The Life of a Caricature Artist Featuring Kenny Durkin!

Drawing ain’t easy. Drawing something recognizable takes effort. Drawing people is overwhelming. Exploiting peoples’ unique features in a fun and exaggerated way for their entertainment is downright insane. That’s where Kenny Durkin comes in.

Kenny Durkin by Kenny Durkin

I’ve sung Kenny’s praises before and he’s no stranger to this blog or me pestering him for all sorts of things. He graciously agreed to me bombarding him with questions again, but before that, let’s take a quick refresher course. Kenny is a cartoonist who studied Illustration at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. He’s performed live caricature entertainment at events across the United States for over 20 years, and drawn caricatures at Walt Disney World retail locations and special events for 15 years. He has his cartoons on apparel for AMC's Duck Dynasty, Disney's The Muppets,  and The Jim Henson Company, writes and illustrates his own online comic strip Father of the Brood, and is a proud member of the prestigious National Cartoonists Society and an award-winning Gold member of  the International Society of Caricature Artists. On a more personal note; Kenny was one of the key heads of the design team for ToughPigs Great Muppet Mural, and has been a patient and wonderful friend who has helped me out personally with tons and tons of other projects. I cannot hype this man up enough because his artistic talent is only matched by his kindness and sense of humor.

Kenny and I hanging at Gene Barretta’s home, May 2015

So let’s start with the basics: how did you get into drawing? And how did you get so good?!

Kenny: I've been drawing for as long as I can remember. The first drawing I can recall was of Kermit and Grover. I was born in 1971 and back then, there was no way of recording a television show to watch later. When the Sesame Street episode of the day was over, I still wanted to spend more time with my "friends", so I drew them. I found that was a great way to express myself creatively, and why Kermit still pops up in my drawings to this day.

Kermit the Frog as Indiana Jones and gorgeous caricatures of Frank Oz and Jim Henson

All that said, I still don't think I'm "good" at it. I think it's like having an athletic ability or being a musician. You're born with an inclination, but you still have to work at it. You have to put in the time and practice every day. And you have to be willing to fail a lot. I'm obsessed with learning to draw better, so I watch instructional videos, take courses, look at art instruction books, and I'm friends with a lot of other artists so I can push myself to soak up as much info as I can. And I've trained myself to when I'm not drawing, I'm OBSERVING. I'm looking at trees, buildings, people, animals, vehicles, clouds, everything I see and deconstructing them. I'm breaking them down into simple shapes and filing them away in the visual encyclopedia in my brain. Then I can pull them out to work out later on paper. In a way, it's a thing that I can't shut off and won't leave me alone!

We all know Jim Henson is a major creative inspiration to you, but who else inspires your artistic talent?

There are a whole lot of people who inspire me. It would be impossible to list them all. I think starting out, it was newspaper cartoonists like Charles Schultz, Walt Kelly, Hank Ketcham, Dik Browne, Jim Davis, Mort Walker, Lynn Johnston, and so many others. Later it was Gary Larson, Berke Breathed, Bill Watterson, John Hambrock, and WAYNO.

MAD Magazine was huge for me. I gobbled up everything I could from artists like Jack Davis, Sam Viviano, Paul Coker, Mort Drucker, Sergio Aragones, Don Martin, Al Jaffee, and Tom Richmond. I wasn’t much of a comic book guy, but I sought out more cartoony titles like Uncle Scrooge, Groo the Wanderer, and Zooniverse. For animation, it was of course Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, Chuck Jones, Fleischer Studios, Hanna Barbara, Don Bluth, Richard Williams, etc.

But beyond cartoons, I suppose there’s not much that DOESN’T inspire me. Anyone involved with the process of creation interests me. Musicians, singers, actors, directors, costume designers, prop builders, effects artists, folk artists and so many others. I’m all over the place.

The casts of Seinfeld and Stranger Things

When and how did you realize your knack for caricatures?

There was a magazine for kids called Dynamite that had celebrity caricatures by Sam Viviano. That was my gateway to the art of caricature. I followed him over to MAD Magazine which was a caricature–heavy publication. I studied what those artists were doing. I would ask myself, “The caricature looks like the person. Now WHY is that so? What is the artist doing that makes the likeness so strong?”. So I’d try drawing actors I’d see on T.V., friends and family, and teachers in school. My parents would get notes from my teachers saying what a great student I was because I was always taking notes. Little did they know, I was actually drawing them!

Caricatures of Muppet performers Jerry Nelson, Dave Goelz, Richard Hunt, Frank Oz, Jim Henson, and Louise Gold

What kind of lessons or classes did you have to take to go pro?

I was fortunate enough to have art classes all through grade school. In high school I took every class that was even remotely connected to art, like printmaking and drafting. I did a lot of scenery and prop building for school plays and musicals. I took classes when offered at museums like mask making.

I went to Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and studied Illustration and Graphic Design. I also took classes there on Photography, Sculpture, Figure Drawing, Color Theory and Early German Film for some reason.

I’m still constantly educating myself. I watch videos, take online courses, read art instruction books, go to seminars, and take workshops. If you want to EARN, you’ve got to LEARN!

How quickly does it take to draw a single caricature?

It depends. When I’m drawing at events, the task is to draw as many guests as possible. I can draw a shoulders–up caricature in black and white in 1–2 minutes if I have to. At most events I draw faces and bodies in black and white, which take about 5 minutes.

A retail caricature face and body in color is about 12–15 minutes. Studio caricatures, depending on what the client and I have worked out, can take days. 

Steve Buscemi and Daniel Radcliffe

Drawing people well enough to recognize them is hard. Drawing their more prominent features to the extreme and still be able to recognize them is ludicrous. Drawing people with exaggerated features so that they’re still recognizable and doing it fast is impossible. How do you do all of that?

Practice. It takes time to get your speed up. When you first start out, your instinct is to pencil everything in, ink over the top and then erase the pencil.Once you develop a system that works, you won’t need to rely as much on the pencil (or at all). Experimenting with materials, (paper, drawing implements) that can improve your speed. Recognizability is more important than speed. In the end, it has to resemble the person you’re drawing.

Have you ever drawn someone and they reacted negatively because they felt you offended them?

Thankfully not often. One time when I was only a couple of years in, a subject got so mad at how I drew him that he lurked around until I had closed up and he followed me out to my car. Luckily security took care of him.

I did a studio piece for someone one time and after repeated redraws because she claimed it didn’t look like her, I actually TRACED her photograph. When she still insisted it didn’t look like her, I told her what I had done and she went with the first drawing I did.

You have to go into drawing caricatures knowing you’re not going to please everyone all the time. Statistically, it has to happen. So I’ll still get the occasional eye roll, but for the most part, people are pleased. They know what they stood in line for.

Is being sensitive to how someone might react to your caricature something that you consider when you draw them or is that mindset too restrictive and it’s better to believe that they should be aware it’s your job to exaggerate their likeness?

It’s tricky. When someone hires you to draw at their event, you don’t want to be the one insulting their guests, or making the host or booking agency look bad. It’s just not professional. You also don’t want to fall into the trap of drawing “genericatures” or drawing the same way over and over. You have to be sensitive and have empathy. You need to know when to lay back and be “safe” and when to kick it into gear and go for it. It’s an important skill that you have to develop over time. 

Father of the Brood 2023 and 2018 when my daughter and I made a guest appearance!

Wow! And there it is! Proof that Kenny Durkin isn’t just really good at what he does, but why he’s the best there is! Make sure you visit Kenny’s website for more great art, but also follow him on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube too!

Thanks so much again, Kenny for taking the time to share your story and talent! I am so grateful for you and our friendship. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter, and come back on Friday for a new blog post!

Return to Innocence

Aaaaand that’s about a long enough break from this blog. Let’s get back to it!

This isn’t today’s topic, but I have been feeling disenchanted—or at the very least bored—with drawing lately because I’ve been doing so much of it professionally. This has made my personal time drawing to relax feel tedious and exhausting. You see, even though it’s how I make a living, it’s also something I love to do. The problem is that when you do anything a lot—especially when you have to—it can sometimes feel burdensome. This is a topic I will absolutely write more about soon, but in the meantime I have been trying to rediscover how to rekindle my love for illustrating. These trials have resulted in a lot of fun exercises (all of which I’ll also write about in the near future as well), but none of them were hitting their mark, and neither were previously reliable standards either. It wasn’t until I took things all the way back that I rediscovered my original muse—my childhood dog, Ballington.

1985–86

First off, it’s very important to me you know how to pronounce his name properly. The first part is not pronounced ball like a spherical object you play sports with. It’s softer and lighter like the touristy Indonesian province, Bali (incidententally also Ballington’s nickname). Ballington was my 7th birthday present from my dad who’s primary directive was to name all our pets after (founder of The Salvation Army) William Booth’s children. We also had a dog, Bramwell and a cat, Evie (short for Evangeline). This entire paragraph is substantially more information than anyone would ever care to know for a blog dedicated to art, illustration, graphic design, and creative thinking, but after my Canadian cousin found too much glee teasing me as a child by calling him “Barflington”, it’s become a bit of an idiosyncrasy of mine to over–inform on this one.

Ballington left and me (circa 1983) with Bramwell & Evie right

My creative pool of illustrators at age seven was understandably shallow, promoting cartoonist Jim Davis way above his station as my artistic gold standard. As a result, everything and everyone I drew looked marginally related to Jon Arbuckle. Jim Davis drew Garfield, so I drew Ballington. If you’re a Simpsons fan, there’s a 13th season episode called “I Am Furious (Yellow)” where a cartoonist comes to Springfield Elementary to promote his comic, “Danger Dog” resulting in every single student creating their own derivative work like Danger Cat, Trouble Dog, and Danger Dude. This is a pretty good analogy for how I was inspired to start drawing my dog after admiring daily Garfield strips.

All my favorites including my grandmother (1989), early art of Ballington (mid to late 80s)

I don’t recall ever thinking that drawing comic strips about my hyper–active English Springer Spaniel—who in reality humped any and everything—would be a career choice, but I loved anthropomorphizing him and would include him in absolutely everything all throughout my childhood and well into my adulthood. As a kid, he would express ideas and thoughts I was too sheepish to say myself. He had adventures with his friends, was a perpetual optimist, and wore every emotion he had on his sleeve. While he never strayed too far from his initial Garfield inspired design, he picked up other influences along the way, embracing madcap and overly cartoonish flare, eventually embodied by the 90s resurgence of the Looney Toons and the collective renaissance of animation from films like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Aladdin. Like every single other kid who draws, he was an OC (original character) that only mattered to his creator. His dreams would always surpass his reality and be a mega star to an audience of one. Deep down I knew this and when I would see other illustrator friends embrace and promote their own characters, I completely understood that love and pride they had. No one else knew who they were, what they represented, or why they existed, but they were very special to their creators. I think it’s the equivalent of someone extending the life of a security blanket, teddy bear, or in my case; childhood pet.

Various Ballington drawings from the late 80s–early 90s

Ballington would silently star in many personal projects like comics and flip books, as well as play the lead role in college assignments like my first ever vector drawing and gif animation. Bali would accompany my well wishes in a friend’s birthday card, a doodle made for a high school crush, my signature in a classmate’s yearbook, and even a presentation slide for a meeting at my dad’s work. The cartoon Ballington was indestructible, not just as an over stylized, personal mascot, but as a pet too. My family wasn’t able to keep the real life Ballington, and after a few years by my side, he moved up the block to spend the rest of his life with my grandmother. I still took care of him every day, but by then my love for the unnaturally proportioned, puff–chested, illustrated Ballington outweighed his own real life counterpart. Maybe it was an emotional defense mechanism to let him go, maybe it was the imagination of a suburban white boy who spent too much time day dreaming, or maybe it was the safe space of believing the inked version could never die when the writing was on the wall that my real life childhood pet soon would. Loved ones will always come and go, just like life experiences, but the cartoon creation of a seven–year–old is immortal.

Posters I made that hung on my wall as a child, my grandmother again with Ballington (and Bramwell, late 80s), and comic books I made of Ballington from 1988, 1992, and 1994 respectively

Variations and updates to Ballington between the mid 90s through the early 2010s

For a short time, my soon–to–be brother–in–law and I started our own production company that enjoyed a modicum of success. While Ballington was not our collective OC, our small sensation in the form of The Bang and Bump Show put me in contact with so many talented people that I was eventually able to commission the very talented builder James Kemp to make a Ballington puppet. I had to update Bali’s initial design for the obvious reason that I didn’t want Jim Davis to sue me, but also because that old style wasn’t conducive to a three dimensional puppet. James kept me in the loop with things like vacu–forming the eyes, shaving the fur for different styles, and dying the fleece. Having that puppet masterfully built and brought into the real world and off the reams of dot matrix computer paper my father brought home for me to draw on was a surreal moment in my life. I felt like I had completed something that I had always wanted to, and now that it was done, I was able to move on. Ballington was no longer confined to just my imagination anymore, so I effectively stopped drawing him.

Ballington puppet by @jameskemppuppets along with my updated illustration

Until recently.

I’ve always been quick to acknowledge that I never developed my own distinctive artistic style, and Ballington was proof positive of that. But I have learned new techniques and attitudes and was randomly doodling a dog this past week—trying to spark some artistic interest as I mentioned at the top—when I noticed he could kind of look like Ballington… if I wanted him to. It was an exceptionally humbling moment that made me think of the 1993 new age song Return to Innocence by Enigma.

Don't be afraid to be weak
Don't be too proud to be strong
Just look into your heart my friend
That will be the return to yourself
The return to innocence

The doodle–dog that inspired this post, Ballington IRL (as an adult mid 90s), my latest Ballington art and he’s still got it!

What a testament to the immortal imagination of a child. I’ve often thought the best way to grow as an artist of any kind is to push past your ability, leave your comfort zone, embrace your flaws and grow from them; but I never once considered that sometimes it’s the complete opposite. Ballington will most likely never have a weekly comic strip, appear as anything other than a background Easter egg in any media, nor will he break out as the star I always saw him as. I don’t say any of that from a defeatist point of view though. I say that because he’s not for that, he’s not for any of you. Ballington is for me. He always has been, and I’m so grateful to realize that he always will.

I’m hoping to keep this blog relatively consistent again, but the best way to know for sure is to follow me on Instagram and Twitter. You should also follow James Kemp on Instagram @jameskemppuppets as well, and if you’d like a brief but deeper dive into his time building Ballington, he blogged a bit about it too starting back in December, 2013 through March, 2014 that you can read in three parts:

Balli the dog for Dave Hulteen
Update on Bali for Dave Hulteen
Bali completion!

Starry Eyed & Tongue Tied

Last Friday I ended a 25 week streak posting my blog and while the world did not end because I didn’t post, I was bummed out. The problem is I am over my head with freelance and full–time work and some of what I’m working on is super cool and very loosely and indirectly related to this post and I cannot wait to share it with you!

Anyhoo, starting in the early aughts, I began attending comic cons regularly. Before I go any further, if you have never been to a comic con, you absolutely need to go. It doesn’t matter if you’re 8 or 88 and it also doesn’t matter if it’s a humongous convention like SDCC or a tiny one in the basement of a VFW hall. Of course, comic cons back in the first part of the 21st century were slightly different than they are now. For starters, they really were all about comics. Today they tend to be more of a “pop culture convention,“ but they are still a blast.

Wizard World Philadelphia. May 30, 2003

Over 20 years ago, they were also primarily populated with mostly male attendees. When my girlfriend (now wife) would accompany me and our friends, there would be somewhat of an awed hush for a moment when she would first walk on the convention floor. This was more of an initial reaction to her sex over her radiant beauty, but times slowly changed and soon conventions became a much more homogeneous experience. Now that we are married, she will often mention she no longer does comic conventions because she “served her time.“

Anyway, in 2006, I dragged her along yet again to Wizard World Philly with my primary goal of meeting comic artist Skottie Young. He is a well renowned artist today, and while he was certainly hot back then, he was arguably still an up-and-coming creator. This can be proved by the fact that he had his own table with no line of swarming fans or even an assistant! It was just Skottie hanging out and drawing alone all day and excited to talk to anyone. 

At the time, he was working on a run of Venom, continuing Marvel’s unconventional trend at the time of showcasing more cartoonish and exaggerated styles on Spider–Man titles along with other artists like Humberto Ramos. I was a super fan, constantly visiting his site to see all his sketches and drawings of any and everything. He wasn’t just an incredible artist, but a super cool guy as well who seemed to have similar pop-culture interests as myself. Not a surprise considering he’s barely 2 months younger than me!

Checking our convention guide, I located where Skottie’s table was and we made a B line so I could ask him to sign my Venom comic and maybe even take a picture with him. As I mentioned, he was alone and just drawing away. When we approached, he lit up like a Christmas tree with excitement. What a fantastic guy! I was so pumped and excited to gush over how great he was. I opened my mouth to greet him and introduce myself only to discover I had completely forgotten the English language. 

Skottie’s table was our very first stop at the con and the one and only thing I truly wanted to do and now that we were finally here I was so star struck that I literally couldn’t speak. I was like Ralphie Parker meeting Santa Claus at Higbee’s in A Christmas Story. I stood with a dumb, open–mouthed smile for a ludicrously long time that made Skottie and my wife shift awkwardly as they waited for me to do absolutely anything. Finally my wife stepped in to save me with a prompting and encouraging, “Hello.” Yes! Hello! What a novel way to start a conversation! I will try saying that, and so I blurted out much too loudly and abruptly, “HELLO!” “Hey! How’s it going!” Skottie replied with renewed energy and a warm friendly smile. I resumed my blank admiring mannequin face as if I was a Make–A–Wish patient who no doubt suffered severe injuries from his love of drinking gasoline straight from the pump. My wife—now staring at me incredulously—saved my bacon again with another encouraging prompt. “He really likes your art.” she said sweetly as I stepped over her last word obnoxiously, “I REALLY LIKE YOUR ART!” 

For the next few minutes, this was pretty much how we communicated. My wife patiently told Skottie what I admired about him and his work and then I would loudly repeat her words in the first person. It was like a bizarre avant–garde ventriloquist act where I was the dummy, my wife the puppeteer, and Skottie as the beleaguered volunteer pulled randomly from the audience. What a complete and total $#!t show. Somehow I managed to get my comic signed and a picture as well. Skottie was polite, patient, enthusiastic, and so kind. He was exactly the type of person I anticipated him to be and I blew it. 

Me still in complete disbelief that is indeed Skottie Young. June 2, 2006

As soon as we were out of earshot from Skottie, my wife turned to me shocked and somewhat exasperated. “What in the world was that?!” she asked. I had returned to earth at that moment as well and was equally stunned. “I have no idea!” I admitted. It was at that exact moment that I had a very serious problem on my hands and I needed to rectify it immediately. My main concern at the time was the realization of just how much this could hinder my own illustrative career. Thanks to sites like ToughPigs and the exposure I was getting from such a niche fandom, I was sure it was only a matter of time before I would have the opportunity to meet actual Muppet performers and maybe even work for them. At my core I knew it was vital they saw me as a peer and not just a fan. Of course if I couldn’t chat up a fellow artist just because he was successful, how would I speak to someone who was partly responsible for molding my childhood, affecting my overall trajectory as a creative person? 

It turned out it was even worse than I imagined as not long after that, I bumped into a family friend—yes, a family friend—whom I greatly admired. Now I had never met him prior, but I had seen pictures and heard recordings of him (he was a very talented musician) so imagine my horror when I got tongue–tied chatting with him as well!

I took the “Face Your Fears” approach by attending every book signing I could find, hung outside every service entrance after a concert, waited in autograph lines at conventions, and attended any speaking engagements featuring celebrities that interested me; all in the hopes I could act like a normal human being around anyone with a modicum of fame so that one day I wouldn’t completely lose my mind if I met someone really famous.

Weird Al Yankovic (2/2/2011), Jesse Ventura (4/7/2011), and Gary “Baba Booey” Dell'Abate (11/9/2010)

I very quickly realized “fame” wasn’t the crux to my star struck nature, it was admiration. If I somehow found myself face to face with someone like Hugh Jackman—something that actually happened —I was excited but maintained my composure easily. However, if I met the likes of Trace Beaulieu, Lorraine Cink, Doc Hammer, Louise Gold, or Stanley Lau, I’d start to choke up. Interacting with them at events did become easier and was also very safe. I was able to see them as actual people and before you knew it, I could at least fake acting casual. When I finally met those lofty Muppet people, at the very least I wasn’t a hot mess. 

MST3k’s Trace Beaulieu (11/27/2010), Marvel’s Lorraine Cink (7/24/2016), and Doc Hammer (4/19/2008) co–creator of The Venture Bros.

I still get very excited when I meet someone I admire—famous or not—and on the inside I’m fan freaking out. If I ever meet Lois Van Baarle or Frank Oz or Jamie Hewlett I think my heart would still explode. At the very least, my wife knows I can control my basic bodily functions without her by my side the entire time. 

Skottie Young, if you’re reading this, thank you so much for being so pleasant and patient and inspiring. Not just to draw better but to get my act together and focus. It changed my career. You really are the GOAT!

I’m not posting much now on Instagram and Twitter but follow me anyway so when I clear my slate you’ll see what I’ve been up to! And come back here every Friday for more creative thinking!

Creative Daddy II: The First 5 Years

When I wrote about finding a creative outlet through kids and how exciting it can be, I neglected to really show off what that entailed. I suggest you check that post out first if you haven’t already, but with Father’s Day a little over two weeks away, I thought I would share some of what that actually looks like and present some of what my daughter and I have a blast doing.

She couldn’t directly contribute to our shared creative endeavors as a baby, but she was still a huge inspiration

Now initially there wasn’t much she could do being a newborn, but that never stopped her from being my newfound muse. Mostly I drew her and it is always a privilege to draw my daughter. It’s very meta to watch my art of her grow with her and that’s something I’ll do for the rest of our lives. I also found fun ways to incorporate her into other mediums.

Also featured are her cousin and mommy!

Every kid starts with crayons before their parents introduce—then immediately take away—markers. Of course, these are mediums that we’ll use for years to come. My daughter and I still love drawing giant posters that we hang all over the house. At first there was no rhyme or reason to our drawing. I would casually draw while she would climb all over me and scribble all over the paper, me, the floor, the wall, the television, the cat, and most prominently herself. Nowadays we plan what we will put on our posters (usually characters from whatever she’s currently in to) and then wallpaper the playroom. This isn’t just a fun thing to do, it’s decorative and serves a purpose.

I was convinced we weren’t getting our security deposit back on the apartment we moved from there were so many marks on the walls and floors!

The other fun thing about these giant posters is that they are shared experiences for my wife as well as anyone who comes over to visit. Family always contributes time to coloring these posters and its a great activity anyone can share in.

The real irony is how we no longer really watch any of these particular shows anymore, but we still love having them decorate our playroom

Afterwards, we make something of a big deal when we formally place our poster up on the wall and peruse the place like a museum.

One of our more prominent creative outlets have been our Big Show; a fun little talk show style video series where we chat about any and everything. We’ve even occasionally done a news type segment. This gives her a chance to not only be seen but heard and who doesn’t love watching themselves on TV?

What makes everything we do so much fun is often how new it seems for both of us. Paper maché, construction paper stick puppets, our own newspaper, rock painting, or even just regular playtime. She’s even getting more interested in photography.

Dry erase markers on windows is a lot of fun if you remember to explain only those markers on only the windows

However, what we’re known for throughout our neighborhood is chalk drawing in our driveway (in fact, we even recently created an Instagram account for that we would love for you to follow!). Whether it’s taking suggestions from other kids or making huge holiday murals, I tend to get more carried away than she does. What I have to constantly tell myself is that this is our project, not mine. I may draw the lion share of stuff, but it’s 100% okay for her to contribute or draw over. It’s not messing something up if it’s a collaborative effort she loves as well.

Follow us on Instagram @rosestartsp

I’m also grateful that I’m not the only creative influence she has. We have many variations of talented artists in our family and close circle of friends that expose her to music, dance, writing, acting, and just being silly for the sake of silly.

My wife, dad, brother–in–law, and sister are just a few of the other creative people in my daughter’s life

While drawing will always be my immediate go–to with her, I never want her to feel obligated to follow directly in my footsteps. It’s natural for a creative person to be highly influential in a child’s development, but it’s important they have opportunity to find their own voice, their own style, their own approach. Being creative isn’t limited to, “the arts.” It’s about being able to see things differently so that problem solving is an open–minded pursuit. And if you’re wondering, my daughter adores her school art teacher, insisting, “He’s a way better artist than you, daddy” which I absolutely love. Not just because she doesn’t have an obligation to putting me on such a pedestal, but because she feels comfortable enough to set her own boundaries and even start to appreciate different art forms, styles, and approaches.

Sharing artwork together

My (step) mom always said after she married my dad and became my mom, “There’s no manual” referring to how much of a learning curve there is to being a parent. That continues to make more and more sense the older my daughter gets, but I think there’s something to be said for parental instinct. I started drawing her little pictures for her to find in her lunchbox when she started school before someone my wife and I admire suggested we be careful so as not to make it seem like we were forcing any of our interests onto her, or worse; take attention away from her friends and accidentally redirecting it on to us. Having grown up without my mother often meant I felt I had huge shoes to fill and I didn’t want that burden to be placed on my daughter. After a couple weeks of not placing these drawings in her lunchbox however, she read me the riot act about being disappointed that there were no drawings with her snacks anymore. Now I can draw Louisa from Disney’s Encanto from memory.

Princess Tiana (with a special frog), Luisa from Encanto, a cheese bear-ger, and Bruno also from Encanto

In the end, my personal feeling is that whatever my daughter finds joy in, that is where her passion will lie. Having the creative freedom to find that joy is such a fun and wonderful journey, that it’s beyond developmentally stimulating; it’s foundational too. Please follow me on Instagram and Twitter and follow my blog every Friday!

A little bit silly, a little bit fantasy, a lot of fun, and a healthy helping of “throw a ton of stuff at the wall and see what sticks”

Time Lapse Art And The 3 Ways I Use To Create It

One of the more popular things I post besides Muppet fan art are time lapse illustrations of my work. Time lapse art do two things for me: provide additional content and show my process (the latter being arguably more important). That being said, there are three different ways that I create said time lapse videos, so this week I thought I’d share my actual process as well as some examples.

Various ways to traditionally capture footage for time lapse art. Spoiler: None of these work great.

The first is the most basic. All things start with a sketch, and while I tend to work exclusively digitally, I still lean towards the traditional when it comes to sketching. The following Cookie Monster drawing is an overhead shot of me drawing the blue monster with traditional mediums like colored pencils and a Bimoji ink brush pen. I love watching other artists in real time create art like this (Kim Jung Gi is, in my opinion, the master at this). The problem with this is set up. I’ve talked to so many artists about how they manage to float a camera over their work space without it being too intrusive. Yes, I know there are devices available to purchase but they’re either too cheap and unreliable or way over priced. As you can see, I’ve rigged up several different things to try and make do but I like to draw close to my pad and that can create problems as well.

The second setup is easier and sticks to using only my computer. I’ve actually been asked how to do this a few times and it’s very easy. If you use a Mac, just open QuickTime and you can do a screen recording! This is a great way to capture everything you do in real time and when it comes to programs like Adobe Illustrator, it can really show off how to use the various tools and brushes.

Now the problem with the first two types of recording time lapse art is it records in real time. You can use the time–lapse camera feature if you have an iPhone, but you’ll probably still need to play around with timing, so both of those videos require a bit more editing when it comes to putting out your final product. Procreate is a very popular digital painting program for the iPad and it automatically records your process for you. The big leg up here is it only records when your stylus (Apple Pencil) is actively drawing. In other words, if you stop and take a phone call or take a break, unlike set ups for my previous videos, the recording stops. There have been more than a few times I have had to either cut out giant chunks of down time or stop and restart my other time lapse recordings, but Procreate only records when you’re actually actively working. The double edged sword is that Procreate records everything at full constant size, so there’s no inclination I’m zoomed way in or out. Is it a pro or a con? Who knows.

I edit everything in Adobe Premiere for a few reasons. Number one, I know how to use Premiere and as an old man I fear editing using Instagram. Two, I like to try and keep time lapse videos to one minute nowadays so Instagram and Twitter don’t have a fit. I also like to use royalty free music so there’s no copyright infringements.

This was a light fun post this week so I hope you enjoyed a break in reading. As always, please follow me on Instagram and Twitter and check back here every Friday for a new blog post!