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Created page with "{{Infobox book | italic title = Review: Tom Richmond Workshop<!--(Article title goes here and in the 'name' field below.)--> | name = Review: Tom Richmond Wo..."
{{Infobox book
| italic title = Review: Tom Richmond Workshop<!--(Article title goes here and in the 'name' field below.)-->
| name = Review: Tom Richmond Workshop
| image = EF2018.4_Page_29_Image_0003.jpg <!--(If no good single image is suitable, use a screenshot of the first page of the article)-->
| image_size = 260px
| border = yes
| alt =
| caption = [[Tom Richmond]]'s illustration for his 2017 Long Island City class.
| author = [[Chris Silvestre]] <!--(use {{unbulleted list|first item|second item|third item|...}} to list multiple authors or subjects)-->
| illustrator =
| subject =
| genre = {{unbulleted list|[[Article]]|[[Review]]}}<!--(acceptable genres include: Editorial, Op/Ed, Article, Interview, How-To, Member Spotlight, etc. Multiple subjects see multiple authors above)-->
| published = [[EF Issue 2018.4]]
| pub_date = Fall 2018.4<!--(Should match EF Issue Published date)-->
| media_type = {{unbulleted list|Print,|Digital}}<!--(Digital, Print or both {{unbulleted list|first item|second item|third item|...}} )-->
| pages = 27-<!--(Page number(s) of the issue the article appears on)-->
| preceded_by = <!--(Previous article in the issue)-->
| followed_by = <!--(Next article in the issue)-->
| notes =
| website = {{unbulleted list|[http://wiki.caricature.org/wiki/EF_PDFS/EF2018.4.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]]
Last year, I attended Tom Richmond’s caricature
workshop in Long Island City, NYC
and it changed my perception of the world of
caricature and taught me some unexpected
things along the way. I am an animator/cartoonist.
My first job out of Cartoon College
was caricaturing for Kaman’s at Six Flags
Great Adventure. Since then I have been a
graphic designer, cartoon animator, illustrator,
software developer, web designer, digital
production manager and I’ve been casually
drawing caricatures at parties for about 20
years. I never made caricaturing at parties my
full-time professional focus, but I always used
caricature to spice up my animations and illustration
with celebrity cameos and spoofs. I
like taking drawing and art workshops at least
once a year, airbrush painting, sculpting with
clay, acrylic painting, etc. Like all of us reading
this, I am a Mad Magazine fan and a cartoonist,
so when Mad artist Tom Richmond advertised
on Facebook for his caricature workshop in
nearby New York City, I jumped all over it.
Building up to the event, Tom kept in contact via
email, sending us students a supply list, 3-day
class syllabus and hotel info. He asked for photos
of us so he could create a caricature of the class.
He asked for eye color, front, 3-4, and side view
photos, and because it was a group photo; height.
When I read his description of what type of photo
references to send, I realized it was perfect for
when I worked with my own clients. At the time,
Tom also offered a $100 discount if we had an $80
membership to ISCA, an organization I had never
heard of (Currently, the discount is no longer being
offered.) Signing up to ISCA was a no brainer.
I signed up and then boom, I get my first issue of Exaggerated Features, I join the Facebook
groups, I see everyone’s artwork
from all over the world and I joined a society
full of awesome caricature artists
from all over the planet! That’s when it
dawned on me how many people make
a full-time living from caricature. Best
$20 I ever didn’t spend.
Even though I’m 90 minutes away, I
booked myself a room so I could
completely immerse myself during the
3-day workshop. I would draw in my
room before the workshop to loosen
up. Luckily, all hotel windows in NYC
face brick walls, so no one is distracted
while drawing. The hotel was nice, but
the workshop itself was in a super tiny
room in the basement, but that’s New
York for ya.
Tom has a couple of decades of professional
caricature experience and the
students all know him from his career,
but he made everyone feel very at
ease with his relatable teaching style.
The sessions were very structured and
nicely paced and focused on universal
caricature principles as well as studio
techniques and live techniques. The
caricature principles can be used in
many different mediums such as animation
and more polished acrylic renderings.
The studio style he teaches
is exactly as you see in Mad Magazine
and in his book The Mad Art of Caricature.
His live techniques really focus
you on capturing and exaggerating the
likeness quickly.
Tom connected a Cintiq MobileStudio
Pro to a projector so he could draw
while we all watched. People would
draw at tables leaning on art boards
with markers, pencils, charcoal sticks
and even water color. We each received
a full color photo book filled
with head shots to practice during
class. Each day we would start out
with 10-minute warm-up sketches of
people from the photo book. Then,
Tom would teach us different techniques
and we would do more drawing
exercises. He would walk around and
critique each student personally and
I noticed he would speak to them at
their level of expertise. He would talk
to the old pro about hair texturing
and talk to the rookies about planning
drawings with confidence. He pointed
out to me that my eyes are frequently
very different sizes, which I always
keep in mind now. I remember going
back to my room the second day and
reviewing some of my morning hotel
room sketches. They looked terrible
compared to my workshop drawings.
Many of us work alone in our studios, but
in those 3 days I made friends with caricature
artists of all different skill levels
and from all over North America: Steve
Nyman, the pro from North Jersey, I reconnected
with Robert from NYC, who
I worked with years ago in animation,
Kelly the Canadian artist, and the Milwaukee
Mauler, the pro wrestler turned
artist. We drew all day long while we
would shout out questions to Tom about
techniques and his career in cartooning,
most of which was Mad gold! He gave us
tips on developing our careers and what
to submit to which publications/organizations.
We also learned a lot from each
other. Steve the NJ pro and I spoke about
marketing, and me and the Milwaukee
Mauler hit the gym a few times.
I read The Mad Art of Caricature before
attending the class and it really helped
me in my craft but Tom Richmond is
the book in real life and he gives each
lesson a completely different weight.
For example, I read about the T-Shape
theory but once we talked about it as
a class in real life, it gave me a new
appreciation for the T-Shape’s power.
He showed us how to understand
proportion exaggeration and how to
render the face’s features to convey the
person’s likeness in cartoon illustration.
He walked us through his then current
project, a Mad spoof of Stranger Things.
We saw his thought process as he tried
to get his Winona Ryder caricature just
right. We went through much of his
work and he would describe the different
challenges of layout and working
with writers and editors. He demonstrated
how, when and where to use
different drawing tools. Tom showed
us his traditional process by drawing
for us live using a quill pen while we
looked on. He showed how various
line illustration techniques create a
more pleasing rendering. This greatly
improved my drawings in the months
following the workshop. Tom showed
us his Photoshop coloring techniques by coloring an inked drawing of a
bodybuilder.
On the final morning, we all drew each
other live. Tom has his own chain of
caricature booths so he was excellent
at explaining his live caricature process.
We didn’t have enough room in our
tiny NYC closet to draw each other, so
we snuck into a banquet room next
door. We had a timed 5 minutes to
draw each other and everyone drew everyone,
including Tom. I’m not saying I
was nervous drawing Tom Richmond—
actually, I guess I am saying that. Some
of us had never drawn live before, but
from what I heard from them it was a
great first time.
After the final class, Tom reviewed my
caricature portfolio and even reviewed
my recently finished kid’s book Picky
Nicky: The Nutrition Decision. I showed
him specific layouts I was working on
and he talked me through solutions.
Priceless.
Tom went above and beyond and gave
us some signed swag like the workshop
poster featuring all of the attendees, a
Batman poster print, a signed Mad Art
of Caricature Book (I already had this
book so I requested his Goodnight Batcave
book that had just come out. Tom
obliged!). The projector screen Tom
used for the NYC event was too much
to ship back home so he offered it to
me! I couldn’t take it on the train so
we left it there in that tiny basement
hovel. Oh well.
Since this workshop experience, I
started promoting my own caricature
business Party Cartoon and I’m seeing
more party revenue each month. I’m
becoming a better artist and I’ve started
caricaturing live on the iPad. I refined my
techniques for caricature in animation
and landed some work on The Woody
Show. I really love being a part of the
caricature community that I found after
signing up for this class. As artists we
are always learning, even the old pros
like Tom Richmond. He recently told me
his workshop has evolved since last year.
If you are on the fence, no matter your
skill level, I would highly recommend the
workshops. Hopefully you get a bigger
room than we got.
==See Also==
==External Links==
<!--(check the issue number in the navbar template below)-->
{{2018.4Navbox}}
| italic title = Review: Tom Richmond Workshop<!--(Article title goes here and in the 'name' field below.)-->
| name = Review: Tom Richmond Workshop
| image = EF2018.4_Page_29_Image_0003.jpg <!--(If no good single image is suitable, use a screenshot of the first page of the article)-->
| image_size = 260px
| border = yes
| alt =
| caption = [[Tom Richmond]]'s illustration for his 2017 Long Island City class.
| author = [[Chris Silvestre]] <!--(use {{unbulleted list|first item|second item|third item|...}} to list multiple authors or subjects)-->
| illustrator =
| subject =
| genre = {{unbulleted list|[[Article]]|[[Review]]}}<!--(acceptable genres include: Editorial, Op/Ed, Article, Interview, How-To, Member Spotlight, etc. Multiple subjects see multiple authors above)-->
| published = [[EF Issue 2018.4]]
| pub_date = Fall 2018.4<!--(Should match EF Issue Published date)-->
| media_type = {{unbulleted list|Print,|Digital}}<!--(Digital, Print or both {{unbulleted list|first item|second item|third item|...}} )-->
| pages = 27-<!--(Page number(s) of the issue the article appears on)-->
| preceded_by = <!--(Previous article in the issue)-->
| followed_by = <!--(Next article in the issue)-->
| notes =
| website = {{unbulleted list|[http://wiki.caricature.org/wiki/EF_PDFS/EF2018.4.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]]
Last year, I attended Tom Richmond’s caricature
workshop in Long Island City, NYC
and it changed my perception of the world of
caricature and taught me some unexpected
things along the way. I am an animator/cartoonist.
My first job out of Cartoon College
was caricaturing for Kaman’s at Six Flags
Great Adventure. Since then I have been a
graphic designer, cartoon animator, illustrator,
software developer, web designer, digital
production manager and I’ve been casually
drawing caricatures at parties for about 20
years. I never made caricaturing at parties my
full-time professional focus, but I always used
caricature to spice up my animations and illustration
with celebrity cameos and spoofs. I
like taking drawing and art workshops at least
once a year, airbrush painting, sculpting with
clay, acrylic painting, etc. Like all of us reading
this, I am a Mad Magazine fan and a cartoonist,
so when Mad artist Tom Richmond advertised
on Facebook for his caricature workshop in
nearby New York City, I jumped all over it.
Building up to the event, Tom kept in contact via
email, sending us students a supply list, 3-day
class syllabus and hotel info. He asked for photos
of us so he could create a caricature of the class.
He asked for eye color, front, 3-4, and side view
photos, and because it was a group photo; height.
When I read his description of what type of photo
references to send, I realized it was perfect for
when I worked with my own clients. At the time,
Tom also offered a $100 discount if we had an $80
membership to ISCA, an organization I had never
heard of (Currently, the discount is no longer being
offered.) Signing up to ISCA was a no brainer.
I signed up and then boom, I get my first issue of Exaggerated Features, I join the Facebook
groups, I see everyone’s artwork
from all over the world and I joined a society
full of awesome caricature artists
from all over the planet! That’s when it
dawned on me how many people make
a full-time living from caricature. Best
$20 I ever didn’t spend.
Even though I’m 90 minutes away, I
booked myself a room so I could
completely immerse myself during the
3-day workshop. I would draw in my
room before the workshop to loosen
up. Luckily, all hotel windows in NYC
face brick walls, so no one is distracted
while drawing. The hotel was nice, but
the workshop itself was in a super tiny
room in the basement, but that’s New
York for ya.
Tom has a couple of decades of professional
caricature experience and the
students all know him from his career,
but he made everyone feel very at
ease with his relatable teaching style.
The sessions were very structured and
nicely paced and focused on universal
caricature principles as well as studio
techniques and live techniques. The
caricature principles can be used in
many different mediums such as animation
and more polished acrylic renderings.
The studio style he teaches
is exactly as you see in Mad Magazine
and in his book The Mad Art of Caricature.
His live techniques really focus
you on capturing and exaggerating the
likeness quickly.
Tom connected a Cintiq MobileStudio
Pro to a projector so he could draw
while we all watched. People would
draw at tables leaning on art boards
with markers, pencils, charcoal sticks
and even water color. We each received
a full color photo book filled
with head shots to practice during
class. Each day we would start out
with 10-minute warm-up sketches of
people from the photo book. Then,
Tom would teach us different techniques
and we would do more drawing
exercises. He would walk around and
critique each student personally and
I noticed he would speak to them at
their level of expertise. He would talk
to the old pro about hair texturing
and talk to the rookies about planning
drawings with confidence. He pointed
out to me that my eyes are frequently
very different sizes, which I always
keep in mind now. I remember going
back to my room the second day and
reviewing some of my morning hotel
room sketches. They looked terrible
compared to my workshop drawings.
Many of us work alone in our studios, but
in those 3 days I made friends with caricature
artists of all different skill levels
and from all over North America: Steve
Nyman, the pro from North Jersey, I reconnected
with Robert from NYC, who
I worked with years ago in animation,
Kelly the Canadian artist, and the Milwaukee
Mauler, the pro wrestler turned
artist. We drew all day long while we
would shout out questions to Tom about
techniques and his career in cartooning,
most of which was Mad gold! He gave us
tips on developing our careers and what
to submit to which publications/organizations.
We also learned a lot from each
other. Steve the NJ pro and I spoke about
marketing, and me and the Milwaukee
Mauler hit the gym a few times.
I read The Mad Art of Caricature before
attending the class and it really helped
me in my craft but Tom Richmond is
the book in real life and he gives each
lesson a completely different weight.
For example, I read about the T-Shape
theory but once we talked about it as
a class in real life, it gave me a new
appreciation for the T-Shape’s power.
He showed us how to understand
proportion exaggeration and how to
render the face’s features to convey the
person’s likeness in cartoon illustration.
He walked us through his then current
project, a Mad spoof of Stranger Things.
We saw his thought process as he tried
to get his Winona Ryder caricature just
right. We went through much of his
work and he would describe the different
challenges of layout and working
with writers and editors. He demonstrated
how, when and where to use
different drawing tools. Tom showed
us his traditional process by drawing
for us live using a quill pen while we
looked on. He showed how various
line illustration techniques create a
more pleasing rendering. This greatly
improved my drawings in the months
following the workshop. Tom showed
us his Photoshop coloring techniques by coloring an inked drawing of a
bodybuilder.
On the final morning, we all drew each
other live. Tom has his own chain of
caricature booths so he was excellent
at explaining his live caricature process.
We didn’t have enough room in our
tiny NYC closet to draw each other, so
we snuck into a banquet room next
door. We had a timed 5 minutes to
draw each other and everyone drew everyone,
including Tom. I’m not saying I
was nervous drawing Tom Richmond—
actually, I guess I am saying that. Some
of us had never drawn live before, but
from what I heard from them it was a
great first time.
After the final class, Tom reviewed my
caricature portfolio and even reviewed
my recently finished kid’s book Picky
Nicky: The Nutrition Decision. I showed
him specific layouts I was working on
and he talked me through solutions.
Priceless.
Tom went above and beyond and gave
us some signed swag like the workshop
poster featuring all of the attendees, a
Batman poster print, a signed Mad Art
of Caricature Book (I already had this
book so I requested his Goodnight Batcave
book that had just come out. Tom
obliged!). The projector screen Tom
used for the NYC event was too much
to ship back home so he offered it to
me! I couldn’t take it on the train so
we left it there in that tiny basement
hovel. Oh well.
Since this workshop experience, I
started promoting my own caricature
business Party Cartoon and I’m seeing
more party revenue each month. I’m
becoming a better artist and I’ve started
caricaturing live on the iPad. I refined my
techniques for caricature in animation
and landed some work on The Woody
Show. I really love being a part of the
caricature community that I found after
signing up for this class. As artists we
are always learning, even the old pros
like Tom Richmond. He recently told me
his workshop has evolved since last year.
If you are on the fence, no matter your
skill level, I would highly recommend the
workshops. Hopefully you get a bigger
room than we got.
==See Also==
==External Links==
<!--(check the issue number in the navbar template below)-->
{{2018.4Navbox}}
