ISCA Wiki - User contributions [en]

Adam English Interview

2020-06-24T16:00:26Z

MelissaAlmariei:

Getting In Tune

with ''Sketched Out''

by Debbie “debbo” Bumeister

What happens when a caricature artist who also writes and performs his own music combines the best of both of his passions? I guess it could be caricatures about music, but in Adam English’s case it was a CD of songs about drawing caricatures. These songs combine the feelings of dealing with caricature customers in a retail environment with some catchy music and lyrics.
Adam was kind enough to answer a few questions over Skype to help enlighten us on how his first caricature song CD came to be and share his thoughts on caricature and what his musical plans are for the future.

'''Debbo: I know you are in a band called Ookla the Mok, and I know you also do caricatures. So which came first, caricatures or music?'''

'''Adam:''' I started doing caricatures in 1987. I was 17 years old, and I started working for Kaman’s out at Darien Lake theme park. At that time they did not have a caricature concession, so I was their first artist. I had actually started training for portraits, which was what they had out there at the time. I met Rich Kaman on my second or third day of training. He asked how I liked it. I had just had my caricature done on a family vacation the year before, and I thought it was cool, so I said what I really wanted to do was caricatures. He had just opened not that long before, with Dino Casterline and Fred Harper, the caricature concessions at Cedar Point and Geauga Lake (theme Parks) in Ohio for Kaman’s. They wanted to open more caricature concessions. They didn’t have anyone to train me, so my mother bought me “How to Draw Caricatures” by Lenn Redman. Although that is a great book, I would not recommend it as the way to learn to draw caricatures. It took me a few years to actually get competent at it. So that is how I started drawing caricatures.

I actually started doing comedy music in about 1992, with my song-writing partner Rand Bellavia, who is my best friend and song- writing partner still to this day. We, as the “filk” rock band Ookla the Mok, perform at science fiction and comic book conventions all over the world. We’ve got six studio albums out as that.

I started doing the songs about caricatures much later. I had been performing at science fiction conventions, and we were writing comedy music about superheroes and Star Trek and so forth, and I thought, “Where can I find even a smaller audience than that?” And that is how I started writing the caricature songs. Actually, the first couple of songs I wrote were for the Kaman’s Managers conference in who knows what year, maybe 2000. Each park had to do a five-minute presentation on some aspect of the business, and they were really unspecific as to what they were looking for, so I wrote two songs. The first two songs I wrote were “Don’t Blame Me” and “I’m Gonna Draw Ya,” kind of the most obvious of the caricatures songs, I guess you might say, and I performed those at the Managers Conference that year, and people were very appreciative. And it gave me a lot of encouragement to continue writing caricature songs.

'''Debbo: Everybody always asks, “So did you go to school for this?” So … Did you go to school for drawing or did you go to school for music? [Or both?]'''

'''Adam:''' Ironically, I was an English literature major — don’t know what I was thinking — a $60K piece of toilet paper hanging on my wall. If I had known — when I started doing caricatures for a living, being a professional caricature artist — that wasn’t a thing. I had been doing this for seven years as a summer job, before it ever occurred to me, you know, I kept waiting to figure out what I was going to do when I grew up, and one day I thought, “Hey, maybe this is it!” Maybe I could figure a way to do this as a living, and I did not know one other person who did just this as a living. I know a lot of Kaman’s Art Shoppes people that did it seasonally, but they were all in the off-season trying to find a real job. So it was many years before, you know these kids now, they don’t know how good they got it. They’ve got the Internet, so in the first place, training, I mean, my God , you can hop online and look at thousands of amazing caricatures by hundreds of amazing caricature artists. And I had one book. And if you wanted another book, you had to go to the bookstore and like ask them if they had ever heard of another one. And maybe they could order it for you so you could buy it. There wasn’t a way of looking that kind of stuff up. Every time I found a book about caricatures, I would try to buy it. But before the Internet, that was a lot more difficult.

'''Debbo: So like most of us, you weren’t planning on doing caricatures full time. So you mentioned English. Did this kind of tie into your song writing?'''

'''Adam:''' Well, yeah, you know, I was going to be a writer. That was always my ambition. Songwriter is what I turned out to be. I’ve been doing caricatures for so many years that a lot of these younger artists that see my sketch say, oh, uh. They thought it would be better, I guess, because I am not as good as lot of guys these days, you know, it’s true — you can’t wave your arms without hitting 25 amazing caricature artists, and I don’t count myself among them. Although I didn’t end up making my primary living at it, the thing that I always felt I did well was write songs. I enjoy drawing caricatures a lot, and I enjoy writing songs a lot, and I wouldn’t want to give either of them up. People often ask me which one I enjoy more: I wouldn’t want to live without either of them.

'''Debbo: Which one of them takes up more of your time, or are they evenly split half and half?'''

'''Adam:''' Caricatures is what puts bread on my table. So for sure that is more of my time. Music has always been my HOBBY, and that’s not to say I haven’t made a little money at it. My claims to fame, musically speaking, include in 2002, we sold a song to Disney. It was the theme song for a Saturday morning cartoon called (Disney’s) Fillmore! That was an amazing, awesome, really cool cartoon that was on ABC from 2002 to 2004. That was an amazing experience. We got a call one day from Scott M. Gimple, and at the time he was the producer of a very hip Disney show that was in development. The interesting thing about Scott Gimple is he is now the show runner for The Walking Dead, so he did really well for himself. But at that time, we knew who he was because my songwriting partner Rand has an eidetic memory. He is a librarian and remembers everything he has ever heard in his entire life. At that time, we
were still at a point where when someone
ordered one of our CDs online, we
would put it in a box and write their name
on a label. Rand had recognized Scott’s
name because he was the editor of The
Simpsons Episode Guides. That is the kind
of memory he has. So one day we got an
order for all of our CDs from this guy, and
we sent them to him and we noticed he
was in “the industry,” as we say. The next
thing you know, we get a call from him
and one of the executive producers over
at Disney, and they were interested in
buying the song. It was a long process, but
that is what happened, and we got to go
to LA and schmooze with the Illuminati,
and it was just a super cool experience I
will never forget.

'''Debbo: So in “Sketched Out,” there are (quite a few ) songs that are very passionate about customers and the rigmarole that all caricature artists go through. So I know you were probably influenced by your job, but were some of these written on the spot or did you come home one day and were like “I just like I had to get this out. I have to get his on paper”?'''

'''Adam:''' The two songs, there really are
only two in the ilk of which you are talking,
“Ocean of Idiots” and “The Day I Killed
All the Customers.” Those songs were
written back to back one year for the Kaman’s
Art Shoppes Managers conference.
I specifically remember the moment that
the idea for “Ocean of Idiots” occurred to
me. It was a sweltering hot August Saturday
at the theme park that I was working
at. I was at my main fountain plaza stand,
and this would have been at the end of
the season that every caricature manager
knows, that part of the season when all
of the college students have headed back
to school and you have no staff, so you
are probably working a 70-hour weekly
schedule by yourself. I was standing out
there one day and people were walking
by and it was such a dense crowd and I was just looking out over the tops of the
crowd at these people kind of drifting by,
all shuffling by in the heat. If you take a
look at the cover that Steve Brodner drew
for the Sketched Out album, the people
that are walking by at the bottom of this
kind of horizon line of stupid people down
at the bottom of the page and that was
informed by my telling him about that
day, and I just remember that people
were walking by and saying things like
“Hey, how many people can you draw in
a double?! Can you draw my self-portrait,
please?!” And all the things that the
people were saying, and I just stood there and just had a moment of despair and I
thought “I am adrift in an ocean of idiots,”
and the song was pretty much written
by the end of the day, and “The day I
killed all the Customers” was just a logical
extension of that. You know I just had
the idea that rather than actually doing it,
perhaps writing a song about it would be
a more constructive use of that energy.

But I will say, my favorite thing about the
job we all do is the five-minute love affair
I spend every day with as many people
as happen by my stand that I get to sit in
my chair and get to chat with for a couple
of minutes. And I love, love, love the job
that I spend my days doing. I’ve always
felt like those songs, they were kind of
one idea that I had for a song to write
about drawing caricatures, but people just
— WOW — they really caught on to those.
They really latched on to the idea of those.
And that is something we have all felt at
times, but I hope that we all also enjoy
the way that we have chosen to spend our
days or what we are all doing out here.

'''Debbo: So it’s been, what, 11 years since “Sketched Out” first was released? Is that true?'''

'''Adam:''' I believe that is so. It was 2005, so
that sounds right.

'''Debbo: And so a lot of people probably don’t know about all the songs, and there are some people who probably want to know where they can get the CD. Is it available for download or purchase?'''

'''Adam:''' Now, that’s an interesting story.
The reason that CD got made is because
I had been asked to play, after playing for
several years at the Kaman’s Managers
conference, I had been asked to play at
the — well back then — NCN convention.
So I went up and did the songs that I had
written so far, and I have still — in however
many years I have been performing — I
still have never experienced a room like
that. Like finishing the song, and the never forget it. I had never gotten that
much attention for a song I had written
before. Everybody came up to me and
they’re like, “You’ve gotta record these
songs. Where can I buy this music? I will
give you the money right now!” That
excitement sent me into the studio. At
that point, we still were using a different
producer outside of the band to produce
our music, but I couldn’t afford him for
that record, so I produced the record
myself and it was my first time producing,
and the recording of that album when I
look back at it is very much a mixed bag.
amount of appreciation in that room I will never forget it. I had never gotten that
much attention for a song I had written
before. Everybody came up to me and
they’re like, “You’ve gotta record these
songs. Where can I buy this music? I will
give you the money right now!” That
excitement sent me into the studio. At
that point, we still were using a different
producer outside of the band to produce
our music, but I couldn’t afford him for
that record, so I produced the record
myself and it was my first time producing,
and the recording of that album when I
look back at it is very much a mixed bag.

But, yeah, I made that record myself,
and I really broke the bank on that one.
Just for five or 6 songs...I spent maybe
three grand getting the record produced,
engineered, recorded and reproduced —
having the actual CD made. I made 1,000
copies of the record, and, again, I don’t
know what I was thinking, because there
aren’t even that many caricature artists
out there. After everybody made such a
big deal about how I had to run out immediately
and go record it, I sold 13 copies at
the convention that year. Everybody was,
like, “Hey you’re really great.” And I’d be
like, “Hey, I have this record for sale for
$10,” and they’d be like “Uhhhh, let me
see how my money holds out till the end
of the weekend.” And to this day, I believe
the number of copies of the record that I
sold is not yet 20.

'''Debbo: So do you still have 980 CDs?'''

'''Adam:''' Yes, I do! I sure do. I sure have
boxes of them in my basement.

You know, of the six songs on that album,
four of them are probably the four most
obvious songs you would write about
caricatures. And, you know, I’ve got some
more. I have actually performed some
more songs that aren’t on the album at
the ISCA/NCN conventions, and I’ve got a
bunch more ready to go. My next record
is going to be called Back to the Drawing
Board, and I’m planning on having it out
next year, and I want to have several new
songs as well as new recordings of the old
songs so people can maybe —hopefully —
enjoy them a little bit better.

My original plan was to have it out this
year. As it turns out, I am not going to be
able to go to the convention this year. My
band is guest of honor at a science fiction
convention in Chicago that same time,
so I am not going to be able to make the
convention this year, so I am going to try
to have the record done by next year. But
we’ll see. You know how hobby/artistic
endeavors like that go.

'''Debbo: Yeah, drum up some business for next year and hopefully you will sell at least 14.'''

'''Adam:''' Yeah, at least 14. Although I will
tell you something, in this day and age, 14
copies of a CD, that would be great!

'''Debbo: Or maybe just downloads, set up a store or something. We’ll see.Alright Adam, it was great talking with you!'''

'''Adam:''' Debbo, thank you so much.

''FROM ADAM ENGLISH
I’m super-proud of the amazing
bunch of artists that have
come out of Darien Lake over
the years, many of whom
appear on the cover of this
issue with me, including my
amazing Canalside business
partner Bill Gallagher, Jeremy
Stock, Brian Oakes, Rob
Dumo, Tim Reed, and Adam
Zyglis, current editorial cartoonist
at the Buffalo news
who won the Pulitzer Prize
for cartooning last year. A lot
of people say that having children
is the greatest joy that
life can bring – I didn’t have
kids, I had these guys.''

Check to see where his band is
playing next. Maybe at a sci-fi
convention near you:
[http://www.ooklathemok.com www.ooklathemok.com]

When Adam isn’t doing the
sci-fi convention circuit, you
may find him drawing here:
[http://www.canalsidecaricatures.com www.canalsidecaricatures.com]

Can’t wait til his new CD comes
out? Contact him directly to
purchase Sketched Out:
caricaturesbyadam@yahoo.com

Adam English Interview

2020-06-24T15:59:36Z

MelissaAlmariei:

Getting In Tune

with ''Sketched Out''

by Debbie “debbo” Bumeister

What happens when a caricature artist who also writes and performs his own music combines the best of both of his passions? I guess it could be caricatures about music, but in Adam English’s case it was a CD of songs about drawing caricatures. These songs combine the feelings of dealing with caricature customers in a retail environment with some catchy music and lyrics.
Adam was kind enough to answer a few questions over Skype to help enlighten us on how his first caricature song CD came to be and share his thoughts on caricature and what his musical plans are for the future.

'''Debbo: I know you are in a band called Ookla the Mok, and I know you also do caricatures. So which came first, caricatures or music?'''

'''Adam:''' I started doing caricatures in 1987. I was 17 years old, and I started working for Kaman’s out at Darien Lake theme park. At that time they did not have a caricature concession, so I was their first artist. I had actually started training for portraits, which was what they had out there at the time. I met Rich Kaman on my second or third day of training. He asked how I liked it. I had just had my caricature done on a family vacation the year before, and I thought it was cool, so I said what I really wanted to do was caricatures. He had just opened not that long before, with Dino Casterline and Fred Harper, the caricature concessions at Cedar Point and Geauga Lake (theme Parks) in Ohio for Kaman’s. They wanted to open more caricature concessions. They didn’t have anyone to train me, so my mother bought me “How to Draw Caricatures” by Lenn Redman. Although that is a great book, I would not recommend it as the way to learn to draw caricatures. It took me a few years to actually get competent at it. So that is how I started drawing caricatures.

I actually started doing comedy music in about 1992, with my song-writing partner Rand Bellavia, who is my best friend and song- writing partner still to this day. We, as the “filk” rock band Ookla the Mok, perform at science fiction and comic book conventions all over the world. We’ve got six studio albums out as that.

I started doing the songs about caricatures much later. I had been performing at science fiction conventions, and we were writing comedy music about superheroes and Star Trek and so forth, and I thought, “Where can I find even a smaller audience than that?” And that is how I started writing the caricature songs. Actually, the first couple of songs I wrote were for the Kaman’s Managers conference in who knows what year, maybe 2000. Each park had to do a five-minute presentation on some aspect of the business, and they were really unspecific as to what they were looking for, so I wrote two songs. The first two songs I wrote were “Don’t Blame Me” and “I’m Gonna Draw Ya,” kind of the most obvious of the caricatures songs, I guess you might say, and I performed those at the Managers Conference that year, and people were very appreciative. And it gave me a lot of encouragement to continue writing caricature songs.

'''Debbo: Everybody always asks, “So did you go to school for this?” So … Did you go to school for drawing or did you go to school for music? [Or both?]'''

'''Adam:''' Ironically, I was an English literature major — don’t know what I was thinking — a $60K piece of toilet paper hanging on my wall. If I had known — when I started doing caricatures for a living, being a professional caricature artist — that wasn’t a thing. I had been doing this for seven years as a summer job, before it ever occurred to me, you know, I kept waiting to figure out what I was going to do when I grew up, and one day I thought, “Hey, maybe this is it!” Maybe I could figure a way to do this as a living, and I did not know one other person who did just this as a living. I know a lot of Kaman’s Art Shoppes people that did it seasonally, but they were all in the off-season trying to find a real job. So it was many years before, you know these kids now, they don’t know how good they got it. They’ve got the Internet, so in the first place, training, I mean, my God , you can hop online and look at thousands of amazing caricatures by hundreds of amazing caricature artists. And I had one book. And if you wanted another book, you had to go to the bookstore and like ask them if they had ever heard of another one. And maybe they could order it for you so you could buy it. There wasn’t a way of looking that kind of stuff up. Every time I found a book about caricatures, I would try to buy it. But before the Internet, that was a lot more difficult.

'''Debbo: So like most of us, you weren’t planning on doing caricatures full time. So you mentioned English. Did this kind of tie into your song writing?'''

'''Adam:''' Well, yeah, you know, I was going to be a writer. That was always my ambition. Songwriter is what I turned out to be. I’ve been doing caricatures for so many years that a lot of these younger artists that see my sketch say, oh, uh. They thought it would be better, I guess, because I am not as good as lot of guys these days, you know, it’s true — you can’t wave your arms without hitting 25 amazing caricature artists, and I don’t count myself among them. Although I didn’t end up making my primary living at it, the thing that I always felt I did well was write songs. I enjoy drawing caricatures a lot, and I enjoy writing songs a lot, and I wouldn’t want to give either of them up. People often ask me which one I enjoy more: I wouldn’t want to live without either of them.

'''Debbo:''' Which one of them takes up more of your time, or are they evenly split half and half?

'''Adam:''' Caricatures is what puts bread on my table. So for sure that is more of my time. Music has always been my HOBBY, and that’s not to say I haven’t made a little money at it. My claims to fame, musically speaking, include in 2002, we sold a song to Disney. It was the theme song for a Saturday morning cartoon called (Disney’s) Fillmore! That was an amazing, awesome, really cool cartoon that was on ABC from 2002 to 2004. That was an amazing experience. We got a call one day from Scott M. Gimple, and at the time he was the producer of a very hip Disney show that was in development. The interesting thing about Scott Gimple is he is now the show runner for The Walking Dead, so he did really well for himself. But at that time, we knew who he was because my songwriting partner Rand has an eidetic memory. He is a librarian and remembers everything he has ever heard in his entire life. At that time, we
were still at a point where when someone
ordered one of our CDs online, we
would put it in a box and write their name
on a label. Rand had recognized Scott’s
name because he was the editor of The
Simpsons Episode Guides. That is the kind
of memory he has. So one day we got an
order for all of our CDs from this guy, and
we sent them to him and we noticed he
was in “the industry,” as we say. The next
thing you know, we get a call from him
and one of the executive producers over
at Disney, and they were interested in
buying the song. It was a long process, but
that is what happened, and we got to go
to LA and schmooze with the Illuminati,
and it was just a super cool experience I
will never forget.

'''Debbo: So in “Sketched Out,” there are (quite a few ) songs that are very passionate about customers and the rigmarole that all caricature artists go through. So I know you were probably influenced by your job, but were some of these written on the spot or did you come home one day and were like “I just like I had to get this out. I have to get his on paper”?'''

'''Adam:''' The two songs, there really are
only two in the ilk of which you are talking,
“Ocean of Idiots” and “The Day I Killed
All the Customers.” Those songs were
written back to back one year for the Kaman’s
Art Shoppes Managers conference.
I specifically remember the moment that
the idea for “Ocean of Idiots” occurred to
me. It was a sweltering hot August Saturday
at the theme park that I was working
at. I was at my main fountain plaza stand,
and this would have been at the end of
the season that every caricature manager
knows, that part of the season when all
of the college students have headed back
to school and you have no staff, so you
are probably working a 70-hour weekly
schedule by yourself. I was standing out
there one day and people were walking
by and it was such a dense crowd and I was just looking out over the tops of the
crowd at these people kind of drifting by,
all shuffling by in the heat. If you take a
look at the cover that Steve Brodner drew
for the Sketched Out album, the people
that are walking by at the bottom of this
kind of horizon line of stupid people down
at the bottom of the page and that was
informed by my telling him about that
day, and I just remember that people
were walking by and saying things like
“Hey, how many people can you draw in
a double?! Can you draw my self-portrait,
please?!” And all the things that the
people were saying, and I just stood there and just had a moment of despair and I
thought “I am adrift in an ocean of idiots,”
and the song was pretty much written
by the end of the day, and “The day I
killed all the Customers” was just a logical
extension of that. You know I just had
the idea that rather than actually doing it,
perhaps writing a song about it would be
a more constructive use of that energy.

But I will say, my favorite thing about the
job we all do is the five-minute love affair
I spend every day with as many people
as happen by my stand that I get to sit in
my chair and get to chat with for a couple
of minutes. And I love, love, love the job
that I spend my days doing. I’ve always
felt like those songs, they were kind of
one idea that I had for a song to write
about drawing caricatures, but people just
— WOW — they really caught on to those.
They really latched on to the idea of those.
And that is something we have all felt at
times, but I hope that we all also enjoy
the way that we have chosen to spend our
days or what we are all doing out here.

'''Debbo: So it’s been, what, 11 years since “Sketched Out” first was released? Is that true?'''

'''Adam:''' I believe that is so. It was 2005, so
that sounds right.

'''Debbo: And so a lot of people probably don’t know about all the songs, and there are some people who probably want to know where they can get the CD. Is it available for download or purchase?'''

'''Adam:''' Now, that’s an interesting story.
The reason that CD got made is because
I had been asked to play, after playing for
several years at the Kaman’s Managers
conference, I had been asked to play at
the — well back then — NCN convention.
So I went up and did the songs that I had
written so far, and I have still — in however
many years I have been performing — I
still have never experienced a room like
that. Like finishing the song, and the never forget it. I had never gotten that
much attention for a song I had written
before. Everybody came up to me and
they’re like, “You’ve gotta record these
songs. Where can I buy this music? I will
give you the money right now!” That
excitement sent me into the studio. At
that point, we still were using a different
producer outside of the band to produce
our music, but I couldn’t afford him for
that record, so I produced the record
myself and it was my first time producing,
and the recording of that album when I
look back at it is very much a mixed bag.
amount of appreciation in that room I will never forget it. I had never gotten that
much attention for a song I had written
before. Everybody came up to me and
they’re like, “You’ve gotta record these
songs. Where can I buy this music? I will
give you the money right now!” That
excitement sent me into the studio. At
that point, we still were using a different
producer outside of the band to produce
our music, but I couldn’t afford him for
that record, so I produced the record
myself and it was my first time producing,
and the recording of that album when I
look back at it is very much a mixed bag.

But, yeah, I made that record myself,
and I really broke the bank on that one.
Just for five or 6 songs...I spent maybe
three grand getting the record produced,
engineered, recorded and reproduced —
having the actual CD made. I made 1,000
copies of the record, and, again, I don’t
know what I was thinking, because there
aren’t even that many caricature artists
out there. After everybody made such a
big deal about how I had to run out immediately
and go record it, I sold 13 copies at
the convention that year. Everybody was,
like, “Hey you’re really great.” And I’d be
like, “Hey, I have this record for sale for
$10,” and they’d be like “Uhhhh, let me
see how my money holds out till the end
of the weekend.” And to this day, I believe
the number of copies of the record that I
sold is not yet 20.

'''Debbo: So do you still have 980 CDs?'''

'''Adam:''' Yes, I do! I sure do. I sure have
boxes of them in my basement.

You know, of the six songs on that album,
four of them are probably the four most
obvious songs you would write about
caricatures. And, you know, I’ve got some
more. I have actually performed some
more songs that aren’t on the album at
the ISCA/NCN conventions, and I’ve got a
bunch more ready to go. My next record
is going to be called Back to the Drawing
Board, and I’m planning on having it out
next year, and I want to have several new
songs as well as new recordings of the old
songs so people can maybe —hopefully —
enjoy them a little bit better.

My original plan was to have it out this
year. As it turns out, I am not going to be
able to go to the convention this year. My
band is guest of honor at a science fiction
convention in Chicago that same time,
so I am not going to be able to make the
convention this year, so I am going to try
to have the record done by next year. But
we’ll see. You know how hobby/artistic
endeavors like that go.

'''Debbo: Yeah, drum up some business for next year and hopefully you will sell at least 14.'''

'''Adam:''' Yeah, at least 14. Although I will
tell you something, in this day and age, 14
copies of a CD, that would be great!

'''Debbo: Or maybe just downloads, set up a store or something. We’ll see.Alright Adam, it was great talking with you!'''

'''Adam:''' Debbo, thank you so much.

''FROM ADAM ENGLISH
I’m super-proud of the amazing
bunch of artists that have
come out of Darien Lake over
the years, many of whom
appear on the cover of this
issue with me, including my
amazing Canalside business
partner Bill Gallagher, Jeremy
Stock, Brian Oakes, Rob
Dumo, Tim Reed, and Adam
Zyglis, current editorial cartoonist
at the Buffalo news
who won the Pulitzer Prize
for cartooning last year. A lot
of people say that having children
is the greatest joy that
life can bring – I didn’t have
kids, I had these guys.''

Check to see where his band is
playing next. Maybe at a sci-fi
convention near you:
[http://www.ooklathemok.com www.ooklathemok.com]

When Adam isn’t doing the
sci-fi convention circuit, you
may find him drawing here:
[http://www.canalsidecaricatures.com www.canalsidecaricatures.com]

Can’t wait til his new CD comes
out? Contact him directly to
purchase Sketched Out:
caricaturesbyadam@yahoo.com

Adam English Interview

2020-06-24T15:57:06Z

MelissaAlmariei:

Getting In Tune

with ''Sketched Out''

by Debbie “debbo” Bumeister

What happens when a caricature artist who also writes and performs his own music combines the best of both of his passions? I guess it could be caricatures about music, but in Adam English’s case it was a CD of songs about drawing caricatures. These songs combine the feelings of dealing with caricature customers in a retail environment with some catchy music and lyrics.
Adam was kind enough to answer a few questions over Skype to help enlighten us on how his first caricature song CD came to be and share his thoughts on caricature and what his musical plans are for the future.

'''Debbo: I know you are in a band called Ookla the Mok, and I know you also do caricatures. So which came first, caricatures or music?'''

'''Adam:''' I started doing caricatures in 1987. I was 17 years old, and I started working for Kaman’s out at Darien Lake theme park. At that time they did not have a caricature concession, so I was their first artist. I had actually started training for portraits, which was what they had out there at the time. I met Rich Kaman on my second or third day of training. He asked how I liked it. I had just had my caricature done on a family vacation the year before, and I thought it was cool, so I said what I really wanted to do was caricatures. He had just opened not that long before, with Dino Casterline and Fred Harper, the caricature concessions at Cedar Point and Geauga Lake (theme Parks) in Ohio for Kaman’s. They wanted to open more caricature concessions. They didn’t have anyone to train me, so my mother bought me “How to Draw Caricatures” by Lenn Redman. Although that is a great book, I would not recommend it as the way to learn to draw caricatures. It took me a few years to actually get competent at it. So that is how I started drawing caricatures.

I actually started doing comedy music in about 1992, with my song-writing partner Rand Bellavia, who is my best friend and song- writing partner still to this day. We, as the “filk” rock band Ookla the Mok, perform at science fiction and comic book conventions all over the world. We’ve got six studio albums out as that.

I started doing the songs about caricatures much later. I had been performing at science fiction conventions, and we were writing comedy music about superheroes and Star Trek and so forth, and I thought, “Where can I find even a smaller audience than that?” And that is how I started writing the caricature songs. Actually, the first couple of songs I wrote were for the Kaman’s Managers conference in who knows what year, maybe 2000. Each park had to do a five-minute presentation on some aspect of the business, and they were really unspecific as to what they were looking for, so I wrote two songs. The first two songs I wrote were “Don’t Blame Me” and “I’m Gonna Draw Ya,” kind of the most obvious of the caricatures songs, I guess you might say, and I performed those at the Managers Conference that year, and people were very appreciative. And it gave me a lot of encouragement to continue writing caricature songs.

'''Debbo: Everybody always asks, “So did you go to school for this?” So … Did you go to school for drawing or did you go to school for music? [Or both?]'''

'''Adam:''' Ironically, I was an English literature major — don’t know what I was thinking — a $60K piece of toilet paper hanging on my wall. If I had known — when I started doing caricatures for a living, being a professional caricature artist — that wasn’t a thing. I had been doing this for seven years as a summer job, before it ever occurred to me, you know, I kept waiting to figure out what I was going to do when I grew up, and one day I thought, “Hey, maybe this is it!” Maybe I could figure a way to do this as a living, and I did not know one other person who did just this as a living. I know a lot of Kaman’s Art Shoppes people that did it seasonally, but they were all in the off-season trying to find a real job. So it was many years before, you know these kids now, they don’t know how good they got it. They’ve got the Internet, so in the first place, training, I mean, my God , you can hop online and look at thousands of amazing caricatures by hundreds of amazing caricature artists. And I had one book. And if you wanted another book, you had to go to the bookstore and like ask them if they had ever heard of another one. And maybe they could order it for you so you could buy it. There wasn’t a way of looking that kind of stuff up. Every time I found a book about caricatures, I would try to buy it. But before the Internet, that was a lot more difficult.

'''Debbo: So like most of us, you weren’t planning on doing caricatures full time. So you mentioned English. Did this kind of tie into your song writing?'''

'''Adam:''' Well, yeah, you know, I was going to be a writer. That was always my ambition. Songwriter is what I turned out to be. I’ve been doing caricatures for so many years that a lot of these younger artists that see my sketch say, oh, uh. They thought it would be better, I guess, because I am not as good as lot of guys these days, you know, it’s true — you can’t wave your arms without hitting 25 amazing caricature artists, and I don’t count myself among them. Although I didn’t end up making my primary living at it, the thing that I always felt I did well was write songs. I enjoy drawing caricatures a lot, and I enjoy writing songs a lot, and I wouldn’t want to give either of them up. People often ask me which one I enjoy more: I wouldn’t want to live without either of them.

'''Debbo:''' Which one of them takes up more of your time, or are they evenly split half and half?

'''Adam:''' Caricatures is what puts bread on my table. So for sure that is more of my time. Music has always been my HOBBY, and that’s not to say I haven’t made a little money at it. My claims to fame, musically speaking, include in 2002, we sold a song to Disney. It was the theme song for a Saturday morning cartoon called (Disney’s) Fillmore! That was an amazing, awesome, really cool cartoon that was on ABC from 2002 to 2004. That was an amazing experience. We got a call one day from Scott M. Gimple, and at the time he was the producer of a very hip Disney show that was in development. The interesting thing about Scott Gimple is he is now the show runner for The Walking Dead, so he did really well for himself. But at that time, we knew who he was because my songwriting partner Rand has an eidetic memory. He is a librarian and remembers everything he has ever heard in his entire life. At that time, we
were still at a point where when someone
ordered one of our CDs online, we
would put it in a box and write their name
on a label. Rand had recognized Scott’s
name because he was the editor of The
Simpsons Episode Guides. That is the kind
of memory he has. So one day we got an
order for all of our CDs from this guy, and
we sent them to him and we noticed he
was in “the industry,” as we say. The next
thing you know, we get a call from him
and one of the executive producers over
at Disney, and they were interested in
buying the song. It was a long process, but
that is what happened, and we got to go
to LA and schmooze with the Illuminati,
and it was just a super cool experience I
will never forget.

'''Debbo: So in “Sketched Out,” there
are (quite a few ) songs that are very
passionate about customers and the
rigmarole that all caricature artists go
through. So I know you were probably
influenced by your job, but were some
of these written on the spot or did you
come home one day and were like “I just
like I had to get this out. I have to get
his on paper”?'''

'''Adam:''' The two songs, there really are
only two in the ilk of which you are talking,
“Ocean of Idiots” and “The Day I Killed
All the Customers.” Those songs were
written back to back one year for the Kaman’s
Art Shoppes Managers conference.
I specifically remember the moment that
the idea for “Ocean of Idiots” occurred to
me. It was a sweltering hot August Saturday
at the theme park that I was working
at. I was at my main fountain plaza stand,
and this would have been at the end of
the season that every caricature manager
knows, that part of the season when all
of the college students have headed back
to school and you have no staff, so you
are probably working a 70-hour weekly
schedule by yourself. I was standing out
there one day and people were walking
by and it was such a dense crowd and I was just looking out over the tops of the
crowd at these people kind of drifting by,
all shuffling by in the heat. If you take a
look at the cover that Steve Brodner drew
for the Sketched Out album, the people
that are walking by at the bottom of this
kind of horizon line of stupid people down
at the bottom of the page and that was
informed by my telling him about that
day, and I just remember that people
were walking by and saying things like
“Hey, how many people can you draw in
a double?! Can you draw my self-portrait,
please?!” And all the things that the
people were saying, and I just stood there and just had a moment of despair and I
thought “I am adrift in an ocean of idiots,”
and the song was pretty much written
by the end of the day, and “The day I
killed all the Customers” was just a logical
extension of that. You know I just had
the idea that rather than actually doing it,
perhaps writing a song about it would be
a more constructive use of that energy.

But I will say, my favorite thing about the
job we all do is the five-minute love affair
I spend every day with as many people
as happen by my stand that I get to sit in
my chair and get to chat with for a couple
of minutes. And I love, love, love the job
that I spend my days doing. I’ve always
felt like those songs, they were kind of
one idea that I had for a song to write
about drawing caricatures, but people just
— WOW — they really caught on to those.
They really latched on to the idea of those.
And that is something we have all felt at
times, but I hope that we all also enjoy
the way that we have chosen to spend our
days or what we are all doing out here.

'''Debbo: So it’s been, what, 11 years
since “Sketched Out” first was released?
Is that true?'''

'''Adam:''' I believe that is so. It was 2005, so
that sounds right.

'''Debbo: And so a lot of people probably
don’t know about all the songs, and
there are some people who probably
want to know where they can get
the CD. Is it available for download or
purchase?'''

'''Adam:''' Now, that’s an interesting story.
The reason that CD got made is because
I had been asked to play, after playing for
several years at the Kaman’s Managers
conference, I had been asked to play at
the — well back then — NCN convention.
So I went up and did the songs that I had
written so far, and I have still — in however
many years I have been performing — I
still have never experienced a room like
that. Like finishing the song, and the never forget it. I had never gotten that
much attention for a song I had written
before. Everybody came up to me and
they’re like, “You’ve gotta record these
songs. Where can I buy this music? I will
give you the money right now!” That
excitement sent me into the studio. At
that point, we still were using a different
producer outside of the band to produce
our music, but I couldn’t afford him for
that record, so I produced the record
myself and it was my first time producing,
and the recording of that album when I
look back at it is very much a mixed bag.
amount of appreciation in that room I will never forget it. I had never gotten that
much attention for a song I had written
before. Everybody came up to me and
they’re like, “You’ve gotta record these
songs. Where can I buy this music? I will
give you the money right now!” That
excitement sent me into the studio. At
that point, we still were using a different
producer outside of the band to produce
our music, but I couldn’t afford him for
that record, so I produced the record
myself and it was my first time producing,
and the recording of that album when I
look back at it is very much a mixed bag.

But, yeah, I made that record myself,
and I really broke the bank on that one.
Just for five or 6 songs...I spent maybe
three grand getting the record produced,
engineered, recorded and reproduced —
having the actual CD made. I made 1,000
copies of the record, and, again, I don’t
know what I was thinking, because there
aren’t even that many caricature artists
out there. After everybody made such a
big deal about how I had to run out immediately
and go record it, I sold 13 copies at
the convention that year. Everybody was,
like, “Hey you’re really great.” And I’d be
like, “Hey, I have this record for sale for
$10,” and they’d be like “Uhhhh, let me
see how my money holds out till the end
of the weekend.” And to this day, I believe
the number of copies of the record that I
sold is not yet 20.

'''Debbo: So do you still have 980 CDs?'''

'''Adam:''' Yes, I do! I sure do. I sure have
boxes of them in my basement.

You know, of the six songs on that album,
four of them are probably the four most
obvious songs you would write about
caricatures. And, you know, I’ve got some
more. I have actually performed some
more songs that aren’t on the album at
the ISCA/NCN conventions, and I’ve got a
bunch more ready to go. My next record
is going to be called Back to the Drawing
Board, and I’m planning on having it out
next year, and I want to have several new
songs as well as new recordings of the old
songs so people can maybe —hopefully —
enjoy them a little bit better.

My original plan was to have it out this
year. As it turns out, I am not going to be
able to go to the convention this year. My
band is guest of honor at a science fiction
convention in Chicago that same time,
so I am not going to be able to make the
convention this year, so I am going to try
to have the record done by next year. But
we’ll see. You know how hobby/artistic
endeavors like that go.

'''Debbo: Yeah, drum up some business for next year and hopefully you will sell at least 14.'''

'''Adam:''' Yeah, at least 14. Although I will
tell you something, in this day and age, 14
copies of a CD, that would be great!

'''Debbo: Or maybe just downloads, set up a store or something. We’ll see.Alright Adam, it was great talking with you!'''

'''Adam:''' Debbo, thank you so much.

''FROM ADAM ENGLISH
I’m super-proud of the amazing
bunch of artists that have
come out of Darien Lake over
the years, many of whom
appear on the cover of this
issue with me, including my
amazing Canalside business
partner Bill Gallagher, Jeremy
Stock, Brian Oakes, Rob
Dumo, Tim Reed, and Adam
Zyglis, current editorial cartoonist
at the Buffalo news
who won the Pulitzer Prize
for cartooning last year. A lot
of people say that having children
is the greatest joy that
life can bring – I didn’t have
kids, I had these guys.''

Check to see where his band is
playing next. Maybe at a sci-fi
convention near you:
[http://www.ooklathemok.com www.ooklathemok.com]

When Adam isn’t doing the
sci-fi convention circuit, you
may find him drawing here:
[http://www.canalsidecaricatures.com www.canalsidecaricatures.com]

Can’t wait til his new CD comes
out? Contact him directly to
purchase Sketched Out:
caricaturesbyadam@yahoo.com

Adam English Interview

2020-06-24T15:55:53Z

MelissaAlmariei:

Getting In Tune

with ''Sketched Out''

by Debbie “debbo” Bumeister

What happens when a caricature artist who also writes and performs his own music combines the best of both of his passions? I guess it could be caricatures about music, but in Adam English’s case it was a CD of songs about drawing caricatures. These songs combine the feelings of dealing with caricature customers in a retail environment with some catchy music and lyrics.
Adam was kind enough to answer a few questions over Skype to help enlighten us on how his first caricature song CD came to be and share his thoughts on caricature and what his musical plans are for the future.

'''Debbo: I know you are in a band called Ookla the Mok, and I know you also do caricatures. So which came first, caricatures or music?'''

'''Adam:''' I started doing caricatures in 1987. I was 17 years old, and I started working for Kaman’s out at Darien Lake theme park. At that time they did not have a caricature concession, so I was their first artist. I had actually started training for portraits, which was what they had out there at the time. I met Rich Kaman on my second or third day of training. He asked how I liked it. I had just had my caricature done on a family vacation the year before, and I thought it was cool, so I said what I really wanted to do was caricatures. He had just opened not that long before, with Dino Casterline and Fred Harper, the caricature concessions at Cedar Point and Geauga Lake (theme Parks) in Ohio for Kaman’s. They wanted to open more caricature concessions. They didn’t have anyone to train me, so my mother bought me “How to Draw Caricatures” by Lenn Redman. Although that is a great book, I would not recommend it as the way to learn to draw caricatures. It took me a few years to actually get competent at it. So that is how I started drawing caricatures.

I actually started doing comedy music in about 1992, with my song-writing partner Rand Bellavia, who is my best friend and song- writing partner still to this day. We, as the “filk” rock band Ookla the Mok, perform at science fiction and comic book conventions all over the world. We’ve got six studio albums out as that.

I started doing the songs about caricatures much later. I had been performing at science fiction conventions, and we were writing comedy music about superheroes and Star Trek and so forth, and I thought, “Where can I find even a smaller audience than that?” And that is how I started writing the caricature songs. Actually, the first couple of songs I wrote were for the Kaman’s Managers conference in who knows what year, maybe 2000. Each park had to do a five-minute presentation on some aspect of the business, and they were really unspecific as to what they were looking for, so I wrote two songs. The first two songs I wrote were “Don’t Blame Me” and “I’m Gonna Draw Ya,” kind of the most obvious of the caricatures songs, I guess you might say, and I performed those at the Managers Conference that year, and people were very appreciative. And it gave me a lot of encouragement to continue writing caricature songs.

'''Debbo: Everybody always asks, “So did you go to school for this?” So … Did you go to school for drawing or did you go to school for music? [Or both?]'''

'''Adam:''' Ironically, I was an English literature major — don’t know what I was thinking — a $60K piece of toilet paper hanging on my wall. If I had known — when I started doing caricatures for a living, being a professional caricature artist — that wasn’t a thing. I had been doing this for seven years as a summer job, before it ever occurred to me, you know, I kept waiting to figure out what I was going to do when I grew up, and one day I thought, “Hey, maybe this is it!” Maybe I could figure a way to do this as a living, and I did not know one other person who did just this as a living. I know a lot of Kaman’s Art Shoppes people that did it seasonally, but they were all in the off-season trying to find a real job. So it was many years before, you know these kids now, they don’t know how good they got it. They’ve got the Internet, so in the first place, training, I mean, my God , you can hop online and look at thousands of amazing caricatures by hundreds of amazing caricature artists. And I had one book. And if you wanted another book, you had to go to the bookstore and like ask them if they had ever heard of another one. And maybe they could order it for you so you could buy it. There wasn’t a way of looking that kind of stuff up. Every time I found a book about caricatures, I would try to buy it. But before the Internet, that was a lot more difficult.

'''Debbo: So like most of us, you weren’t planning on doing caricatures full time. So you mentioned English. Did this kind of tie into your song writing?'''

'''Adam:''' Well, yeah, you know, I was going to be a writer. That was always my ambition. Songwriter is what I turned out to be. I’ve been doing caricatures for so many years that a lot of these younger artists that see my sketch say, oh, uh. They thought it would be better, I guess, because I am not as good as lot of guys these days, you know, it’s true — you can’t wave your arms without hitting 25 amazing caricature artists, and I don’t count myself among them. Although I didn’t end up making my primary living at it, the thing that I always felt I did well was write songs. I enjoy drawing caricatures a lot, and I enjoy writing songs a lot, and I wouldn’t want to give either of them up. People often ask me which one I enjoy more: I wouldn’t want to live without either of them.

'''Debbo:''' Which one of them takes up more of your time, or are they evenly split half and half?

'''Adam:''' Caricatures is what puts bread on my table. So for sure that is more of my time. Music has always been my HOBBY, and that’s not to say I haven’t made a little money at it. My claims to fame, musically speaking, include in 2002, we sold a song to Disney. It was the theme song for a Saturday morning cartoon called (Disney’s) Fillmore! That was an amazing, awesome, really cool cartoon that was on ABC from 2002 to 2004. That was an amazing experience. We got a call one day from Scott M. Gimple, and at the time he was the producer of a very hip Disney show that was in development. The interesting thing about Scott Gimple is he is now the show runner for The Walking Dead, so he did really well for himself. But at that time, we knew who he was because my songwriting partner Rand has an eidetic memory. He is a librarian and remembers everything he has ever heard in his entire life. At that time, we
were still at a point where when someone
ordered one of our CDs online, we
would put it in a box and write their name
on a label. Rand had recognized Scott’s
name because he was the editor of The
Simpsons Episode Guides. That is the kind
of memory he has. So one day we got an
order for all of our CDs from this guy, and
we sent them to him and we noticed he
was in “the industry,” as we say. The next
thing you know, we get a call from him
and one of the executive producers over
at Disney, and they were interested in
buying the song. It was a long process, but
that is what happened, and we got to go
to LA and schmooze with the Illuminati,
and it was just a super cool experience I
will never forget.

'''Debbo: So in “Sketched Out,” there
are (quite a few ) songs that are very
passionate about customers and the
rigmarole that all caricature artists go
through. So I know you were probably
influenced by your job, but were some
of these written on the spot or did you
come home one day and were like “I just
like I had to get this out. I have to get
his on paper”?'''

'''Adam:''' The two songs, there really are
only two in the ilk of which you are talking,
“Ocean of Idiots” and “The Day I Killed
All the Customers.” Those songs were
written back to back one year for the Kaman’s
Art Shoppes Managers conference.
I specifically remember the moment that
the idea for “Ocean of Idiots” occurred to
me. It was a sweltering hot August Saturday
at the theme park that I was working
at. I was at my main fountain plaza stand,
and this would have been at the end of
the season that every caricature manager
knows, that part of the season when all
of the college students have headed back
to school and you have no staff, so you
are probably working a 70-hour weekly
schedule by yourself. I was standing out
there one day and people were walking
by and it was such a dense crowd and I was just looking out over the tops of the
crowd at these people kind of drifting by,
all shuffling by in the heat. If you take a
look at the cover that Steve Brodner drew
for the Sketched Out album, the people
that are walking by at the bottom of this
kind of horizon line of stupid people down
at the bottom of the page and that was
informed by my telling him about that
day, and I just remember that people
were walking by and saying things like
“Hey, how many people can you draw in
a double?! Can you draw my self-portrait,
please?!” And all the things that the
people were saying, and I just stood there and just had a moment of despair and I
thought “I am adrift in an ocean of idiots,”
and the song was pretty much written
by the end of the day, and “The day I
killed all the Customers” was just a logical
extension of that. You know I just had
the idea that rather than actually doing it,
perhaps writing a song about it would be
a more constructive use of that energy.

But I will say, my favorite thing about the
job we all do is the five-minute love affair
I spend every day with as many people
as happen by my stand that I get to sit in
my chair and get to chat with for a couple
of minutes. And I love, love, love the job
that I spend my days doing. I’ve always
felt like those songs, they were kind of
one idea that I had for a song to write
about drawing caricatures, but people just
— WOW — they really caught on to those.
They really latched on to the idea of those.
And that is something we have all felt at
times, but I hope that we all also enjoy
the way that we have chosen to spend our
days or what we are all doing out here.

'''Debbo: So it’s been, what, 11 years
since “Sketched Out” first was released?
Is that true?'''

'''Adam:''' I believe that is so. It was 2005, so
that sounds right.

'''Debbo: And so a lot of people probably
don’t know about all the songs, and
there are some people who probably
want to know where they can get
the CD. Is it available for download or
purchase?'''

'''Adam:''' Now, that’s an interesting story.
The reason that CD got made is because
I had been asked to play, after playing for
several years at the Kaman’s Managers
conference, I had been asked to play at
the — well back then — NCN convention.
So I went up and did the songs that I had
written so far, and I have still — in however
many years I have been performing — I
still have never experienced a room like
that. Like finishing the song, and the never forget it. I had never gotten that
much attention for a song I had written
before. Everybody came up to me and
they’re like, “You’ve gotta record these
songs. Where can I buy this music? I will
give you the money right now!” That
excitement sent me into the studio. At
that point, we still were using a different
producer outside of the band to produce
our music, but I couldn’t afford him for
that record, so I produced the record
myself and it was my first time producing,
and the recording of that album when I
look back at it is very much a mixed bag.
amount of appreciation in that room I will never forget it. I had never gotten that
much attention for a song I had written
before. Everybody came up to me and
they’re like, “You’ve gotta record these
songs. Where can I buy this music? I will
give you the money right now!” That
excitement sent me into the studio. At
that point, we still were using a different
producer outside of the band to produce
our music, but I couldn’t afford him for
that record, so I produced the record
myself and it was my first time producing,
and the recording of that album when I
look back at it is very much a mixed bag.

But, yeah, I made that record myself,
and I really broke the bank on that one.
Just for five or 6 songs...I spent maybe
three grand getting the record produced,
engineered, recorded and reproduced —
having the actual CD made. I made 1,000
copies of the record, and, again, I don’t
know what I was thinking, because there
aren’t even that many caricature artists
out there. After everybody made such a
big deal about how I had to run out immediately
and go record it, I sold 13 copies at
the convention that year. Everybody was,
like, “Hey you’re really great.” And I’d be
like, “Hey, I have this record for sale for
$10,” and they’d be like “Uhhhh, let me
see how my money holds out till the end
of the weekend.” And to this day, I believe
the number of copies of the record that I
sold is not yet 20.

'''Debbo: So do you still have 980 CDs?'''

'''Adam:''' Yes, I do! I sure do. I sure have
boxes of them in my basement.

You know, of the six songs on that album,
four of them are probably the four most
obvious songs you would write about
caricatures. And, you know, I’ve got some
more. I have actually performed some
more songs that aren’t on the album at
the ISCA/NCN conventions, and I’ve got a
bunch more ready to go. My next record
is going to be called Back to the Drawing
Board, and I’m planning on having it out
next year, and I want to have several new
songs as well as new recordings of the old
songs so people can maybe —hopefully —
enjoy them a little bit better.

My original plan was to have it out this
year. As it turns out, I am not going to be
able to go to the convention this year. My
band is guest of honor at a science fiction
convention in Chicago that same time,
so I am not going to be able to make the
convention this year, so I am going to try
to have the record done by next year. But
we’ll see. You know how hobby/artistic
endeavors like that go.

'''Debbo: Yeah, drum up some business
for next year and hopefully you will sell
at least 14.'''

'''Adam:''' Yeah, at least 14. Although I will
tell you something, in this day and age, 14
copies of a CD, that would be great!

'''Debbo: Or maybe just downloads, set
up a store or something. We’ll see.
Alright Adam, it was great talking with
you!'''

'''Adam:''' Debbo, thank you so much.

''FROM ADAM ENGLISH
I’m super-proud of the amazing
bunch of artists that have
come out of Darien Lake over
the years, many of whom
appear on the cover of this
issue with me, including my
amazing Canalside business
partner Bill Gallagher, Jeremy
Stock, Brian Oakes, Rob
Dumo, Tim Reed, and Adam
Zyglis, current editorial cartoonist
at the Buffalo news
who won the Pulitzer Prize
for cartooning last year. A lot
of people say that having children
is the greatest joy that
life can bring – I didn’t have
kids, I had these guys.''

Check to see where his band is
playing next. Maybe at a sci-fi
convention near you:

Check to see where his band is
playing next. Maybe at a sci-fi
convention near you:
[http://www.ooklathemok.com www.ooklathemok.com]

When Adam isn’t doing the
sci-fi convention circuit, you
may find him drawing here:
[http://www.canalsidecaricatures.com www.canalsidecaricatures.com]

Can’t wait til his new CD comes
out? Contact him directly to
purchase Sketched Out:
caricaturesbyadam@yahoo.com

Adam English Interview

2020-06-24T15:53:04Z

MelissaAlmariei:

Getting In Tune

with ''Sketched Out''

by Debbie “debbo” Bumeister

What happens when a caricature artist who also writes and performs his own music combines the best of both of his passions? I guess it could be caricatures about music, but in Adam English’s case it was a CD of songs about drawing caricatures. These songs combine the feelings of dealing with caricature customers in a retail environment with some catchy music and lyrics.
Adam was kind enough to answer a few questions over Skype to help enlighten us on how his first caricature song CD came to be and share his thoughts on caricature and what his musical plans are for the future.

'''Debbo: I know you are in a band called Ookla the Mok, and I know you also do caricatures. So which came first, caricatures or music?'''

'''Adam:''' I started doing caricatures in 1987. I was 17 years old, and I started working for Kaman’s out at Darien Lake theme park. At that time they did not have a caricature concession, so I was their first artist. I had actually started training for portraits, which was what they had out there at the time. I met Rich Kaman on my second or third day of training. He asked how I liked it. I had just had my caricature done on a family vacation the year before, and I thought it was cool, so I said what I really wanted to do was caricatures. He had just opened not that long before, with Dino Casterline and Fred Harper, the caricature concessions at Cedar Point and Geauga Lake (theme Parks) in Ohio for Kaman’s. They wanted to open more caricature concessions. They didn’t have anyone to train me, so my mother bought me “How to Draw Caricatures” by Lenn Redman. Although that is a great book, I would not recommend it as the way to learn to draw caricatures. It took me a few years to actually get competent at it. So that is how I started drawing caricatures.

I actually started doing comedy music in about 1992, with my song-writing partner Rand Bellavia, who is my best friend and song- writing partner still to this day. We, as the “filk” rock band Ookla the Mok, perform at science fiction and comic book conventions all over the world. We’ve got six studio albums out as that.

I started doing the songs about caricatures much later. I had been performing at science fiction conventions, and we were writing comedy music about superheroes and Star Trek and so forth, and I thought, “Where can I find even a smaller audience than that?” And that is how I started writing the caricature songs. Actually, the first couple of songs I wrote were for the Kaman’s Managers conference in who knows what year, maybe 2000. Each park had to do a five-minute presentation on some aspect of the business, and they were really unspecific as to what they were looking for, so I wrote two songs. The first two songs I wrote were “Don’t Blame Me” and “I’m Gonna Draw Ya,” kind of the most obvious of the caricatures songs, I guess you might say, and I performed those at the Managers Conference that year, and people were very appreciative. And it gave me a lot of encouragement to continue writing caricature songs.

'''Debbo: Everybody always asks, “So did you go to school for this?” So … Did you go to school for drawing or did you go to school for music? [Or both?]'''

'''Adam:''' Ironically, I was an English literature major — don’t know what I was thinking — a $60K piece of toilet paper hanging on my wall. If I had known — when I started doing caricatures for a living, being a professional caricature artist — that wasn’t a thing. I had been doing this for seven years as a summer job, before it ever occurred to me, you know, I kept waiting to figure out what I was going to do when I grew up, and one day I thought, “Hey, maybe this is it!” Maybe I could figure a way to do this as a living, and I did not know one other person who did just this as a living. I know a lot of Kaman’s Art Shoppes people that did it seasonally, but they were all in the off-season trying to find a real job. So it was many years before, you know these kids now, they don’t know how good they got it. They’ve got the Internet, so in the first place, training, I mean, my God , you can hop online and look at thousands of amazing caricatures by hundreds of amazing caricature artists. And I had one book. And if you wanted another book, you had to go to the bookstore and like ask them if they had ever heard of another one. And maybe they could order it for you so you could buy it. There wasn’t a way of looking that kind of stuff up. Every time I found a book about caricatures, I would try to buy it. But before the Internet, that was a lot more difficult.

'''Debbo: So like most of us, you weren’t planning on doing caricatures full time. So you mentioned English. Did this kind of tie into your song writing?'''

'''Adam:''' Well, yeah, you know, I was going to be a writer. That was always my ambition. Songwriter is what I turned out to be. I’ve been doing caricatures for so many years that a lot of these younger artists that see my sketch say, oh, uh. They thought it would be better, I guess, because I am not as good as lot of guys these days, you know, it’s true — you can’t wave your arms without hitting 25 amazing caricature artists, and I don’t count myself among them. Although I didn’t end up making my primary living at it, the thing that I always felt I did well was write songs. I enjoy drawing caricatures a lot, and I enjoy writing songs a lot, and I wouldn’t want to give either of them up. People often ask me which one I enjoy more: I wouldn’t want to live without either of them.

'''Debbo:''' Which one of them takes up more of your time, or are they evenly split half and half?

'''Adam:''' Caricatures is what puts bread on my table. So for sure that is more of my time. Music has always been my HOBBY, and that’s not to say I haven’t made a little money at it. My claims to fame, musically speaking, include in 2002, we sold a song to Disney. It was the theme song for a Saturday morning cartoon called (Disney’s) Fillmore! That was an amazing, awesome, really cool cartoon that was on ABC from 2002 to 2004. That was an amazing experience. We got a call one day from Scott M. Gimple, and at the time he was the producer of a very hip Disney show that was in development. The interesting thing about Scott Gimple is he is now the show runner for The Walking Dead, so he did really well for himself. But at that time, we knew who he was because my songwriting partner Rand has an eidetic memory. He is a librarian and remembers everything he has ever heard in his entire life. At that time, we
were still at a point where when someone
ordered one of our CDs online, we
would put it in a box and write their name
on a label. Rand had recognized Scott’s
name because he was the editor of The
Simpsons Episode Guides. That is the kind
of memory he has. So one day we got an
order for all of our CDs from this guy, and
we sent them to him and we noticed he
was in “the industry,” as we say. The next
thing you know, we get a call from him
and one of the executive producers over
at Disney, and they were interested in
buying the song. It was a long process, but
that is what happened, and we got to go
to LA and schmooze with the Illuminati,
and it was just a super cool experience I
will never forget.

'''Debbo: So in “Sketched Out,” there
are (quite a few ) songs that are very
passionate about customers and the
rigmarole that all caricature artists go
through. So I know you were probably
influenced by your job, but were some
of these written on the spot or did you
come home one day and were like “I just
like I had to get this out. I have to get
his on paper”?'''

'''Adam:''' The two songs, there really are
only two in the ilk of which you are talking,
“Ocean of Idiots” and “The Day I Killed
All the Customers.” Those songs were
written back to back one year for the Kaman’s
Art Shoppes Managers conference.
I specifically remember the moment that
the idea for “Ocean of Idiots” occurred to
me. It was a sweltering hot August Saturday
at the theme park that I was working
at. I was at my main fountain plaza stand,
and this would have been at the end of
the season that every caricature manager
knows, that part of the season when all
of the college students have headed back
to school and you have no staff, so you
are probably working a 70-hour weekly
schedule by yourself. I was standing out
there one day and people were walking
by and it was such a dense crowd and I was just looking out over the tops of the
crowd at these people kind of drifting by,
all shuffling by in the heat. If you take a
look at the cover that Steve Brodner drew
for the Sketched Out album, the people
that are walking by at the bottom of this
kind of horizon line of stupid people down
at the bottom of the page and that was
informed by my telling him about that
day, and I just remember that people
were walking by and saying things like
“Hey, how many people can you draw in
a double?! Can you draw my self-portrait,
please?!” And all the things that the
people were saying, and I just stood there and just had a moment of despair and I
thought “I am adrift in an ocean of idiots,”
and the song was pretty much written
by the end of the day, and “The day I
killed all the Customers” was just a logical
extension of that. You know I just had
the idea that rather than actually doing it,
perhaps writing a song about it would be
a more constructive use of that energy.

But I will say, my favorite thing about the
job we all do is the five-minute love affair
I spend every day with as many people
as happen by my stand that I get to sit in
my chair and get to chat with for a couple
of minutes. And I love, love, love the job
that I spend my days doing. I’ve always
felt like those songs, they were kind of
one idea that I had for a song to write
about drawing caricatures, but people just
— WOW — they really caught on to those.
They really latched on to the idea of those.
And that is something we have all felt at
times, but I hope that we all also enjoy
the way that we have chosen to spend our
days or what we are all doing out here.

'''Debbo: So it’s been, what, 11 years
since “Sketched Out” first was released?
Is that true?'''

'''Adam:''' I believe that is so. It was 2005, so
that sounds right.

'''Debbo: And so a lot of people probably
don’t know about all the songs, and
there are some people who probably
want to know where they can get
the CD. Is it available for download or
purchase?'''

'''Adam:''' Now, that’s an interesting story.
The reason that CD got made is because
I had been asked to play, after playing for
several years at the Kaman’s Managers
conference, I had been asked to play at
the — well back then — NCN convention.
So I went up and did the songs that I had
written so far, and I have still — in however
many years I have been performing — I
still have never experienced a room like
that. Like finishing the song, and the never forget it. I had never gotten that
much attention for a song I had written
before. Everybody came up to me and
they’re like, “You’ve gotta record these
songs. Where can I buy this music? I will
give you the money right now!” That
excitement sent me into the studio. At
that point, we still were using a different
producer outside of the band to produce
our music, but I couldn’t afford him for
that record, so I produced the record
myself and it was my first time producing,
and the recording of that album when I
look back at it is very much a mixed bag.
amount of appreciation in that room I will never forget it. I had never gotten that
much attention for a song I had written
before. Everybody came up to me and
they’re like, “You’ve gotta record these
songs. Where can I buy this music? I will
give you the money right now!” That
excitement sent me into the studio. At
that point, we still were using a different
producer outside of the band to produce
our music, but I couldn’t afford him for
that record, so I produced the record
myself and it was my first time producing,
and the recording of that album when I
look back at it is very much a mixed bag.

But, yeah, I made that record myself,
and I really broke the bank on that one.
Just for five or 6 songs...I spent maybe
three grand getting the record produced,
engineered, recorded and reproduced —
having the actual CD made. I made 1,000
copies of the record, and, again, I don’t
know what I was thinking, because there
aren’t even that many caricature artists
out there. After everybody made such a
big deal about how I had to run out immediately
and go record it, I sold 13 copies at
the convention that year. Everybody was,
like, “Hey you’re really great.” And I’d be
like, “Hey, I have this record for sale for
$10,” and they’d be like “Uhhhh, let me
see how my money holds out till the end
of the weekend.” And to this day, I believe
the number of copies of the record that I
sold is not yet 20.

'''Debbo: So do you still have 980 CDs?'''

'''Adam:''' Yes, I do! I sure do. I sure have
boxes of them in my basement.

You know, of the six songs on that album,
four of them are probably the four most
obvious songs you would write about
caricatures. And, you know, I’ve got some
more. I have actually performed some
more songs that aren’t on the album at
the ISCA/NCN conventions, and I’ve got a
bunch more ready to go. My next record
is going to be called Back to the Drawing
Board, and I’m planning on having it out
next year, and I want to have several new
songs as well as new recordings of the old
songs so people can maybe —hopefully —
enjoy them a little bit better.

My original plan was to have it out this
year. As it turns out, I am not going to be
able to go to the convention this year. My
band is guest of honor at a science fiction
convention in Chicago that same time,
so I am not going to be able to make the
convention this year, so I am going to try
to have the record done by next year. But
we’ll see. You know how hobby/artistic
endeavors like that go.

'''Debbo: Yeah, drum up some business
for next year and hopefully you will sell
at least 14.'''

'''Adam:''' Yeah, at least 14. Although I will
tell you something, in this day and age, 14
copies of a CD, that would be great!

'''Debbo: Or maybe just downloads, set
up a store or something. We’ll see.
Alright Adam, it was great talking with
you!'''

'''Adam:''' Debbo, thank you so much.

FROM ADAM ENGLISH
I’m super-proud of the amazing
bunch of artists that have
come out of Darien Lake over
the years, many of whom
appear on the cover of this
issue with me, including my
amazing Canalside business
partner Bill Gallagher, Jeremy
Stock, Brian Oakes, Rob
Dumo, Tim Reed, and Adam
Zyglis, current editorial cartoonist
at the Buffalo news
who won the Pulitzer Prize
for cartooning last year. A lot
of people say that having children
is the greatest joy that
life can bring – I didn’t have
kids, I had these guys.

Check to see where his band is
playing next. Maybe at a sci-fi
convention near you:
www.ooklathemok.com

When Adam isn’t doing the
sci-fi convention circuit, you
may find him drawing here:
www.canalsidecaricatures.com

Can’t wait til his new CD comes
out? Contact him directly to
purchase Sketched Out:
caricaturesbyadam@yahoo.com

Adam English Interview

2020-06-24T15:50:05Z

MelissaAlmariei:

Getting In Tune

with ''Sketched Out''

by Debbie “debbo” Bumeister

What happens when a caricature artist who also writes and performs his own music combines the best of both of his passions? I guess it could be caricatures about music, but in Adam English’s case it was a CD of songs about drawing caricatures. These songs combine the feelings of dealing with caricature customers in a retail environment with some catchy music and lyrics.
Adam was kind enough to answer a few questions over Skype to help enlighten us on how his first caricature song CD came to be and share his thoughts on caricature and what his musical plans are for the future.

'''Debbo: I know you are in a band called Ookla the Mok, and I know you also do caricatures. So which came first, caricatures or music?'''

'''Adam:''' I started doing caricatures in 1987. I was 17 years old, and I started working for Kaman’s out at Darien Lake theme park. At that time they did not have a caricature concession, so I was their first artist. I had actually started training for portraits, which was what they had out there at the time. I met Rich Kaman on my second or third day of training. He asked how I liked it. I had just had my caricature done on a family vacation the year before, and I thought it was cool, so I said what I really wanted to do was caricatures. He had just opened not that long before, with Dino Casterline and Fred Harper, the caricature concessions at Cedar Point and Geauga Lake (theme Parks) in Ohio for Kaman’s. They wanted to open more caricature concessions. They didn’t have anyone to train me, so my mother bought me “How to Draw Caricatures” by Lenn Redman. Although that is a great book, I would not recommend it as the way to learn to draw caricatures. It took me a few years to actually get competent at it. So that is how I started drawing caricatures.

I actually started doing comedy music in about 1992, with my song-writing partner Rand Bellavia, who is my best friend and song- writing partner still to this day. We, as the “filk” rock band Ookla the Mok, perform at science fiction and comic book conventions all over the world. We’ve got six studio albums out as that.

I started doing the songs about caricatures much later. I had been performing at science fiction conventions, and we were writing comedy music about superheroes and Star Trek and so forth, and I thought, “Where can I find even a smaller audience than that?” And that is how I started writing the caricature songs. Actually, the first couple of songs I wrote were for the Kaman’s Managers conference in who knows what year, maybe 2000. Each park had to do a five-minute presentation on some aspect of the business, and they were really unspecific as to what they were looking for, so I wrote two songs. The first two songs I wrote were “Don’t Blame Me” and “I’m Gonna Draw Ya,” kind of the most obvious of the caricatures songs, I guess you might say, and I performed those at the Managers Conference that year, and people were very appreciative. And it gave me a lot of encouragement to continue writing caricature songs.

'''Debbo: Everybody always asks, “So did you go to school for this?” So … Did you go to school for drawing or did you go to school for music? [Or both?]'''

'''Adam:''' Ironically, I was an English literature major — don’t know what I was thinking — a $60K piece of toilet paper hanging on my wall. If I had known — when I started doing caricatures for a living, being a professional caricature artist — that wasn’t a thing. I had been doing this for seven years as a summer job, before it ever occurred to me, you know, I kept waiting to figure out what I was going to do when I grew up, and one day I thought, “Hey, maybe this is it!” Maybe I could figure a way to do this as a living, and I did not know one other person who did just this as a living. I know a lot of Kaman’s Art Shoppes people that did it seasonally, but they were all in the off-season trying to find a real job. So it was many years before, you know these kids now, they don’t know how good they got it. They’ve got the Internet, so in the first place, training, I mean, my God , you can hop online and look at thousands of amazing caricatures by hundreds of amazing caricature artists. And I had one book. And if you wanted another book, you had to go to the bookstore and like ask them if they had ever heard of another one. And maybe they could order it for you so you could buy it. There wasn’t a way of looking that kind of stuff up. Every time I found a book about caricatures, I would try to buy it. But before the Internet, that was a lot more difficult.

'''Debbo: So like most of us, you weren’t planning on doing caricatures full time. So you mentioned English. Did this kind of tie into your song writing?'''

'''Adam:''' Well, yeah, you know, I was going to be a writer. That was always my ambition. Songwriter is what I turned out to be. I’ve been doing caricatures for so many years that a lot of these younger artists that see my sketch say, oh, uh. They thought it would be better, I guess, because I am not as good as lot of guys these days, you know, it’s true — you can’t wave your arms without hitting 25 amazing caricature artists, and I don’t count myself among them. Although I didn’t end up making my primary living at it, the thing that I always felt I did well was write songs. I enjoy drawing caricatures a lot, and I enjoy writing songs a lot, and I wouldn’t want to give either of them up. People often ask me which one I enjoy more: I wouldn’t want to live without either of them.

'''Debbo:''' Which one of them takes up more of your time, or are they evenly split half and half?

'''Adam:''' Caricatures is what puts bread on my table. So for sure that is more of my time. Music has always been my HOBBY, and that’s not to say I haven’t made a little money at it. My claims to fame, musically speaking, include in 2002, we sold a song to Disney. It was the theme song for a Saturday morning cartoon called (Disney’s) Fillmore! That was an amazing, awesome, really cool cartoon that was on ABC from 2002 to 2004. That was an amazing experience. We got a call one day from Scott M. Gimple, and at the time he was the producer of a very hip Disney show that was in development. The interesting thing about Scott Gimple is he is now the show runner for The Walking Dead, so he did really well for himself. But at that time, we knew who he was because my songwriting partner Rand has an eidetic memory. He is a librarian and remembers everything he has ever heard in his entire life. At that time, we
were still at a point where when someone
ordered one of our CDs online, we
would put it in a box and write their name
on a label. Rand had recognized Scott’s
name because he was the editor of The
Simpsons Episode Guides. That is the kind
of memory he has. So one day we got an
order for all of our CDs from this guy, and
we sent them to him and we noticed he
was in “the industry,” as we say. The next
thing you know, we get a call from him
and one of the executive producers over
at Disney, and they were interested in
buying the song. It was a long process, but
that is what happened, and we got to go
to LA and schmooze with the Illuminati,
and it was just a super cool experience I
will never forget.

'''Debbo: So in “Sketched Out,” there
are (quite a few ) songs that are very
passionate about customers and the
rigmarole that all caricature artists go
through. So I know you were probably
influenced by your job, but were some
of these written on the spot or did you
come home one day and were like “I just
like I had to get this out. I have to get
his on paper”?'''

'''Adam:''' The two songs, there really are
only two in the ilk of which you are talking,
“Ocean of Idiots” and “The Day I Killed
All the Customers.” Those songs were
written back to back one year for the Kaman’s
Art Shoppes Managers conference.
I specifically remember the moment that
the idea for “Ocean of Idiots” occurred to
me. It was a sweltering hot August Saturday
at the theme park that I was working
at. I was at my main fountain plaza stand,
and this would have been at the end of
the season that every caricature manager
knows, that part of the season when all
of the college students have headed back
to school and you have no staff, so you
are probably working a 70-hour weekly
schedule by yourself. I was standing out
there one day and people were walking
by and it was such a dense crowd and I was just looking out over the tops of the
crowd at these people kind of drifting by,
all shuffling by in the heat. If you take a
look at the cover that Steve Brodner drew
for the Sketched Out album, the people
that are walking by at the bottom of this
kind of horizon line of stupid people down
at the bottom of the page and that was
informed by my telling him about that
day, and I just remember that people
were walking by and saying things like
“Hey, how many people can you draw in
a double?! Can you draw my self-portrait,
please?!” And all the things that the
people were saying, and I just stood there and just had a moment of despair and I
thought “I am adrift in an ocean of idiots,”
and the song was pretty much written
by the end of the day, and “The day I
killed all the Customers” was just a logical
extension of that. You know I just had
the idea that rather than actually doing it,
perhaps writing a song about it would be
a more constructive use of that energy.

But I will say, my favorite thing about the
job we all do is the five-minute love affair
I spend every day with as many people
as happen by my stand that I get to sit in
my chair and get to chat with for a couple
of minutes. And I love, love, love the job
that I spend my days doing. I’ve always
felt like those songs, they were kind of
one idea that I had for a song to write
about drawing caricatures, but people just
— WOW — they really caught on to those.
They really latched on to the idea of those.
And that is something we have all felt at
times, but I hope that we all also enjoy
the way that we have chosen to spend our
days or what we are all doing out here.

'''Debbo: So it’s been, what, 11 years
since “Sketched Out” first was released?
Is that true?'''

'''Adam:''' I believe that is so. It was 2005, so
that sounds right.

'''Debbo: And so a lot of people probably
don’t know about all the songs, and
there are some people who probably
want to know where they can get
the CD. Is it available for download or
purchase?'''

'''Adam:''' Now, that’s an interesting story.
The reason that CD got made is because
I had been asked to play, after playing for
several years at the Kaman’s Managers
conference, I had been asked to play at
the — well back then — NCN convention.
So I went up and did the songs that I had
written so far, and I have still — in however
many years I have been performing — I
still have never experienced a room like
that. Like finishing the song, and the never forget it. I had never gotten that
much attention for a song I had written
before. Everybody came up to me and
they’re like, “You’ve gotta record these
songs. Where can I buy this music? I will
give you the money right now!” That
excitement sent me into the studio. At
that point, we still were using a different
producer outside of the band to produce
our music, but I couldn’t afford him for
that record, so I produced the record
myself and it was my first time producing,
and the recording of that album when I
look back at it is very much a mixed bag.
amount of appreciation in that room I will never forget it. I had never gotten that
much attention for a song I had written
before. Everybody came up to me and
they’re like, “You’ve gotta record these
songs. Where can I buy this music? I will
give you the money right now!” That
excitement sent me into the studio. At
that point, we still were using a different
producer outside of the band to produce
our music, but I couldn’t afford him for
that record, so I produced the record
myself and it was my first time producing,
and the recording of that album when I
look back at it is very much a mixed bag.

But, yeah, I made that record myself,
and I really broke the bank on that one.
Just for five or 6 songs...I spent maybe
three grand getting the record produced,
engineered, recorded and reproduced —
having the actual CD made. I made 1,000
copies of the record, and, again, I don’t
know what I was thinking, because there
aren’t even that many caricature artists
out there. After everybody made such a
big deal about how I had to run out immediately
and go record it, I sold 13 copies at
the convention that year. Everybody was,
like, “Hey you’re really great.” And I’d be
like, “Hey, I have this record for sale for
$10,” and they’d be like “Uhhhh, let me
see how my money holds out till the end
of the weekend.” And to this day, I believe
the number of copies of the record that I
sold is not yet 20.

'''Debbo: So do you still have 980 CDs?'''

'''Adam:''' Yes, I do! I sure do. I sure have
boxes of them in my basement.

You know, of the six songs on that album,
four of them are probably the four most
obvious songs you would write about
caricatures. And, you know, I’ve got some
more. I have actually performed some
more songs that aren’t on the album at
the ISCA/NCN conventions, and I’ve got a
bunch more ready to go. My next record
is going to be called Back to the Drawing
Board, and I’m planning on having it out
next year, and I want to have several new
songs as well as new recordings of the old
songs so people can maybe —hopefully —
enjoy them a little bit better.

My original plan was to have it out this
year. As it turns out, I am not going to be
able to go to the convention this year. My
band is guest of honor at a science fiction
convention in Chicago that same time,
so I am not going to be able to make the
convention this year, so I am going to try
to have the record done by next year. But
we’ll see. You know how hobby/artistic
endeavors like that go.

'''Debbo: Yeah, drum up some business
for next year and hopefully you will sell
at least 14.'''

'''Adam:''' Yeah, at least 14. Although I will
tell you something, in this day and age, 14
copies of a CD, that would be great!

'''Debbo: Or maybe just downloads, set
up a store or something. We’ll see.
Alright Adam, it was great talking with
you!'''

'''Adam:''' Debbo, thank you so much.

Adam English Interview

2020-06-24T15:43:01Z

MelissaAlmariei:

Getting In Tune

with ''Sketched Out''

by Debbie “debbo” Bumeister

What happens when a caricature artist who also writes and performs his own music combines the best of both of his passions? I guess it could be caricatures about music, but in Adam English’s case it was a CD of songs about drawing caricatures. These songs combine the feelings of dealing with caricature customers in a retail environment with some catchy music and lyrics.
Adam was kind enough to answer a few questions over Skype to help enlighten us on how his first caricature song CD came to be and share his thoughts on caricature and what his musical plans are for the future.

'''Debbo: I know you are in a band called Ookla the Mok, and I know you also do caricatures. So which came first, caricatures or music?'''

'''Adam:''' I started doing caricatures in 1987. I was 17 years old, and I started working for Kaman’s out at Darien Lake theme park. At that time they did not have a caricature concession, so I was their first artist. I had actually started training for portraits, which was what they had out there at the time. I met Rich Kaman on my second or third day of training. He asked how I liked it. I had just had my caricature done on a family vacation the year before, and I thought it was cool, so I said what I really wanted to do was caricatures. He had just opened not that long before, with Dino Casterline and Fred Harper, the caricature concessions at Cedar Point and Geauga Lake (theme Parks) in Ohio for Kaman’s. They wanted to open more caricature concessions. They didn’t have anyone to train me, so my mother bought me “How to Draw Caricatures” by Lenn Redman. Although that is a great book, I would not recommend it as the way to learn to draw caricatures. It took me a few years to actually get competent at it. So that is how I started drawing caricatures.

I actually started doing comedy music in about 1992, with my song-writing partner Rand Bellavia, who is my best friend and song- writing partner still to this day. We, as the “filk” rock band Ookla the Mok, perform at science fiction and comic book conventions all over the world. We’ve got six studio albums out as that.

I started doing the songs about caricatures much later. I had been performing at science fiction conventions, and we were writing comedy music about superheroes and Star Trek and so forth, and I thought, “Where can I find even a smaller audience than that?” And that is how I started writing the caricature songs. Actually, the first couple of songs I wrote were for the Kaman’s Managers conference in who knows what year, maybe 2000. Each park had to do a five-minute presentation on some aspect of the business, and they were really unspecific as to what they were looking for, so I wrote two songs. The first two songs I wrote were “Don’t Blame Me” and “I’m Gonna Draw Ya,” kind of the most obvious of the caricatures songs, I guess you might say, and I performed those at the Managers Conference that year, and people were very appreciative. And it gave me a lot of encouragement to continue writing caricature songs.

'''Debbo: Everybody always asks, “So did you go to school for this?” So … Did you go to school for drawing or did you go to school for music? [Or both?]'''

'''Adam:''' Ironically, I was an English literature major — don’t know what I was thinking — a $60K piece of toilet paper hanging on my wall. If I had known — when I started doing caricatures for a living, being a professional caricature artist — that wasn’t a thing. I had been doing this for seven years as a summer job, before it ever occurred to me, you know, I kept waiting to figure out what I was going to do when I grew up, and one day I thought, “Hey, maybe this is it!” Maybe I could figure a way to do this as a living, and I did not know one other person who did just this as a living. I know a lot of Kaman’s Art Shoppes people that did it seasonally, but they were all in the off-season trying to find a real job. So it was many years before, you know these kids now, they don’t know how good they got it. They’ve got the Internet, so in the first place, training, I mean, my God , you can hop online and look at thousands of amazing caricatures by hundreds of amazing caricature artists. And I had one book. And if you wanted another book, you had to go to the bookstore and like ask them if they had ever heard of another one. And maybe they could order it for you so you could buy it. There wasn’t a way of looking that kind of stuff up. Every time I found a book about caricatures, I would try to buy it. But before the Internet, that was a lot more difficult.

'''Debbo: So like most of us, you weren’t planning on doing caricatures full time. So you mentioned English. Did this kind of tie into your song writing?'''

'''Adam:''' Well, yeah, you know, I was going to be a writer. That was always my ambition. Songwriter is what I turned out to be. I’ve been doing caricatures for so many years that a lot of these younger artists that see my sketch say, oh, uh. They thought it would be better, I guess, because I am not as good as lot of guys these days, you know, it’s true — you can’t wave your arms without hitting 25 amazing caricature artists, and I don’t count myself among them. Although I didn’t end up making my primary living at it, the thing that I always felt I did well was write songs. I enjoy drawing caricatures a lot, and I enjoy writing songs a lot, and I wouldn’t want to give either of them up. People often ask me which one I enjoy more: I wouldn’t want to live without either of them.

'''Debbo:''' Which one of them takes up more of your time, or are they evenly split half and half?

'''Adam:''' Caricatures is what puts bread on my table. So for sure that is more of my time. Music has always been my HOBBY, and that’s not to say I haven’t made a little money at it. My claims to fame, musically speaking, include in 2002, we sold a song to Disney. It was the theme song for a Saturday morning cartoon called (Disney’s) Fillmore! That was an amazing, awesome, really cool cartoon that was on ABC from 2002 to 2004. That was an amazing experience. We got a call one day from Scott M. Gimple, and at the time he was the producer of a very hip Disney show that was in development. The interesting thing about Scott Gimple is he is now the show runner for The Walking Dead, so he did really well for himself. But at that time, we knew who he was because my songwriting partner Rand has an eidetic memory. He is a librarian and remembers everything he has ever heard in his entire life. At that time, we
were still at a point where when someone
ordered one of our CDs online, we
would put it in a box and write their name
on a label. Rand had recognized Scott’s
name because he was the editor of The
Simpsons Episode Guides. That is the kind
of memory he has. So one day we got an
order for all of our CDs from this guy, and
we sent them to him and we noticed he
was in “the industry,” as we say. The next
thing you know, we get a call from him
and one of the executive producers over
at Disney, and they were interested in
buying the song. It was a long process, but
that is what happened, and we got to go
to LA and schmooze with the Illuminati,
and it was just a super cool experience I
will never forget.

'''Debbo: So in “Sketched Out,” there
are (quite a few ) songs that are very
passionate about customers and the
rigmarole that all caricature artists go
through. So I know you were probably
influenced by your job, but were some
of these written on the spot or did you
come home one day and were like “I just
like I had to get this out. I have to get
his on paper”?'''

'''Adam:''' The two songs, there really are
only two in the ilk of which you are talking,
“Ocean of Idiots” and “The Day I Killed
All the Customers.” Those songs were
written back to back one year for the Kaman’s
Art Shoppes Managers conference.
I specifically remember the moment that
the idea for “Ocean of Idiots” occurred to
me. It was a sweltering hot August Saturday
at the theme park that I was working
at. I was at my main fountain plaza stand,
and this would have been at the end of
the season that every caricature manager
knows, that part of the season when all
of the college students have headed back
to school and you have no staff, so you
are probably working a 70-hour weekly
schedule by yourself. I was standing out
there one day and people were walking
by and it was such a dense crowd and I was just looking out over the tops of the
crowd at these people kind of drifting by,
all shuffling by in the heat. If you take a
look at the cover that Steve Brodner drew
for the Sketched Out album, the people
that are walking by at the bottom of this
kind of horizon line of stupid people down
at the bottom of the page and that was
informed by my telling him about that
day, and I just remember that people
were walking by and saying things like
“Hey, how many people can you draw in
a double?! Can you draw my self-portrait,
please?!” And all the things that the
people were saying, and I just stood there and just had a moment of despair and I
thought “I am adrift in an ocean of idiots,”
and the song was pretty much written
by the end of the day, and “The day I
killed all the Customers” was just a logical
extension of that. You know I just had
the idea that rather than actually doing it,
perhaps writing a song about it would be
a more constructive use of that energy.

But I will say, my favorite thing about the
job we all do is the five-minute love affair
I spend every day with as many people
as happen by my stand that I get to sit in
my chair and get to chat with for a couple
of minutes. And I love, love, love the job
that I spend my days doing. I’ve always
felt like those songs, they were kind of
one idea that I had for a song to write
about drawing caricatures, but people just
— WOW — they really caught on to those.
They really latched on to the idea of those.
And that is something we have all felt at
times, but I hope that we all also enjoy
the way that we have chosen to spend our
days or what we are all doing out here.

'''Debbo: So it’s been, what, 11 years
since “Sketched Out” first was released?
Is that true?'''

'''Adam:''' I believe that is so. It was 2005, so
that sounds right.

'''Debbo: And so a lot of people probably
don’t know about all the songs, and
there are some people who probably
want to know where they can get
the CD. Is it available for download or
purchase?'''

'''Adam:''' Now, that’s an interesting story.
The reason that CD got made is because
I had been asked to play, after playing for
several years at the Kaman’s Managers
conference, I had been asked to play at
the — well back then — NCN convention.
So I went up and did the songs that I had
written so far, and I have still — in however
many years I have been performing — I
still have never experienced a room like
that. Like finishing the song, and the never forget it. I had never gotten that
much attention for a song I had written
before. Everybody came up to me and
they’re like, “You’ve gotta record these
songs. Where can I buy this music? I will
give you the money right now!” That
excitement sent me into the studio. At
that point, we still were using a different
producer outside of the band to produce
our music, but I couldn’t afford him for
that record, so I produced the record
myself and it was my first time producing,
and the recording of that album when I
look back at it is very much a mixed bag.
amount of appreciation in that room I will

Adam English Interview

2020-06-24T15:39:15Z

MelissaAlmariei: Created page with "Getting In Tune with ''Sketched Out'' by Debbie “debbo” Bumeister What happens when a caricature artist who also writes and performs his own music combines the best of..."

Cover Tunes

2020-06-24T15:33:35Z

MelissaAlmariei: Created page with "Hi caricature world! I just want to say that I am super honored to be on the cover of Exaggerated Features! Thanks to everyone who thought my drawings were actually funny for..."

Hi caricature world!

I just want to say that I am super honored
to be on the cover of Exaggerated Features!
Thanks to everyone who thought
my drawings were actually funny for the
last couple conventions. I always try to
tell a story and make my audience laugh
with every piece so hopefully you got a
little chuckle out of this one. The video
shows most of my process so I'm going to
take this opportunity to tell some of the
backstory.

When Debbie told me they were doing
an article about my friends Adam English
and Eric Goodwin and their music, I was
so excited. Adam trained me to draw
caricatures way back in 2003 and without
him my life would be completely different.
Probably better but, still, I owe him. I also
had the pleasure of working and living
with Eric in San Diego. His work melts my
brain and his coloring techniques light my
eyes with technicolor flames. He's cool.

With the Pokemon Go! craze in full effect
I couldn't think of anything more topical
and fun to draw and I ﬁgured it was a cool
opportunity to put a bunch of my friends
into the mix. Adam is Lickitung and Eric
is Psyduck, if you're unfamiliar with the
whole Pokemon thing (I was too!). Beau
Hufford, Sakiko 'Satsu' Ushioda, Nate Kap,
Brian Oakes and Bob Camp (not a personal
friend, but a personal hero!) make
up the other Pokemon. I share most of
my ideas with Beau and he always makes
them better and six times funnier. It was
his idea to have everyone on their phones
and completely ignoring all the action
going on.

Behind them is the rest of the Buffalo caricature
crew as the Pokemon catcher people:
Bill Gallagher, Myself, and Rob Dumo.
I was so lucky to grow up in Buffalo and
learn from a bunch of incredible world
class caricature artists. I've worked for all of them and they will all tell you how
great an employee I am; always on time.

Finally, to the left, is "team Rocket" of
Stacy Pierce, Matt Zitman, and Sean
Favre who, besides inspiring me, have become
great friends and always make me
laugh. Conventions are exactly 3.4 times
more fun with them around... Except for
Matt.

This is my ﬁrst completely digital piece.
I originally planned to redo the entire thing in watercolor after sketching it out
digitally, but I've been really enjoying
drawing on my iPad Pro and thought
what better time to jump in head ﬁrst
and do something I've never done before
than with the cover of Exaggerated
Features! Hope you guys dig it and don't
ﬁgure out that I'm usually the least funny
guy in the room.

Love you guys!

Jeremy

A word or two from the Prez (Exaggerated Features 2016.3)

2020-06-24T15:27:39Z

MelissaAlmariei:

Hello, ISCA members! Wow, has the Summer season kept you busy? I know we have been! With all of our kind in the parks, fairs and events during the busy season I hope all you have survived this really hot summer. I think I almost stopped sweating today…nope, typed too soon. Well, either way, I hope this season brought you tons of fortune in both the art side and the monetary side.

The board and I have been plugging away at planning the convention for 2016 and have finally announced all of our amazing guest speakers. We have had Greg “The King of Sting” Dohlen make a teaser trailer for us showcasing all our featured guest speakers. Heres a link to check it out:
https://videos.smugmug.com/ISCACON25-Speakers/i-T36cx5r/0/SMIL/T36cx5r.smil/master.m3u8.

Doesn’t that get you all excited inside! I know it does for me. We are working hard to make this con the biggest one yet and leaving out none of the stops. This will definitly be a convention to remember, so register ASAP! The deadline for early registration ($225) is August 31st. Go to our website, register and save some money! If you are curious about all of the other convention details, check out the convention section of this issue and keep your eyes open for more info in the next magazine on #ISCACON25.

This magazine features some fun articles from two of our musically talented artists as well, Adam English and Eric Goodwin. Jeremy Stock (multiple most Humorous winner) drew them as our Pokemon Go inspired Cover and Its a real fun time to watch his process recorded. It also features articles about two of our groups and events from Japan and Canada which display how truly international we have become.

We have had a really great response to our new meet the artist section in our monthly Facebook Challenge. There are lots of amazing drawings happening on there and if you haven’t looked yet, you need to do so right now and throw your sketch into the arena!

Also at this time, we are accepting nominations to be apart of the board. As of now, the five of us wish and plan on staying on for another year, but that doesn’t stop you from being part of the team. If you have interest please see page 5 for nomination information.

Thank you so much for being a part of this great organization and keep sending in articles and drawings.

Cheers!

Matt Zitman

President of the International

Society of Caricature Artists

Instagram@zitman

iscaprez@gmail.com

A word or two from the Prez (Exaggerated Features 2016.3)

2020-06-24T15:27:21Z

MelissaAlmariei: Created page with "Hello, ISCA members! Wow, has the Summer season kept you busy? I know we have been! With all of our kind in the parks, fairs and events during the busy season I hope all you h..."

Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3

2020-06-24T15:24:38Z

MelissaAlmariei:

{{Infobox book
| italic title = Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3
| name = Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3
| image = EF2016.3Cover.png
| image_size = 220px
| border = yes
| alt =
| caption =
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| language = English
| series =
| release_number =
| subject =
| genre = Art
| set_in =
| publisher = [[ISCA]]
| publisher2 =
| pub_date =
| english_pub_date =
| published =
| media_type =
| pages = 30
| awards =
| preceded_by = [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.2|EF Issue 2016.2]]
| followed_by = [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.4|EF Issue 2016.4]]
| native_wikisource =
| exclude_cover =
| website = [http://Caricature.org caricature.org]
}}
[[Exaggerated Features]] issue 2016.3 was released ?? INSERT FURTHER TEXT ABOUT THE ISSUE HERE.
[[File:EF2016.3XPPENad.png|thumb|260px|right|Full page ad for ISCAcon28 sponsor [http://www.xp-pen.com/ XP-Pen], featured on page 3 of EF 2016.3]]
==Editorials==
* [[From the Editor (Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3)|From the Editor]]
* [[A word or two from the Prez (Exaggerated Features 2016.3)|A word or two from the Prez]]

==Articles==
* [[Cover Tunes ]]
* [[Adam English Interview]]
* [[Being Bob Camp]]
* [[Jeju Convention]]
* [[Exaggerated Art Tunes]]

==Extras==
* [[About the Cover (2016.3)|About the Cover]]
* [[Call for Board Nominations 2016]]
* [[2016 Convention Info]]

==Trivia==
* '''Any fun facts?'''

==Sponsors in this issue==
* [https://www.escapemotions.com/products/rebelle/ Rebelle 3]
* [http://Memphistravel.com Memphis Tourism]
* [https://www.xp-pen.com/ XP-Pen]
* [https://www.artsupplywarehouse.com/ Art Supply Warehouse]
* [http://www.thecaliforniaboys.com/ The California Boys]
* [https://www.zebrapen.com/ Zebra]

==Download Issue==
[http://wiki.caricature.org/wiki/EF_PDFS/EF2016.3.pdf EF Issue 2016.3 - PDF]

==See Also==
* [[Exaggerated Features]]
* [[??]]
* [[??]]

==Fine Print==
Although we have made every effort to ensure
that the information in this magazine was correct
at press time, the editor and board do not
assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any
party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused
by errors or omissions, whether such errors or
omissions result from negligence, accident, or
any other cause.

Published and ©2017 by the International Society of Caricature Artists. Exaggerated Features is published quarterly
by the International Society of Caricature Artists for the private use of its members. The views expressed by individuals
are not necessarily those of the International Society of Caricature Artists or its membership as a whole. Any
reproduction or reprinting without written consent of the International Society of Caricature Artists board of directors
is prohibited. All artwork and articles submitted to the newsletter become property of International Society of
Caricature Artists, will be kept on file and may be used for the non-profit needs of the association.

==Navigation Box==
This Navigation box may not show up on mobile browsers. Please see [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3]] for the full contents of this issue if the navigation box does not display.
{{Navbox
| name = Navbox/doc
| title = [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3]]
| listclass = hlist
| image = [[File:EF2016.3Cover.png|80px]]
| imageleft = [[File:EF2016.3Cover.png|80px]]
| list1 =
* '''Editorials''': [[From the Editor (Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3)|From the Editor]] • [[Letter_From_The_Prez_(Exaggerated_Features_2016.3)|Letter from the Prez]]
| list2 =
* '''Articles''': [[Cover Tunes ]] • [[Adam English Interview]] • [[Being Bob Camp]] • [[Jeju Convention]] • [[Exaggerated Art Tunes]]
| list3 =
* '''Extras''': [[About the Cover (2016.3)|About the Cover]] • [[Call for Board Nominations 2016]] • [[2016 Convention Info]]
| list4 =
* '''Sponsors in this issue''': [https://www.escapemotions.com/products/rebelle/ Rebelle 3] • [http://Memphistravel.com Memphis Tourism] • [https://www.xp-pen.com/ XP-Pen] • [https://www.artsupplywarehouse.com/ Art Supply Warehouse] • [http://www.thecaliforniaboys.com/ The California Boys] • [https://www.zebrapen.com/ Zebra]
| list5 =
* Visit [http://www.caricature.org Caricature.Org] for more information • Follow ISCA on [http://Facebook.com/ISCACaricatures Facebook] and [http://Instagram.com/ISCACaricatures Instagram]
}}

Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3

2020-06-24T15:24:14Z

MelissaAlmariei:

{{Infobox book
| italic title = Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3
| name = Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3
| image = EF2016.3Cover.png
| image_size = 220px
| border = yes
| alt =
| caption =
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| language = English
| series =
| release_number =
| subject =
| genre = Art
| set_in =
| publisher = [[ISCA]]
| publisher2 =
| pub_date =
| english_pub_date =
| published =
| media_type =
| pages = 30
| awards =
| preceded_by = [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.2|EF Issue 2016.2]]
| followed_by = [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.4|EF Issue 2016.4]]
| native_wikisource =
| exclude_cover =
| website = [http://Caricature.org caricature.org]
}}
[[Exaggerated Features]] issue 2016.3 was released ?? INSERT FURTHER TEXT ABOUT THE ISSUE HERE.
[[File:EF2016.3XPPENad.png|thumb|260px|right|Full page ad for ISCAcon28 sponsor [http://www.xp-pen.com/ XP-Pen], featured on page 3 of EF 2016.3]]
==Editorials==
* [[From the Editor (Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3)|From the Editor]]
* [[A word or two from the Prez (Exaggerated Features 2016.3)|Letter from the Prez]]

==Articles==
* [[Cover Tunes ]]
* [[Adam English Interview]]
* [[Being Bob Camp]]
* [[Jeju Convention]]
* [[Exaggerated Art Tunes]]

==Extras==
* [[About the Cover (2016.3)|About the Cover]]
* [[Call for Board Nominations 2016]]
* [[2016 Convention Info]]

==Trivia==
* '''Any fun facts?'''

==Sponsors in this issue==
* [https://www.escapemotions.com/products/rebelle/ Rebelle 3]
* [http://Memphistravel.com Memphis Tourism]
* [https://www.xp-pen.com/ XP-Pen]
* [https://www.artsupplywarehouse.com/ Art Supply Warehouse]
* [http://www.thecaliforniaboys.com/ The California Boys]
* [https://www.zebrapen.com/ Zebra]

==Download Issue==
[http://wiki.caricature.org/wiki/EF_PDFS/EF2016.3.pdf EF Issue 2016.3 - PDF]

==See Also==
* [[Exaggerated Features]]
* [[??]]
* [[??]]

==Fine Print==
Although we have made every effort to ensure
that the information in this magazine was correct
at press time, the editor and board do not
assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any
party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused
by errors or omissions, whether such errors or
omissions result from negligence, accident, or
any other cause.

Published and ©2017 by the International Society of Caricature Artists. Exaggerated Features is published quarterly
by the International Society of Caricature Artists for the private use of its members. The views expressed by individuals
are not necessarily those of the International Society of Caricature Artists or its membership as a whole. Any
reproduction or reprinting without written consent of the International Society of Caricature Artists board of directors
is prohibited. All artwork and articles submitted to the newsletter become property of International Society of
Caricature Artists, will be kept on file and may be used for the non-profit needs of the association.

==Navigation Box==
This Navigation box may not show up on mobile browsers. Please see [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3]] for the full contents of this issue if the navigation box does not display.
{{Navbox
| name = Navbox/doc
| title = [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3]]
| listclass = hlist
| image = [[File:EF2016.3Cover.png|80px]]
| imageleft = [[File:EF2016.3Cover.png|80px]]
| list1 =
* '''Editorials''': [[From the Editor (Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3)|From the Editor]] • [[Letter_From_The_Prez_(Exaggerated_Features_2016.3)|Letter from the Prez]]
| list2 =
* '''Articles''': [[Cover Tunes ]] • [[Adam English Interview]] • [[Being Bob Camp]] • [[Jeju Convention]] • [[Exaggerated Art Tunes]]
| list3 =
* '''Extras''': [[About the Cover (2016.3)|About the Cover]] • [[Call for Board Nominations 2016]] • [[2016 Convention Info]]
| list4 =
* '''Sponsors in this issue''': [https://www.escapemotions.com/products/rebelle/ Rebelle 3] • [http://Memphistravel.com Memphis Tourism] • [https://www.xp-pen.com/ XP-Pen] • [https://www.artsupplywarehouse.com/ Art Supply Warehouse] • [http://www.thecaliforniaboys.com/ The California Boys] • [https://www.zebrapen.com/ Zebra]
| list5 =
* Visit [http://www.caricature.org Caricature.Org] for more information • Follow ISCA on [http://Facebook.com/ISCACaricatures Facebook] and [http://Instagram.com/ISCACaricatures Instagram]
}}

Letter From The Prez (Exaggerated Features 2016.3)

2020-06-24T15:22:59Z

MelissaAlmariei:

Hello, ISCA members! Wow, has the Summer season kept you busy? I know we have been! With all of our kind in the parks, fairs and events during the busy season I hope all you have survived this really hot summer. I think I almost stopped sweating today…nope, typed too soon. Well, either way, I hope this season brought you tons of fortune in both the art side and the monetary side.

The board and I have been plugging away at planning the convention for 2016 and have finally announced all of our amazing guest speakers. We have had Greg “The King of Sting” Dohlen make a teaser trailer for us showcasing all our featured guest speakers. Heres a link to check it out:
https://videos.smugmug.com/ISCACON25-Speakers/i-T36cx5r/0/SMIL/T36cx5r.smil/master.m3u8.

Doesn’t that get you all excited inside! I know it does for me. We are working hard to make this con the biggest one yet and leaving out none of the stops. This will definitly be a convention to remember, so register ASAP! The deadline for early registration ($225) is August 31st. Go to our website, register and save some money! If you are curious about all of the other convention details, check out the convention section of this issue and keep your eyes open for more info in the next magazine on #ISCACON25.

This magazine features some fun articles from two of our musically talented artists as well, Adam English and Eric Goodwin. Jeremy Stock (multiple most Humorous winner) drew them as our Pokemon Go inspired Cover and Its a real fun time to watch his process recorded. It also features articles about two of our groups and events from Japan and Canada which display how truly international we have become.

We have had a really great response to our new meet the artist section in our monthly Facebook Challenge. There are lots of amazing drawings happening on there and if you haven’t looked yet, you need to do so right now and throw your sketch into the arena!

Also at this time, we are accepting nominations to be apart of the board. As of now, the five of us wish and plan on staying on for another year, but that doesn’t stop you from being part of the team. If you have interest please see page 5 for nomination information.

Thank you so much for being a part of this great organization and keep sending in articles and drawings.
Cheers!
Matt Zitman

President of the International

Society of Caricature Artists

Instagram@zitman

iscaprez@gmail.com

Letter From The Prez (Exaggerated Features 2016.3)

2020-06-24T15:22:22Z

Hello, ISCA members! Wow, has the Summer season kept you busy? I know we have been! With all of our kind in the parks, fairs and events during the busy season I hope all you have survived this really hot summer. I think I almost stopped sweating today…nope, typed too soon. Well, either way, I hope this season brought you tons of fortune in both the art side and the monetary side.

The board and I have been plugging away at planning the convention for 2016 and have finally announced all of our amazing guest speakers. We have had Greg “The King of Sting” Dohlen make a teaser trailer for us showcasing all our featured guest speakers. Heres a link to check it out:
https://videos.smugmug.com/ISCACON25-Speakers/i-T36cx5r/0/SMIL/T36cx5r.smil/master.m3u8.

Doesn’t that get you all excited inside! I know it does for me. We are working hard to make this con the biggest one yet and leaving out none of the stops. This will definitly be a convention to remember, so register ASAP! The deadline for early registration ($225) is August 31st. Go to our website, register and save some money! If you are curious about all of the other convention details, check out the convention section of this issue and keep your eyes open for more info in the next magazine on #ISCACON25.

This magazine features some fun articles from two of our musically talented artists as well, Adam English and Eric Goodwin. Jeremy Stock (multiple most Humorous winner) drew them as our Pokemon Go inspired Cover and Its a real fun time to watch his process recorded. It also features articles about two of our groups and events from Japan and Canada which display how truly international we have become.

We have had a really great response to our new meet the artist section in our monthly Facebook Challenge. There are lots of amazing drawings happening on there and if you haven’t looked yet, you need to do so right now and throw your sketch into the arena!

Also at this time, we are accepting nominations to be apart of the board. As of now, the five of us wish and plan on staying on for another year, but that doesn’t stop you from being part of the team. If you have interest please see page 5 for nomination information.

Thank you so much for being a part of this great organization and keep sending in articles and drawings.
Cheers!
Matt Zitman
President of the International
Society of Caricature Artists
Instagram@zitman
iscaprez@gmail.com

From the Editor (Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3)

2020-06-24T15:20:35Z

MelissaAlmariei:

Hello again! Welcome to
the second and final
interactive PDF issue of
2016. Just a reminder that the
next two issues, the pre- and
post-con, will be printed. We
hope for the pre-con issue to be
mailed out by early October and
the post-con issue to arrive no
later than mid-February.

Sometime last year, I received
an email from Eric Goodwin asking
if I still had a copy of Adam
English’s CD Sketched Out? Of
course, I did. It seems that Eric
was writing a few songs of his
own that had a similar theme.
That email led to two of the
three interviews in this issue. In
our first interview, Adam English
talks about his career as an
established “filk” singer and reflects
on what compelled him to
produce his first, and probably
first ever in the world, caricature-
themed CD back in 2005.
(You read that correctly, “Filk”
is a term for genre of music connected
to the sci-fi and fantasy
community.)

In the second interview (or
should I say SELF-interview)
Eric Goodwin interviews himself
and shares one of his new songs
about drawing caricatures. See
page 17 on how you can download
Eric’s song for free. In the
third one, Ben Vincent interviews
one of the founders of Ren
and Stimpy, Bob Camp.

Time to announce nominations
for the board. Know someone
who would make a great leader
or maybe you want to step
forward yourself? If so, see page
5 for details.

It seems there is always a caricature-
related gathering going on
somewhere in the world. In this
issue, we get a brief glimpse into
two recent art gatherings across
the globe. Canadian member
Robert LaFontaine highlights
what we missed at the latest
gathering of the Association of
Canadian Cartoonists. In the
other article, ISCA member
Beau Hufford offers his take on
his latest trip to Japan for the
Caricature Japan Festa. If you
want to get in on the action,
there is information for the
caricature mini-con near Seoul,
hosted the Korean Chapter of
ISCA, on page 24.

Also, don’t forget to book your
rooms for one of the largest caricature
gatherings in the world:
the annual convention in Phoenix.
You will find everything you
need to know starting on page
6, followed by a sneak peek of
the current line-up of seminars
and presenters. Lastly, we are
always looking for new ideas
and new contributors for this
magazine. Let us know!

Debbie “debbo” Burmeister

Exaggerated Features

Editor/Art Director

efeditor.isca@gmail.com

From the Editor (Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3)

2020-06-24T15:20:13Z

MelissaAlmariei:

Hello again! Welcome to
the second and final
interactive PDF issue of
2016. Just a reminder that the
next two issues, the pre- and
post-con, will be printed. We
hope for the pre-con issue to be
mailed out by early October and
the post-con issue to arrive no
later than mid-February.

Sometime last year, I received
an email from Eric Goodwin asking
if I still had a copy of Adam
English’s CD Sketched Out? Of
course, I did. It seems that Eric
was writing a few songs of his
own that had a similar theme.
That email led to two of the
three interviews in this issue. In
our first interview, Adam English
talks about his career as an
established “filk” singer and reflects
on what compelled him to
produce his first, and probably
first ever in the world, caricature-
themed CD back in 2005.
(You read that correctly, “Filk”
is a term for genre of music connected
to the sci-fi and fantasy
community.)

In the second interview (or
should I say SELF-interview)
Eric Goodwin interviews himself
and shares one of his new songs
about drawing caricatures. See
page 17 on how you can download
Eric’s song for free. In the
third one, Ben Vincent interviews
one of the founders of Ren
and Stimpy, Bob Camp.

Time to announce nominations
for the board. Know someone
who would make a great leader
or maybe you want to step
forward yourself? If so, see page
5 for details.

It seems there is always a caricature-
related gathering going on
somewhere in the world. In this
issue, we get a brief glimpse into
two recent art gatherings across
the globe. Canadian member
Robert LaFontaine highlights
what we missed at the latest
gathering of the Association of
Canadian Cartoonists. In the
other article, ISCA member
Beau Hufford offers his take on
his latest trip to Japan for the
Caricature Japan Festa. If you
want to get in on the action,
there is information for the
caricature mini-con near Seoul,
hosted the Korean Chapter of
ISCA, on page 24.

Also, don’t forget to book your
rooms for one of the largest caricature
gatherings in the world:
the annual convention in Phoenix.
You will find everything you
need to know starting on page
6, followed by a sneak peek of
the current line-up of seminars
and presenters. Lastly, we are
always looking for new ideas
and new contributors for this
magazine. Let us know!

Debbie “debbo” Burmeister
Exaggerated Features

Editor/Art Director

efeditor.isca@gmail.com

From the Editor (Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3)

2020-06-24T15:19:50Z

MelissaAlmariei:

From the Editor (Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3)

2020-06-24T15:19:22Z

MelissaAlmariei:

Hello again! Welcome to
the second and final
interactive PDF issue of
2016. Just a reminder that the
next two issues, the pre- and
post-con, will be printed. We
hope for the pre-con issue to be
mailed out by early October and
the post-con issue to arrive no
later than mid-February.

Sometime last year, I received
an email from Eric Goodwin asking
if I still had a copy of Adam
English’s CD Sketched Out? Of
course, I did. It seems that Eric
was writing a few songs of his
own that had a similar theme.
That email led to two of the
three interviews in this issue. In
our first interview, Adam English
talks about his career as an
established “filk” singer and reflects
on what compelled him to
produce his first, and probably
first ever in the world, caricature-
themed CD back in 2005.
(You read that correctly, “Filk”
is a term for genre of music connected
to the sci-fi and fantasy
community.)

In the second interview (or
should I say SELF-interview)
Eric Goodwin interviews himself
and shares one of his new songs
about drawing caricatures. See
page 17 on how you can download
Eric’s song for free. In the
third one, Ben Vincent interviews
one of the founders of Ren
and Stimpy, Bob Camp.

Time to announce nominations
for the board. Know someone
who would make a great leader
or maybe you want to step
forward yourself? If so, see page
5 for details.

It seems there is always a caricature-
related gathering going on
somewhere in the world. In this
issue, we get a brief glimpse into
two recent art gatherings across
the globe. Canadian member
Robert LaFontaine highlights
what we missed at the latest
gathering of the Association of
Canadian Cartoonists. In the
other article, ISCA member
Beau Hufford offers his take on
his latest trip to Japan for the
Caricature Japan Festa. If you
want to get in on the action,
there is information for the
caricature mini-con near Seoul,
hosted the Korean Chapter of
ISCA, on page 24.

Also, don’t forget to book your
rooms for one of the largest caricature
gatherings in the world:
the annual convention in Phoenix.
You will find everything you
need to know starting on page
6, followed by a sneak peek of
the current line-up of seminars
and presenters. Lastly, we are
always looking for new ideas
and new contributors for this
magazine. Let us know!

Debbie “debbo” Burmeister
Exaggerated Features
Editor/Art Director
efeditor.isca@gmail.com

From the Editor (Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3)

2020-06-24T15:17:38Z

MelissaAlmariei: Created page with "Hello again! Welcome to the second and final interactive PDF issue of 2016. Just a reminder that the next two issues, the pre- and post-con, will be printed. We hope for the p..."

Hello again! Welcome to
the second and final
interactive PDF issue of
2016. Just a reminder that the
next two issues, the pre- and
post-con, will be printed. We
hope for the pre-con issue to be
mailed out by early October and
the post-con issue to arrive no
later than mid-February.
Sometime last year, I received
an email from Eric Goodwin asking
if I still had a copy of Adam
English’s CD Sketched Out? Of
course, I did. It seems that Eric
was writing a few songs of his
own that had a similar theme.
That email led to two of the
three interviews in this issue. In
our first interview, Adam English
talks about his career as an
established “filk” singer and reflects
on what compelled him to
produce his first, and probably
first ever in the world, caricature-
themed CD back in 2005.
(You read that correctly, “Filk”
is a term for genre of music connected
to the sci-fi and fantasy
community.)
In the second interview (or
should I say SELF-interview)
Eric Goodwin interviews himself
and shares one of his new songs
about drawing caricatures. See
page 17 on how you can download
Eric’s song for free. In the
third one, Ben Vincent interviews
one of the founders of Ren
and Stimpy, Bob Camp.
Time to announce nominations
for the board. Know someone
who would make a great leader
or maybe you want to step
forward yourself? If so, see page
5 for details.
It seems there is always a caricature-
related gathering going on
somewhere in the world. In this
issue, we get a brief glimpse into
two recent art gatherings across
the globe. Canadian member
Robert LaFontaine highlights
what we missed at the latest
gathering of the Association of
Canadian Cartoonists. In the
other article, ISCA member
Beau Hufford offers his take on
his latest trip to Japan for the
Caricature Japan Festa. If you
want to get in on the action,
there is information for the
caricature mini-con near Seoul,
hosted the Korean Chapter of
ISCA, on page 24.
Also, don’t forget to book your
rooms for one of the largest caricature
gatherings in the world:
the annual convention in Phoenix.
You will find everything you
need to know starting on page
6, followed by a sneak peek of
the current line-up of seminars
and presenters. Lastly, we are
always looking for new ideas
and new contributors for this
magazine. Let us know!
Debbie “debbo” Burmeister
Exaggerated Features
Editor/Art Director
efeditor.isca@gmail.com

Exaggerated Features Issue 2010.1

2020-06-24T15:12:15Z

MelissaAlmariei:

{{Infobox book
| italic title = 
| name = Exaggerated Features Issue 2010.1
| image = 
| image_size = 260px
| border = yes
| alt =
| caption = 
| author = 
| illustrator = Jason Seiler
| subject = 
| genre = 
| published = [[EF Issue 2010.1]]
| pub_date = 2010.1
| media_type = 
| pages = 
| preceded_by = 
| followed_by = 
| notes =
| website = {{unbulleted list|[http://wiki.caricature.org/wiki/EF_PDFS/EF201?.?.pdf Full Issue PDF],|courtesy of {{URL|caricature.org}}}}
}}
Exaggerated Features issue 2010.1 was released in the winter of 2010 both digitally and in print for ISCA members. It is the Post-Con issue for #ISCAcon18 (2009 Sandusky, Ohio).(s).

==Article Transcript==
[[File:RelevantImage1.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]
[[File:RelevantImage2.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]
[[File:RelevantImage3.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]

As per the tradition, last year’s Golden Nosey winner,
Jason Seiler, has the honor of caricaturing this year’s big
winner, Glenn Ferguson. Here’s what Jason had to say
about his take on the cover:
“I can hardly think of Glenn without also thinking of JoAnn by his side. They are a great couple, both filled with so
much character and obvious love for one another. So obviously, I couldn’t paint this year’s Gold Nosey winner
without his trusty companion. I’m not sure who wanted that Gold Nosey more, Glenn or JoAnn? Hee Heee! I can
picture them at home watching CSI Miami, and taking turns holding the Nosey, hugging it, kissing it, and finally
reading it good night stories before bed. I’m sure there will be situations when JoAnn will have to remove the
Nosey and hold Glenn back . . . . ‘Not now Glenn, you can hold your Nosey later!’ Congrats, Glenn!”

===== Step One: Main Swipe =====
Find an AWESOME shot of the subject! This is where everything starts and stops for me. Don’t settle for anything less. Take the extra time needed to nail this rule. I always take as much time as possible to find the greatest photo/image that really captures the subject for me. It must be high resolution if possible, and have a great sense of light.

I also use other shots of the subject as well. Sometimes other shots show a better take on the hair or a nose or the eyes. But I can always rest in the power of that first image.

==See Also==
* [[Relevant Wiki Link]]
* [[Relevant Wiki Link]]
==External Links==
* [http://caricature.org/join-us External Link if needed]


{{2017.4Navbox}}

Exaggerated Features Issue 2010.1

2020-06-24T15:05:37Z

MelissaAlmariei:

{{Infobox book
| italic title = 
| name = Exaggerated Features Issue 2010.1
| image = 
| image_size = 260px
| border = yes
| alt =
| caption = 
| author = 
| illustrator = Jason Seiler
| subject = 
| genre = 
| published = [[EF Issue 2010.1]]
| pub_date = 2010.1
| media_type = 
| pages = 
| preceded_by = 
| followed_by = 
| notes =
| website = {{unbulleted list|[http://wiki.caricature.org/wiki/EF_PDFS/EF201?.?.pdf Full Issue PDF],|courtesy of {{URL|caricature.org}}}}
}}
Article Description. Should include author, brief description, issue number and page number(s).

==Article Transcript==
[[File:RelevantImage1.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]
[[File:RelevantImage2.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]
[[File:RelevantImage3.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]

As per the tradition, last year’s Golden Nosey winner,
Jason Seiler, has the honor of caricaturing this year’s big
winner, Glenn Ferguson. Here’s what Jason had to say
about his take on the cover:
“I can hardly think of Glenn without also thinking of JoAnn by his side. They are a great couple, both filled with so
much character and obvious love for one another. So obviously, I couldn’t paint this year’s Gold Nosey winner
without his trusty companion. I’m not sure who wanted that Gold Nosey more, Glenn or JoAnn? Hee Heee! I can
picture them at home watching CSI Miami, and taking turns holding the Nosey, hugging it, kissing it, and finally
reading it good night stories before bed. I’m sure there will be situations when JoAnn will have to remove the
Nosey and hold Glenn back . . . . ‘Not now Glenn, you can hold your Nosey later!’ Congrats, Glenn!”

===== Step One: Main Swipe =====
Find an AWESOME shot of the subject! This is where everything starts and stops for me. Don’t settle for anything less. Take the extra time needed to nail this rule. I always take as much time as possible to find the greatest photo/image that really captures the subject for me. It must be high resolution if possible, and have a great sense of light.

I also use other shots of the subject as well. Sometimes other shots show a better take on the hair or a nose or the eyes. But I can always rest in the power of that first image.

==See Also==
* [[Relevant Wiki Link]]
* [[Relevant Wiki Link]]
==External Links==
* [http://caricature.org/join-us External Link if needed]


{{2017.4Navbox}}

Exaggerated Features Issue 2010.1

2020-06-24T15:00:33Z

MelissaAlmariei:

{{Infobox book
| italic title = 
| name = ON THE COVER...
| image = 
| image_size = 260px
| border = yes
| alt =
| caption = 
| author = 
| illustrator = Jason Seiler
| subject = 
| genre = 
| published = [[EF Issue 2010.1]]
| pub_date = 2010.1
| media_type = 
| pages = 
| preceded_by = 
| followed_by = 
| notes =
| website = {{unbulleted list|[http://wiki.caricature.org/wiki/EF_PDFS/EF201?.?.pdf Full Issue PDF],|courtesy of {{URL|caricature.org}}}}
}}
Article Description. Should include author, brief description, issue number and page number(s).

==Article Transcript==
[[File:RelevantImage1.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]
[[File:RelevantImage2.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]
[[File:RelevantImage3.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]

As per the tradition, last year’s Golden Nosey winner,
Jason Seiler, has the honor of caricaturing this year’s big
winner, Glenn Ferguson. Here’s what Jason had to say
about his take on the cover:
“I can hardly think of Glenn without also thinking of JoAnn by his side. They are a great couple, both filled with so
much character and obvious love for one another. So obviously, I couldn’t paint this year’s Gold Nosey winner
without his trusty companion. I’m not sure who wanted that Gold Nosey more, Glenn or JoAnn? Hee Heee! I can
picture them at home watching CSI Miami, and taking turns holding the Nosey, hugging it, kissing it, and finally
reading it good night stories before bed. I’m sure there will be situations when JoAnn will have to remove the
Nosey and hold Glenn back . . . . ‘Not now Glenn, you can hold your Nosey later!’ Congrats, Glenn!”

===== Step One: Main Swipe =====
Find an AWESOME shot of the subject! This is where everything starts and stops for me. Don’t settle for anything less. Take the extra time needed to nail this rule. I always take as much time as possible to find the greatest photo/image that really captures the subject for me. It must be high resolution if possible, and have a great sense of light.

I also use other shots of the subject as well. Sometimes other shots show a better take on the hair or a nose or the eyes. But I can always rest in the power of that first image.

==See Also==
* [[Relevant Wiki Link]]
* [[Relevant Wiki Link]]
==External Links==
* [http://caricature.org/join-us External Link if needed]


{{2017.4Navbox}}

Exaggerated Features Issue 2010.1

2020-06-24T14:58:38Z

MelissaAlmariei:

{{Infobox book
| italic title = 
| name = ON THE COVER...
| image = 
| image_size = 260px
| border = yes
| alt =
| caption = 
| author = 
| illustrator =
| subject = 
| genre = 
| published = [[EF Issue 20??.?]]
| pub_date = 
| media_type = 
| pages = 
| preceded_by = 
| followed_by = 
| notes =
| website = {{unbulleted list|[http://wiki.caricature.org/wiki/EF_PDFS/EF201?.?.pdf Full Issue PDF],|courtesy of {{URL|caricature.org}}}}
}}
Article Description. Should include author, brief description, issue number and page number(s).

==Article Transcript==
[[File:RelevantImage1.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]
[[File:RelevantImage2.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]
[[File:RelevantImage3.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]

As per the tradition, last year’s Golden Nosey winner,
Jason Seiler, has the honor of caricaturing this year’s big
winner, Glenn Ferguson. Here’s what Jason had to say
about his take on the cover:
“I can hardly think of Glenn without also thinking of JoAnn by his side. They are a great couple, both filled with so
much character and obvious love for one another. So obviously, I couldn’t paint this year’s Gold Nosey winner
without his trusty companion. I’m not sure who wanted that Gold Nosey more, Glenn or JoAnn? Hee Heee! I can
picture them at home watching CSI Miami, and taking turns holding the Nosey, hugging it, kissing it, and finally
reading it good night stories before bed. I’m sure there will be situations when JoAnn will have to remove the
Nosey and hold Glenn back . . . . ‘Not now Glenn, you can hold your Nosey later!’ Congrats, Glenn!”

===== Step One: Main Swipe =====
Find an AWESOME shot of the subject! This is where everything starts and stops for me. Don’t settle for anything less. Take the extra time needed to nail this rule. I always take as much time as possible to find the greatest photo/image that really captures the subject for me. It must be high resolution if possible, and have a great sense of light.

I also use other shots of the subject as well. Sometimes other shots show a better take on the hair or a nose or the eyes. But I can always rest in the power of that first image.

==See Also==
* [[Relevant Wiki Link]]
* [[Relevant Wiki Link]]
==External Links==
* [http://caricature.org/join-us External Link if needed]


{{2017.4Navbox}}

Exaggerated Features Issue 2010.1

2020-06-24T14:57:05Z

MelissaAlmariei:

{{Infobox book
| italic title = 
| name = ON THE COVER...
| image = 
| image_size = 260px
| border = yes
| alt =
| caption = As per the tradition, last year’s Golden Nosey winner,
Jason Seiler, has the honor of caricaturing this year’s big
winner, Glenn Ferguson. Here’s what Jason had to say
about his take on the cover:
| author = 
| illustrator =
| subject = 
| genre = 
| published = [[EF Issue 20??.?]]
| pub_date = 
| media_type = 
| pages = 
| preceded_by = 
| followed_by = 
| notes =
| website = {{unbulleted list|[http://wiki.caricature.org/wiki/EF_PDFS/EF201?.?.pdf Full Issue PDF],|courtesy of {{URL|caricature.org}}}}
}}
Article Description. Should include author, brief description, issue number and page number(s).

==Article Transcript==
[[File:RelevantImage1.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]
[[File:RelevantImage2.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]
[[File:RelevantImage3.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]
Greetings, fellow caricaturists! I believe we are all cut from the same cloth in that we LOVE caricature. I’ve found that after 20 years of doing caricature, I still love it. It’s still one of the hardest things to do, and yet it remains so stinkin’ cool. I find it difficult because the image I envision in my head sometimes requires a lot of effort to pull off. Sometimes I have to push through mediocrity and make the image look like the image in my mind. Other times, what comes out of my hand feels half-baked and I bail on the image. If it’s a paying job, I hang tight until it rises to the level in my head. Caricature is tough, and I’ve found there are no slam dunks.

Just when I thought Woody Allen was a piece of cake on a gig a few years back, my attempts were mediocre at best, as I struggled late into the night. I went to bed feeling like a loser and got up early and attempted Woody with a fresh mind and fresh eyes. Boom, it worked! So the moral of the story is, if you struggle, join the club. Slap mediocrity in the face and press on and know that each struggle is only making you stronger.

What I hope to do here in my step-by-step is unpack my thinking and give principle over just copying my moves. I worked this piece digitally and I’m using a prismatic palette. I have included the palette in this tutorial and it could prove helpful to you. There really are no wrong ways to paint, but I enjoy working this way. The idea behind this palette is that the colors in the light have a yellow hue (the sun) on top of them and the colors in the shadows have a violet hue on top of them. The palette is divided up into two sections: the light effect (yellowish) and the shadow mass (violety).
I would encourage you to Google “prismatic palette” to get a full understanding of it. It’s a totally logical way to paint. Have fun.

===== Step One: Main Swipe =====
Find an AWESOME shot of the subject! This is where everything starts and stops for me. Don’t settle for anything less. Take the extra time needed to nail this rule. I always take as much time as possible to find the greatest photo/image that really captures the subject for me. It must be high resolution if possible, and have a great sense of light.

I also use other shots of the subject as well. Sometimes other shots show a better take on the hair or a nose or the eyes. But I can always rest in the power of that first image.

==See Also==
* [[Relevant Wiki Link]]
* [[Relevant Wiki Link]]
==External Links==
* [http://caricature.org/join-us External Link if needed]


{{2017.4Navbox}}

Exaggerated Features Issue 2010.1

2020-06-24T14:55:20Z

MelissaAlmariei:

{{Infobox book
| italic title = Gigi Test
| name = Melissa Test
| image = 
| image_size = 260px
| border = yes
| alt =
| caption = 
| author = 
| illustrator =
| subject = 
| genre = 
| published = [[EF Issue 20??.?]]
| pub_date = 
| media_type = 
| pages = 
| preceded_by = 
| followed_by = 
| notes =
| website = {{unbulleted list|[http://wiki.caricature.org/wiki/EF_PDFS/EF201?.?.pdf Full Issue PDF],|courtesy of {{URL|caricature.org}}}}
}}
Article Description. Should include author, brief description, issue number and page number(s).

==Article Transcript==
[[File:RelevantImage1.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]
[[File:RelevantImage2.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]
[[File:RelevantImage3.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]
Greetings, fellow caricaturists! I believe we are all cut from the same cloth in that we LOVE caricature. I’ve found that after 20 years of doing caricature, I still love it. It’s still one of the hardest things to do, and yet it remains so stinkin’ cool. I find it difficult because the image I envision in my head sometimes requires a lot of effort to pull off. Sometimes I have to push through mediocrity and make the image look like the image in my mind. Other times, what comes out of my hand feels half-baked and I bail on the image. If it’s a paying job, I hang tight until it rises to the level in my head. Caricature is tough, and I’ve found there are no slam dunks.

Just when I thought Woody Allen was a piece of cake on a gig a few years back, my attempts were mediocre at best, as I struggled late into the night. I went to bed feeling like a loser and got up early and attempted Woody with a fresh mind and fresh eyes. Boom, it worked! So the moral of the story is, if you struggle, join the club. Slap mediocrity in the face and press on and know that each struggle is only making you stronger.

What I hope to do here in my step-by-step is unpack my thinking and give principle over just copying my moves. I worked this piece digitally and I’m using a prismatic palette. I have included the palette in this tutorial and it could prove helpful to you. There really are no wrong ways to paint, but I enjoy working this way. The idea behind this palette is that the colors in the light have a yellow hue (the sun) on top of them and the colors in the shadows have a violet hue on top of them. The palette is divided up into two sections: the light effect (yellowish) and the shadow mass (violety).
I would encourage you to Google “prismatic palette” to get a full understanding of it. It’s a totally logical way to paint. Have fun.

===== Step One: Main Swipe =====
Find an AWESOME shot of the subject! This is where everything starts and stops for me. Don’t settle for anything less. Take the extra time needed to nail this rule. I always take as much time as possible to find the greatest photo/image that really captures the subject for me. It must be high resolution if possible, and have a great sense of light.

I also use other shots of the subject as well. Sometimes other shots show a better take on the hair or a nose or the eyes. But I can always rest in the power of that first image.

==See Also==
* [[Relevant Wiki Link]]
* [[Relevant Wiki Link]]
==External Links==
* [http://caricature.org/join-us External Link if needed]


{{2017.4Navbox}}

EF Issue 20??.?

2020-06-24T14:48:06Z

MelissaAlmariei: Created blank page

Exaggerated Features Issue 2010.1

2020-06-24T14:47:39Z

MelissaAlmariei: Created page with "{{Infobox book | italic title =  | name = | image = <!--(If no good single image..."

{{Infobox book
| italic title = 
| name =
| image = 
| image_size = 260px
| border = yes
| alt =
| caption = 
| author = 
| illustrator =
| subject = 
| genre = 
| published = [[EF Issue 20??.?]]
| pub_date = 
| media_type = 
| pages = 
| preceded_by = 
| followed_by = 
| notes =
| website = {{unbulleted list|[http://wiki.caricature.org/wiki/EF_PDFS/EF201?.?.pdf Full Issue PDF],|courtesy of {{URL|caricature.org}}}}
}}
Article Description. Should include author, brief description, issue number and page number(s).

==Article Transcript==
[[File:RelevantImage1.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]
[[File:RelevantImage2.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]
[[File:RelevantImage3.jpg|266px|thumb|right|For an image relevant to the article]]
Greetings, fellow caricaturists! I believe we are all cut from the same cloth in that we LOVE caricature. I’ve found that after 20 years of doing caricature, I still love it. It’s still one of the hardest things to do, and yet it remains so stinkin’ cool. I find it difficult because the image I envision in my head sometimes requires a lot of effort to pull off. Sometimes I have to push through mediocrity and make the image look like the image in my mind. Other times, what comes out of my hand feels half-baked and I bail on the image. If it’s a paying job, I hang tight until it rises to the level in my head. Caricature is tough, and I’ve found there are no slam dunks.

Just when I thought Woody Allen was a piece of cake on a gig a few years back, my attempts were mediocre at best, as I struggled late into the night. I went to bed feeling like a loser and got up early and attempted Woody with a fresh mind and fresh eyes. Boom, it worked! So the moral of the story is, if you struggle, join the club. Slap mediocrity in the face and press on and know that each struggle is only making you stronger.

What I hope to do here in my step-by-step is unpack my thinking and give principle over just copying my moves. I worked this piece digitally and I’m using a prismatic palette. I have included the palette in this tutorial and it could prove helpful to you. There really are no wrong ways to paint, but I enjoy working this way. The idea behind this palette is that the colors in the light have a yellow hue (the sun) on top of them and the colors in the shadows have a violet hue on top of them. The palette is divided up into two sections: the light effect (yellowish) and the shadow mass (violety).
I would encourage you to Google “prismatic palette” to get a full understanding of it. It’s a totally logical way to paint. Have fun.

===== Step One: Main Swipe =====
Find an AWESOME shot of the subject! This is where everything starts and stops for me. Don’t settle for anything less. Take the extra time needed to nail this rule. I always take as much time as possible to find the greatest photo/image that really captures the subject for me. It must be high resolution if possible, and have a great sense of light.

I also use other shots of the subject as well. Sometimes other shots show a better take on the hair or a nose or the eyes. But I can always rest in the power of that first image.

==See Also==
* [[Relevant Wiki Link]]
* [[Relevant Wiki Link]]
==External Links==
* [http://caricature.org/join-us External Link if needed]


{{2017.4Navbox}}

Exaggerated Features

2020-06-24T14:43:30Z

MelissaAlmariei: /* 2013 */

{{Infobox magazine
| title = Exaggerated Features
| logo = EFLogoTemp.jpg
| logo_size = 
| image_file = 
| image_size = 
| image_alt =
| image_caption =
| editor = Debbie "Debbo" Burmeister (1900-Present){{citation needed}}
| editor_title = Editor/Art Director
| previous_editor =
| staff_writer =
| photographer =
| category =
| frequency = Quarterly
| format = Print (Biannually), PDF (Quarterly)
| circulation =
| publisher = [[International Society of Caricature Artists]]
| paid_circulation =
| unpaid_circulation =
| circulation_year =
| total_circulation =
| founder =
| founded = 1991{{citation needed}}
| firstdate = {{Start date and age|1991|01|01}} {{citation needed}} 
| finaldate = 
| finalnumber =
| company =
| country =
| based =
| language = English
| website = {{URL|Caricature.org}} 
| issn =
| oclc =
}}
Exaggerated Features is the quarterly newsletter for members of the [[International Society of Caricature Artists]]. Exaggerated Features, also called "EF," features articles focusing on the art of caricature, artists tips, step by steps and more! ISCA produces four issues per year, two of which are printed and mailed to professional level members.
==About==

==History==

==Back Issues==

===== 2020 =====

* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2020.1|Issue 2020.1]] ISCAcon28 (2019, Memphis) Post-Con Issue
===== 2019 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2019.4|Issue 2019.4]] ISCAcon28 (2019, Memphis) Pre-Con Issue
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2019.3|Issue 2019.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2019.2|Issue 2019.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2019.1|Issue 2019.1]] ISCAcon27 (2018, San Diego) Post-Con Issue

===== 2018 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2018.4|Issue 2018.4]] ISCAcon27 (2018, San Diego) Pre-Con Issue
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2018.3|Issue 2018.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2018.2|Issue 2018.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2018.1|Issue 2018.1]] ISCAcon26 (2017, Orlando) Post-Con Issue
===== 2017 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2017.4|Issue 2017.4]] ISCAcon26 (2017, Orlando) Pre-Con Issue
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2017.3|Issue 2017.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2017.2|Issue 2017.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2017.1|Issue 2017.1]] ISCAcon25 (2016, Phoenix) Post-Con Issue

===== 2016 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.4|Issue 2016.4]] ISCAcon25 (2016, Phoenix) Pre-Con Issue
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3|Issue 2016.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.2|Issue 2016.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.1|Issue 2016.1]]
===== 2015 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2015.4|Issue 2015.4]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2015.3|Issue 2015.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2015.2|Issue 2015.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2015.1|Issue 2015.1]] ISCAcon23 (2014, Reno) Post-Con Issue

===== 2014 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2014.4|Issue 2014.4]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2014.3|Issue 2014.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2014.2|Issue 2014.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2014.1|Issue 2014.1]]
===== 2013 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2013.4|Issue 2013.4]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2013.3|Issue 2013.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2013.2|Issue 2013.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2013.1|Issue 2013.1]]

===== 2012 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2012.4|Issue 2012.4]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2012.3|Issue 2012.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2012.2|Issue 2012.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2012.1|Issue 2012.1]]
===== 2011 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2011.4|Issue 2011.4]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2011.3|Issue 2011.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2011.2|Issue 2011.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2011.1|Issue 2011.1]]
===== 2010 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2010.4|Issue 2010.4]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2010.3|Issue 2010.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2010.2|Issue 2010.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2010.1|Issue 2010.1]]
===== 2009 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2009.4|Issue 2009.4]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2009.3|Issue 2009.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2009.2|Issue 2009.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2009.1|Issue 2009.1]]

==See Also==

Exaggerated Features

2020-06-24T14:41:55Z

MelissaAlmariei: /* 2017 */

{{Infobox magazine
| title = Exaggerated Features
| logo = EFLogoTemp.jpg
| logo_size = 
| image_file = 
| image_size = 
| image_alt =
| image_caption =
| editor = Debbie "Debbo" Burmeister (1900-Present){{citation needed}}
| editor_title = Editor/Art Director
| previous_editor =
| staff_writer =
| photographer =
| category =
| frequency = Quarterly
| format = Print (Biannually), PDF (Quarterly)
| circulation =
| publisher = [[International Society of Caricature Artists]]
| paid_circulation =
| unpaid_circulation =
| circulation_year =
| total_circulation =
| founder =
| founded = 1991{{citation needed}}
| firstdate = {{Start date and age|1991|01|01}} {{citation needed}} 
| finaldate = 
| finalnumber =
| company =
| country =
| based =
| language = English
| website = {{URL|Caricature.org}} 
| issn =
| oclc =
}}
Exaggerated Features is the quarterly newsletter for members of the [[International Society of Caricature Artists]]. Exaggerated Features, also called "EF," features articles focusing on the art of caricature, artists tips, step by steps and more! ISCA produces four issues per year, two of which are printed and mailed to professional level members.
==About==

==History==

==Back Issues==

===== 2020 =====

* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2020.1|Issue 2020.1]] ISCAcon28 (2019, Memphis) Post-Con Issue
===== 2019 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2019.4|Issue 2019.4]] ISCAcon28 (2019, Memphis) Pre-Con Issue
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2019.3|Issue 2019.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2019.2|Issue 2019.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2019.1|Issue 2019.1]] ISCAcon27 (2018, San Diego) Post-Con Issue

===== 2018 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2018.4|Issue 2018.4]] ISCAcon27 (2018, San Diego) Pre-Con Issue
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2018.3|Issue 2018.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2018.2|Issue 2018.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2018.1|Issue 2018.1]] ISCAcon26 (2017, Orlando) Post-Con Issue
===== 2017 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2017.4|Issue 2017.4]] ISCAcon26 (2017, Orlando) Pre-Con Issue
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2017.3|Issue 2017.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2017.2|Issue 2017.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2017.1|Issue 2017.1]] ISCAcon25 (2016, Phoenix) Post-Con Issue

===== 2016 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.4|Issue 2016.4]] ISCAcon25 (2016, Phoenix) Pre-Con Issue
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.3|Issue 2016.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.2|Issue 2016.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2016.1|Issue 2016.1]]
===== 2015 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2015.4|Issue 2015.4]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2015.3|Issue 2015.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2015.2|Issue 2015.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2015.1|Issue 2015.1]] ISCAcon23 (2014, Reno) Post-Con Issue

===== 2014 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2014.4|Issue 2014.4]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2014.3|Issue 2014.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2014.2|Issue 2014.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2014.1|Issue 2014.1]]
===== 2013 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2013.4|Issue 2013.4]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2013.3|Issue 2013.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2013.2|Issue 2013.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2013.1|Issue 2013.1]]
===== 2012 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2012.4|Issue 2012.4]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2012.3|Issue 2012.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2012.2|Issue 2012.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2012.1|Issue 2012.1]]
===== 2011 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2011.4|Issue 2011.4]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2011.3|Issue 2011.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2011.2|Issue 2011.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2011.1|Issue 2011.1]]
===== 2010 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2010.4|Issue 2010.4]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2010.3|Issue 2010.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2010.2|Issue 2010.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2010.1|Issue 2010.1]]
===== 2009 =====
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2009.4|Issue 2009.4]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2009.3|Issue 2009.3]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2009.2|Issue 2009.2]]
* [[Exaggerated Features Issue 2009.1|Issue 2009.1]]

==See Also==