Theme Park Life

Theme Park Life

Author	Glenn Ferguson
Genre	Article
Published	EF Issue 2009.2
Publication date	Spring 2009
Media type	Print Digital
Pages	8-10
Website	Full Issue PDF, courtesy of caricature.org

Article Description. Should include author, brief description, issue number and page number(s).

Article Transcript

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Page 10 as it appears in the issue.

As most of you know, I call Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure my home. I’ve been there for around thirteen years and in theme parks in general for fifteen years working under Fasen Arts. I remember thinking to myself once fellow NCN member Chris Galvin, the manager at Six Flags over Texas, gave me the job, “This will be a fun job for maybe a couple of months or so, but that’s all.” Boy was I wrong. Not only did I choose to make caricatures my career, but doing theme park caricatures is an even more specialized field. I never remember that one being a choice in my high school guidance counselor’s office. To say I’ve learned a lot over the years is like saying Tom Richmond is strong or that Roger Hurtado thinks he’s great. Theme park life and doing caricatures in a theme park is a lifestyle all its own, and presents unthinkable challenges, rewards, and human interaction you can’t find anywhere else. Come along with me as I attempt to explain some of the highs and lows of park life, how it differs from any other type of artistic career, and a few unbelievable stories thrown in.

The Basics
It seems simple enough... you sit in a chair at a crowded theme park with samples of your work in front of you and you charge different prices for a drawing that will hopefully bring a smile and/or laughter to the guest. Generally, that’s how it is supposed to work in its simplicity. However, lots of other factors present themselves after just a short amount of time in the proverbial chair. Initially, hopefully, you should be an artist with solid drawing skills and coloring skills. Sounds simple enough. But there is more to it than just that.

You must also be a good communicator
You have to talk to people all day long. Unlike a studio artist, you cannot sit in silence and just be creative and brilliant. You gotta open your mouth, and since you are in a family friendly environment, that which comes out of your mouth should not only be appropriate, but pleasant, kind and friendly. Sarcastic is fine, but demeaning, insulting, or degrading will sooner or l ater get you escorted out.

You have to be a salesman
Like it or not, this is retail, baby, and you have to sell each and every drawing you do to a potential customer that walks up to your booth and shows interest in your product. If you know nothing about marketing or promoting a product, working in a theme park is an amazing crash course in learning how to sell what you have to offer. Sitting around waiting for the customer to discover you’re “brilliant” will teach you how to be a starving artist. Next to you, more often than not, will be another artist. Maybe two or three. You don’t have to like them, but you have to get along with them. In a sense they are your wingmen. They support you and you support them, and if you aren’t considerate of one another, they will become more than just a competitor of you, but your enemy… so get along with your coworkers and come up with a system that works for everyone.

You have to be an entertainer
As most gig artists will tell you, your guest will appreciate conversation, a few jokes or kidding around, but most importantly smiling. You’d be amazed at what you can accomplish just by smiling while doing it. The artist who seems friendlier, happier, and whose guests seem to be enjoying themselves more is guaranteed to attract the most business.

You have to be good with money
Basic accounting and bookkeeping skills are also important. In the eyes of the theme park, you are a merchandise vehicle. They don’t care how talented you are, but they care about every dollar that goes through your hands. It seems like a lot to handle at times, but if you keep your head screwed on straight, it can be a lot of fun, while maintaining a lucrative income.

The Stuff They Don’t Tell You
It’s amazing the stuff you get to learn and deal with when you work in public service and a retail environment. There are things and situations that any retail artist will tell you that aren’t necessarily in the job description. Here are a few….

The stupid roam free I know in any job dealing with the public there are ignorant and moronic people to deal with on a daily basis. However, they seem to thrive in a theme park environment and given the concept of a caricature artist retail stand in their midst is like parking a NASCAR in a trailer park with the keys in it. I get the usual pretty standard, “Do the frame come widdit?” and, “Can you draw her even though she ain’t here?” Also, I am truly convinced, that there can never be a sign big enough, flashy enough, or lit up enough to get people not immediately to ask, “How much?” immediately followed by “How long?” But once in a blue moon, I’ll get a gem that’ll just blow me away. After telling a guest we could hold her drawing while she enjoys her day and she could pick it up later she came back asking for her picture. After I was unable to find it I asked, “When did you have it done?” She said, “September”. It was two weeks before Christmas. Every retail theme park artist deals with these situations. There was this very heavy woman who said she wanted me to draw her sexy for her husband, I reluctantly said, “Ookaaayy.” I looked down to get a piece of paper and test my airbrush and when I looked up she had taken off her shirt and bra and was “presenting” herself to me to draw with nothing but a smile from waist up.

We love you, we hate you If you do a good drawing, with great line quality, nice composition, solid structure, likeness, and exaggeration, you’re bound to get people complimenting you...they tell you everything positive…”You’re really good, that’s amazing, that’s so cool”. But when someone has an opinion, they’re also not shy about spewing the negative. “That don’t look nuthin’ like her”, and “I wouldn’t pay for that if I were you”, seem to be the norm, but eventually you’ll get REJECTS. The book by fellow NCN member Joe Bluhm pretty much covered this subject, but everyone gets them, they are unavoidable. You simply cannot please everyone. I do try though, as I am fairly successful only getting a reject once a month or so, despite my reputation at the conventions, on a scale of 1 to 10 of exaggeration I usually draw about a 5. Unless I get a good feel of them or they are British…the British can take anything funny. Most rejects go civilized, but I’ve been cursed out three times and spit on once, but never hit or assaulted. Sometimes it goes the other way and they either love the drawing emphatically, or laugh at the drawing so hard it startles me. I have had a couple of occasions where people have peed themselves laughing, admitted it, and even bragged about it. One lady laughed so hard she fell on the ground and was “screaming” laughing that security came because they thought she was having a seizure or heart attack. One instance I know a guy got his drawing tattooed on him…a park drawing, not a studio piece. A number of people turned my drawings into business cards and promotional materials without my knowledge until one day they give me a card showing me “how good my artwork is”. It’s because of this you should never draw a house with a “Sold” sign on it in a park. The instance I wish I could forget but I am unable to…This nice mentally handicapped boy watched me as I drew and as I began to color the drawing he couldn’t contain his excitement and threw up... all over me.

Our park, our rules
Something that non-park people don’t always consider is that you must obey the park. They make the rules by which they wish you to conduct yourself and your business. First off, that means uniforms. Very fortunately Fasen Arts has been blessed by being able to avoid any uniform or “costume” that is completely embarrassing or uncomfortable, but I’ve seen some that range from ugly colors to a rainbow wig shy of a clown suit. There are also little weird “rules” they like to set all the time, like you have to point with two fingers because it’s offensive to some nationalities, or that anyone you see with an open map you’re required to ask them if you can help them find something. You can’t walk in certain areas, eat in most areas, or chew gum anywhere near a guest. I know it sounds ridiculous at times, but you get pretty used to it, and as long as you don’t upset the park, the park leaves you alone.

The Cool Stuff Like any job it has its ups and downs, but park life offers some things you can’t find anywhere else.

Practice
First off, you draw every single day you work. Not just two days a week, or for two hours a day, but most every day you work, you’ll draw most of the time you’re in the chair. When you’re not drawing, you’re practicing drawing each other, drawing samples, etc. But you will get better at drawing simply because you draw every day. Discipline is hard for some artists, but the very nature of working in a park takes care of that. Imagine it as an artistic boot camp. Sooner or later, you’ll find yourself drawing every day, even on your days off.

Camaraderie
We have roughly twenty artists working with us in Orlando, and every day we get to draw next to someone new. That means every day we have someone else from which to learn, see a different perspective, discuss ideas and drawing strategies, and from which to grow artistically. We also get help from other artists and learn our weaknesses and how to overcome them as well. We have situations where people wait for certain artists….but it is a pure example of seeing what appeals to guests about a certain artist or their work and it forces us to grow and learn. It’s hard to get better or grow when we’re the only artist in the room. Imagine playing basketball by ourself, then suddenly we get a partner to play ball with. Our game will grow tenfold simply by working with others. To me, that’s a school we can’t buy.

The Famous People
I know this sounds a little corny, but working in a major theme park, you see all kinds of famous people. On New Year’s Day I said “Hi” to President Carter as he walked past me about four feet away. I have drawn Diana Ross and Kid Rock sitting in front of me. I have also seen Michael Jackson, Tom Cruise, The “Rock”, Wesley Snipes, David Beckham, Stephen Tyler, Mariah Carey, Shaquille O’Neele, along with other live bands that perform in the park like Blink 182, Styx, and Jimmy Page. I know it sounds like a commercial, but I often think that I’d never be able to see this many famous people on a regular basis if I did something else.

Multicultural
I work in Orlando, the largest tourist destination in the entire world. I see people from every civilized country on a daily basis. Over the years, I have gradually learned how to speak Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, and French. Oh, not fluently, not well, not even enough to get by in a foreign country, but “How much? How long? Where are the bathrooms?” and a handful of other questions directly related to the job I have down like I was a native. Also, you get to learn the cultures of so many different people from all over the planet. You get to learn what groups of people love caricatures, and what groups of people you have a 90% chance of offending or disappointing no matter what you draw. Do you know how people in Russia react to caricatures? How about Filipinos? I do…you will too if you ever decide to work in a park.

Seasonal Lifestyle
Most major theme parks are seasonal to some degree. You are incredibly slow some times and make little money, and then there are times you’re drawing CONSTANTLY for 14 hours a day and a crowd of people are disappointed when you eventually have to stop. It’s a lifestyle you get used to after a while because by the end of the year it all evens out. It does mean you sit out in the cold, (yes, even Florida gets cold! Sitting out in it for 8 hours at a time isn’t any picnic either), and amidst the sweltering heat in the summer, but its times like in the Spring and Autumn when the weather is picture perfect and there’s waves and waves of Brazilian girls and tourists in spandex and bikinis that really make you realize that working in a park is one of the best places to do what we do. Besides, I couldn’t possibly work in some cubicle trapped behind a computer screen, the left-brained people can have that life.

The Grand Finale At the risk of sounding cheesy, one of the best things about working in a park is how well it goes hand in hand with the NCN and the convention. It’s a great feeling to draw all day and go home to be reinspired to everything going on the Forum, getting ready for the convention, and the convention is like the Super Bowl after training all year. It’s an unconventional and different lifestyle, but it’s a good one that I’d be hard pressed to trade for anything else.

See Also

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External Links

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