caricatures Archives - Kelci D Crawford

November 30, 2017

Genghis Con 2017

Genghis Con happened last Sunday, November 26th in Lakewood, a suburb of Cleveland.

This was actually my first time in Cleveland, and I had no idea that the city was so FREAKING HUGE.

Genghis Con happened in a building that was once a former warehouse – as such, the elevator the exhibitors used was a cargo elevator.

At least attendees could take the stairs if they were able. I didn’t see a people elevator when I was there.

Anyway! I originally requested only a half table, and I was set to be seated next to my buddy Carlos Rivera, who runs Youngstown Indie Creator Expo (he was going to promote Yo-ICE at Genghis Con). However, he had to cancel at the last minute because of bronchitis. Carlos, if you’re reading this, for the love of Pete, take it easy and take care of yourself.

So yeah, I ended up having a full table.

genghis con 2017 artist alley table

I have this layout down to a SCIENCE.

I would like to tweak the table layout again, though: there are so many small things that it takes a long-ass time to set up, AND a long-ass time to break down everything.

That’s partially why I have a sale going on Storenvy. More on that in a minute.

In terms of sales (and trades – I’m always up for trading books with peeps), the show went well! It wasn’t as successful as the YWCA Mini-Con, but it was more of a success than RathaCon. Still, people got to discover my work and sign up for the email newsletter. Plus I got some cool stuff.

To top it all off, I came across my old caricature buddy, Clarence, from my days drawing caricatures at Cedar Point back in 2012. He invited me over to another caricature buddy’s house for Burger Fest – an annual-ish tradition where caricature buddies get together and eat burgers.

To which I was like “HECK YEAH.”

There’s something to be said about saying “Yes,” to the right things. Don’t say yes to everything (otherwise you’d have some weird experiences, if Yes Man is any indication). It also helps to know what your focus, or as Neil Gaiman put it once, “your mountain,” is. Anything that pulls you away from your mountain does not deserve a Yes.

To me, being in one place with people I hadn’t seen in years just after a good indie comic convention was a good reason to say Yes.

Thank you for reading.

You. Are. Awesome.

P.S. Yes, I’m running a sale on Storenvy – from now until December 18th, you can check out the new Clearance section, where things like mini-prints, mini-comics, and posters are anywhere between 20-50% off. Once these are gone, they’re GONE. So be sure to get them before December 18th.

July 26, 2014

The Toledo Art Walk and How It Went

So on Thursday (July 24), I went to the Toledo Art Walk thanks to an invite from Packo’s at the Park and my friend Chloe. Packo’s wanted some caricature artists to help promote their restaurant and be a part of the Art Walk this month, and I was happy to do so because…

I like to draw,
My friend Chloe is awesome, and
I drew caricatures at Cedar Point for 3 summers and knew what I was doing.

The day of the set up, we got there early and stopped at The Art Supply Depo.

Another shot of inside the Art Depo. They had artwork from local artists on display as well.

The Art Supply Depo is an awesome store situated on South St. Clair street right behind Packo’s in downtown Toledo. They let Chloe borrow an easel for the night to draw caricatures on, and they had just the right markers and board that I needed to draw with.

The nice thing was Packo’s advertised for us in the Art Walk map, so that helped a lot in getting our name out there.

The front of the map. These were available at The Art Supply Depo and other sponsoring shop fronts.

Once Chloe and I got everything we needed, we set up our tables by Packo’s.

Chloe's table sat next to me. — Chloe’s table sat next to me.

I didn’t bring any Validation or Johnson & Sir books with me. But I did bring Prologues, IF-X, and a bunch of smaller things like bookmarks and stickers. I also had a book of prints.

Close up on my comics, bookmarks, and stickers. I also had some copies of Mr. Dino and Friends and Ghost to give away for freebies. — I also had some copies of Mr. Dino and Friends and Ghost to give away for freebies.

I had to keep the stickers in the sorter because it got breezy.

These bookmarks will be listed for sale online soon!

The Book of Prints. There were also a selection of $1 prints in the back.

Here’s Chloe’s table:

This was before I remembered that my book of prints had a few of her works in it.

Close up on her prints, for RWBY, Wreck-It Ralph, and Sailor Moon.

Our friend Alex also set up just down the sidewalk from us, selling some of her work. I meant to get pictures but by the time we got done setting up people were approaching us for caricatures left and right.

I managed to catch a few pictures before the customers left!

Their friends were teasing them the whole time. It was kind of adorable.

While I didn’t sell a whole lot of bookmarks or prints, I did get a lot of tips for working on caricatures, which is awesome!

Once 9 o’clock hit, we finished up drawing our last customers, and then we packed up.

This cart was the best gift I have ever received. Also, I'm a pro at condensing all the things into small packages. — This cart was the best gift I have ever received. Also, I’m a pro at condensing all the things into small packages.

And then Chloe, Alex and I went to The Durty Bird right around the corner for burgers and drinks to celebrate!

Inside The Durty Bird. Their burgers are delicious.

Of course I had to send the appropriate thank-you notes to folks, because I had a great time and the event went really well! I’m planning on going again when the next one happens August 28th. Hopefully then I’ll have more books (if people are interested!).

I intend on getting more involved in caricatures and doing them at art festivals and parties. But since comics and caricatures are both separate kinds of art forms, I’m making a separate blog specifically for caricatures.

It’s called “Caricature’d!” and you can find it here.

I’ll be adding more to it over the next couple of days, so keep checking back to it.

Here on this site I want to keep the conversation about comics, appearances I’ll be making, and the process of making comics (among other comic-related things).

Speaking of which, I’ll be making more of them soon…

Thanks for reading! I’ll see you on Wednesday.

February 23, 2014

Vlogs, Caricatures, and Comics

So you might have noticed I haven’t been posting vlogs for the past two weeks.

Part of this is: the footage I’ve got doesn’t interest me, and if it doesn’t interest me, you would probably like it even less so. The other part is: nothing of value is really being talked about, and I want to change that.

I was thinking of vlogging more about comics and art books, but I want to know what you think. What should I do with the vlog series?

Talk about comics? Answer questions from readers of Validation and Johnson & Sir? Show how I make comics? Or something else entirely?

On the topic of making things, this weekend I spent some energy getting a caricatures portfolio together. Here are some of them I got finished:

Caricature2014_1web — This guy did a TED Talk, but I missed his name. He talks about learning new skills with 20 hours of practice.

Caricatures2014_2web — Brad Pitt playing Lt. Aldo Raine in Inglorious Basterds.

Caricatures2014_3web — Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Caricatures2014_6web — …and some woman I spotted in a shopping catalog. I wanted to exaggerate her hair because it was ridiculous.

I haven’t drawn caricatures in about a year, so they’re not the best ones I’ve ever made. I’m also hoping to beat my personal record of drawing a black and white caricature in under 1 minute 30 seconds. The only way to do that is PRACTICE.

“Why are you making caricatures?” You’re asking, no doubt.

Because 1) I miss doing them, and 2) I want to get more gigs drawing caricatures at parties and conventions so I’m not so reliant on one stream of money coming in.

There’s nothing wrong with making comics for a living.

As a matter of fact, I’m psyched and so ridiculously lucky to be able to make money drawing comics.

Like Validation, which is still going strong. We even picked a winner of our Facebook giveaway and I gave stickers and a signed print! And you still like what we do, which is just icing on the absolutely delicious cake of luck.

While I’m on the topic of comics, The Legend of Jamie Roberts is going pretty well! The plan got pushed back a bit more, though: I’ll begin making pages in March, but launch won’t happen until late March or the beginning of April.

The Legend of Jamie Roberts is being pushed again (not by much, though) because I still need to finish up the scripts. I’m halfway through the story, if not more. And I want to make sure that I know where the story is going before I start making pages.

That, and I’m redesigning their costumes.

JamieRobertsNewCostume — This is my favorite design so far, but I think I’ll change it again. The idea is she’ll be adding more to her costume as she travels through Corith.

Even though the sketch is black and white, the plan is to make the comic in color. I’ll be sharing colored sketches more as I work on the story.

That’s all for now, so back to the drawing board for me!

P.S. Have you heard of Patreon? It’s a voluntary subscription service to support creators. I’m thinking of getting an account on there. What do you think?

February 16, 2014

Illustrations and Commission Announcements

Today I knuckled down and started a four-page anthology submission. I even shared it on Facebook and Twitter, but I’ll share it here, too. Sorry for the crap quality, but I took the picture with my phone:

It’s called The Story of Queen Padmini and it’s based on true events, detailed in my favorite book at the moment, Women Warriors: A History.

Speaking of Women Warriors, I’m planning on making a new series of illustrations. Keep your eye on my Tumblr for updates, because that’s where the series will make their first appearance!

On the vlogging front, you might have noticed there was no update this week. Sorry!

My mind has been on getting new gigs lately, to add to what I have going at the moment. I’ll be opening up for commissions within the next few days, so keep checking in.

And speaking of gigs and commissions, I drew caricatures for three years. I think I might get back into that for a bit…

As much as I love making comics, I also really miss interacting with customers when drawing caricatures. That was always the fun part of any day.

Anyway, I’ll be updating this blog a lot more often now. I’m aiming to update every day, so keep checking back for news and sketches (and other awesome things!).