Wedding caricaturing is a very particular craft. I would have to say that drawing the caricature is only half of the skill involved. The other 50% includes conversation skills, tact, stamina, adaptability and above all, PATIENCE! Once a subject has ben chosen or asked you to draw them, the wedding caricaturist has to deal with the possibility of nervous fidgeting, eating and drinking, looking around and of course, inebriation!
Come to my blog to keep reading about one particular couple who I caricatured at a Birmingham Wedding and who really liked their drawing….
People are of course entitled to be apprehensive or nervous, having oneself caricatured live isn’t something that people are used to happening, and I do have to look at your face quite intensely for 5 minutes.
After a bit of a chat however(one of my favourite parts of the job) people warm up a bit and forget that I’m drawing them until I turn the caricature around with a flourish and suprise them.
The couple I drew at a wedding in Birmingham in 2019 were an example of great caricature sitters, very still but full of character! Don’t get me wrong, when someone is moving a lot I can still make the caricature work,
it just tends to end up looking more impressionistic, lets say! Have a look below to see photos of the couple enjoying their caricature, me posing with them and the caricature in closeup.
I started chatting and drawing and after about 10 minutes I showed the couple their caricature. As you can see from the photo they were impressed! This is usually such a lovely moment for me as a caricaturist because it’s a moment of pure joy and laughter. It’s what makes my trips all over the UK for weddings worthwhile.
A major way that I get more business as you might expect is word of mouth and people booking me who have seen me at previous events. Well that’s exactly what happened with this couple, after being impressed with the caricature I drew of them at their friend’s wedding, they went ahead and booked me for their wedding next year!
The next year in question of course just happened to be that sweaty, netflixy, pizza-stained year we call 2020, so their wedding was very sadly called off!
Their wedding wasn’t the only one. from March 2020 onwards I had countless weddings and other events postponed, pushed back, and cancelled.
I felt so bad for these poor couples who had put so much planning, love and money into their special days, only to have their events moved again and again. In one case I had a couple re-book with me FOUR times!
Let’s hope they don’t have to again.
In better news for caricaturists, magicians, musicians and all other wedding entertainers this year, it looks like the lockdown restrictions for the UK will be no more as of June 21st.
As a caricaturist I’ve become accustomed and desensitised to event cancellation now, so I and many others are looking forward to a day we can be on more solid ground and rely on our craft again.
In the meantime denizens of Birmingham, the UK and beyond, watch this space, Pen Jones the caricaturist will be popping up at an event near you.
Hell, I’ll caricature at the opening of an ALDI, I just wanna get back to where I belong, making people happy with my drawings.
I want to say a massive THANKYOU to Sandra Starke again for the perfect photos of me caricaturing at this wedding from 2019. I don’t have a lot of photos of me doing my thing, so these photos have helped me immensely!
Check out her work at https://www.sandrastarkephotography.com/about/ .
Make sure to like, subscribe, save, share, whatever, it all helps!
Visit https://penjones.co.uk/
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