On the spot: At Rustica Kollection

Gift caricatures are such a wonderful and personal present to offer a close friend, that special someone in your life or as a gesture of gratitude and respect to a colleague. Its all about fun.

Typically it takes about a week to compile the research, gather resource material for the illustrative parts and of course capture the essence of the subject or subjects.

On the spot caricatures are a little different. These are essentially "gesture drawings" and performed live with the subject sitting in front of me - I'm also engaged in a brief conversation with them (where I mine for details about that person) the more I know about him or her allows me to develop the environment around the caricature. The finished drawing is now even more unique and personal to that person.

Below is a video that my good friend Bill Haines of Black Shamrock Media made for me while I was working the Rustica Kollection Grand Opening. It absolutely illustrates the process perfectly. If you have questions or are interested in hiring a caricature artist for your next special event, birthday party, wedding or anniversary drop me an e-mail or call me at (559) 930-4411. ~SWP

Steps in the process: Caricature

Here are some of the preliminary steps that I use to complete a caricature.

This one for Baseball 2011 is near completion -- make sure to pick up The Fresno Bee

to check out the finished product. It publishes next week. ~SWParra

Baseball 2011

A treat for my readers. Between assignments I have been working on a caricature as the visual element for the launch of the 2011-12 Baseball Season that will be featured in The Fresno Bee's Sports section next week.

So, my plan is to periodically post throughout the day to share with you the process it takes me to develop the caricature. If you can guess early on who the subject is let me know and I will let you know if your guess is at all close - be aware that it is a developing process and changes and edits are the norm. Good Luck! ~SWParra

Wine 101

Now here's a fun caricature of Pablo, an expert on wine who teaches a Wine Appreciation Class in Fresno. This work was commissioned as a jacket for his booklet that people can pick up when they enroll in the class. Here's a link to find out more about the wine class .

Pablo is also one of the proprietors of Rustica Kollection, a trendsetting outlet of fashionable gifts, crafts, clothing, jewelry and natural gourmet products. You can contact the shop by calling (559) 283-3544 for information about hours.

Also, Rustica Kollection will be celebrating their Grand Opening on Saturday, March 26 after 7 p.m. ~ I will be there drawing caricatures "on-the-spot" around 8pm. ~SWParra

...Those Longhorns

Recently completed birthday caricature for this young man out of Austin, Texas who turned 37 at the end of February. His nickname is "TXMX" an avid fan of Longhorns Football plus he's a celebrated tailgater. This work was commissioned by his sister. Ahhh, don't you just love family!

So, if you are interested in giving a special gift such as a caricature to your dear one contact me I'd love to hear from you. ~SWP

swparra@aol.com

Sounds Like News

One of the talented news editors of the day who orchestrated some key coverage of local and regional news events - The Bee bid farewell this month to one of its senior editors, Jack Robinson.

Not only an avid fan of the symphony - Mr. Robinson was a gifted musician who played the french horn.

This caricature was offered as a gift in parting.

~SWP

Meet over dead bodies

For Valentines Day

I had the wonderful opportunity to create this "couples caricature" of Darrell and Zoua - he a photo-journalist and she a news reporter for a local TV station - they met each other "on the scene" while covering breaking news.

This custom caricature was commissioned by Darrell as a surprise gift for his wife Zoua. According to Darrell it was a hit - wife, kids and even gramma enjoyed it.

This was fun for me too, I love being a caricature artist! ~SWP