This was an illustration that I ended up having to redo. It's not a whole lot of fun for me when that happens, but I very much want my clients to be happy.("Clients" - I sound like some kind of insurance salesman when I say that.)
Margaret wanted an illustration as a birthday gift for her son, Chris. Here he is. Hey!, looking at the photo, even I had to say that he's a good looking fellow. Wouldn't you ladies agree? The only problem is for most of you is that he lives in New Zealand!
(This is the second Chris I know from New Zealand.)
She wanted an illustration of him playing Cricket.
(You know... "Cricket"! Not the bug, but the love child of Baseball & Croquet - I think.)
When I finished, I e-mailed Margaret this caricature, and I got back one of those very polite... "Thank you. How do I pay you? Ummm, it doesn't quite look like him."
I hate that when that happens. I showed the drawing to my wife and she gave me a few suggestions. I tried to work with his face - as much as I can after already putting it down on paper, and mailed it back to her.
Then I got another photo of Chris from Margaret. Here's the second one she sent me...
Same guy? I think they're brothers. Still a good looking fellow, but definitely a different look in this photo.(Now here's where I get up on my little caricature drawing soap box to tell you people... When you send me a photo of a loved one... A. Make sure that their hair style hasn't change, and B. Make sure that it actually looks like them. I've had people send me photos and say this doesn't look like them. Margaret didn't say that, but I'm assuming that the second photo is the more current version of Chris. No offense, I hope, Margaret. I just had to let that out.)
Anyway...
Here is the second piece that I put together for her.I think she liked it. She thanked me, and paid me for it, but she never did actually say that this one looked like him.
What do YOU think?
"Bart" is his nickname. "Attack" is a Cricket term for a ball well hit. (I looked it up.) I don't understand the game, but there's a lot of things in this world that I don't understand - people mostly. But I draw them anyway.
Thank you Margaret for choosing me to celebrate Chris' birthday. I pray that the illustration made it there in time. (Today is the big day) And "cheerio" and all that from Oregon.
(Do they say "cheerio" in New Zealand?)
In other news: One week until the wedding of my eldest daughter. This is my youngest trying on her bride's maid dress. Ain't she purty?
Just get a shovel and start digging the grave now. I'm not going to be able to survive seeing all my girls dressed up for the big event.
