Clown-icature

 ... and a Shmoo-icature, too!

Here's a caricature, that I drew recently, of a local clown and his puppet side-kick. The finished design was printed on T-shirts, posters, mugs, and the side of his tiny clown-car.  I thought it was pretty cool that he named his puppet after a character made famous by one of my favorite cartoonists.

Caricature artists all know the drill, we hear it at every gig: "Hey, don't draw my double chin!" or "Make me look 10 pounds lighter." or "Make sure you leave out the wrinkles."  So I was expecting the usual comments with this assignment, and had prepared myself for feedback like:  "Hey, does my rubber nose really look that rubbery?" or "What the #!@%?  You made my tiny hat too tiny!", but Kona was totally happy with all of it... at least he looked happy. It probably was a good thing I didn't have to draw his giant, goofy-looking feet... that might have been an altogether different story, and may have put me on the receiving end of a swift kick from those giant, goofy-looking feet. The Shmoo, on the other hand, complained incessantly that his tiny hat was wa-a-a-y too tiny... it appeared to be a classic case of tiny-hat envy.

Note to my illustrator colleagues out there – If you ever schedule a meeting with a client, who also  happens to be a clown, make sure you offer to do any driving... my back is still recovering from having to squeeze into that $@#!&  tiny clown-car of his!

© 2012 Barry/Right-Hemisphere Laboratory