The first caricature was created by the great Paul Gaunt in return for me designing his website. I asked Paul to play around with the fact that I am a Vikings fan and Katie is a Packers fan. When I first saw the illustration my jaw hit the floor, as he took that concept and created this amazing watercolor scene with tons of detail. You can see he added Vince Lombardi, Ragnar (the Vikings mascot) and if you look closely, you might be able to spot Brett Favre as well.
paulgaunt.com

This illustration was also done in exchange for creating Mike’s website. Katie and I met at the University of Minnesota, so I told Mike to go with that concept. Having her sitting on my arm was a great touch, allowing her to be eye level with me despite the fact that there’s a foot different between us.
mikegiblinstudios.com

Here is the sketch he used for the final piece. Mike is so great at simplifying and capturing facial shapes, it is cool to see this part of the process.

David Wolter and I worked together at Valleyfair one season together, and at 6’10″, he is one of the few caricature artists who I literally look up to. He drew this caricature of me at an ISCA convention a few years ago. The story behind the pose is that I like to draw on the floor, and apparently David found the sight of a 6’8″ guy curled up on the floor drawing quite funny and inspiring. I love this caricature, which was done in colored pencil and actually uses two pieces of paper taped together horizontally.
davidwolter.blogspot.com

This is an older caricature of me (hence the hair) by Chris Rommel. We were both working out at Valleyfair at the time, and the Power Tower ride was the new attraction. Apparently my long, skinny neck was inspiration enough to create this illustration. I believe this was one of his first attempts at painting digitally in Photoshop. Not to shabby.
chrisrommel.com

Last year I drew caricatures at the Lakeville Home Expo at my friend Juston Olson’s booth for his business Vantage Window Cleaning. The caricatures were a hit, in fact there was a huge traffic jam at our location. This was my first time drawing at a trade show, and I am somewhat surprised I don’t get these requests more often. The majority of people I drew were kids, and in the 4-5 minutes it took to draw them, Justin was able to chat with their parents and pitch his business.

I also always put the drawings in plastic bags to prevent smudges and make them easier to carry, and I dropped a couple of my cards as well as cards and a flyer for Vantage into each bag. I am sure this led to business that they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.

Much to my surprise, a photo of me drawing showed up on the cover of the Lakeville paper this March. My wife is the one who spotted it, which is a bit strange since we never read that paper, and it usually goes straight from the driveway into the garbage bin. Something told her to take a look, however, and there I was on the cover. Click on the image for a closer look.

In fact, I’ve gotten to know some of the students and their parents fairly well. This past September marked my fourth year drawing at MSOE, which meant a lot of the seniors who came by to get their caricature drawn had gotten one done each year since they were freshmen. What a great tradition! A mom and her son even brought every drawing they’ve had done, and we took a picture holding each version:

Having a caricature artist at an event like this is also great way for new students to connect. I’ve noticed a lot of times I’ll be drawing someone, and another student or group of students will walk by, notice the drawing, make a comment, and the next thing you know they are discussing majors, classes, teachers and more. So, not only did my subject get a drawing they can hang on their dorm room wall, but they also made some new friends. I’m glad I can help bring people together!