local radio station, Gateway FM, for the culture show that goes out on air on a Monday afternoon!

Click here to visit the Gateway stations website and listen live!

The show will go out on MOnday October 25th at around 3pm in the afternoon, I am talking about caricature of course!

So please do stop by the Gateway FM website and enjoy the site and radio, they play great music!

Coming up...

One of the very first things I shall be introducing to ISCA when I am President is a monthly report and update.

Here is the logo for that, this is the very first time it has been seen or announced fully!

Communication is vital for any organisation and it needs to cross all levels so that everyone can stay informed. That makes for a stronger organisation and allows for ideas and goals to be realised.

I am looking forward to posting each month but it is only for ISCA members! If you are interested in ISCA then why not think about joining?

We have different levels of membership from Professional to Student and even an associate membership level that allows people to join if they are interested in what we are doing!

Here is our website www.caricature.org

Mr President!

I am very proud to share with you the news that I shall be taking over the role of President of the International Society of Caricature Artist on November 12th.

The current President, Robert Bauer has served since 2006 and has done a great job as President, he will be a hard act to follow!

The organisation, known as ISCA has over 600 members from all over the world.

It will be an honour to serve them all in this role.

I will share here as my work as President develops and keep you up to speed as to what we shall be doing!

So here's to an exciting year ahead!

Bar Mitzvah

Here is the Bar Mitzvah lad I drew on Inside the Shed last week. You can see that I changed most of the original drawing!

Drawing at a wedding

It is great fun at weddings and so many guest's love the fun and excitement of the caricatures that it makes for a super fun filled evening!

Today I am at a Wedding Fair being held at the Oysterfleet Hotel on Canvey Island in Essex.

I hope to meet lots of couples who are planning their weddings and share with them all the fun of how my services can help them!

I am always humbled by the fantastic reactions of people at weddings, telling me that they really love the drawings! Watching them laugh and enjoying all the fun is wonderful and I have a hint that my work is doing well!

So let me say 'Thank You' to all my past weddings for this year and in recent years, it was great to be a part of your special day and I appreciated that you had me at your wedding!

iPad Wall Street Journal article

JENNIFER VALENTINO-DEVRIES
The rise of mainstream tablet computers is proving to have unforeseen benefits for children with speech and communication problems—and such use has the potential to disrupt a business where specialized devices can cost thousands of dollars.
Before she got an iPad at age two, Caleigh Gray couldn't respond to yes-or-no questions. Now Caleigh, who has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, uses a $190 software application that speaks the words associated with pictures she touches on
"We're not having to fight to prove to people that she is a smart little girl anymore, because it's there once they see her using the iPad," said Caleigh's mother, Holly Gray, who said her daughter can use the tablet to identify colors or ask to go outside.
The software, called Proloquo2Go by a company called AssistiveWare BV, is one of a growing number of apps aimed at people with speech difficulties developed for Apple's gadgets. Some of the apps offer images that users can press to make the sound of a word; others lead students through stories to teach them basic speech patterns.

To read the full article please click here

This is wonderful news on how the iPad is taking us forward!

BBC appearance

Yes in 5 weeks from today I shall be making my appearance on the BBC, drawing two children in 2 minutes for the show: The Slammer!

It airs on the CBBC channel on Friday November 19th at 4.30pm in the afternoon. It is also repeated the next day on the BBC HD channel at the same time.

I am excited about the show as I had a fun time filming with the BBC back in July this year. Everyone at the studio was so nice and it was a pleasure to spend the day with them!

I hope you get the chance to catch the show!

Inside the Shed!

This weeks show where I draw a caricature..

Norsey Woods

Norsey Woods is an ancient woodland area in Billericay, Essex. Billericay is where I was born and grew up, not too far from Norsey Woods and I used to go over to the woods when I was a boy.

Yesterday my wife and I visited Norsey Woods and I took these photographs with my digital SLR Nikon D80 camera, the photo's are as I shot them, there is no adjustment or editing, they are just as I captured the scene's on the afternoon we were there:

Click here for information about Norsey Woods, they are well worth a visit if your ever in the area!

Photography

Here are some photo's that I shot yesterday as the sun was setting. The place is Dunton on the hill where the old plotlands used to be and I was looking West over into London from where I was situated:

The photo's have not been edited or altered in any way, they are just as I took them and I wanted to use the shoot as a way to experiment and learn more for myself about taking photo's. Please click on the pictures to view them full size. I hope you like them!

Below is the fields in Dunton where people walk their dogs, this was taken just after 5pm:

Below is a park bench that I liked. It is made of plastic but has a real wood feel to it:

Below is a shot of the QEII Bridge that connects the counties of Essex and Kent over the River Thames:

And finally as I was walking home, I saw this in the sky and thought it was an interesting shot as it looks like the two airplanes may be on a collision course to disaster!

Caricature at a Wedding

On October 1st I had the pleasure to draw and entertain at Katherine & Colin's wedding, held at the Reid Rooms.

The photographer there was Nigel Bowen and I have worked with Nigel before at other weddings, he is a really nice guy and a great photographer!

Nigel caught many photo's of yours truly in action and below are those shots, you can see more of Nigel's work on his website by clicking here

This couple above, were great fun and their reaction was awesome!

Early on in the evening, before the disco really got going, I had a crowd enjoying all the fun with people waiting their turn to be drawn. It is great that so many guests wanted their caricature drawn!

The wedding couple themselves take their turn and I add a little something extra as they are regular campers and out doors people, so I have them in a duck pond with some tents in the background...

It worked and them are very happy with their caricature!

Many thanks go to Nigel for the photographs and big thanks

 to Katherine and Colin for having me at their wonderful wedding!

Fiji

Although it may sound a long way off, 2012 is not only the year of the Olympics here in London, it is also the year that both my wife and celebrate our 50th birthdays!

So we have decided to push the boat out and treat ourselves to an extra special holiday to Fiji

Forward planning is important as I have to scratch out the dates in my diary way in advance. This is because my work is focused on entertaining at weddings and couples book me up to 2 years in advance!

So now is the time for us to plan and get ready for our 2012 travel plans! So Fiji it is for us both and to celebrate a big year for us in style!

We are going to be booking the holiday through Virgin Holidays and here is some information about Fiji, taken from their website:

Down in the tropics of the South Pacific, the archipelago that makes up Fiji offers a thousand miles of pristine white sand beaches, fabulous coral gardens and azure lagoons.

It looks beautiful and we can't wait to be out there!

Wedding caricature couple

From a wedding this past week where this fun couple took the caricature in their stride and we all had a lot of fun!

The funny thing is that they have very interesting faces too draw but at a wedding I only have a few minutes to produce the caricature, as the other guests are waiting in line for their caricatures and I want to  get as many people drawn as possible.

They have faces that I wish I had more time to play around with and caricature, stretch and have fun with!

Trying to always improve my caricature skills is something I yearn to do every single time I am drawing. To get batter and keep the high speed going is my continued goal!

Caricatures from this week

A corporate event I was drawing at this week for Accenture:

It was a great venue and fun evening:

The caricatures were popular:

I enjoy these type of gigs and it is great to add something extra to such an evening!

Caricature of men

Completed the other day, inside the shed for this client as a special request:

 Above are the victims....

And here is their caricature.....

Please click on the image to view full size:

Wedding Venue?

Here is one that you most certainly do not want to hire out...

Click on the image to view full size.

This was taken just a matter of weeks ago at a venue that has had some problems this year! They used the marquee you see here, for weddings but this year it has not been used or maintained and has been left to go into ruin as you can see from the photo.

The venue is an old manor house which is fine and looks great, it is used for weddings still but the marquee needs some serious attention and to be honest, looks awful, as you have to drive past it to get to the car park!

Face cartoon

Here is a face that I drew a week or so back, just wanted you to look at the simple lines and 'clean' feel to it that is achieved by just using black lines:

I hope you will notice that the lines are nearly all curved in their shapes that they make to create the complete face. Curves work so well when drawing the face!

Youtube Belgium!!

Wedding caricatures

A quick picture from a wedding this weekend...

Mechelen in Belgium

We visited Jan Op De Beecks new caricature shop that he has opened and runs with his wife, Emi and their beautiful daughter, Sakura.

Here are the photo's from the event:

While we were there we had dinner and a few bottles of beer, not to much though as the Belgium beer is VERY strong!