Christmas Caricature Commission

I meant to post this in January, but I forgot! I did a couple of caricature commissions for a friend last December. They were Christmas presents for his dad and his brother. I think they turned out great (and so did my friend and his relatives).

Click on an image to see a larger version

The brother's, I think, was the most fun. It was a take on the Army of darkness movie poster. Here's a side by side:

Click to see a slightly larger version

His brother works on a golf course (and loves golf), rides mountain bikes, has a cute little daughter, and apparently is a fully-licensed chainsaw operator. It was my friend that suggested the Army of Darkness poster theme in his original email, and I just ran with it.

I'd love to do more of these. My only hangup was that printing costs were quite a bit higher than I was expecting. There's no Kinko's (FedEx Office, whatever they're calling themselves now) equivalent here, so all the printing places have a base startup cost, even if you're just printing a couple of pages (which I was not told about when I got a quote). I may just try to go through photo printing places, as they're less expensive, probably have better paper options, and I know a few people who have used such services for art prints before (and they turned out lovely).

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In other news, the job search continues. It feels a bit futile sometimes. I keep looking though, and sending out my CV.

I'm going to work on getting a portfolio website set up, and get more stuff up on Etsy. I was on a roll with that, and then it all got held up by the move last month. Then I went all gotta-get-a-job crazy, and when I do that it seems to zap my creative juices. It's like my brain can only focus on one thing at a time. I really need to work on that. 

I want to get back into doing illustration and paintings. I'd love to do freelance work, but other than registering for websites that require a large yearly or monthly fee, I don't know how to go about it. If any freelance illustrators happen to stumble upon this... do you have any advice?

I've also thought about offering my services as a caricaturist for local kids' parties and all that, but I'm not sure how to go about it yet. It requires more research.

Nearly two months later...

I'm still alive. It's been a rough couple of months for me, and that's the main reason I didn't post anything at first. And then It had just been so long that it felt awkward. But fuck it, I still want to do this, and I've managed to (mostly) pull myself out of the major depressive funk I was in.

It was a lot harder than I thought it would be to get used to living in a new country. It still is, actually. Just because our language is (mostly) similar, doesn't mean our cultures are. I'm beginning to feel a lot more comfortable and at home here, though.

It was a bit strange celebrating Thanksgiving when (practically) no one else was. We did have turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and rolls. I also made a couple of pumpkin pies, one for us and one for Michael to take into work. It was a big hit! Many people (including Michael) had never even tried it before.

I'm still unemployed, but I recently received my National Insurance Number (the equivalent of a Social Security Number in the States) in the mail and that should help a lot. Thankfully, I was able to do a couple of commission pieces for a friend of ours for some extra money. I'll post them up after Christmas passes, as they're gifts and I don't want any chance of spoiling the surprise.

I've also got an Etsy storefront set up, so in the next day or two I'll list the prints I have leftover from last year's Alternative Press Expo. I also want to put up some original artwork, commissions, and other handmade goodies; maybe even some baked goods*. Hopefully that will help out a bit. I want to treat that as my full time job for now. I'll be sure to throw the link up when I've put up those listings.

I also want this blog to be part of that job. Instead of just focusing on being an American in the UK, I also want to post artwork and other unrelated things. More of a catch-all. So the name has been changed from Yankee Stephoodle to Oodles by Stephoodle**.

That's all for now, I suppose. Tomorrow I've got to get those commissions printed up, or at least sent to the printers to be picked up on Tuesday. I also need to run to the library, because one of my books is overdue (oops). If I get a chance, I'll post the wintry coloring pages I drew for Michael's third year class.


*I WILL make maple bacon fudge, so help me. And if it's good, I will sell it occasionally.
**Which also happens to be the name of my Etsy store. :)