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The Ultimate Guide to The Ultimate Guide (view source)
Revision as of 00:57, 18 May 2020
, 00:57, 18 May 2020Creation
'''Q:''' By the time we’re all
gathered at this year’s
con, it will have been a year since
you published Likeness is Just the
Beginning. Why did it take us this
long to do a feature on it?
'''A:''' Haha. Good question. I guess
if God himself had to rest after
creating everything, I certainly needed
a recharge after six months of working
day and night with no rest.
'''Q:''' In all seriousness, in
the time that’s passed
since its release, how has
the response been?
'''A:''' I couldn’t be more grateful to
have the love and support of the
international caricature community.
The ISCA release was a huge success,
mainly in that I was excited to get
the book into the hands of my fellow
artists and Kickstarter supporters.
The Kickstarter was fully backed
in such a short time I was honestly
taken by surprise, but it encouraged
me to try and pack the book with as
much love as possible. Beyond that,
I’ll always be the hardest on myself
for any shortcomings, mistakes
and misspellings purposely, or not
purposely, left in the book.
'''Q:''' What sparked the
idea for the book?
'''A:''' Love for caricature, man!
Caricature has come so far since
I got my start during my first year of
college in 2000, I felt there was a need
to document and celebrate the huge
diversity of styles and techniques we see
from live caricature artists in our time.
'''Q:''' It must have been quite an
undertaking getting this book
together and published in under a
year! What did you learn along the
way and do you have any advice for
people who might consider doing
something similar?
'''A:''' Ah man, yeah it was really a
challenge, and honestly wasn’t my
intention from the outset. The Kickstarter
actually had an expected release date
of February, a year from the campaign’s
launch. It wasn’t until I got all of the
references from all the subjects and the
artists started returning beautiful work
so quickly that I realized an ISCA release
would be possible, if all the artists were
on board with the strict timelines. Once I
got the thumbs up (literally, in Messenger)
from all the artists involved to go for a
5-month push, it was on.
Of course, I learned a ton from the
experience. For one, I learned kittens are
easier to herd than artists, artists with
the fewest drawings to do will take the
longest to do them, exhaustion and sleep
deprivation will lead to some interesting
states of consciousness, and I learned to
spellcheck everything to make sure all the
misspellings are left intact. ;)
Q: How did you go about
recruiting artists for the
book? I know you more or less pulled
a few out of retirement. How did
those conversations go?
'''A:''' Initially I created a FB chat group
which included all the artists I
believed would bring about the final
product I saw in my head — A book full
of some of the best artists in their unique
style of caricature. This was a hard decision,
of course, but I tried to be objective, even
leaving out good friends of mine who are
fantastic caricature artists, but whom I
felt their live caricature style was already
covered in the book by other artists.
I then gave my sales pitch for the book
to the artists in the group and asked
who would like to be on board. Realizing
mostly everyone loved the idea was
exciting and pushed me to move forward
full steam. I did have to bribe a few with
beer, but I got the stylistically diverse
dream team I hoped for, including, yes,
some of my heroes who aren’t actively
doing live caricature anymore. I’m
honored any of the artists would even
consider being a part of my project, and
will forever be grateful to the 40 brilliant
artists who gave their time, efforts and
energy to making The Ultimate Guide to
Modern Live Caricature a reality.
'''Q:''' Between expanding your
own caricature business,
traveling the world, joining the ISCA
board, and the birth of your child,
where did you even find the time to
work on the book?
'''A:''' Oh man, don’t remind Natalia!
She’s the real champ in the story.
While I was immersed in giving birth to
the book, she was immersed in, well,
giving birth to Leo!
The early months were rough, as I was
so busy with the book Natalia had to
bear the majority of the burden of being
a new parent. I would, of course, use my
foot to rock Leo for hours while working
on the book, but that wasn’t anything
compared to Natalia being supermom,
feeding, cleaning, staying up nights,
and teaching Leo kung fu.(Yes, he
knows kung fu.)
'''Q:''' Focusing specifically on the
field of live caricature must
have presented some obstacles
... how did you ensure artists
maintained that style?
'''A:''' A good question. It is intended to
be a book about LIVE caricature,
like you stated. But how do you go about
making a book with 40 artists from around
the world, and asking them to draw a “live”
style caricature? Photo references were of
course going to be used, but I personally
hate drawing from just photographs, as
do many artists reading this. So in addition
to asking the beautiful subjects to submit
their photos, I also asked for a lengthy
video, in good lighting, that would mimic
a live caricature setting, mainly, sitting
in front of the camera and awkwardly
telling the viewers about themselves.
This led to some fun videos! But it also
allowed the artists to get a better feel of
the subjects’ likeness in motion, as well
as their personalities and mannerisms,
which many artists brilliantly included in
their drawings!
'''Q:''' What do you hope people
take away from the book?
'''A:''' Inspiration! The book is everything
I wish I had as an early caricature
artist. Live caricature is a tough world to
navigate, especially artistically. I’m hoping
that the book will be both a stylistic
guide for what’s possible and a source of
inspiration for artists new and old who
want to push their art to the next level.
'''Q:''' Any future plans for the
book? Foreign editions
or an ebook version? Ooh,
maybe an audiobook where you
describe each drawing!
'''A:''' Certainly. The book is currently
listed on Amazon. You can go to
the link in my Instagram profile,
@AvetiArts. I will have a few copies for
sale at ISCAcon this year as well.
There are also a number of art shops
interested in carrying the book, and
some reps I intend to contact regarding
distribution in the future with a possible
second edition with fewer misspellings
and an improved text layout. We’ll see.
Audiobook? If you want to narrate
the book and describe every drawing,
you got a deal!
'''Q:''' How’s Leo doing? (And tell
Natalia I say hi!)
'''A:''' Leo is everything and more. He makes
me proud everyday, just by his being,
and has been the only one able to
curb some of my crazy ideas about big
projects, because who wants to conquer
the world when there’s this rad little
dude you can hang out with? Oh, and
did I mention his mom is a superhero?
Yeah, she’s pretty badass.
gathered at this year’s
con, it will have been a year since
you published Likeness is Just the
Beginning. Why did it take us this
long to do a feature on it?
'''A:''' Haha. Good question. I guess
if God himself had to rest after
creating everything, I certainly needed
a recharge after six months of working
day and night with no rest.
'''Q:''' In all seriousness, in
the time that’s passed
since its release, how has
the response been?
'''A:''' I couldn’t be more grateful to
have the love and support of the
international caricature community.
The ISCA release was a huge success,
mainly in that I was excited to get
the book into the hands of my fellow
artists and Kickstarter supporters.
The Kickstarter was fully backed
in such a short time I was honestly
taken by surprise, but it encouraged
me to try and pack the book with as
much love as possible. Beyond that,
I’ll always be the hardest on myself
for any shortcomings, mistakes
and misspellings purposely, or not
purposely, left in the book.
'''Q:''' What sparked the
idea for the book?
'''A:''' Love for caricature, man!
Caricature has come so far since
I got my start during my first year of
college in 2000, I felt there was a need
to document and celebrate the huge
diversity of styles and techniques we see
from live caricature artists in our time.
'''Q:''' It must have been quite an
undertaking getting this book
together and published in under a
year! What did you learn along the
way and do you have any advice for
people who might consider doing
something similar?
'''A:''' Ah man, yeah it was really a
challenge, and honestly wasn’t my
intention from the outset. The Kickstarter
actually had an expected release date
of February, a year from the campaign’s
launch. It wasn’t until I got all of the
references from all the subjects and the
artists started returning beautiful work
so quickly that I realized an ISCA release
would be possible, if all the artists were
on board with the strict timelines. Once I
got the thumbs up (literally, in Messenger)
from all the artists involved to go for a
5-month push, it was on.
Of course, I learned a ton from the
experience. For one, I learned kittens are
easier to herd than artists, artists with
the fewest drawings to do will take the
longest to do them, exhaustion and sleep
deprivation will lead to some interesting
states of consciousness, and I learned to
spellcheck everything to make sure all the
misspellings are left intact. ;)
Q: How did you go about
recruiting artists for the
book? I know you more or less pulled
a few out of retirement. How did
those conversations go?
'''A:''' Initially I created a FB chat group
which included all the artists I
believed would bring about the final
product I saw in my head — A book full
of some of the best artists in their unique
style of caricature. This was a hard decision,
of course, but I tried to be objective, even
leaving out good friends of mine who are
fantastic caricature artists, but whom I
felt their live caricature style was already
covered in the book by other artists.
I then gave my sales pitch for the book
to the artists in the group and asked
who would like to be on board. Realizing
mostly everyone loved the idea was
exciting and pushed me to move forward
full steam. I did have to bribe a few with
beer, but I got the stylistically diverse
dream team I hoped for, including, yes,
some of my heroes who aren’t actively
doing live caricature anymore. I’m
honored any of the artists would even
consider being a part of my project, and
will forever be grateful to the 40 brilliant
artists who gave their time, efforts and
energy to making The Ultimate Guide to
Modern Live Caricature a reality.
'''Q:''' Between expanding your
own caricature business,
traveling the world, joining the ISCA
board, and the birth of your child,
where did you even find the time to
work on the book?
'''A:''' Oh man, don’t remind Natalia!
She’s the real champ in the story.
While I was immersed in giving birth to
the book, she was immersed in, well,
giving birth to Leo!
The early months were rough, as I was
so busy with the book Natalia had to
bear the majority of the burden of being
a new parent. I would, of course, use my
foot to rock Leo for hours while working
on the book, but that wasn’t anything
compared to Natalia being supermom,
feeding, cleaning, staying up nights,
and teaching Leo kung fu.(Yes, he
knows kung fu.)
'''Q:''' Focusing specifically on the
field of live caricature must
have presented some obstacles
... how did you ensure artists
maintained that style?
'''A:''' A good question. It is intended to
be a book about LIVE caricature,
like you stated. But how do you go about
making a book with 40 artists from around
the world, and asking them to draw a “live”
style caricature? Photo references were of
course going to be used, but I personally
hate drawing from just photographs, as
do many artists reading this. So in addition
to asking the beautiful subjects to submit
their photos, I also asked for a lengthy
video, in good lighting, that would mimic
a live caricature setting, mainly, sitting
in front of the camera and awkwardly
telling the viewers about themselves.
This led to some fun videos! But it also
allowed the artists to get a better feel of
the subjects’ likeness in motion, as well
as their personalities and mannerisms,
which many artists brilliantly included in
their drawings!
'''Q:''' What do you hope people
take away from the book?
'''A:''' Inspiration! The book is everything
I wish I had as an early caricature
artist. Live caricature is a tough world to
navigate, especially artistically. I’m hoping
that the book will be both a stylistic
guide for what’s possible and a source of
inspiration for artists new and old who
want to push their art to the next level.
'''Q:''' Any future plans for the
book? Foreign editions
or an ebook version? Ooh,
maybe an audiobook where you
describe each drawing!
'''A:''' Certainly. The book is currently
listed on Amazon. You can go to
the link in my Instagram profile,
@AvetiArts. I will have a few copies for
sale at ISCAcon this year as well.
There are also a number of art shops
interested in carrying the book, and
some reps I intend to contact regarding
distribution in the future with a possible
second edition with fewer misspellings
and an improved text layout. We’ll see.
Audiobook? If you want to narrate
the book and describe every drawing,
you got a deal!
'''Q:''' How’s Leo doing? (And tell
Natalia I say hi!)
'''A:''' Leo is everything and more. He makes
me proud everyday, just by his being,
and has been the only one able to
curb some of my crazy ideas about big
projects, because who wants to conquer
the world when there’s this rad little
dude you can hang out with? Oh, and
did I mention his mom is a superhero?
Yeah, she’s pretty badass.
