Promoting caricatures,Manga and self portraits!

Life is busy these days with my abstract work taking over.
So it was great to have the chance to return to caricatures last weekend as part of the Face of the Artist Competition in Banbury Town Hall. Even if it was working with children, I was able to create a few Self portraits to go on the advertising boards.

The pace is hotting up as Oxford Art Weeks looms. 





As I mentioned last week, I'll be exhibiting at The Mill in Banbury as part of the Wheel Art group Venue 239, hence my involvement.

It's not going to be as stressful as Bucks Open Studios. But I'm beginning to feel the pressure.

Opportunities to exhibit are always good, although they don't always come in the form you might expect. This is my self portrait for the Face of the Artist.

The competition was a promotional device for Oxford Art Weeks and was a great idea. Wonderfully diverse entries showed the range of artist's participating.

Manga me! A self portrait in the Manga Style

Manga Art's popularity is increasing exponentially.

Everywhere you look there are Manga cartoons from Chibi to Shōjo.
This week even my Mixed media class came in on the trend... Is there nowhere to escape!


Only kidding, we had great fun creating Manga portraits before finishing off with a Manga self portrait!
I thought I'd share my results. It's a bit wrinkled due to the paper not being stretched. But I like it!

The question is, do I adopt this as my style from now on?


Have you tried any novel self-portrait styles? I'd love to see them!

Caricaturing me! Why you should never take yourself too seriously!

Art has a wonderful dimension that allows fantasy to become reality. Very quickly.
Self portraits are an artist's dream. A chance to portray who we are how we would like to be seen.

In my case...? Well I'll leave that to your imagination! Might regret that later!

Why serious art can't be fun and retain it's integrity. Has often amazed me! But who says it can't?

Sometimes, I know I take life too seriously. And I've often wondered why?

Serious is seen as respectable... and yet is it? Many serious people are in chaos, struggling to survive. And many are not respectable!
Fun loving people find success and respect! In abundance.

We need to get away from this attitude that in order to be significant we need to be serious! What they really mean by serious is boring! But most people who are serious about a business are having fun! Otherwise they wouldn't be doing it.

When I embarked on my art career. It struck me early on how cartoons are seen as a lesser art form! And for the life of my I cannot understand why?
In order to create quality cartoons the cartoonist must spend hours honing his skill. The end product is the result of many, many hours practice!
Compositions may be "played with" to work well. The cartoonist spends hours redrawing until the result is perfect! And yet these types of artwork, do not receive the same level of recognition seen in the rest of the art world!
I'll let you into a secret here...looks around with raised eyebrows...
No one else around?
Good!
Complicated art is much easier to make than simple art such as cartoons! Why? Because the fewer lines a picture has more accurate they must be!
Complicated pictures can have dozens of errors because the eye will not notice them amongst the clutter. Simple lines must be precise because the eye will notice the slightest kink!
I do believe it is finally changing. But not before many more cartoon artists give up their dreams and return to regular, paid work!
But cartooning can teach so much? You can say surprisingly damning things in a comedic way, and no offence is taken. Humour can point out the flaws in thinking! Can make points brilliantly!
In other words, cartoons are art!
What do you say? Would you agree with me?